There’s little evidence of the extra 2,500 digital gaming jobs to which Richard Bruton aspired in his 2011 initiative, says John Hearne

House prices have risen by nearly 15% in the past year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Second-level courses in Russian, Japanese and Polish are being designed as part of Government efforts to increase foreign language skills for job creation.

Some 32,000 businesses were started last year with great expectations, writes John Daly

Entrepreneurship is on the rise, with a study showing nearly 70% more people set up their own business last year than in 2012.

The appointment of Martin Shanahan to lead the IDA comes at a time of global economic change, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Encouraging home-grown entrepreneurs is key to the next stage of this country’s recovery, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

The renewed enthusiasm among Leaving Certificate students for the study of languages (‘Languages gain student popularity in Leaving Certificate’, Irish Examiner, 10 March) bodes well for Ireland’s future economic development and the promotion of a multi-cultural, linguistically diverse society in Ireland.

A former Anglo Irish Bank board member was “horrified” when she discovered that businessman Seán Quinn controlled nearly a quarter of the bank’s shares.

Two official reports published yesterday point to disturbing failures of our education system.

More than 44,000 Irish jobs in information and communications technology (ICT) could be available over the next six years, but the industry still needs to look overseas for more than a third of recruits for existing opportunities.

A state body will pay €26.4m in rent up to 2034 on near-empty prime offices in Dublin for which it cannot find tenants.

Close to €3m was returned to the IDA last year by eight companies after they failed to create the promised jobs that they had received funding for.

It has emerged the State Agency Forfás spent more than €1.4m last year renting offices that were never used.

Combined pension costs across all State agencies amounted to just under €61.4m last year, and, nearly 80% of the Oireachtas grant given to trade advisory board Forfas was hoovered up by pension costs.

There was a 21% drop in the number of people starting new businesses in Ireland, last year, latest figures show.

Labour backbenchers are pushing their ministers to introduce a higher rate of tax in this year’s budget for people earning over €65,000.

Calls from Labour minister Joan Burton to increase the minimum wage are being met with resistance from Fine Gael who have concerns about the impact of such a move on job creation.

Executives in Leader groups are paid far less than their cohorts in comparable public sector roles, said IRD Duhallow chief executive Maura Walsh.

Ireland may benefit from the increase in wages in China as a growing number of companies look to bring manufacturing back to their core markets.

The consultancy firm Aramark Ireland is creating 25 jobs in its energy management division over the next 12-18 months to meet growing demand in the “green business” sector.

A high-profile initiative to create 20,000 manufacturing jobs within three years came under fire after the Government said no new money would go to the scheme and its budget remains unclear.

Only two counties have seen a net increase in jobs in companies supported by either the IDA or Enterprise Ireland since 2008.

Finding customers, not bank finance, is the biggest problem being faced by small and medium-sized business in Ireland, research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.

The export sector has been the beacon of light and hope in a pretty dismal Irish economic landscape over the past three years.

Cutting income taxes is an “important objective” for the Government, according to Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton, who said it must be “factored into thinking” on job creation.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton has said the burden of income taxation — particularly on average income households — needs to be addressed.

A State agency has paid almost €5m in rent on vacant space in the past five years on a building that it is unable to sub-let to others.

Nearly a third of retailers are in danger of collapsing according to Vision-net which has probed the accounts of more than 5,500 retailers.

IRISH companies are assessing the aptitudes and retraining existing staff to help them bridge skills gaps and boost business performance, a useful and efficient tool in addition to recruitment.

Thirty thousand jobs could be created in the renewable energy sector if the Government implements a series of radical reforms, experts have claimed.

The economy has stabilised but has still not recovered, with further reform essential to restore competitiveness, said the National Competitiveness Council.

The national policy advisory board Forfás has identified 14 areas that the Government should target for investment to put the economy on a solid footing for growth.

A new group has been given six months to come up with a plan for creating 20,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Fewer Irish people can speak a foreign language than in most European countries, as the Government stops teaching languages to 27,500 primary pupils.

Europe needs to review how agriculture’s carbon emissions are assessed, or risk seeing food production move to less eco-efficient countries like Brazil, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has warned.

Ireland and China have signed an agreement to deepen economic and trade links.

The Government will unveil its Action Plan on Jobs later today, which aims to create 100,000 new jobs over the next four years.

The IDA gave 341 times more grant money to companies in Dublin than those in Kerry over the last five years, adding fuel to the notion that the authority is doing little to create employment outside the main population centres.

Most of the 1,000 vacancies in the hi-tech industry can be filled by graduates of free courses announced by the Government and employers yesterday.

The Central Bank has said the rate of the slowdown in job creation in Ireland and the increase in job destruction are unprecedented.

The new President of the American Chamber of Commerce has today warned that US companies will bypass Ireland if education standards continue to slip.

RETIRED politicians, judges and other senior public servants will not be forced to take a cut in their gold-plated pensions in next week’s budget.

ISME has called for an immediate benchmarking of costs for SMEs, saying that the National Competitiveness Council needs to investigate the matter.