The Irish Economy

This year’s Dublin Economics Workshop (DEW) Economic Policy Conference, sponsored by Dublin Chamber, takes place in Clayton Whites Hotel, Wexford on 13/14^h September 2019.

The programme is available at this link. All bookings can be made via the website, www.dublineconomics.com, with special all-in fee packages available, which include 2 nights bed & breakfast and the gala dinner on Friday. Due to the large demand for accommodation, the booking system will be closing soon, please book now to avoid disappointment.

The line-up this year includes the Cantillon Lecture by Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and the William Petty address, by Dan O’Brien, Chief Economist with the IIEA. There are also sessions on the Euro at 20, on small open economies in a changing world, and Ireland’s labour market, healthcare and housing systems, as well as a session on sustainability, featuring Dermot Nolan, the Chief Executive of Ofgem.

The Department of Finance has published is third annual report on public debt, the aim of which is to provide a comprehensive analysis of public debt dynamics in Ireland. Aside from highlighting the main changes in public debt over the past year, this report introduces several new analytical pieces focusing on broader aspects of government debt, including the State’s balance sheet and several sustainability indicators. This is likely to be useful for students, as well as those with an interest in macroeconomics and the public finances.

You can find the report here.

The details for the 42nd annual Dublin Economics Workshop (DEW) Economic Policy Conference are now live. The conference, which is sponsored by Dublin Chamber, takes place in Clayton Whites Hotel, Wexford on 13/14th September 2019. Further details, including the programme and booking details, can be found at the DEW’s new website.

The line-up this year includes: Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; Dan O’Brien, Chief Economist with the IIEA and Dermot Nolan, Chief Executive at Ofgem. The conference covers a number of important topics this year, including the 20th Anniversary of the Euro, sustainability, housing and the labour market.

As well as a new website, with an improved booking facility, there are a number of other improvements to the conference, based on feedback received in previous years. This includes a more spacious room within the hotel and a gala dinner on the Friday night.

The latest edition of the Economic and Social Review is now available at www.esr.ie.

This edition contains the following papers:

Globalisation: A Macro-Financial Perspective – Geary Lecture 2019

Philip R. Lane

Household Energy Consumption: A Study of Micro Renewable Energy Systems in Ireland

Michael Chesser, Jim Hanly, Damien Cassells, Nikolaos Apergis

A Populist Wave or Metamorphosis of a Chameleon? Populist Attitudes and the Vote in 2016 in the United States and Ireland

Stephen Quinlan, Deirdre Tinney

Policy Section Articles:

Aggressive Tax Planning Practices and Inward-FDI Implications for Ireland of the New US Corporate Tax Regime

Frank Barry

Local Multipliers: IDA Supported Companies in the Irish Regions

Gerard Brady

‘You Don’t Miss the Water ’til the Well Runs Dry’: Factors Influencing the Failure of Domestic Water Charges in Ireland

J. Peter Clinch, Anne Pender

An Analysis of Antenatal Care Pathways to Mode of Birth in Ireland

Paddy Gillespie, Sharon Walsh, John Cullinan, Declan Devane

Users of Dublin airport in 2019 pay the daa up to €9.65 each time they use the airport’s infrastructure. Flying from Dublin to Stansted and back for example incurs four sets of aircraft charges, as each of the airports’ facilities are used twice.

Last month, the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR) proposed as part of its draft determination on Dublin airport charges that the price cap be set at €7.50 per passenger for the next five years (2020-2024). The press statement issued by the CAR stated that the proposed new price cap included all of the airport’s future investment plan, costing some €1.8bn. The CAR invited the views of interested parties by a deadline of 8 July.

The daa’s responding press statement expressed extreme concern at the proposed price cap especially because in the daa’s view the lower average charge  would not allow the airport operator to implement its investment programme.  On 14 June, the Irish Times reported that the airport CEO, Mr. Dalton Philips, had “stood down” work on new investment at the airport in protest at the proposed reduction in the price cap, seeking instead that the price stay close to €9.65 in the next regulatory period. Mr. Philips also set out the daa view on the Marian Finucane Show last Sunday morning (inter alia claiming the lower price cap would lead to a ‘yellow pack’ airport).

On the face of it, one might easily wonder whether higher (investment) spending could be funded from lower charges. This post is an analysis of that aspect of the proposed airport price cap.