All but 6% of Irish people are better off working than they would be on the dole — but one in seven working parents with young children are worse off.

The furore around the recent ESRI paper that suggested that some 44% of workers would be better off on the dole, overlooked one thing: this report may in fact be nothing other than an attempt to validate the persistent attacks on those unfortunate enough to have to depend on welfare — most probably to justify further cuts in such supports, as opposed to taxing high end incomes to close the gap between revenue and spending, in the upcoming budget.

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

“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded,

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said she found it hard to see how the 44% of young parents on the dole were better off than if they were at work.

The ESRI thinktank may have pulled its latest working paper on the benefits of not working but its main conclusions are not new.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has this evening distanced itself from the controversial 'The Cost of Working in Ireland' report.

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suggested that 44% of working families would be better off financially on the dole has said he is surprised it has been withdrawn.

A supposedly sensational piece of research published by the ESRI has been withdrawn after doubts were raised about the accuracy of its analysis.

It seems inevitable that taxes will rise and welfare benefits will be cut if we are to meet our bailout obligations in the timeframe agreed by the Government and our paymasters.

ECONOMIST Richard Tol’s prediction, as he departed his ERSI post, to the efffect that Ireland faces another decade of economic austerity, might be wholly depressing, but it was scarcely a revelation.

FINANCE Minister Brian Lenihan should meet with energy company Siemens to discuss its offer to lend the state money to install domestic water meters, the Environment Minister has said.

WASTE collection operators have called for an immediate stoppage to all works on the controversial incinerator at Poolbeg in Dublin after the Economic and Social Research Institute admitted its recentreport on waste management policy contained some errors.

ONE of the major challenges in the years ahead will be to ensure the water we drink is safe.

THIS country faces a huge challenge, if it is to meet the targeted carbon emission reduction, according to Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan.

IRELAND’S greenhouse gas emissions are “insignificant” and government efforts to combat the problem will not matter on a global scale, a leading climate change expert has said.

Ireland has little chance of making its CO2 emission targets without the introduction of extreme measures, according to a leading ESRI researcher.