Austin Hughes: Not to intervene over inflation may risk a wage-price spiral

The strength of the turnaround in the Irish jobs market has been much more forceful than that seen elsewhere

Shoppers on Grafton Street in Dublin. This week also saw some slight easing in Irish consumer price inflation to 5% in January from 5.5% in December.

A busy week for Irish economic data saw a sharp and widely shared improvement in the jobs market, a further rapid rise in property prices that partly reflects current economic strength, and ongoing cost of living pressures largely global in nature.

It is entirely understandable that the main focus in economic headlines at the moment is centred on cost of living pressures in general and surging property prices in particular.