Author: Patrick Mullane

Substantial fiscal consolidation a risk for UK and Sterling

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves faces a range of headwinds that will make it harder to meet her fiscal rule for a current budget balance by 2029/30; recent Labour government reversals on planned welfare cuts, likely downward revisions to the OBR’s projections for UK GDP growth, questionable plans for restrained spending from 2027 […]

Irish GDP data for Q2 2025 ahead of expectations

This week’s Irish GDP data saw growth in Q2 2025 revised up from -1% in the preliminary release, to a soft 0.2% gain. However, GDP was still up 17% in the year to Q2 2025. The message from the data is that the surge in exports and multinational sector output in early 2025 not only […]

EU/US trade statement provides some clarity for Ireland

Last week’s EU/US statement on the trade deal agreed in July provided a little more clarity, but left many questions unanswered. Crucially for Ireland, US pharmaceutical tariffs remain at zero, with the US accepting the 15% ‘all-inclusive’ rate on EU exports will apply as a ceiling, if tariffs are imposed following the current Department of […]

Irish employment at record high

Employment grew by 2.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in Ireland in Q2 2025 taking the number employed to over 2.8m, a new record high. While quarterly growth was very modest, at just 0.1%, this followed a strong 1.1% quarterly increase in Q1. Job gains were broad based, though employment in 4 of the 14 sectors fell in […]

Housing completions bounce back to 16-year high

This morning’s CSO data show that there were 9,214 residential completions in Q2 2025, up 35% on the year. This brings completions to 32,717 over the past 12-months, the highest level since2009. The disappointing 30,200 out-turn in 2024 was primarily due to volatile, lumpy apartment completions figures, which bounced back in Q2. The bigger picture […]

UK Infographic – July 2025

We expect UK GDP will increase by 1.1% in 2025 and 1.3% in 2026. Download the UK Infographic in full here: Bank of Ireland UK Infographic July 2025

UK Outlook – July 2025

Growth outlook broadly unchanged Our forecasts are largely unchanged compared to our last Outlook in May amidst ongoing global trade uncertainty. We expect moderate slightly below trend GDP growth of 1.1% this year (a minor tweak from our prior forecast of 1.0%) and 1.3% next year (unchanged). Unemployment is set to continue edging upwards to […]

The Art of the Deal

Time will soon start counting down to the August 1st self-imposed deadline for the EU & US to secure a trade deal. The stakes certainly seem high. Should the negotiations fail the US has threatened to impose 30% tariffs on Europe (10% currently), the EU preparing retaliatory measures hitting €94bn of goods imports and targeting […]

Ireland Infographic – July 2025

We expect GDP will expand by 8.1% in 2025 and by 3.2% in 2026. Download the Ireland Infographic here: Bank of Ireland Ireland Infographic July 2025  

Ireland Outlook – July 2025

New Ireland Economic Forecasts  Our new forecast is for 8.1% GDP growth in 2025, slowing to 3.2% in 2026. These upward revisions reflect the surge in exports and multinational output over the past 12-months, but also buoyant consumer and public spending. Our forecast for modified domestic demand has been revised up slightly to 2.9% growth […]