Daft Property - Irish Property News

Recession damage to Ireland is permanent, says OECD... THE global economic crisis has left deep scars that will take years to heal, but the Government must start now to plan for economic growth, said a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Highlighting the scale and depth of the recession, the report estimates a permanent loss of 3pc in output (GDP) on average across the 30 countries of the OECD. Unemployment will persist at higher levels than before the crisis. The report said Ireland has experienced a severe set-back in living standards that is "likely to have permanent effects". But it noted that, despite this, Ireland's per-capita income is now close to the average of the upper half of the 30 OECD countries. Structure However, the structure of the Irish economy means real income is 15pc less than output -- the second largest such gap in the OECD. In its review of Ireland's economic policies, the Paris-based thinktank sa...

Learning from the credit crunch. NEXT MONTH marks the second anniversary of the “credit crunch”, the global financial crisis which has led to the worst economic downturn Ireland has experienced in a century... However, these experiences can be put to good use by informing future investment decisions. While the most obvious lesson to be learnt from the crisis is that nothing is certain and anything is possible – who could have predicted that Anglo would be nationalised – there are basic investment fundamentals that got lost during the boom years that should be borne in mind. 1 Diversify, diversify, diversify: Diversification, whereby you spread your investments across asset types, industries and economies, is a fundamental investment technique aimed at reducing risk and increasing long-term returns. During the celtic tiger, when Irish property prices soared and bank stocks led the Iseq to boom, investors were loath to spread their investments away from the Irish economy. That has resul...

THE Irish banking system would have “totally collapsed” without the Government’s €400 billion crisis guarantee plan, the Tánaiste warned yesterday . Mary Coughlan made the claim as opposition parties attacked the rescue bid’s “vagueness”. The enterprise, trade and employment minister insisted failure to act would have tipped Ireland into economic meltdown. “We would have found ourselves in a different set of circumstances if we had not brought in this legislation. We would have undermined the system of banking and it would have totally collapsed,” she told the Dáil . Ms Coughlan was responding to demands from Labour leader Eamon Gilmore to explain exactly how much taxpayers were expected to put at risk to cover the rescue plan, and what banks would be charged if they take up the Government’s offer to cover their liabilities. “This country is being asked to go guarantor for the banks and in effect we are being asked to put up the deeds of the country as security in doing so. “How muc...