Archive for November 2021

The Government Climate Action plan – to be published today – will aim to have almost one million electric vehicles in operation in Ireland by 2030. The plan going to Cabinet this morning seeks to chart a course for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 51% by the end of the decade. It will…

Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf has written to the chairs and CEOs of regulated financial companies to remind them of their obligations around climate change. The Central Bank also said that it has endorsed the “Glasgow Declaration” made at COP26 today by the Network for Greening the Financial System, which is made up of central…

Unemployment fell to 7.9% last month, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, and it includes those in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment. This compares to the Covid-adjusted rate of 8.9% in September and 20.3% in October 2020. The traditional, seasonally adjusted rate of unemployment, stood at 135,200 people or 5.2%…

Growth in the services sector eased slightly in October from the previous month but remained near historic highs as the Covid-19 recovery pushed growth in prices and work backlogs to their highest levels in 21 years. The AIB IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) inched down to 63.4 from 63.7 last month and from a…

The public finances continued to recover last month, according to the latest Exchequer figures from the Department of Finance. There was an Exchequer deficit of €7.438 billion recorded at the end of October, an improvement of just over €4 billion on the deficit recorded over the same period last year. Tax revenue continues to come…

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that households saved over €31 billion in 2020, bringing their financial net worth to an all-time high of €312.8 billion. The CSO said this is almost three times the level of saving before the Covid-19 pandemic and is the result of higher household incomes and lower consumer…

The global business community is not prepared to deal with the climate emergency, according to Accenture’s Global Sustainability Services Lead Peter Lacy. The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding UN pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable policies. In its latest report with Accenture, it found that only 18% of CEOs…

There has been a 28% rise in the number of new companies registered in Ireland in the first nine months of the year compared with the same time in 2020, according to CRIF Vision Net. However, the figures suggest that start-up activity slowed in the third quarter, with growth of just 4%. This compares to…

With less than six weeks to go until Christmas, it’s time to start planning your shopping list – if you haven’t already – and staggering your spending so as to make your outgoings as manageable as possible. But just as important as managing your money for the things you are going to buy is figuring…

Getting 900,000 electric vehicles on Irish roads to slash transport emissions by the end of the decade will be difficult if current levels of cars sales continue, Morning Ireland has learned. Brian Cooke, Director General of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry [SIMI], told the programme that reaching the 2030 target – as set…