Category: Economic Development

Paris Agreement: €30bn Cost for Ireland.

The Paris Agreement will cost Ireland more than €30bn. Although the Attorney General advised the Government that it is necessary to have an indication of the overall costs of complying with the Paris Agreement on climate change prior to Oireacthtas ratification… Continue reading

Public Pay and Health: daunting challenges for government

By 2000 Ireland had become the fourth most competitive country in the world[1].  Growing at 11 percent, the economy was the most successful in the EU[2]. There was full employment[3].  The budget was in … Continue reading

Irish Health System Reform: reallocation to the front line

Ed Walsh                                                                             … Continue reading

Reforming Irish University Governance

Background
Once most of the world’s best universities were in Europe
• Governing board members drawn from within
• Many board members
• Rectors and Deans elected
Now they are in the US
• Governing board composed of external members … Continue reading

School-based Assessment: Deemphasising the Leaving Certificate

Ed Walsh

The startling rate at which the Irish school system is falling behind was highlighted in last December’s OECD’s PISA report
• In a decade reading levels in Ireland have dropped from 5th to 17th.
• 23 per cent … Continue reading

13 Steps to Reform Irish Education

1. Secularise and reform the education of primary teachers: more civics, science, math and modern languages.
2. Limit places in teacher education, making it an elite profession from which all but the most suitable are excluded
3. Upgrade the performance … Continue reading

Institutional Reform, MacGill Summer School 2010

The Challenge of Institutional Reform

Ed Walsh

The political leadership of ‘nouveau riche’ Ireland failed during
the past decade to make policy based on evidence; opportunity and public
resources were squandered.  Now, as
Ireland stares bankruptcy in the eye, we … Continue reading

Bord Snip Nua

Saving Ireland from economic bankruptcy is the crisis mission.  It has two phases. The first has commenced. It involves raising taxes to bridge a yawning gap between revenue and expenditure.  It is the crude desperation measure that governments grasp in … Continue reading

Ireland 2009: post budget analysis April 16, 2009

Only one word matters in rescuing Ireland from its downward spiral: competitiveness. This was the focus of Government policy in the 90s. It created the environment for investment, jobs and spectacular growth. It made Ireland the 4th most competitive country

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Making Ireland Competitive Again

January 18, 2009

Making Ireland Competitive Again

The economic crisis of 2008 is now drifting towards becoming a national calamity of unprecedented proportions with the prospect of bringing Ireland to its knees again. Unless a survival plan is produced during … Continue reading