The chances of Wednesday’s 24-hour strike by Ryanair pilots being called off narrowed significantly last night after the company said it would not be in a position to meet unions until that day.

1% of what Apple owes is the entire ‘fiscal space’ available, writes Brian Lucey. 

A striking feature of continental European cities is how human-centred they can be.

As the summer draws to a close it is useful to consider the impact of tourism on the economy. More particularly we can sometimes draw lessons and analogies from the tourism sector to the wider economy.

Ireland has an opportunity to position itself as a leader in an emerging technology, or perhaps a re-emerging one, writes Brian Lucey.

The recent release of new economic growth measures has again prompted a debate on regional — from which we can generally read urban versus rural — development in Ireland.

With each day that passes the ramifications of Brexit become ever more entwined. Leaving aside the damage that is being done to the UK’s economic and political reputation, we now see the stirrings of debate on a putative Irexit — an Irish exit from the EU.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Here's your morning news bulletin.

Workers are, in general, losing out in the economy, writes Brian Lucey.

Brexit, now that is is really happening, is going to cause a major strain on this country.

Ireland, even without resorting to the leprechaun economics jibes, relies very heavily on exports to contribute to economic growth, writes Brian Lucey.

Donald Trump is wrong. These four words can generally apply to anything the angry orange man in the White House opines on but he is especially, egregiously and dangerously wrong on jobs, writes Brian Lucey. 

The budget last week was a bland and pallid affair, designed to try to create an illusion of prosperity, a Potemkin Village of a performance.

Cassells’ report has cleared up the higher education funding landscape but many questions remain, says Brian Lucey.

In the EU negotiations Enda Kenny faces a number of problems.

Would you trust a banker?

In ancient Rome there was a political office called the Censor.

The relatively high interest rates that Irish small companies are being charged for their loans could affect perceptions of success in getting bank loans in the first place, according to research from TCD Business School.

The rich are, and have always been, different. I suppose we should be grateful that they are now just stealing our money, not actually eating us. So, there has been some progress.

Insanity, we are told, is doing the same thing time and again and expecting a different solution. By that definition — and this will come as no surprise to anyone who has watched the slow-motion train wreck that is the eurozone — the ECB is insane.

With the election under way we can expect the minds and energies of our political leaders to be focused elsewhere for the next month or so. However, the world doesn’t stop when the posters go up.

World stocks rebounded yesterday helping to pare some of the worst January losses since the crash, but experts warn that underlining concerns about the Chinese economy and global economic health will likely persist.

People often wonder what use are economists. In terms of climate change, this is a particularly appropriate question.

Third-level colleges generate €4 for every €1 they spend, and seven jobs for each person they employ, a study suggests.

Ten years on and we still don’t know what a tracker mortgage is, despite all the financial water under the bridge, and the collapse of the banking system.

The failure of Digicel Group to launch its initial public offering (IPO) has raised questions about the reasons why Denis O’Brien decided not to go ahead.

A solution could be found that resolves the arrears crisis while also providing houses at affordable rents for thousands of families, writes Michael Byrne            

Wage control, it seems, like much in Ireland, is for the little people, writes Brian Lucey. 

We as a polity are not big on evidence-based policy. We rather form an opinion, then seek evidence for it, or better yet, stay silent. This leads to sub-optimal decision making, to put it mildly, writes Brian Lucey.

We are not good at joined up planning in this State, writes Brian Lucey.

As I write, on Thursday afternoon, disarray reigns in the eurozone … again, says Brian Lucey. 

A cohort of the country’s leading academics has called on the Government to publicly back a European debt conference and offer to host the event, in a show of solidarity with Greece.

Has the European Central Bank gone feral? If it has, this is an appalling vista which must be dealt with. But it’s not clear how, writes Brian Lucey.

Just as all politics is, in the end, economics (what can we afford to do), it is reasonable to suggest that all economic policy is political (what can we afford to do), writes Brian Lucey.

If Irish Water is the omnishambles of 2014, then Anglo Irish Bank is likely to be the omnishambles of the first several decades of this millennium.

It’s little wonder that the Government has not pressed harder against the ECB’s approach to the banking crisis. Both seem unable to accept that a mistake, once made, should be acknowledged, and that this does not have to represent a humiliating climbdown but rather evidence of a learning organisation.

There is a classic syndrome in much organisational strategy which is called “escalation of prior commitment” . This is also known as ‘throwing good money after bad’. Sometimes the thing to do is stop.

The Department of Environment has dismissed fears that the current surge in Dublin house prices could collapse again if cash buyers and investors suddenly exit the Irish housing market.

In response to your headline ‘Banks to get rough on homeowners over debt’ (Irish Examiner, March 14), can I remind you that, in his column of September 14, 2013, Brian Lucey wrote: “It might be simpler for the incoming regulator to state that 35% (of after-tax income), with wriggle room of 5% either way, would represent an acceptable level of repayment for a principal private residence.

A couple of news items this week caught my eye.

Six of the country’s leading economists have strongly criticised the Coalition’s decision to exit the bailout without a credit line, saying bumpy economic conditions could force Ireland to seek one later but under harsher terms.