There was considerable and obviously well informed speculation last weekend about a proposal to align regulation between the North and the Republic as a means of avoiding a hard border between both parts of the island, writes Jim Power.

Irish politics has been in a state of flux since the unusual general election of February 2016, writes Jim Power.

The export sector is the lifeblood of the small open Irish economy and if this sector is doing well, then the whole economy tends to do well, writes Jim Power.

Ireland does have a serious housing issue as manifested in a lack of owner-occupier and rental housing, writes Jim Power

We need to spend more money on public services and we need to reform in a serious way the manner in which they are being delivered, writes Jim Power.

Some people might not regard spiralling house prices as a negative development on the basis that higher prices could elicit more second-hand supply from people who have been sitting on properties since the crash and have been waiting for a recovery in prices to sell.

We now have a new Taoiseach and a new top team in place in the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

As scheduled, the Brexit negotiation process between the EU and the UK got under way this week, despite the continued political uncertainty following Theresa May’s disastrous election performance and her subsequent less-than-convincing behaviour.

Michael Noonan’s tenure as Finance Minister and Enda Kenny’s tenure as Taoiseach are both about to end over the coming days, writes Jim Power.