In 2012, Irish exports of food and beverages topped €9bn for the first time. Of this total, meat and live animals accounted for just under €3bn, or almost a third of total exports.

The greening of the world last weekend was quite extraordinary to behold. I witnessed some of it first hand in a very chaotic New York and was astounded by the whole ‘Irish thing’ that has virtually every nationality in the city wearing green.

THE eurozone crisis has now been effectively trundling on for the best part of two years, and rather than being closer to a solution it would appear that we may be as far away as ever, if the vague message that came out of last weekend’s summit is anything to go by.

OVER the past week we saw the release of two separate sets of economic indicators which clearly show the ongoing divergence in the Irish economy.

ANY growth there is in the Irish economy at the moment is being delivered by the export sector. This is good, but is not good enough.

FOR anybody sad enough to surf the economics blogs that have become so popular since the global economic crisis began in 2007, it is very apparent that the world of economics is totally divided on the most appropriate stance to take to turn the crisis around.

THE golden age for our economy was undoubtedly the second half of the 90s.

WHEN the EU leaders agreed a deal a few short weeks back to relieve the pressures on Greece in particular and the eurozone in general, sensible people recognised that this would only bring short-term relief.

THE suggestion from the Minister for Finance earlier this week that he may be looking for as much as €4 billion in Budget 2012, which will be presented in early December, appears to have created an element of surprise in some quarters. I am surprised that his comments have elicited any surprise in any quarters.

WITH a third of the year now gone, we are getting a more accurate picture of the real state of the public finances. The picture is not terribly pretty. In the first four months of the year the Irish exchequer had to borrow €9.9 billion to run the country. This compares to €6.9bn for the same period last year.