Daft Property - Irish Property News

They presided over the crash -- but no one was ever fired. An "endemic culture of rewarding failure" in Ireland has meant that not one person in the Department of Finance, the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator's office has been sacked for their role in the worst financial and economic crisis in history. While their former political masters in Fianna Fail were slaughtered at the polls in February, it has been confirmed to this newspaper this weekend that not a single official or adviser was laid off for their failure either to adequately prepare for the crash, or for their failure to deal swiftly with it when it happened. "Nobody in the Department of Finance has been fired since January 2008," a spokeswoman told the Sunday Independent. Friends First chief economist Jim Power said that while many of those who were in key positions during the crash have since moved on or retired, their departure has come at a significant cost to the taxpayer. "...

Ireland faces a tough road to economic recovery... LIMERICK , Ireland – Hard times. You took out a second mortgage to fix up the house. Then in 2008, Ireland's housing bubble burst. A year later, Dell Inc. closed its Limerick laptop factory, putting you and 2,000 others out of work. You're 58 and unemployed, and your home is financially underwater. Gerry Hinchy is fighting with Dell and his bank for better terms. But he knows the manufacturing work and the property boom are gone. "It won't come back. They can turn the screw in China for 50 cents an hour," he said. "What's done is done. The question now is how to get out of it." To overcome a decade of debt-driven growth, Ireland is gutting its way through one of the world's toughest austerity efforts. Economists here say Americans eventually will face the same belt-tightening to reduce the debts of government, businesses and consumers. The Irish say they could not wait. As one of 16 countries usi...

They're all away as we face Greek-style crisis Immediate action needed on debt, but Dail won't cut short holidays... THE Government is to leave the political apparatus of the State on holiday throughout September -- even though there is growing concern that the country could face a Greek-style crisis before the end of the year. Widespread bewilderment was aroused in high finance circles last week by the publication of photographs of the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, playing golf the day after Ireland's sovereign debt was downgraded again. In what is seen as an example of ill-judged timing, Mr Cowen played golf in Connemara on Wednesday with other seemingly carefree TDs and senators, who still have four weeks of a two-month summer break to go. But while the Oireachtas is in repose, enjoying a longer than usual break, the financial markets are in overdrive and are now evidently training their sights on Ireland with the apparent intention of again testing the resolve of the EU later...

'Returning to the spirit of Tiger Ireland is pointless. Only a completely new political movement can tackle the challenges'... DECLAN KIBERD : The UDC professor of English outlines what he believes needs to be done to fix Ireland NOBODY KNOWS what will happen next – not even our leaders. We walk as a community in darkness down a strangely unfamiliar road, into a new landscape for which there are no maps. Except, possibly, newspapers. Their sales may be in decline, but you can bet your life that more people are reading a newspaper, and in greater detail, every day. If you call into an office still lucky enough to be in business, you are likely to find people reading the morning paper. Four or five years ago, these readers would have been rushed off their feet with work to do and would have managed to glance at headlines only at the end of a fantastic day. The unwelcome increase in “free time” is but one reason for this heightened interest in current affairs. Another is the fact...

New-house completions at lowest since 1970s... HOUSE completions are to fall to their lowest level since records began in the 1970s. The number of new homes expected to be finished next year will be 10,000, whereas even during the recession-hit 1980s the lowest number of completions was 15,654 in 1988. A gloomy economic forecast from the Department of the Environment says it will be another two years before we see a return to economic growth. And it says that the estimated 150,000 unsold homes currently on the market will discourage new building activity for the next four years. The Construction Industry Outlook 2009-2011, conducted by DKM Economic Consultants for the department, finds that the current downturn in the industry is the most severe on record and that the number employed in the industry could fall to just 138,000 by the end of the year. This is half the number employed in 2006 at the height of the boom when 267,000 people worked in construction. New figures from the Depart...

Economist says 15pc chance of country going bankrupt... CUTTING the Irish minimum wage is an "economic no-brainer" while social welfare rates must also be tackled to kick the economy back into gear, a senior official at the Economist Intelligence Unit said yesterday. Economist Dan O'Brien also gave the Irish state a 15pc change of "going bankrupt" in the next year, a bleak outlook that comes just a month after ratings agency Fitch gave the country a 1.5pc chance of defaulting over the next decade. Mr O'Brien was addressing the AGM lunch of small business lobby group ISME, which had just voted in Kildare accountant Eilis Quinlan as their next chairman. Asked by Friends First economist Jim Power for his views on the lowering of the minimum wage, Mr O'Brien described the move as an "open and shut case from an economic point of view". Ireland's minimum wage, at €8.65, is the second highest in Europe. "You only have to look at the competit...

