European private media is consolidating into efficient, professional groups while digital multinationals hold the keys to the audience public-service broadcasters need to access. Ireland is no longer immune to this reality.
Now that there’s plenty of money available, the clamour for the state to splash out on infrastructure immediately is louder than ever. This is the worst time to do it, says Ibec’s chief economist.
“Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos,” said the perenially angry Walter character in Joel and Ethan Cohen's film. A swathe of the Spanish electorate voting this Sunday are on the same page.
The number of public servants has not kept pace with growth in the private sector, creating capacity bottlenecks. To catch up, pick one or two technical areas to get very, very good at and expand from there to add 100,000 state workers.
It’s perverse to think that the people asking the questions of the state broadcaster over recent weeks are those who should also be answering them.
To avoid having to pay much more taxes in 2050, Ireland should recruit workers. Our current posture — surprised and inconvenienced by population growth — is the worst of all worlds.
By any measure, Ireland is better off than at any point in time before. Yet it is also angrier. So, what gives?
If we have learned one thing from the two decades it took to build 72 homes on one Dublin site, it is that the public bodies involved in housing delivery must move from box-ticking to joined-up thinking.
With revenue of €4 million, the central charge against RTÉ in the case of GAAGO is that it is asking licence fee payers to pay twice, once through the fee and another if they take a subscription.
Surpassing the government’s target of 33,000 – as seems possible by 2025 – will be far from sufficient. Realistically, the country needs to be building at least 45,000 homes per year and probably closer to 60,000 homes per year for decades.
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