1/2: I have been working in Belgium since 2019. Both my nominal gross & net monthly salary are lower now than what they were when I worked in Ireland. HOWEVER, I feel much better off. Why? Because they state spends a lot on my behalf (especially healthcare), and I have a much lower cost of living...

Ireland faces a choice between immediate action or significant costs in the years ahead. Our report in collaboration with the Climate Change Advisory Council estimates potential costs. These could be reduced by more than half if actions are followed through on now.

#Ireland 🇮🇪 is once again the worst performer in the EU when it comes to use of renewables in heating and cooling. This news comes in the same week as the @fiscalcouncil.bsky.social warned that the state could face up to €26.4 billion in costs related to missing various climate targets. I despair.

Something weird going on with 🇮🇪 house prices. Observable transactions outside Dublin align perfectly with hedonic regressions. But in Dublin, the average price of what is actually sold is way off the hedonic price. Perhaps smaller, less expensive properties are simply not coming to market?

Very interesting exchange with Google's Gemini AI. It is happy to help me with assistance in French, but not in Arabic. It claims not to have the ability to even tell me how to say 'hello' in Arabic, due to vague 'cultural nuances' and an apparent desire not to give me incorrect information. WTF?

So, Eoin Ó Broin has only transferred 110 votes of his surplus to Eoin Ó Broin. Poor vote management there from The Eoin Ó Broin Party in #DMW #GE24 #GE2024

I haven't been on the other place even once today. The surge in popularity of Bluesky could not have come at a better time for Irish political nerds like myself #GE24 #Tally

The write-up on Ireland's election today in Le Monde hits the nail on the head. It is a country that is very rich on paper, but is in reality impoverished when it comes to the quality of infrastructure and the scale of public investment. #GE24 #Ireland

Well now.

The European Federation of Public, Cooperative, and Social Housing @housingeurope.bsky.social is now on Bluesky. Follow for frequent EU housing updates.

Israeli PM Netanyahu and ex-Defence Minister Gallant face ICC arrest warrants for "war crimes committed from at least 8 Oct 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.” aje.io/mse8rr

Sorcha Edwards: 🆕 EESC report rightly shows that public, cooperative & social housing is a point of reference. Dutch #socialhousing has already invested EUR10 billion but they also must be supported by economic rules at different levels & we must build these entities where they do not exist.

Will people who want to avoid 'accidentally' supporting the far-right avoid transferring to independents? Will people who do want to support the fash transfer to non-FR independents by mistake? Both seem very possible, it's just a question of which dynamic is more consequential #GE24

Ireland hasn’t had a single party win a majority since the 70s, but for the first time ever it’s not even theoretically possible as no party is running enough candidates in #GE24 to get a majority even if they won every race.

The question is, do I delete my Xitter account, or just let it go dormant? I don't have a public profile, but who knows what the future holds? Is the risk that some blue-tick fraudster takes my handle real? Or, what are the actual benefits of 'delete' vs 'go dormant'?

We’re going to hear lots of stories about which people, policies and rhetoric are to blame for the Democrats’ defeat. Some of those stories may even be true! But an underrated factor is that 2024 was an absolutely horrendous year for incumbents around the world 👇 

Marine Le Pen is guilty of fraud. Sentenced to 2 years in prison +5 years ineligibility as a political candidate. Very unlikely the two years in prison gets upheld (probably a suspended sentence), but the ineligibility likely will #FrenchPolitics #EUpolitics

Jumped back on Elon's hate machine just now to try and follow the results of #LE24 and it took me all of 30 seconds to remember why I left in the first place. Bad takes, tin foil hat wearers, and just blatant racist nonsense. What a swamp.

The Irish Times View on Increased Anti-Migrant Sentiment

I know everyone is rightly laughing at the "Make Crime illegal" tagline... But we should also appreciate the irony of the fact that this poster appears as though it could be in breach of section 140 of the Electoral Act, 1992, and thus itself might constitute a criminal offence.

Interesting new research on reinforced rent controls introduced in Paris in 2019. It finds that average rents in June 2023 were 4.2% lower than what they would have been had the controls not been introduced. www.apur.org/sites/defaul...

Very useful online tool to help develop social housing.

Here here www.euractiv.com/section/econ...

Holy shit

The German economy is in recession, and now German politicians are complaining that the ECB doesn't have a dual mandate. Up until now Germany has always insisted that it must not have a dual mandate. Chickens coming home to roost come to mind 🙄

The thing that is so completely nuts about wanting to extend the timeline for the phasing out of the combustion engine is that it is just going to eat up valuable R&D capital that should be used to develop better and cheaper EVs. Or, do German car makers want Chinese rivals to eat their lunch?

Fascinating results from the latest ECB Consumer Survey. Only one in five households have seen a growth in real incomes in the past year! The cost of living crisis is far from over on this basis... www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/economic...

Die 4 großen Mikroblogging-Plattformen

And the brain rot of so-called 'establishment' centre-right parties continues...The comments here from the CDU politicians are either incredibly disingenuous or incredibly naive. Who knows.

As if this had been in any doubt. There is a reason I gave up a Twitter follower base I had spent years cultivating. Not one more penny going to fuel the hate machine as a result of me and the content I was generating.

From the ECB’s staff projections: “Housing investment is expected to continue to decline in 2024 before recovering in 2025...The persistent weakness...is due to the considerable tightening of financing conditions...The adverse impact...is likely to be strong in 2023-24, and still notable in 2025”

If you're looking for a gift for someone, what about a year's subscription to Dublin Inquirer? It's a gift that keeps on giving all year. dublininquirer.com/s...

Ireland's national stats 🇮🇪 agency has released a new special review of mortgage affordability for the 2020-2023 period. It shows that on average, mortgage repayments are "affordable". However, low-income households face a very significant repayment burden, of over 40% www.cso.ie/en/releasesa...

Great guest post today by Pierce Daly, ECB economist, looking at the fine detail, nuances and complexity of institutional investment in Irish housing @daraturnbull.bsky.social @robkitchin.bsky.social @stephenkinsella.bsky.social @sanvanlan.bsky.social theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/institutio...

Eurostat has released its latest 'Housing in Europe' interactive publication. It's always nice to have the key metrics grouped together in once place 🏘️ ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/...

I have been on here for a few days now, and I haven't seen any keyboard warriors, ignorant racists, or bad take merchants. I'm not used to this "civil discours". Should I be suspicious?

Ireland works to restore decimated woodlands www.euractiv.com/sec...

IT’S THE MESS WE INHERITED IT’S THE AGEING POPULATION IT’S THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IT’S BED BLOCKERS IT’S THE PANDEMIC IT’S THE WAR IN UKRAINE IT’S THE UNIONS IT’S IMMIGRANTS Is it though.

The far-right party that surged to victory in Wednesday’s Dutch election wants to ditch all efforts to stop climate change. www.politico.eu/article/why-...

Fun fact There are 36 million Americans of Irish descent and only 5 million people currently living in Ireland. If your ancestors lived in Ireland in the 1800s, you are 9 times more likely to live in the USA than Ireland.

On Thursday night, I saw in real time how Elon's swamp artificially promoted hate mongers in #Dublin. I saw accounts with virtually no followers pushed to those looking for information. It was my breaking point. Time to begin again on #bluesky. Follow me for updates on #Housing 🏠& #EUaffairs 🇪🇺