John FitzGerald: Soft borders will mean open season for smugglersThe only way to have a soft border after Brexit is for UK to stay in customs unionFri Nov 16 2018 - 05:12
Ireland’s recovery is partially due to us learning our lessonJohn FitzGerald: State’s progress out of recession is much smoother than in 1980sFri Nov 09 2018 - 05:30
John FitzGerald: Digital tax is a price worth paying to regulate tech monopoliesWhile the services of social media companies may overlap, they each have their distinctive niche which they dominate worldwideFri Nov 02 2018 - 05:16
Republic of Ireland is the last real supporter of the idea of the UKJohn FitzGerald: Britain’s Brexit ‘civil war’ could lead to a disastrous end for the unionFri Oct 26 2018 - 05:43
John FitzGerald: Dublin’s bus network needs major overhaulMost commuters in 2040 will depend on buses not the Luas, Dart or MetroFri Oct 19 2018 - 05:31
Nobel laureate shows failure on carbon tax policy likely to be costlyClimate change specialist William Nordhaus says carbon price needed to achieve targets will rise as policies have been delayedFri Oct 12 2018 - 05:16
John FitzGerald: Budget should tax emissions and property – not incomesThe hospitality sector is booming – it’s time to raise the 9% VAT rateFri Oct 05 2018 - 05:15
Bank crash showed we need EU-wide banking systemJohn FitzGerald: More banks might have survived had more been foreign-ownedFri Sept 28 2018 - 02:45
German reunification delayed the arrival of the Celtic TigerJohn FitzGerald: Germany’s interest rate rise set an indebted Irish economy back three yearsFri Sept 21 2018 - 03:50
State continues to demolish viable housing stock instead of repairing itGovernment should address housing shortages and climate change at the same timeFri Sept 14 2018 - 05:15
New laws needed to preserve public documents in digital ageCentral repository for electronic documents would guard against risk of disappearanceFri Sept 07 2018 - 05:10
Women hold the answer to tightening job squeezeJohn FitzGerald: CSO figures also show rise in participation of workers over the age of 65Fri Aug 31 2018 - 05:19
The civil servant behind Ireland’s 1990s economic recoveryJohn FitzGerald: Seán Cromien’s work at Department of Finance led to a better IrelandFri Aug 24 2018 - 05:00
Large multinationals make up only fraction of real economyCorporation tax receipts are skewed by big firms but influence on exports overstatedFri Aug 03 2018 - 03:09
John FitzGerald: Polluters need to be hit in their pocketsTax on carbon must rise to make it dearer and reduce its damage to environmentFri Jul 27 2018 - 05:00
Irish Water split from Ervia inevitable to protect Government accountsJohn FitzGerald: Shortages show why water utility should have followed ESB templateFri Jul 20 2018 - 03:45
John FitzGerald: Migration is still central to the Irish experienceCSO provides estimates of future population depending on different assumptions about fertility, life expectancy and migrationFri Jul 13 2018 - 05:00
Dependence on corporation tax from US firms leaves State vulnerableRisks from reputational damage and potential sudden outflow if US tax law changesFri Jul 06 2018 - 05:30
John FitzGerald: Why France’s euro budget plan is misguidedA mechanism to co-ordinate national budgets across euro area would be more beneficialFri Jun 29 2018 - 05:03
John FitzGerald: Public servant emerges as unlikely Greek heroStatistics office director got suspended sentence for correcting Greece’s cooked booksFri Jun 22 2018 - 04:05
Crazy maths makes nonsense of Irish climate change policySubsidy on peat generation exceeds wages of those it employs as our emissions soarFri Jun 15 2018 - 05:03
Ireland urgently needs better data on our economic growthJohn FitzGerald: State’s ability to plan for the future is stymied by misleading CSO figuresFri Jun 08 2018 - 05:50
Ireland's ‘heads should roll’ approach to accountability is dangerousJohn FitzGerald: We must focus on learning from mistakes, not covering them upFri Jun 01 2018 - 05:50
John FitzGerald: Gender, lifestyle and sociocultural economicsFrench eat and sleep more while women in Ireland do 3.5 hours more unpaid work a dayFri May 25 2018 - 05:45
Study of jobs in the west could help State plan for the futureGalway is a success story, with large labour catchment area and highly educated workforceFri May 18 2018 - 05:23
