The Government risks "repeating the mistakes of the past" unless it listens to the National Competitiveness Council's warnings that rising rents and cost of living could topple the Irish economy.

Rising rents, high interest rates and the increasing cost of doing business are among the threats to Ireland's competitiveness.

While the Irish economy is performing very strongly on the surface, it is clear on closer examination that the country does have a significant concentration risk.

It is easy to dismiss the idea that we live in exceptional times, that our situation is unprecedented.

US tax cuts and trade wars, as well as Brexit and high rents at home, have put Ireland’s business competitiveness under threat, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said.

The Government has said it is open to the legislation giving effect to the abortion referendum being named ‘Savita’s Law’.

Strong support is needed for our domestic base through what looks set to be tricky times — a challenge that could be as great as that of 2011, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

As employment in Ireland returns to levels last seen a decade ago, many businesses are discovering that an economic recovery has a downside.

Advice of expert groups must be heeded as the stakes are very high, says Jim Power

Delays and high costs linked to the filing of cases are causing cracks to appear in Ireland’s judicial system, damaging the country’s legal competitiveness in the process, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Two new reports have warned about the impact Brexit could have on Ireland.

Irish living standards and prosperity face “a serious and imminent threat” if Ireland fails to rein in costs, the National Competitiveness Council warns.

It remains to be seen if Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar is capable of shaking off the complacency

Nearly every flashpoint issue bedevilling our world is rooted in how wealth generated in a society is used or shared — or if should be shared at all — to benefit everyone in that society. The eternal stand-off between property rights and the common good remains unresolved and, if history is anything to go by, it is likely to remain so.

The room available for tax cuts and spending increases in future years appears limited despite the Government raising growth forecasts in its new economic outlook.

As the hard Brexit looms larger, the biggest challenge will come from the disruption in customs and logistics.

The Government has been accused of “not learning their lesson from the property crash” after it emerged that house prices have risen almost 8% over the last year.

Irish firms require improved training to boost productivity in key industries, according to the latest scorecard from the National Competitiveness Council.

This is the business year in review from July to December.

In the harsh world of international business, the pressure to perform is unrelenting.

Enda Kenny made big claims five years ago. Yet businesses, and particularly SMEs, are facing the same old problems, writes Peter O’Dwyer

Since the Brexit referendum there has been quite a bit of criticism of the Irish Government because it has not come out and published a contingency plan for Ireland to deal with the UK decision.

The Institute for Management Development’s (IMD’s) World Competitiveness Yearbook 2016, released last week, showed that Ireland had moved briskly up the international competitiveness ranking to seventh position globally; the most competitive country in the eurozone, and third most competitive across the EU as a whole.

Ongoing increases in domestic costs — such as wages, utility prices, property and business services — pose a large threat to the country’s sustainable recovery, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has warned.

Ireland’s economic recovery and its chances of attracting foreign firms will be put at risk if the Government’s controversial rent reform plans fail to calm surging hikes for tenants, as well as house prices.

The Government should use the improving economic situation to bolster investment in capital infrastructure — but ensure it avoids the “speculative” investment mistakes of the past, an economist has said.

It has been claimed on many occasions over recent years, and particularly in the banking inquiry, that nobody warned about what was going down in the economy in the build-up to the crisis. 

Businesses in Cork are as confident as they have been at any stage in the last six years, but are increasingly unsure of the impact of government policy on stabilising the economy.

Today, Kehlan Kirwan looks back on a good week for Ireland, with a number of job announcements and positive growth figures suggesting the economy is powering up. Kehlan argues, however, that all is not what it seems.

The National Competitiveness Council is warning that Ireland's employment growth is under threat unless there is more investment in transport, energy and broadband.

Three former Anglo Irish Bank executives will be sentenced later after being found guilty of trying to defraud Revenue; up to 300 new jobs are being created in Tipperary; the US dentist who shot Cecil the lion ’wanted to hunt elephant’; and Patrick Vieira believes Man City’s Irish star Jack Byrne is just as "nuts" as Roy Keane. Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com round-up.

The Government’s competitiveness watchdog yesterday warned the bedrock of the country’s recent economic revival was under threat, on the same day Ireland’s mantle as Europe’s fastest growing economy was further cemented by "spectacular" growth figures.

The competitiveness underpinning Ireland’s economic growth — which has seen more people return to work — is under threat from a range of factors that need to be urgently addressed.

Peter Clinch, one-time advisor to former taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has been appointed chair of the National Competitiveness Council.

In October the Government ignored the advice from domestic and international agencies such as the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, by implementing a mildly stimulatory budget rather than the €2 billion adjustment that had been pencilled in for some time.

Further structural reforms are needed to improve Ireland’s competitiveness, according to the annual report from the National Competitiveness Council.

The Government is missing out on savings of around €55m a year due to its failure to tackle workplace absenteeism.

Any erosion to Ireland’s cost competitiveness could jeopardise job creation, damage living standards and undermine the economic progress of recent years, a new report has found.

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

Ireland stands to benefit from any potential changes to international tax policies currently being considered by the OECD, and is playing an active and constructive role in their formation, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

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