The Government has denied that Dublin grabs the biggest share of the huge amounts of foreign direct investment flowing into Ireland at the expense of the rest of the country.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton told reporters that Ireland’s regions play to their various individual “strengths”, but that small fast-growing companies tend to be attracted to the centressuch as Dublin that offer them key advantages.

He was responding to a reporters’ …

Exports surged to a record high in April as the economic recovery continues to be led by demand out of the UK and US, official figures have shown.

Economists have said that the slump in the value of the euro against sterling and the dollar because of low growth in the wider eurozone and the prospect of higher interest rates in the US have propelled exports in recent months.

The …

Ireland is attracting huge amounts of inward foreign investment, but the country can not take for granted that the flows that helped drive the economy out of crisis will be repeated, a leading economist has warned.

Davy Stockbrokers chief economist Conall Mac Coille said Dublin office space constraints, lingering issues about tax and concerns about Europe’s proposals for a new common corporate tax regime all continue to weigh on a …

Official inflation figures published yesterday show that prices of goods in the economy continued to fall, but there were signs that the dampening effect of the collapse in oil prices is coming to an end.

The CSO consumer price figures for May also starkly revealed that private rents continue to soar, reflecting a chronic shortage of housing accommodation across many parts of the country as the economic recovery takes hold.

…

Ireland has one of the most severe inheritance tax regimes in the western world, according to key US economic think tank.

The rate that the tax is imposed at is the seventh highest in the countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) And the tax kicks in here at a much lower value than in other western countries.

The emergence of a report by …

THE cost of insurance and rents rose last month, with the introduction of water charges hitting costs household costs.

But despite the sharp increases in these costs for households overall prices were muted in May.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said this morning that overall prices were 0.3pc lower in the year to May compared with the same time last year.

The run of positive indicators for the economy has continued, with official figures published yesterday showing another large increase in output from Irish factories in April.

The CSO said that production rose in the month by 1.7% from March and was 9.7% higher from April 2014.

That 9.7% annual increase was lower than the huge increases of over 27% and almost 37% posted in March and February, but nonetheless showed …

Unemployment may not fall as rapidly in the coming years as implied by the huge growth numbers in the economy, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute.

The think-tank yesterday forecast very large growth rates and projected that the economy in terms of gross domestic product will jump 4.4% this year and continue to grow strongly next year, by 3.8%.

However, the unemployment rate, currently at 9.8%, may likely …

The number of households in negative equity is falling rapidly and could fall to zero as early as late 2017, such is the unexpected pace in house price rises, says the country’s leading think-tank.

The Economic and Social Research Institute says the number of households in negative equity following the property crash stood at 160,000 at the end of last year.

That number will likely fall to 100,000 by the …

More jobs are being created outside the Dublin region as the economic recovery broadens and finally spells an ending to the two-tier economy, according to two surveys published today.

Utilities such as electricity and gas are hiring strongly, most sectors are increasing their number of posts, hotels and restaurants are more optimistic than they have been for five years, and employers in the Ulster counties expect to start hiring strongly …