There's also some focus on emigration in the news, as more than 21,000 of Ireland’s young people received working holiday visas to Australia between July 2022 and June 2023, the highest recorded figure in 16 years, and there's more news of reductions in energy costs.
In case you missed it yesterday, the Indo collated the views of various experts ("leading economists and business leaders") on whether DPER should upgrade last week's offer on public service pay. As that sits behind the pay wall I'll give you a quick summary:
Jim Power (economist)...No.
Neil McDonnell (ISME CEO)...No.
Alan McQuaid (Chief Economist at Bloxham)...Undecided ("The argument would be that the economy is flush with funds and there’s a healthy surplus. You could argue that it’s easy to do it.")
John FitzGerald, (adjunct professor, department of economics, Trinity)...Yes ("the offer looks a bit low. You need to pay the going rate")
Michael McDowell reminds us today of the controversy around the original construction of Stephen's Green shopping centre in a piece about our planning system. In yesterday's quick survey 88% of you asserted Stephen's Green shopping centre's continuing iconic status, so who am I to disagree? You still have time to lodge your objections to An Bord Pleanála, the deadline is Friday.
Zen
As former Oasis mouthy lad Liam Gallagher and ex-Stone Roses multitasker John Squire team up to extract a few bob from the wallets of middle-aged men this year, it's as good an opportunity as any to introduce to you the wonderful Justin Hawkins Rides Again podcast.
Like