We are a nation of brooding pessimists, research finds... MAYBE IT’S our gloomy weather, 800 years of colonial oppression, or just listening to George Lee for too long. Whichever, it is official: we’re a nation of brooding pessimists. New international research shows Irish people have the darkest outlook on the economy and believe the current crisis will last longer here than anywhere else. That’s according to a poll of 19 countries on economic confidence. The Irish survey of almost 1,000 adults was undertaken by Behaviour Attitudes last month. A majority of Irish adults believe the situation is the worst it has ever been in their lifetime, while about half believe things will get worse in six months. When asked about the inevitable upturn, it seems the Irish habit of finding a dark cloud in every silver lining continues : most feel it will last well beyond two years. In contrast, people in the US are positively upbeat, with a majority expecting their personal circumstances will improv...

Cowen's call to arms in time of need... The nation is demanding an Obama-esque state of the nation address from the Taoiseach. Here, Frank McNally offers his take on what Brian Cowen might say... ‘FRIENDS, CITIZENS, COUNTRYMEN: lend me your ears! And not just your ears. If there’s anything else you can lend me, all pledges would be gratefully accepted. We have people ready to take your call now at the number showing on screen. But I’ll come back to that later. Sixty-five years ago, in the midst of another national emergency, Éamon de Valera addressed the people, much as I am doing this evening, and chose the occasion to outline his vision of the ideal Ireland. He said the country of which he dreamed was one whose people would be satisfied with frugal comforts, and who devoted their leisure time to things of the spirit. It was a land in which material wealth would be valued only as the basis for right living; a land whose countryside was bright with cosy homesteads; whose fields wer...

European journalists deliver the last rites to Celtic Tiger... EUROPEAN DIARY : European media outlets have been scathing in their criticism of a ‘Wild West’ financial culture ... THE CRISIS gripping the Irish economy is clearly the big news at home this week. But it is also hard to avoid the topic in Brussels, where journalists and diplomats are busy reading the last rites to the Celtic Tiger and rethinking their past praise for the Irish economic miracle. In the European Commission press room, colleagues from other EU states tend to broach the subject in one of two ways. Over a cup of coffee some ask concerned questions about what went wrong, who is to blame and what impact it will have on a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Others invoke gallows humour, telling the in-joke: “What’s the difference between Iceland and Ireland? Answer: One letter and about six months.” The BBC’s daily current affairs programme Europe Today repeated this – by now hackneyed – joke on air on Friday ...

RTE's biting satire ruffles feathers of Cowen circle ...Supporters unhappy at Cabinet portrayal as boozing buffoons: RTE has become embroiled in a potential controversy, reminiscent of the infamous Scrap Saturday furore, following the broadcast last week of a series of biting satirical sketches which have already ruffled feathers in political circles. Nob Nation, a topical comedy series broadcast each day on the Gerry Ryan Show on 2FM, last week portrayed some members of the Cabinet, including Taoiseach Brian Cowen, as hard-drinking buffoons, and made several joking references to "The Drinks Cabinet" . A flood of complaints was subsequently fielded by the programme, primarily in relation to Nob Nation's portrayal of Mr Cowen, but also several other members of Cabinet, including the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan. Mr Cowen was on government business in Japan last week and, therefore, did not hear the series. But supporters in Co Offaly are understood to have been upset...

New York, Hundreds of thousands of revelers rang in 2009 from frigid Times Square as the famous Waterford crystal ball dropped, signaling the end of a historic and troubled year that saw the election of the first black U.S. president and the worst economic crisis in decades. As the clock struck midnight, a ton of confetti rained down while the partygoers hugged and kissed. The wind chill made it feel like 1 degree (-17 Celsius) in the area, but that didn't deter the throngs who were cloaked in fur hats and sleeping bags. "We're worried about the economy but hoping for the best," said Lisa Mills, of Danville, Ohio, visiting Times Square on Wednesday night with her husband, Ken, and 17-year-old daughter, Kara. Former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who will become President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of state on Jan. 21, helped Mayor Michael Bloomberg lower the the famous Waterford crystal ball atop 1 Times Square for the countdown to midnight....