Opening Session Feasta Annual Conference, Friday September 23rd 2011
Good morning everybody.
I have been asked to make the opening remarks today, and to set the scene for the two very interesting sessions that are to follow today. They deal with the questions of whether Ireland’s future is in the Euro-zone or not, and whether the introduction [...]

Should We Listen to Economists Anymore?
The dawning realisation that conventional economic thinking, that did not foresee the crisis, cannot help solve the problems we now face means that we must be open to exploring new economic ideas.
It is time to move beyond criticizing the clear shortcomings of our country’s economists and politicians and consider – [...]

Dear Editor,
Having followed the ongoing public debate on Ireland’s massive debt crisis, I welcomed Michael Casey’s recent opinion piece “Increasing money supply can halt deflationary cycle” published in the Irish Times (14/4/11). His proposal that greater monetary autonomy could be exercised by the Irish Central Bank makes an important new contribution to that debate.
Other [...]

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, and the opportunity to make a statement on the agriculture and agrifood sectors. Like many others, I acknowledge the range of challenges facing both sectors. Senators referred to climate change, trade agreements, the pressure of large multiples pushing down the prices farmers get for their produce, the [...]

The Minister is very welcome. Since his last visit to this committee, Ireland has been allocated the new research and innovation portfolio in the European Commission. I wonder what the Minister’s view is of the importance of this portfolio to Ireland and to the post-Lisbon strategy. To what extent does he believe the post-2010 Lisbon [...]

Greens in Government
The Irish Green Party has found itself in Government for the first time during a very interesting but extraordinarily challenging period. Little did we realise when we optimistically negotiated the 2007-2012 Programme for Government with our coalition partners that we were about to face into the worst global, and domestic economic recession since [...]