Economy – Page 75 – Slugger O'Toole

Assembly votes for free personal care for elderly in 2008-9..

Pete Baker on May 29, 2007, 6:32 pm

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This is an interesting one for several reasons, one of which I hinted at previously. The Assembly has voted, by one vote, in favour of an Alliance party amendment to a SDLP motion which called for free personal care for the elderly to be provided for in the 2008-2009 budget and onwards. But, and it’s a big but, only after the Alliance party demanded a recorded vote – the deputy speaker, the UUP’s David McClarty, had initially ruled that the …

City of Derry Airport to re-open at midnight

Pete Baker on May 29, 2007, 2:57 am

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Having suspended, provisionally, the City of Derry Airport’s aerodrome licence on midnight of the 24th May due to a “systematic failure of safety management”, according to the BBC report “Throughout the weekend contractors were on site completing a number of improvements” and, following a joint inspection by the CAA and the Airport Authority, the airport’s statement says – “Both parties were satisfied that the airport could re-open from midnight tonight (Monday 28th May).” Pete Baker

In praise of electronic voting…

Mick Fealty on May 26, 2007, 3:35 am

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Bertie clearly wants to get electronic voting in before he goes in four years time (one year before his term is up). On the drama of physical counting: “It’s exciting for a handful of people, it’s butchery for everybody else…” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

City of Derry Airport provisionally closed due to safety concerns

Pete Baker on May 25, 2007, 1:39 am

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The BBC report that the City of Derry Airport will close from midnight tonight following a decision by the Civil Aviation Authority to “provisionally suspend its license following an inspection this week.” They’ve cited the “lack of an effective bird control plan, unsuitable temporary repairs to the area where planes park and poor runway drainage.” The airport, owned by Derry City Council, was last in the news in December 2006 when it lost a two-year battle against a Freedom of …

Nuclear NIMBYism

Pete Baker on May 22, 2007, 3:08 am

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The British government’s white paper on energy, expected on Wednesday, is likely to follow the recommendation of the government’s chief scientific advisor, Sir David King, in October 2005 – “We need indigenous energy sources.. Indigenous supplies include all renewables and nuclear.” Planning changes are also in the pipeline. It is, in fact, a perfectly rational solution to the main public concern about climate change. Politically, however, it remains a sensitive subject.. not least in Ireland. The Secretary of State for …

Dodds backs all island gas market…

Mick Fealty on May 18, 2007, 4:14 pm

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Nigel Dodds reckons that an all island gas market, just makes common sense… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Good news; bad news…

Mick Fealty on May 16, 2007, 7:23 pm

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Not sure if this was a studied announcement, but it seems whilst Nigel Dodds is giving us the good news that there is more employment than ever: “the latest claimant count stands at 25,400, down 2,900 over the year… the unemployment rate is the second lowest among UK regions”. But Reg Empey has to report that literacy levels in Northern Ireland mean that a quarter of the potential workforce cannot read or write properly. “The economic loss to our community …

Waiting for Wolfowitz…

Mick Fealty on May 15, 2007, 12:18 pm

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The World Bank President blog is back on the job, with all manner of insider dope on the crisis at the World Bank. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

On the good effects of an economic bubble…

Mick Fealty on May 13, 2007, 7:29 pm

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David McWilliams’ book, The Pope’s Children: Ireland’s New Elite, accurately describes the economic boom and its social outworking for the Republic. Although McWilliams has since expressed concern about the sustainability of that growth, and in particular the massive growth in the housing market, it seems that even big bubbles are good for the economy in the longer term. At least, that is, according to Daniel Gross, who has just published a book called Pop!: Why Bubbles Are Great for the …

Getting beyond the mendicant’s bowl…

Mick Fealty on May 9, 2007, 2:29 pm

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The FT loses no time in getting to the point of having peace: building up rather than tearing down. In its leader today it argues that Northern Ireland should waste no time in getting its fiscal house in order. Northern Ireland lacks the freedom to determine its own fiscal arrangements in the way that the Republic of Ireland’s decision to set a corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent has helped it develop a vibrant economy. Yet even without that …

“It’s not all bad news..”

Pete Baker on May 9, 2007, 2:38 am

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Katharine Bryan of Northern Ireland Water has said the current workforce of about 1,900 will be cut to 1,400 as part of a new strategic business plan. According to the BBC The jobs will go over three years and will hit the firm’s industrial division as well as engineering, administration and scientific divisions. The not all bad news? “It’s not all bad news, it sounds a lot but in fact we have been able to transfer quite a significant number …

A lovely car?

