SGC Business

Besides the main coursework this year on micro economics it is important to note some of the main events in 2016 that may appear on this years macro questions.

1. BREXIT – Impact on Ireland

• Trade with Britain / Balance of payments / tariffs (Britain expected to stay in customs union with sector specific deals)
• Northern relationship-  Good Friday Agreement
• Demand for Irish agri- business / Irish farming sector employment
• Lost revenue for Government
• Immigration for Irish into Britain

2. Homeless crisis/ housing crisis

Homeless Crisis

• Unaffordable rents- increase in families without homes (rent caps?)
• Insufficient temporary accommodation
• Protestors open NAMA owned Apollo House to shelter homeless
• 

Housing Crisis

• Housing in urban areas – excess demand
• Government initiative ‘Help to buy Scheme’ – this will increase demand and prices well in excess of supply
• Construction employment is starting to grow in Dublin & Cork- 14,088 residential units were built this year. Not enough to meet demand ( Construction Industry Federation)

EU Immigration Crisis

• Numbers- from June 2015 to November 2016 – 1.3m people have travelled to Europe. 3,740 people died making the crossing across the central Mediterranean. 21.3 m people are refugees (51% children) to date globally mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia.
• Six wealthiest nations- US, UK, France, Germany, China, Japan host 9% of the refugees, 86p%are hosted in developing nations.
• Ireland’s actions- Irish Refugee Protection Programme announced a plan to welcome 4,000 Syrians, 750 have arrived.

Irish Tourism 2016

• 8.8m tourists visited Ireland in 2016-up 10pc
• Expected to increase further- uncertainty from value of sterling, international  security, inflated hotel prices in Dublin etc.

Key economic indicators will be covered in class.

Sources: Sunday Business Post Jan 1st, Irish Independent Jan 1st, CSO, Trading Economics.