Economists say that Ireland is in recession for the first time in a quarter of a century.
The Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) says that economic activity is contracting. The latest ESRI report forecasts that unemployment will exceed seven per cent of the labour force by the end of the year and that emigration will return.
This ESRI report pulls no punches.
Alan Barrett, of the ESRI, says that we have become accustomed to the economy growing but now for the first time we will have a smaller economy than last year.
The public finance surplus on which the government based its election promises will be all gone by next year. This will result in the return of emigration growth for the first time since the 1980s.
The ESRI argues that the government should break European rules and borrow eleven billion euros to run the country's finances next year. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan indicated that he has no intention of taking this approach. Opposition finance spokesperson Richard Bruton believes that we are now facing cuts that will hurt the most vulnerable in society.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 24 June 2008. The reporter is George Lee.
