Month: March 2012

2010 Survey of Income and Living Conditions

The CSO have now released the full results of the 2010 EU-SILC.  The report gives lots of detail on income and poverty in Ireland.  One graph immediately stood out.

Care has to be taken when interpreting this as different households are surveyed each year and the composition of the households in each decile will also change.  Detailed tables can be seen in the report which can be compared to those in the 2009 release.

When looking at the annual change by household composition the following can be seen.

The largest drops are seen for households with one adult aged under 65 and no children under 18, and “other households with children”.  Drops are also recorded for other categories.

China to the rescue?

Thanks to frequent commenter Eoin Bond for the heads up on this piece of news, which may well be very significant for Ireland. From the piece:

The National Treasury Management Agency has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of China’s sovereign wealth fund which would allow the Chinese agency to buy Irish Government bonds.

The agreement was signed after Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s meeting with the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jia Bao. Ireland is scheduled to return to the bond market next year under the terms of the EU/IMF bail-out.

The official press release is here.

Launch of NERI

The Nevin Economic Research Institute has been launched – the website is here.

John Bruton on the Fiscal Compact

John Bruton’s speech from last night is here.

Promissory note news roundup

We have no deal yet on the 3.1 billion euro payment due on March 31st, but the government remains as hopeful as it was before the weekend that a deal will be struck. A legal challenge is being considered to the promissory notes by New Beginning founder David Hall, who is taking this case as an individual, not as a member of New Beginning. Finally, I’m a bit worried about the can-kicking plan’s lack of nuance.

Update: Governor Honohan expects we won’t have to pay the 3.1 billion at the end of the month.