Encouraging more women into the workforce would benefit economyAlso encouraging people with disabilities would enhance capacity of Irish economyFri May 11 2018 - 01:00
We need to build on Ireland’s migration success storyInflux of skills has improved competitiveness and allowed economy to grow more rapidlyFri May 04 2018 - 06:01
Agriculture, taxes and Northern Ireland: the Brexit talks’ echoes of times pastJohn FitzGerald: Ireland and the UK have been here before, in our 1965 free-trade dealFri Apr 27 2018 - 06:15
State vulnerable as screws tighten on profit-shifting by US giantsPrudent budgetary planning would regard tax take from US firms as temporaryFri Apr 20 2018 - 05:30
Tighter focus means National Planning Framework more likely to deliverOnly by understanding the preferences of people and business can public policy influence developmentFri Apr 13 2018 - 05:59
John FitzGerald: As a child I dreamt of a Dublin metro. But is it feasible?Cost benefits of proposed Metrolink look impressive on paper but caveats applyFri Apr 06 2018 - 05:00
Ireland's stability may be threatened by the fiscal rulesJohn FitzGerald: The regulations can mask dangerous economic policiesFri Mar 30 2018 - 06:32
John FitzGerald: How increasing property tax will make Ireland a fairer societyPeople well housed should pay a bit more to help local authorities fund social housingFri Mar 23 2018 - 06:10
John FitzGerald: Brexit prospects are bleak for beef producersDeveloping new markets now will shorten the period of pain for dairy farmersFri Mar 16 2018 - 07:05
New data protection regime could hamper vital researchWithout access to proper data wrong policy levers might be appliedFri Mar 09 2018 - 06:35
John FitzGerald: Ireland must plan to invest in peopleA human capital strategy would bring bigger benefits than the National Development PlanFri Mar 02 2018 - 07:01
National Development Plan lacks evidence for its prioritiesVery little explains why specific projects were chosen and why certain investment areas were prioritisedFri Feb 23 2018 - 07:00
Post-Brexit losses unlikely to be on scale envisaged by Copenhagen studyThere is no doubt Brexit will be bad for Irish trade with UK but it’s uncertain as to just how bad it will beFri Feb 16 2018 - 06:45
Low corporation tax not vital to attracting multinationalsJohn FitzGerald: Ireland’s tax rate no longer crucial for creation of new jobsFri Feb 09 2018 - 05:57
John FitzGerald: Why State contracts are proving costlyExcess complexity of tender processes can undermine competition and savingsFri Feb 02 2018 - 06:34
EU has helped transform living standards of Europe’s peopleJohn FitzGerald: Despite post-crisis anxiety, the EU has driven prosperity for its membersFri Jan 26 2018 - 06:29
Employment growth means we won’t need major tax risesJohn FitzGerald: Labour force data points to value of education in getting a jobFri Jan 19 2018 - 05:57
Poverty survey masks the devastation of the housing crisisThe CSO study is a crucial guide for policy-making and should better reflect modern realityFri Jan 12 2018 - 06:05
How Brexit will hit you when shopping in Penneys or M&SA free-trade deal that avoids UK-EU tariffs will still not facilitate a soft borderFri Jan 05 2018 - 06:00
Global warming puts Santa’s delivery system at riskJohn FitzGerald: Have Eircodes made Santa’s job easier? And other bah humbug observationsFri Dec 22 2017 - 06:00
John FitzGerald: Do we really want to go back to 2008 again?Failure to prevent overheating of economy would greatly raise risk of subsequent recessionFri Dec 15 2017 - 06:50
Leaving single market and customs union is incompatible with ensuring no bordersJohn FitzGerald: Deal struck on Friday is ambiguous to cover fact that UK’s future course is undecidedFri Dec 08 2017 - 10:38
John FitzGerald: the financial implications of Ireland leaving a unionAfter a Churchill and Cosgrave meeting, a deal was done for Ireland to pay £5m instead of £156mFri Dec 01 2017 - 05:35
Government needs to pursue a proper pension investment strategyInvesting for old age is crucial or the pension bill will be a major burden for future generationsFri Nov 24 2017 - 06:45
Women and immigrants gain most from minimum wageAdequate welfare and tackling joblessness remain necessary tools for tackling povertyFri Nov 17 2017 - 06:00