Daft Property - Irish Property News

EU now being threatened by its own central bank... IN the late 1980s, while studying at the College of Europe in Bruges, I was struck by just how pragmatic the European project appeared to be. Many of the lecturers and professors were deep EU "insiders" -- distinguished academics from all over Europe who had excelled in their own fields. They seemed to be the pinnacle of cosmopolitan sophistication, enlightened and aware of the various strands that had to be pulled together carefully to make the EU work. Back then, any moves towards more European power were characterised by patience and prescience -- a little move here, a pull back there, never overplaying the hand and, above all, the entire process seemed to be non-ideological. Over the past 10 years, this has changed. European wisdom has been replaced by EU dogma; lateral thinking exchanged for tunnel vision. The ECB is to blame. Those who, during the boom, pointed out that there was a central problem at the heart

ECB-IMF deal is a noose that will strangle economic recovery... OPINION: What the ECB and IMF have forced on Ireland is fundamentally corrupt and doomed to failure. WHAT HAPPENED to the Celtic Tiger? For many years, Ireland’s growth was based on fundamentals: investing in education and infrastructure to make the country an attractive place for investment and a gateway to Europe for companies from the US and Asia. But then, like so much of the rest of the world, Ireland was distracted by the lure of fast bucks and the wizardry of finance. As in much of the rest of the world, false economic doctrines advocating unfettered markets prevailed, claiming the seeming success of the economy as evidence of their verity. Not surprisingly, economic doctrines that helped create the crisis have not served the country well in dealing with its aftermath. With those still in office entering into international lending agreements that benefit the Irish banks and their debt holders but not necessa

Brace yourself...€200m cuts and tax rises on way. IRISH taxpayers are being warned to brace themselves for further hardship with over €200m in increased charges and spending cuts on the way. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said his 'mini-Budget' would include more cuts and tax hikes. While the Programme for Government contains a pledge not to increase income tax, there are many other indirect taxes which could be increased instead. These include charges for State services -- for example A&E charges. The Government has promised a 'Jobs Budget' within the next three months which will cost €220m to implement. But it has to raise this money in other ways to ensure that the funding from the EU-IMF bailout deal continues to flow. Wage In the Dail yesterday, Mr Noonan confirmed that the Government would need money to pay for measures such as reversing the cut in the minimum wage, halving the lower rate of employers' PRSI and reducing the lower rate of V