Debt sustainability for individuals, companies and countries is a very important concept.

When I started working in the world of economics many moons ago, there was a cliched-term often used in popular discourse called ‘Eurosclerosis’. It was a term coined to describe and capture the anaemic growth that had characterised Europe for years.

The fallback deal to ensure there is no return to any border or checkpoints in the North is now “legally firm”, the Government has said.

European leaders must not miss the upcoming chance to start putting integration back on track, write Herman Van Rompuy, Fabian Zuleeg, and Janis A Emmanouilidis. 

The economies of the Danes, the Dutch, and Finns remained intact during the downturn while we went into receivership. David Begg’s analysis of why should be noted by every policy maker in Ireland, writes Fergus Finlay.

The Greeks, credited with creating western civilisation, may have saved it in a near cataclysmic moment for Europe, more profound than the aftermath of 9/11.

The ongoing fiasco in Greece is a clear indictment of the inadequacies of the whole Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) concept. 

The ongoing fiasco in Greece is a clear indictment of the inadequacies of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) concept.

For a relatively small country that has been totally mismanaged from an economic and financial perspective for decades, the eyes of the world are on Greece at the moment, writes Jim Power.

After a delay of more than two years, a €500,000 unit for monitoring seizures in people with poorly controlled epilepsy has finally opened at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

While we do not yet have complete economic data for 2014, it is clear from all available information that economic recovery was a key feature of the landscape in the year just past.

Polarisation between the eurozone’s ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ has repeatedly raised questions about the composition of the economic and monetary union, writes László Andor

The European Commission’s assessment of our economy makes for sobering if not dispiriting reading.

A €500,000 specialist unit for monitoring seizures in people with poorly-controlled epilepsy has lain idle for a year while more than 100 patients in vital need of assessment remain on a waiting list.

Next year will be crucial for the EU. Citizens will elect a new European Parliament, which will vote for a new president of the EU Commission. There will be a new president of the European Council and a new high representative for foreign and security policy.

WHEN economic historians look back at the first couple of decades of the new millennium, it will be characterised as the great recession which presaged the age of austerity.

The death of an epileptic patient could have been avoided, but the monitoring needed to decide if the person was suitable for surgery was unavailable at the time, a doctor said yesterday.

Progress on establishing a European banking union is uneven and stalled in some areas, but it is necessary for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to recapitalise banks and overcome eurozone tensions, deputy governor of the Central Bank, Stefan Gerlach said yesterday.

Fitch ratings agency downgraded debt-crippled Greece deeper into junk territory, warning of a “probable” Greek exit from the euro currency union if new national elections next month produce an anti-bailout government.

Greece’s wrangling politicians were locked in last-ditch efforts today to form a coalition government, with chances of a deal appearing slim.

The debate on the referendum on the Intergovernmental Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union, otherwise known as the fiscal compact, kicked off in earnest this week.

On Tuesday, I accepted an invitation to go on Vincent Browne’s show on TV3.

I have the dubious distinction of never having voted yes in an EU referendum.

With a few notableexceptions, the quality ofopposition currently being provided in the Dáil is nothing short of disgraceful.

FRANCE and Germany want a new EU framework to speed up progress for common corporation and financial transaction taxes.

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.

DEEP divisions are at the heart of prevailing paralysis in the eurozone.

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.

A claim by the president of the European Central Bank that the euro currency is not in crisis has been called “absurd” by Conservative MP Bill Cash.

THE economic and financial travails of Portugal and Greece are becoming more apparent by the day, while the bad debt performance of the Spanish banks continues to deteriorate.

IRELAND has had a tough time over the last few weeks with the IMF, EMU, snow, black ice and a severe budget.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen told a press conference on Thursday: “I don’t believe there is reason for people to feel ashamed or humiliated at all.” He was referring to the current financial crisis.

THIS week’s visit by Olli Rehn from Brussels sets the domestic mood music for the Government’s draconian budget.

THERE is no foreseeable way government spending can stimulate the economy’s fragile recovery next year, according to UniCredit economist Gillian Edgeworth.

EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) rates are expected to stay at their record low level for at least another year, but steady hikes are then expected.

IRELAND escaped the worst of the global recession thanks to its membership of the European Monetary Union (EMU); but it must still become more disciplined as a eurozone member, according to a new report.

THE euro could reach parity with the US dollar if there are further shocks in the eurozone, according to Ulster Bank economist Simon Barry.

THE Government’s most senior figures have moved to quell growing fears that the country’s low-corporate tax regime will be threatened by European plans to pre-police national budgets.

THE author of the controversial Bord Snip Nua report Colm McCarthy laments the fact that the Irish banks have not been bought out by larger European banks less exposed to banking meltdowns.

THE spectre of the bogeyman has re-entered Irish politics. The bogeyman is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with which we were threatened last during the 1980s. The IMF is the lender of last resort, the place where a country goes for money when it can’t get it anywhere else.

The 10th anniversary of the euro was marked today with the launch of a new €2 coin with a unique and simple design by a Greek artist.

THE success of European Monetary Union (EMU) and the euro has produced a strong currency that will remain so in the future, according to the European Commission.

THE Taoiseach recently said the economic doomsayers might as well contemplate suicide.

European officials have asked the public to vote on the design of a €2 coin.

THE euro is one of the main causes of our current economic problems and has been for some years now.

THE Taoiseach is reported as saying (Irish Examiner, September 6) that when Fine Gael-Labour coalitions were in power in the 1980s and 1990s the economy floundered, and that “when they last had the chance, this country was nearly down the tubes.”

IRELAND’S property bubble has the potential to destabilise the economy, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warned last night.

INTEREST rates from 1.7% to 7.3% would apply in the euro zone if European Monetary Union did not exist, the Dublin Economic Workshop in Kenmare was told last evening.

FROM the perspective of borrowers in Ireland, the last few days have been quite interesting.