View from Dublin

Brian Cowen and his government face some tricky decisions

Early Budget will have only a limited impact

When the facts changed, the great economist John Maynard Keynes changed his mind. Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan changed the date.
Comment on this article

Inside View from Dublin

Simplicity is the key to bank rescue but is it even possible?

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Despite what you may have heard or read, the bank rescue National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is not Mission Impossible.
Comment on this article

If we don’t even know our banks, we’ll never solve their problems

Tuesday, 26 May 2009

“What is the banks?” the Sean O’Casey character Joxer Daly might have asked if he were around today. It is a harder question than it looks, and it has not really been answered satisfactorily.
Comment on this article

Ireland rows to safer port as tide turns

Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Sick of the two-week sun break with the kids? Tired of adventure holidays and found them, well, just a little too adventurous?
Comment on this article

Much of our wealth has gone — now the question is, who will lose what?

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

The most interesting bits of the April Budget in the Republic — such as cancelling the disgraceful slush fund known as ministerial pensions — have already disappeared like snow in spring.
Comment on this article

ESRI finds positive signs amid deep economic gloom

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

You've got to accentuate the positive, Bing Crosby sang. That's not easy when you're in the middle of what looks like the worst recession in any developed economy since the 1930s. But the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is doing its best.
Comment on this article

Irish ministers must move now to steady ship

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

The cry most often heard in the land is: “This is not my fault. Why should I pay?” It is a complaint, and a question, which strikes at the heart of democratic political systems.
Comment on this article

On the road of ineptitude — only soon with more potholes

Tuesday, 21 April 2009

I know it sounds ridiculous, but amid all the Budget doom and gloom, the item that sent the biggest chill through my veins was the cut in the Republic’s road maintenance allocation. The potholes are coming back.
Comment on this article

No matter how you do the sums, this is a political nightmare

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Ireland’s structural budget deficit is now put at a whopping 8% of GDP and increases in the tax rate look inevitable
Comment on this article

Borrowers and savers have a role to play in our revival

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Without the bailing, the ship would sink, but the G20 countries need to start fixing the leak
Comment on this article

Taxing times ahead for the Government

Monday, 23 March 2009

In these days of national emergency, it behoves us all to do our bit to help the Irish Government through its travails — whether we be the Fine Gael and Labour parties, or humble commentators. Or so the Taoiseach tells us.
Comment on this article

Blaming the bankers will not resolve widening budget deficit

Monday, 16 March 2009

A curious notion gaining widespread belief in the Republic is that the misery to be inflicted upon us in a few weeks' time is the fault of the bankers. Or even more bizarrely, that it is the fault of a few rogue bankers breaking the law.
Comment: 1

Berlin bailout may yet be the best worst-case plan for Ireland’s economy

Monday, 9 March 2009

The Germans, it would seem, were thinking about rescuing us before we were thinking of being rescued. Several weeks ago, I was asked by a German correspondent why the German taxpayer should have to bail out Ireland? I confess that I was a bit stuck for an answer.
Comment on this article

The devil may have the best tunes, but money can buy the best arguments

Monday, 2 March 2009

It all seemed so simple in the beginning. Basic textbook stuff, really. Private demand was crumbling as banks contracted and confidence waned.
Comment on this article

Tax increases on the horizon for the Republic as the fiscal crisis deepens

Monday, 23 February 2009

Moving from the general to the particular is a difficult business. What makes it trickier is that economics deals in the general, but politics is built on the individual. “Sectors” don't have votes.
Comment on this article

This little PIGI went to the markets — but was not as fat as expected

Monday, 16 February 2009

Two years ago to the very month, a Spanish economist, commenting on the prospects for Spain in the euro monetary union, cited, as a lesson for his countrymen, the “success of Ireland”. What a difference 24 months can make!
Comment on this article

Irish economy now moves into free fall

Monday, 9 February 2009

One afternoon during last week’s wintry spell, Killiney Hill on the southern outskirts of Dublin was full of delighted children, squealing at the sight of snow.
Comment on this article

Banks would be overcome by losses without the state’s help

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

The root cause of the global recession is the crisis in the world's banking and financial system.
Comment on this article

Anglo Irish boss and his loan are just a distraction

Monday, 26 January 2009

Perhaps the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank — for that is what it is — may finally concentrate minds. We have on our hands a crisis of a kind not seen since the foundation of the Irish Free State. The old politics no longer apply, and the old rule book has to be torn up.
Comment on this article

Hey, big spender, how about improving public services

Monday, 19 January 2009

It was my habit to fulminate against those who complained that Irish governments did not spend enough money, on the grounds that it looked very low as a percentage of the economy (GDP).
Comment on this article

Christmas retail slump has made deflation fears worse

Monday, 22 December 2008

I don't know about you, but the shops look very empty to me. It is certainly a lot different from Christmas a few years ago, when the Gardai had to be called to clear Dublin's Henry Street for fear someone would be killed in the crush.
Comment: 1

More view from dublin: