The ESRI’s withdrawal of a report this week has seen a similar scenario of critics lining up. But with Frances Ruane as director, the institute has a better reputation than many others in Ireland, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

An employment report by a state-funded think-tank could be used in a cynical way to drive down social welfare rates in the next budget, it was claimed today.

The co-author of a controversial Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) report which suggested that 44% of working families would be better off financially on the dole has said he is surprised it has been withdrawn.

Some of the most valuable paintings in state-owned AIB’s vast corporate art collection were unveiled to the public at Cork’s Crawford Art Gallery yesterday.

AGRI AWARE has won the 2010 Agricultural Journalism Awards for Incredible Edibles.

The findings and recommendations of a major report into health sector funding and resource allocation will be discussed at a conference in Dublin today.

A PRIMARY care card for everyone who registers with a GP is proposed in a report launched yesterday by Health Minister Mary Harney.

The Government was today urged to scrap a series of medical care entitlement cards in favour of a single-tiered system reflecting a person’s health and ability to pay.

An independent group of experts is recommending reform of the GP system that would see people paying a maximum of €40 per visit.

Over 120 leading Irish and international economists, economic commentators and senior policy makers from Ireland and the North took part in the first high level North-South economic forum in Dublin today.

An expert group has been set up to look at how money is spent in the health system, headed by the director of the Economic and Social Research Institute Professor Frances Ruane.

BUILDERS and developers should be left to go to the wall if they can’t survive the economic downturn by their own efforts instead of looking for state intervention to prop them up, the head of the country’s leading economic think-tank has said.

Ulster Bank was voted Business Bank of the Year with National Irish Bank picking up an award for best Retail Banking at the KPMG Financial Services Excellence Awards.

SELLERS are expecting as much as €35,000 less than their original asking prices for their homes this year.

PROFESSOR Frances Ruane has been appointed as a director of the Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI).

EVERY ounce of reform and modernisation should be squeezed out of the public service in return for the €1.1 billion yearly benchmarking bill, one of the country’s top economists stressed over the weekend.