LATEST ARTICLES
Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Lower tax rate on green diesel is not a subsidy
Colm McCarthy
There are tolls on parts of the inter-urban road network and at a few locations in Dublin but government has been scared to introduce direct road user charging
30 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: LDA has no silver bullet for housing crisis
Under-utilised land, public or private, even in the clearly under-supplied urban markets, is plentiful but useless without zoning and planning permission.
23 April 2025 Viewpoints
Our growing electricity demand
Electricity is already more expensive in Ireland than in competitor countries and will become more so if government fails to align planning policy with cost containment.
Colm McCarthy: Little revision in planning framework
No local authority, especially the four in the Dublin area, has any practical incentive to encourage residential development.
16 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Trump's tariffs
The remedy is in the hands of the US administration, which could unilaterally bring the Irish revenue bonanza to an end.
9 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: reviewing promises in the Programme for Government
UK: if the economy grows quickly enough, the borrowing targets are credible.
2 April 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: evolution of EU's CAP
For a small open economy, it makes sense to encourage production in sectors where there is a prospect of domestic and export sales on advantageous terms.
26 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: planning system problems
Planning - the system is tilted against the vigorous pursuit of priorities which are acknowledged at national level.
19 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: It’s not just tariffs that could hurt – our taxes are targets too
The capital programme was halved in volume by 2014 and has only lately recovered to pre-crash levels.
12 March 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: planned restrictions at Dublin airport
Any restrictions on early morning aircraft movements are a particular headache for Aer Lingus.
5 March 2025 Viewpoints
Ireland's recent rail infrastructure review
The Central Statistics Office has estimated that in rural Ireland, outside towns with a population of 1,500 or more, only 5% of households do not own a car.
26 February 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: capital projects don't always overshoot cost estimates
If we can deliver large, once-off, infrastructure at bargain prices in Ireland, why not use as intended?
19 February 2025 Viewpoints