IRELAND has plummeted 14 places in the world economic freedom league, as the size of government’s role in the economy grows following the effective privatisation of much of the banking sector.

COMPANIES charging men more for car insurance and women more for pension policies will have to change the way they do their calculations in future.

ECONOMIC freedom in Ireland is on the decline the Economic Freedom of the World 2003 report states and it is getting worse according to the Irish contributors to the study.