Leprechaun economics? Ireland's pot of gold could vanish any time

T wo headlines from recent weeks offered conflicting pointers. On June 6, David Murphy, RTE's economics and public affairs editor, posted a report headlined: 'Latest GDP figures hint at return of Leprechaun Economics'. A day later, Michael Murphy wrote a piece for The Daily Telegraph headed 'No more leprechaun economics: Ireland's tax swindle is finally ending'.
You pays your money, you takes your choice. In fairness, David Murphy's piece for RTE was tentative in its conclusion and built heavily on the remarkable news from the Central Statistics Office that the Irish economy had grown by a staggering 9.7 per cent in the first three months this year. This was an example of leprechaun economics at its best: showing the vulnerability of Irish economic data to American multinational decisions that have little to do with domestic developments.

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The Sun

38 minutes ago

• The Sun

Six ways to find secret sales for high street shops and supermarkets – from email junk trick to price checking tactic

BARGAIN HUNTER From website search tricks to key dates to log in the calendar, you could save hundreds on your shopping with our tips NEED something new but don't want to pay full price? There are lots of tricks for finding little known discounts and offers that are harder to find. 3 HARRIET COOKE reveals how to find secret sales for your favourite high street brands. TREASURE YOUR JUNK Hate all those junk emails from shops flooding your inbox? Don't delete them, they could save you a fortune. The key is to manage them properly. Set up a separate account and use it to sign up to your favourite retailers' email lists. That way your regular inbox won't overflow. Scan through your 'junk' inbox for sales and offers. Tom Church, of money-saving site said: 'I've signed up to over 2,000 retailer email newsletters. 'I can search for 'sale' to see which retailers have launched a new sales event.' Email offers we've spotted include 50 per cent off Clarks shoes and 20 per cent off at on a £50 spend. Sign up for newsletters, as you may be rewarded with exclusive discount codes and "VIP" invites to secret sales. Tu customers can get 10 per cent off, while Argos customers can get a £10 off a £60 spend voucher, if they sign up to newsletters. JOIN THE CLUB Loyalty schemes are a great way of bagging discounts, and many are free to join. Usually, you'll need to sign up by creating an online account and sharing details such as your email address and phone number. Members of the My John Lewis loyalty scheme can get a £5 off e-gift card to use on a £50 spend, as well as a free hot drink and cake voucher to use in store. Act fast, as many deals have a time limit. Halfords' Motoring Club is offering £5 off an MOT and 50 per cent off a Halfords Air Shelter camping tent until tomorrow (June 23). Tesco Clubcard holders get personalised Clubcard coupons in their app or with their receipt. Every 100 Clubcard points gives you £1 to spend in store, or £2 to use with 'reward partners' like Pizza Express and Disney+. GRAB A FLIER Grab an in-store magazine or flyer from your local supermarket. They contain information about discounts and sales. Aldi's leaflet is near the exit and published every two weeks. It lists six items at low prices in each issue. Recent offers include cucumbers for 69p, down from 89p, and a six-pack of apples for 89p, reduced from £1.49. Lidl's fliers are at the exit and reveal "pick of the week" discounts. These include 35 per cent on fresh fruit and veg, limited offers on meat, and multibuy offers on bakery items. Get three apple turnovers for £1.50. Tesco has exclusive offers in its in-store magazine, which you can also access online. These can sometimes be combined with Clubcard prices. This month there's a coupon for £1 off a four pack of Bonne Maman rhubarb yoghurts. They are also reduced from £2.95 to £2 for Clubcard members, so you can bag them for £1. SEARCH LIKE A PRO Use Google to see when a favourite retailer had its sale last year. Plot these dates in your diary - they can act as a rough guide for when this year's sale could launch. For example, if you search "Tu Clothing Sale", select the button 'Tools' and change 'Any Time' to 'Past year', you can work out when the previous sales were. Visit for discounts across shops like Dunelm and Boots. Follow brands on Instagram and TikTok. Many give away discount codes and offers on these platforms that don't appear elsewhere. Sage Appliances are running an Instagram competition to win a Sage Barista Touch Impress coffee machine, for example. BARGAIN WEBSITES Hundreds of discounted designer clothes and homeware items are available at the online marketplace Brands include River Island, Superdry and Asos. We spotted big savings like a £50 Asos party dress on sale for £11.23. also lists goodies from brands like M&S, Zara and H&M for up to 75 per cent off. Amazon Resale sells returned, open-box, or pre-owned products at discounted prices. Customers can save more than 30 per cent. We spotted a used gaming computer mouse for £90.94 which would be £119 if bought new. Ebony Cropper from the advice service Money Wellness, said: 'Prices often drop further on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 'You can sometimes get an extra 20 per cent off during quieter months like February or September.' CHECK PRICES Check an item's price history to see the cheapest it has been sold for. This is a good benchmark to figure out when to buy your shopping. If shops are selling the item at a higher price, it's worth waiting to see if it drops. Use to see what Argos has previously sold products for, and to track Amazon prices. Copy the link to the product page. The Wayback machine, archives screenshots from millions of different websites and can be used to see the previous cost of a product. 'I've saved £100 from shopping on secret site' BARGAIN hunter Emma Bradley has saved more than £100 on designer clothes and jewellery by shopping on a secret sales site. Emma, 49, from Gloucester, uses for big discounts. She's previously bagged a £99 AQ Logo Black Hoodie from Aquascutum for £48, a £55 silver mini skirt from Sosander for £32, and a £60 Swarovski bracelet for £20. Emma, who runs a blogger support and advice service Emma Bradley Coaching, said: "I love sites like Secret Sales. "Many of the lines are from previous seasons but it's great to find key pieces and timeless classics. "It's great for teens who want labels and branded clothes. It keeps the 'bank of mum' happy."

Daily Mail​

2 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Angela Rayner's workers Bill 'is a wrecking ball for the UK economy' that could wipe out struggling businesses, Tories warn

British businesses have been urged to rise up and fight Angela Rayner 's crippling new labour laws, amid dire warnings of the devastating effects they will wreak on the economy. Conservatives have sent an open letter to company bosses this weekend urging them to speak out against the Deputy Prime Minister's radical plans – or be 'sleepwalked into disaster'. Ms Rayner has been accused of taking a 'wrecking ball to the economy' with her Employment Rights Bill – which has also been dubbed 'the Unemployment Bill' over fears it will deter firms from taking on staff. The proposals, currently being debated in the Lords and due to take effect later this year, will make it more burdensome to employ workers and will leave businesses vulnerable to ruinous strikes. Central to the plans are the repeal of Tory trade union laws which will reduce the threshold for strike action and make union funding of the Labour Party automatic. But it also contains a raft of other measures, including the end of zero-hours contracts, strengthened redundancy rights, more flexible working and the power for ministers to take companies to employment tribunals on behalf of employees even if they do not want to sue. The Bill has led to tensions in the Cabinet, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves trying to dilute the measures as she battles to revive a moribund economy. Asked by The Mail on Sunday this weekend if she was working to limit the economic damage which Ms Rayner's measures are expected to cause, the Chancellor did not deny she was trying to mitigate the effects, saying: 'We talk all the time to businesses.' In the open letter, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith says he has been moved to act because he is 'genuinely concerned that British businesses are being sleepwalked into disaster' and the Tories cannot oppose it alone In the open letter, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith says he has been moved to act because he is 'genuinely concerned that British businesses are being sleepwalked into disaster' and the Tories cannot oppose it alone. He writes: 'We need more voices to persuade the Government to listen. The Government's own calculations – which many consider to be an underestimate – say this will cost British businesses £5 billion a year and the economy 50,000 jobs... This is not good for the economy. I know it and every business I speak to around the country knows it. 'I urge you to please share this letter with others, seek advice on the impact of the Bill from your professional advisor and encourage business groups to speak up clearly on your behalf.' Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Griffith said: 'The economy badly needs the growth that only business can create. Yet Labour's Bill for Unemployment is a trade union charter that will increase strikes, slash jobs and raise prices. 'Going back to 1970s-style domination by the unions is the very last thing Britain needs right now and shows just how little this socialist government understands business. Angela Rayner is taking a wrecking ball to the UK economy.' He was echoed by a chorus of leading business figures, including Lord Karan Bilimoria, founder of Cobra beer and UK chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce. He said: 'Making it easier for workers to strike will inevitably increase their number and frequency. This is like the 1970s, and look where that got us. We were called the sick man of Europe. 'We don't want to go back in time. Of course, you want fair employee rights, but there's got to be a balance. If you create the environment this bill is putting us on the path towards, it's going to be very damaging to business and our economy.' He called on the Government to 'think twice' before pushing ahead with the reforms. Luke Johnson, entrepreneur and former chairman of Pizza Express, said: 'At a time when unemployment is rising, the economy is weak and the number of failing businesses is on the increase, introducing a new swathe of burdensome regulations is, to me, little short of madness. 'In the 1970s our country was going broke and we had to go to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. 'It feels as if we are headed back towards that period. I lived through that time. But a lot of the MPs writing and supporting this bill are too young to remember what it was like. '[Angela Rayner] doesn't even speak the same language as people who work in the private sector. She has no clue what it's like to build a business and have your house on the line if you go broke, or struggling to pay wage bills and bank loan repayments each month. 'She just doesn't care. She only ever talks to people in the public sector, civil servants and trade unionists. But eventually, their ideology is going to collide with reality and unfortunately, they are going to drag the economy into a serious recession.' Alex Veitch, of the British Chambers of Commerce said: 'There remains a high risk of unintended consequences that could limit employment opportunities and economic growth.' And Luiza Gomes, from the British Retail Consortium, said: 'Maintaining a 50 per cent threshold for strikes is important to ensure ballot results legitimately and accurately reflect the consensus amongst workers, rather than the minority view.' A Labour spokesman said: 'The public will see right through the sheer hypocrisy of a party that crashed the economy and family finances now opposing better rights for workers. 'Labour do not think it's fair for workers to be sacked without any good reason or denied sick pay from the first day they are ill. The Tories and Reform need to explain why they do. 'These measures are developed with business, and good for workers and the economy.'

Times

2 hours ago

• Times

Boris Johnson's failed £1bn EV charger fund killed off by Labour

Boris Johnson's near-£1 billion fund to roll out charge points on motorways has been killed off after failing to attract applications from service station operators. The £950 million Rapid Charging Fund was unveiled by the former prime minister in 2021 to support the plan to install more than 6,000 super-fast charge points across England's motorways by 2035. The scheme was designed to provide a springboard for the UK to 'lead the western world in the provision of rapid and ultra-rapid public chargers'. Government sources confirmed this weekend that the fund had finally been scrapped in favour of a £400 million initiative designed to avoid the pitfalls of Johnson's scheme, which was shunned by motorway services operators. It comes as: ⬤ the government confirmed that company car tax breaks for electric vehicles (EVs) will be extended until 2030;⬤ polling by Ipsos Mori showed that worries about a lack of charging infrastructure are the main barrier to drivers switching from petrol or diesel cars to an EV; and ⬤ experts say UK EV public charging costs are the highest in Europe, with drivers paying up to £670 a year more compared with petrol or diesel. Johnson's Rapid Charging Fund formed part of his ten-point plan for a green revolution. Funding was designed to provide 'support on rapid charge points on motorways and major roads to dash any anxiety around long journeys'. The initiative is understood to have failed to garner interest from motorway service operators such as Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef as pilot schemes proved commercially unattractive. Among the complaints about the scheme were being bogged down in bureaucracy and being asked to commit to long-term power agreements that could lock in high costs years down the line. This weekend's confirmation of the decision to scrap Johnson's fund follows reports this year that ministers were looking into a revamp. The £400 million scheme for the deployment of charging infrastructure, announced during the Comprehensive Spending Review this month, is part of a broader package to support the uptake of zero-emission vehicles. Ministers this weekend confirmed that company car tax breaks for EVs would remain in force until the end of the decade, although discounted tax rates would rise to 9 per cent by 2030 from 3 per cent currently. The Department for Transport said: 'We're investing over £4 billion to support both industry and consumers in making the switch to electric vehicles, including by continuing to offer lower tax rates for EVs than those for traditional combustion engines.' A perceived lack of charging points remains a major barrier to switch to an EV, however. New polling by Ipsos Mori found that while 53 per cent of car owners said that they plan to replace their car by 2028, only a quarter expect that this replacement will be an EV. Concern about range is 'significant', the polling found. 'But underneath this concern our data suggests a level of nervousness and sense of a lack of information about EV charging, especially in public locations. It may be more accurate to talk about 'charge anxiety' rather than 'range anxiety',' Ipsos Mori said, in a report prepared for the Motability Scheme. For those with disabilities, the concern is more stark, with 69 per cent of respondents from within the Motability Scheme saying that they were worried about the distance an EV could travel on a single charge. Sales of battery electric vehicles grew 25.8 per cent in May and represent more than one in five (21.8 per cent of all new car sales), according to industry figures. Separate analysis concludes that the UK has become a global leader outside China in the uptake of EVs. But it warns that the cost of running zero-emission vehicles could outstrip that of a petrol or diesel powered alternative. UK EV public charging costs are the highest in Europe, according to a report by BNEF, a researcher owned by Bloomberg. This means that drivers will pay between £300 to £670 more a year depending on charger speed compared with petrol, the report's authors found. Drivers with off-street parking or those able to charge at home fare better, however. Despite UK residential electricity being among the most expensive in Europe, EV drivers would save an average of about £290 a year if vehicles were charged at home, the report found. Analysis by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit in 2023, cited by the government this year, found that new petrol cars could cost approximately £700 a year more to run than electric models.