Archive for November 2024

Consumer prices rose by 0.5% in the year to November compared to 0.1% in October – the highest level in three months – a flash estimate of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) from the Central Statistics Office shows today. Recent sharp falls had put inflation among the lowest in the euro zone last…

A new research group designed to advance accountability in artificial intelligence (AI) has been launched at Trinity College Dublin. The AI Accountability Lab will examine the broader impacts of AI and hold powerful entities accountable for technological harms. The team behind the lab said that AI technologies have been shown to encode and exacerbate existing…

New Central Statistics Office figures published today show that retail sales fell by 0.1% on a monthly basis in October to stand 0.9% higher than a year earlier. The CSO said that excluding car sales, the monthly volume of retail sales was down by 0.2% in October and rose by 0.9% in the year when…

The National Treasury Management Agency said today it plans to issue €6 billion to €10 billion of bonds over the course of 2025 – the same range it set out for 2024. The NTMA ended up raising €6 billion this year due to the Government running a big budget surplus. The Department of Finance expects…

Cost competitiveness is the the top issue for American companies looking to expand in Ireland, new data shows. The latest survey of American Chamber members shows that 32% cited it as their top worry, up from 19% in the previous survey back in July. Housing also continues to be a big issue, with 30% of…

Slowing fuel demand growth in top consumers China and the US has weighed heavily on oil prices this year, although supply cuts from OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other allies, have limited the losses. OPEC+, which pumps about half the world’s oil, will meet on Sunday. Two…

US Federal Reserve officials expect inflation to keep cooling, signaling a gradual approach to interest rate cuts if price increases ease further and the job market remains strong, minutes of their recent meeting showed last night. If data came in about as expected with inflation moving towards policymakers’ 2% target, while employment remained solid, “it…

There has been a rise in the use of cash-in-hand payments for staff in the hotel and catering sector, according to new research. Excel Recruitment’s 2025 Salary Guide for the hospitality sector has found that as businesses struggle to balance budgets, some have started paying cash to workers. “With some establishments turning to cash-in-hand payments,…

Irish consumer sentiment was “steady but subdued” in November. The latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index, in partnership with Core Research, shows an index reading of 74.1 for November, identical to that in October. Only once previously in the near 29-year history of the sentiment survey has the index been completely unchanged between one month…

Irish workers are among the strictest in the world when it comes to ethically questionable practices like nepotism and fake sick days, according to a new survey. The research by the Institute of Business Ethics, in conjunction with the Compliance Institute, found that workers in Ireland were less likely than the global average to find…