Colm McCarthy

1 month ago | thecurrency.news | Colm McCarthy

Nobody should be surprised at Donald Trump’s isolationism, since the US president favoured high tariffs and tight borders well before he entered electoral politics. He campaigned on the America First ticket in 2016 and then pursued his vision, chaotically, during his first term. Trump is now seeking a broader zero-sum view of the world, backs Russia and is pitting an emerging alliance of powerful states against those who must submit, with Ukraine the current victim.

1 month ago | farmersjournal.ie | Colm McCarthy

In an uncertain budgetary environment created by threats to global trade and to Ireland’s corporation tax bonanza, the Government has been forced to acknowledge the failure of its numerous efforts to meet the housing shortfall. One of the magic formulae is the recurring illusion that the Government has piles of suitable sites that could be released for housing, without any site acquisition costs.

2 months ago | farmersjournal.ie | Colm McCarthy

A timely report just released by the Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) fills a gap left by official agencies, notably the Department of Environment, in formulating a coherent policy about energy security. Growing electricity demand, driven by population growth, the spread of data centres and rising demand for electric cars has resulted, for the first time, in reliance on substantial net imports of electricity over interconnectors from the UK.

2 months ago | farmersjournal.ie | Colm McCarthy

Had the news media declined to overdose the public on the tariff pantomime from Washington last week, greater attention would have focused on the revised National Planning Framework (NPF), approved by the cabinet on 9 April. The title is misleading as there is little sign of revision – the new framework is, in key aspects, a prisoner of the old.

2 months ago | thecurrency.news | Colm McCarthy

Tánaiste Simon Harris met US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington on Wednesday, coincidentally the day tariffs collected on imports from China into America kicked off at an initial 104 per cent rate – increased to 125 per cent later that day, according to a presidential social post. This marked day one of a new world order, potentially broader than a trade war and Harris, representing a small EU member state without an independent trade policy, had no cards to play.