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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #POLL The coalition has received a boost in the latest Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times poll. Support for FG is up four points, while for Labour it is up three points. Meanwhile, support is down by two points for Sinn Féin and there is no change for Fianna Fáil. Independents are down five points.
2. #HSE The Health Service Executive is to meet today with the heads of voluntary agencies and hospitals about the HSE funding they receive. The aim of the meeting is to ensure they are complying with their annual obligations.
3. #JOBS There are fears for 670 jobs after Liebherr, a crane manufacturer, said it is re-evaluating its ‘dependency’ on its plant in Killarney, Co Kerry. The move comes after an industrial dispute which led to the Labour Court awarding a backdated 2.5 per cent pay rise to employees.
4. #TOP-UPS Retailers are sending back the Central Remedial Clinic teddy bear mascot in the wake of the top-ups scandal, the Herald reports. It says that retailers don’t want to be linked with the scandal.
5. #GARDAÍ The new garda recruitment campaign begins today, with around 20,000 people expected to apply for an estimated 300 jobs. Hopefuls must be aged between 18 and 35, and must complete an online aptitude test.
6. #RENTS The average monthly rent in Dublin is now over €1,000, after growing by 6.4 per cent over the past year. In contrast, the latest research showed that the average rent in the rest of the country was €620, compared to €622 a year ago.
7. #STRATEGY Cabinet members are gathering for a special meeting this morning, where they will consider the government’s medium-term economic strategy that is due to be published next week. The strategy will detail the coalition’s economic priorities up to 2020.
8. #CHRISTMAS COST Half of a group of people surveyed will borrow to pay for costs this Christmas, with an average loan of €410. The Irish League of Credit Unions is warning people about the dangers of using high-interest money lenders.
9. #SIGN LANGUAGE The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s funeral has blamed a schizophrenic episode for his behaviour during the event. He had been branded a ‘fake’ by people who said his signs did not make sense.
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Christ, whatever you do, don’t ever predict anything good for the country. Journal commenters hate good news. SF keyboard warriors out in force this morning, hating that unemployment will fall. What patriots.
Good news. Strong economic growth continues for another year. Huge momentum in the construction and investment sectors. Look at the cranes on the Dublin skyline.
You do realise that Ireland extends beyond the Dublin city skyline?
Yep, in fact unemployment has fallen fastest in the south-west of the country.
The same ESRI that predicted economic growth in 2008.
They also said 3.5% growth back in 2008 and for 2010 to be a good year for growth. https://www.esri.ie/ /medium-term-review-2008-11/
Same that predicted a “soft-landing” in 2007/8 lol
They also predicted 4.2% growth for 2016 this time last year and were bang on the money.
@Fred Johnson: gdp figures are disappointing though only 3.5%, a big drop from 26% eh Fred.
@Derek Poutch: But the GNP figure of 8% for this year is remarkably strong.
I predict that the predictions will not be true. Seriously what’s the point in these. We make fun of psychics and fortune tellers but this is the exact same and for some reason we’re supposed to just accept it.
Totally agree.
@Simon Peters: They only predict what fg tell them to predict.
I reckon I can predict a few things. More people going homeless, more house repossessions, higher rents, more hospital waiting lists, politicians giving themselces a generous pay rise.
@Adrian: augh….tut tut tut Adrain..get that feel good factor, get into the Christmas spirit, we have turned the corner, in 2017 we are going to take the Celtic tiger out for a walk again..don’t be negative, don’t be pessimistic ..keep drinking Ltrs and Ltrs of that Christmas spirit and you to will turn into a pissed optimist with a lost sense of direction… as Mr Kenny follows Trumps lead to ‘MAKE IRELAND GREAT AGAIN’…ok fair enough, great for the select few, but great again never the less, because once them select few convince themselves the country has started making them money then thats the arument over, never mind what the rest of us think or what reality is.
Who is paying for these BS predictions FG/FF?
@Martin Ryan: Mystic Moggy and goat intrails?
The ersi is a self perpetuating bunch of bullshit artists, who frankly get paid for talking up the economy, with predictions based on their interpretation of flawed statistics, in the face of continuing downturn and financial hardship across the country. The only other group of people in the prediction business, who are held to account less, for their flawed predictions are newspaper astrologers!
Financial weather men for government didn’t hear much from these guys for eight long suffering years ,”come on let’s party like it’s 1999″
Keep the recovery going lads.
@Alex Falcone: sounds like ER !..in fact it looks like it to haaaaa
@Alex Falcone: I bet someone said the same on the Titanic as well?
This time next year I’ll be tearing down the Lee with a brand new jetski under my hole and a gourmet fairtrade organic artisan breakfast roll in my hand
@Quiet Goer: Health and Safety would stop you as your roll might get wet?
Well Hello everybody from Rural Ireland…..Could somebody open the door and let this continued economic growth out to rural Ireland…because one quick journey through it suggests the complete opposite.
@CJ Stewart: It is a tale of two economies. Dublin is growing very strongly and is in fact being hampered by lack of infrastructure. Rural Ireland is stagnant. It is hard to see a solution for this other than continued migration to the cities.
The days of getting a factory into Kanturk or wherever to make widgets and employ locals are long gone.
Ah yeah, the experts. Hopefully they changed staff since the ones in 2008 missed the biggest economic crash in history.
At the Old Moore’s Almanac again or is that Old Moore’s Armagnac ???
have your say