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Ecofin meeting in Dublin Castle last week
by Seán Whelan, Economics Correspondent.
Michael Noonan invited the Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel to contribute a thought provoking paper to the ECOFIN meeting in Dublin Castle last Friday on Europe’s growth problem. Director Jean Pisani-Ferry and economist Zsolt Darvas duly obliged, and let the ministers have it with both barrels.
For example, the very first line of the paper reads: “Europe’s pre-crisis growth performance was disappointing enough, but the performance has been even more dismal since the onset of the crisis”.
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Euro ministers and central bankers to meet informally in Dublin this weekend
by Economics Correspondent Seán Whelan
Dublin Castle is the venue for this week’s meeting of EU Finance and Economics Ministers, along with Commissioners Olli Rehn and Michel Barnier, and the governors of the euro zone’s central banks.
Fresh from its exertions over Cyprus – and needing some R&R before turning to (or is that on) Slovenia – the Eurogroup is coming to town on Friday morning. Accompanied by its bigger and slightly richer cousin, the Ecofin, and the governing council of the ECB, and two big-time Commissioners, the whole EU financial and economic bandwagon will roll into Dublin castle for two days of meetings. No doubt it will bump up the statistics for “The Gathering”, but what else will it do?
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by Business Editor David Murphy
Economic forecasts can have a major impact on policy decisions
Later this month the Department of Finance will update its forecasts for the Irish economy.
Economic forecasts matter; yet they are frequently wrong and fail to predict important developments.
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by Business Editor David Murphy
It is unclear what Cyprus will do to replace its financial services industry
The revised Cypriot bailout is startling.
Not only does it aim to sort out the banking mess, it also intends to extinguish part of the Cypriot economy and replace it with something else; but what? That part is unclear.
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by Business Editor David Murphy
Cypriot shock risks undoing all the progress made to date to calm nerves about euro zone crisis
On the surface, the Cyprus bailout may have seemed relatively straightforward. The island originally requested aid in 2011, and it was intended to be a small rescue.
Yet the Cypriot aftershock now risks undoing all the progress made to date to calm nerves about the entire euro zone crisis. While it may not damage Ireland, it could make the process of fixing the Irish banking system more difficult.
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Has Matthew Elderfield gone far enough on arrears?
by Business Editor David Murphy
The Central Bank’s deputy governor Matthew Elderfield appears to be strong-arming the banks into cutting deals with some over stretched borrowers. The lenders don’t want to admit that is what is happening, but judging from comments by lobby group New Beginning it seems to be the case.
The main issue is whether Mr Elderfield has gone far enough.
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Finance Department's John Moran says repossession numbers at unnaturally low level
By Seán Whelan Economics Correspondent
With all the comment – some bordering on the hysterical – about Department of Finance boss John Moran’s answers to questions on mortgage repossessions at the Public Accounts Committee last week, I thought it might be worth posting up the transcript. This is the official version (that’s why it refers to Judge Elizabeth Dunne as Mr Justice Dunne).
Just for comparison, according to the UK Department of Justice, in the last quarter of 2012, British lenders brought 14,140 claims for mortgage repossession to courts, which issued 10,141 order for repossession (a fall on the previous quarter). During the same period in Ireland, banks took 238 cases, resulting in courts granting 111 repossession orders. 38 properties were actually repossessed on foot of a court order during the period (Central Bank figures).
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Irish newspapers face a tough path back to viability
By David Murphy, Business Editor
The unusual deal to save the newspapers and radio stations forming part of the Irish Examiner group shines a light into the core of the troubled newspaper industry.
Most revealing were the figures at the Sunday Business Post, now in examinership.
The newspaper had revenue of €15.6m in 2007, but by last year it had collapsed to €7.4m. Weekly circulation dropped from 53,000 in 2007 to 39,000 in 2012.
Its problems are not unique. Irish newspapers face falling circulation, recession-hit advertising revenue, and financial obligations which date back to the boom.
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George Osborne's blushes were spared when a vote on bankers' bonuses was deferred
By Sean Whelan, Economics Correspondent
In the usual way of Brussels stories, a local political win has hogged the headlines, obscuring another story of great consequence.
Yesterday’s nod of approval by the ECOFIN council for the Troika to look at an optimal way for Ireland and Portugal to re-profile some of their official lending was not the main item on the agenda.
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Ulster Bank CEO Jim Brown said the Government is not doing its bit on mortgage arrears
By David Murphy, Business Editor
The nightmare of mortgage arrears is perhaps the most urgent problem facing Ireland.
Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan has accused banks of making slow progress on the issue and has, in particular, told the financial institutions to begin repossessing buy-to-let properties from delinquent borrowers.
Ministers too, are happy to wag their fingers at the bankers.
However Jim Brown, the Chief Executive of Ulster Bank, has pointed out that both the Central Bank and the Government have yet to live up to their commitments on the issue.
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