Sep 16, 2011

37% Increase in People Moving to Ireland

In the year ending April 2011 there was a 37% increase in the number of people moving to Ireland compared with 2010.  The 2011 figure for immigrants to Ireland was 42,300 - the figure in 2010 was 30,800.
This is the first time the number of people moving to Ireland has risen since 2007 - when a massive 109,500 people moved to Ireland.
The total figure of 42,300 people who moved to Ireland was mad up of 9600 from the UK , 7300 from the main EU countries, 6200 from the EU12 , 1000 from the USA and 16200 from other countries in the world.
The figures come from the Irish Central Statistics Office.

Of the 42300 people that came to Ireland - 48% were aged 25 to 44 and about 23% were aged 15 to 24..

There are still more jobs in the IT sector in Ireland than there are people qualified to do them. Employers such as Google , Amazon , Ebay etc are always looking for workers with IT and language skills .

Sep 2, 2011

Ireland - Recovery Looking Good

Ireland appears to be turning the corner - away from recession and may even be able to return to global money markets at the end of next year, according to a new report.

Independent London-based consultancy, the Centre for Economics and Business Research,  ( CEBR ) says it believes the austerity measures introduced by the Irish government are now paying off .

The report  says that Irish exports led by  pharmaceutical, IT and food sectors, will "gradually pull the economy out of its trough" and forecasts GDP growth of 2%  in 2012  and 4% in 2013:
They say that "Ireland is set to be one of Europe's best performers. George Osborne could learn some lessons from what Ireland has got right in turning an economy round."

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross who this week said that Ireland   will be the first European nation to recover from the sovereign debt crisis and "will once again become the Celtic Tiger".

In Ireland - the  Economic and Social Research Institute  is forecasting GDP growth of 1.8% this year.

"When we said a year ago that Ireland would turn the corner in 2011, few believed us. But there is now increasing confidence, reflected in falling bond yields, that this will happen. With a strong export economy and a successful 'internal devaluation', Ireland is set to be one of Europe's best performers," said CEBR chief executive Douglas McWilliams.

The attitude of the bond markets to Ireland has changed dramatically in the past month. As the eurozone crisis worsened, Ireland's bond costs reduced. Last week 10-year bond yields dropped to below 9% for the first time since February. CEBR is predicting they will fall to 6% in 2013 and 4% in 2014, widely considered a sustainable level for a return to borrowing from the international markets.

The CEBR report, along with Ross's comments, will help Noonan's campaign to put clear water between Ireland and Greece and Portugal. Ross recently staked his claim on Ireland's future fortunes by snapping up a stake in the bailed-out Bank of Ireland, helping it to avert full nationalisation.