LATEST ARTICLES
Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Little revision in planning framework
Colm McCarthy
No local authority, especially the four in the Dublin area, has any practical incentive to encourage residential development.
9 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Trump's tariffs
The remedy is in the hands of the US administration, which could unilaterally bring the Irish revenue bonanza to an end.
2 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: reviewing promises in the Programme for Government
UK: if the economy grows quickly enough, the borrowing targets are credible.
Colm McCarthy: evolution of EU's CAP
For a small open economy, it makes sense to encourage production in sectors where there is a prospect of domestic and export sales on advantageous terms.
26 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: planning system problems
Planning - the system is tilted against the vigorous pursuit of priorities which are acknowledged at national level.
19 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: It’s not just tariffs that could hurt – our taxes are targets too
The capital programme was halved in volume by 2014 and has only lately recovered to pre-crash levels.
12 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: planned restrictions at Dublin airport
Any restrictions on early morning aircraft movements are a particular headache for Aer Lingus.
5 March 2025 Viewpoints
Ireland's recent rail infrastructure review
The Central Statistics Office has estimated that in rural Ireland, outside towns with a population of 1,500 or more, only 5% of households do not own a car.
26 February 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: capital projects don't always overshoot cost estimates
If we can deliver large, once-off, infrastructure at bargain prices in Ireland, why not use as intended?
19 February 2025 Viewpoints
Trump set to send world economy into a nosedive
A tariff for the EU will affect Ireland more than other EU members given the high export share, but may not be the end of the damage.
5 February 2025 Opinion
Colm McCarthy: It is time to reconsider our energy sources
The invasion of Ukraine has also drawn attention to the dangerous reliance on imports of natural gas from Russia.
29 January 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: better prospects of climate policy shift in Europe
If Ireland cut emissions to zero it would do nothing to address the global crisis.
22 January 2025 Viewpoints