Year in Review: Business Pension problems worsened, house prices rose and jobs went high-tech
* The year began with Ireland taking on the presidency of the Council of the EU. In a ceremony at Dublin Castle on New Year’s Eve, with the State’s seventh time in the role promoted as a “no nonsense, no frills” presidency. Allocating €60m for the six-month tenure that involves chairing meetings and steering the EU Council agenda, it was promised as a period focused on “stability, growth, and jobs”, according to the Taoiseach. “We’ll be in the business of solutions, a recovery country driving recovery in Europe,” he declared as the Defence Forces Band played Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’. “2013 will be about recovery, both for Ireland and Europe. As we become the first country in the eurozone to exit an EU-IMF programme, Ireland can and will be a success story for Europe again.” There would be no excessive entertaining in “very salubrious locations like Dromoland Castle and Ashford Castle”, Lucinda Creighton promised. “Everything will take place in State-owned venues, so it will be a very cost-effective presidency.”
