And we are making the same mistakes again; any money we have will be spent on public sector pay rises without reforming and improving the efficiency of how public services are delivered. If structural productivity is improved then by all means increase pay but not until there is a collective and inclusive drive to make it all work better.Thinking about this thread, it seems to me that the situation at present is not unlike the situation when Ireland joined the Euro. The Irish economy is growing strongly, interest rates for the Euro are lower than they would be for an Irish currency. We really are getting a second chance to get it right.
Again, the structural inefficiencies in the construction sector have not been addressed at all. I have watched the houses and apartments being built on the river road in Finglas over the last year and the workmanship is deplorable, the lack of pre-formed and pre-assembly in what are identical units is shocking and the general dirt and chaos of the site is typical of how we build homes. While demand exceeds supply and there is no international competition we will continue to have a slow and inefficient sector which produces shabby overpriced homes. The problem wasn't just lack of regulation it was also a lack of skill and a lack of integrity from tradespeople, engineers, architects, surveyors and developers.I wouldn't be as negative as many commentators about our performance last time round. We built a huge number of houses, we built schools and roads. We got some things wrong, we narrowed the tax base, we spent what was in effect one-off income expanding on-going commitments. We allowed the economy to become overly focused on construction,
Get a UK or Mainland company to build a few billion worth of units in their factories and assemble them here. They would be cheaper and better quality and would free up supply in the domestic market thus dampening down costs.Well we have a property tax now albeit small. We also have legislation damping house prices and rents. But we are not building enough houses.
We won't really improve anything, there are too many vested interests with too much power and influence.It will be interesting to see if we do any better this time round. We should not become so obsessed with avoiding the mistakes of the past that we become afraid to make the best use of current opportunities.
Can you expand on that point please?with those companies borrowing in another currency with their own interest rates.
Can you expand on that point please?
The bulk of GDP growth has come from MNCs. No MNC is reliant on borrowing from Irish banks, they're borrowing from the Euro or USD bond & loan markets.
Pricing in these markets are based on base rates over which the Central Bank of Ireland would have no bearing or influence (if the CBI was able to set its own rates).
Giving the Irish Central Bank the ability & authority to set domestic base rates would only impact the domestic economy - which is not the key driver of Irish GDP growth.
GDP is almost meaningless as a measure of how the domestic economy is doing and as a measure of relative state spending, i.e. what we spend per-capita on health or education etc relative to other EU countries.So therefore GDP growth is irrelevant in an Irish context?
Good point, obvious when you say it really as most good points are.The bulk of GDP growth has come from MNCs. No MNC is reliant on borrowing from Irish banks, they're borrowing from the Euro or USD bond & loan markets.
Pricing in these markets are based on base rates over which the Central Bank of Ireland would have no bearing or influence (if the CBI was able to set its own rates).
Giving the Irish Central Bank the ability & authority to set domestic base rates would only impact the domestic economy - which is not the key driver of Irish GDP growth.