Entries by Jim Power

THIS APPEARED IN IRISH EXAMINER FEB 22nd 2021 RE: Ulster Bank

When one lives through momentous change, it is often easy to fail to notice it happening. Irish banking is a case in point. Over the past decade or so we have seen a dramatic decline in the number of financial institutions operating in Ireland, and the banking landscape has been totally and utterly transformed. Names […]

THIS APPEARED IN THE IRISH EXAMINER 30th NOVEMBER 2020

GOVERNMENT HAD NO CHOICE OTHER THAN TO RE-OPEN 2020 is a year that we will all want to forget about as quickly as possible, and we hope that we can look forward to a better 2021. Naturally, how good 2021 will turn out to be from a societal and economic perspective will be totally influenced […]

BUDGET 2021

BUDGET 2021   THE ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Budget 2021 is all about COVID-19, housing, health, Brexit, and climate change. It marks the third part of a fiscal trilogy that included the pandemic employment package announced in March, and the July stimulus package. In some respects, framing this budget was very challenging, given the dramatic impact of […]

THIS APPEARED IN IRISH EXAMINER OCTOBER 14th 2020 BUDGET 2021

A STRONG COUNTER-CYCLICAL BUDGET TOTALLY APPROPRIATE In Budget 2020, Paschal Donohue adopted a pretty conservative approach to the public finances despite the fact that it was the last budget before the general election. In the aftermath of that election in February, I heard a number of bruised and battered Fine Gael voters lament and even […]

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NOV 2020 WRITTEN NOV 8th 2020

ASSESSMENT OF US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2020   Election 2020 possibly the most important in generations… It is generally accepted that US Election 2020 is possibly the most crucial presidential election in generations, if not in US history. In 2016, Donald Trump upset the odds and came to power without any real political pedigree. During his […]

AVIVA IRELAND BLOG MARCH 10th 2020

COVID-19 POSES SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE TO GLOBAL ECONOMY AND FINANCIAL MARKETS There is an old maxim in the world of economics and financial markets that one should always expect the unexpected. Coming into 2020, there were grounds for a slightly higher level of optimism relating to the coming year, following on the back of what was […]

THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN IRISH EXAMINER MARCH 13th 2020

IRISH GROWTH HEALTHY IN 2019, BUT THAT IS NOW HISTORY Last Friday the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published the first estimate for growth in the Irish economy last year. There were no surprises and the picture presented is of an economy that experienced decent levels of growth last year. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by […]

THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN IRISH EXAMINER MARCH 20th 2020

The Taoiseach’s address to the nation on Saint Patrick’s night set a pretty perfect tone for where we find ourselves at the moment. It was factual, measured and pulled no punches. The people of Ireland have been left in no doubt about the gravity of the situation, and we can certainly rest assured that the […]