Pete Baker on May 7, 2007, 6:30 pm

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A quick gathering together of what I’d suggest Ian Paisley is referring to when he talks of the “great hype right now”. And with the F&DFMIW apparently still talking to the Prime Minister Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown about that financial package, ahead of “the little pantomime” tomorrow, it’s interesting to know that Reg Empey agrees with them. Pete Baker

“We will set up a taskforce..”

Pete Baker on May 1, 2007, 8:44 pm

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European Commission president Manuel Barroso stopped off at Stormont on his way back from the US-EU summit in Washington to confirm £600million in European funds over the next 6 years – and a new study into NI’s economy and/or a taskforce to help finalise programming of EU funds. The BBC report mistakenly suggests that Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have already taken the posts of First and Deputy First Ministers.. Something the UTV report doesn’t do.. ANYhoo.. The Irish Foreign …

Northern Ireland not favoured by southern companies…

Mick Fealty on April 20, 2007, 11:20 am

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PWC’s annual Pulse Survey of Irish CEOs has some interesting detail on the attitudes of big companies to investing in Northern Ireland. Apparently only one third feel that Northern Ireland is an attractive location for investment when compared with the Republic. * 67pc of the respondents said Northern Ireland is not as attractive a location for investment compared to the Republic. * 78pc of multinational companies say that Northern Ireland is not as attractive a location for investment as the …

Wrightbus manager arrested on terrorist charges

Mick Fealty on April 13, 2007, 5:40 pm

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This is not welcome news for a company that has just landed a lucrative contract with Dublinbus. Darren Leslie Richardson, a factory manager at Wrightbus in Ballymena has been arrested and “charged with the possession of documents likely to be of use to terrorists and possession of a quantity of 9mm ammunition at the Wrightbus plant at Galgorm outside Ballymena, Co Antrim between a date unknown and the 11 April”. Update: See statement from the company below: Wrightbus Limited confirms …

Northern Ireland needs to confront its inner ‘subsidy junkie’

Mick Fealty on April 13, 2007, 2:30 pm

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Malcolm links to a particularly sharp leader in the Economist last week, which noted that: Over the 40 years of the troubles, the place has become a subsidy junkie that receives from Westminster £5 billion ($10 billion) more than is raised locally by taxation. More than a third of the 770,000 people in jobs are directly employed by the public sector (which accounts for nearly two-thirds of economic output), while half a million are officially classified as inactive. Part of …

Reliance on housing could spell recession, north and south

Mick Fealty on April 13, 2007, 1:53 pm

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The housing market in Northern Ireland is clearly extremely bouyant at the moment. Yet as Maria Farrell argues on Crooked Timber, housing markets can grow equity and to a degree private wealth, it cannot drive the economy in the longer term. She reckons that a narrow focus on keeping the housing market in play could make the Fianna Fail/PD government vulnerable in the upcoming election: The whole country has lost sight of lost sight of the fact that house building …

European Parliament to cap roaming charges?

Mick Fealty on April 12, 2007, 3:30 pm

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A committee of the European Parliament is to examine a proposal today to cap the roaming charges that mobile phone companies slap on customers for using their phones in another jurisdiction. It will be considering a number of, as yet, unresolved questions. Sarah Laitner in the FT: First, what should the price caps be? Several figures have been suggested, which broadly point to maximum fees of €0.50 a minute to make a call and €0.25 a minute to receive. The …

Timing is, indeed, everything..

Pete Baker on April 5, 2007, 7:09 pm

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The last time the Ballymena-based Wright Group made the headlines, following the announcement of a major contract, there were accusations of discrimination from Sinn Féin and calls for an apology from the DUP.. but that was then.. Today, fortuitously timed to follow yesterday’s handshake, Wright Group announced another major contract, this time worth £8million, with the Irish Government – to supply Bus Eireann with single-deck city buses. And the local MP, Ian Paisley, together with Irish Transport Minister Martin Cullen, …

“the best small country in the world”

Pete Baker on April 4, 2007, 5:49 pm

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In the Financial Times [subs req] economist, and Scot, John Kay, identifies belligerent self-congratulation as a common Scottish characteristic – although it could probably be evidenced wider afield – and whilst recognising the benefits of the Union in the two centuries following 1707 argues that “its effects in the subsequent 100 years is more uncertain.” It’s part one of a two-part argument. Although the FT article is subscription bound [adds actually it’s also available here], John Kay has his own …