TOP of the TOTS : Most Popular Baby Names in Ireland - 2009

REPUBLIC of IRELAND

	Boys	Girls
1	Jack	Sophie
2	Seán	Ava
3	Daniel	Emma
4	Conor	Sarah
5	James	Grace
6	Ryan	Emily
7	Adam	Katie
8	Michael	Lucy
9	Alex	Aoife
10	Luke	Chloe

 

NORTHERN IRELAND

	Boys	Girls
1	Jack	Katie
2	Matthew	Sophie
3	Daniel = James	Grace
4		Lucy
5	Ryan	Erin
6	Adam	Emily
7	Ethan	Emma
8	Charlie	Eva
9	Thomas	Chloe
10	Conor	Anna

Brazil celebrates in 187th birthday in Dublin

HIS EXCELLENCY, Pedro Fernando Brêtas Bastos, the Ambassador of Brazil and his wife Margarida hosted a most pleasant reception in The Mansion House Dublin last night to celebrate Independence Day.

Brazil secured its independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822, having been a colony since 1500.  Newly independent Brazil became a monarchy and was known as the Empire of Brazil under Emperor Pedro I and his son Pedro II. The new Empire started off with a population of 4 million, 29% of whom were slaves.

It became a republic in 1889, a year after the abolition of slavery in 1888. Apart from Cuba, Brazil has been the only country. The country had a population of 14½ million but only 20% could read and write.

There was a coup d’état in 1964 and the military remained in control until March 1985 and Brazil became a federal republic in 1967.

Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world and occupies almost half the land mass of South America.  Today, it is the world’s 10th largest economy and reforms have imbued the country with an international perspective.  It is also a founding member of the United Nations.

Last night’s celebration was well attended reflecting expanding ties between Ireland and Brazil. I met the Ambassadors to Ireland from Japan, Egypt and Malaysia. The Ambassadors from Germany and Russia were among the many other ambassadors attending.

I had an interesting chat with Jill Donoghue, the Director General of the Institute for International and European Affairs. She hosted two distinguished visitors at the Institute earlier yesterday – the President of the European Parliament and former Prime Minister of Poland, Jerzy Buzak. The Secretary-General of The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Marc Perrin de Brichambaut also spoke at the Institute about the role of OSCE in the modern security context.

Who pays income tax in Ireland?

A total of 2,261,236 individuals were liable for income tax in Ireland in 2006 – a time of full employment when the labour force had reached a record high. 41% of these people, 926,100  earned less than €20,000 and were liable for very little income tax.  214 individuals earned more than €500,000 and they paid over €34 million in income tax.  85 individuals earned over €1 million and 25 of these earned over €2 million in 2006.

Income tax accounted for 27% of the overall taxation revenue of the Irish Government in 2006.  Curiously, the projected yield from income tax this year, €12.47 billion, is slightly ahead of the 2006 return – despite there being 418,000 on the Live Register compared to 155,000 in 2006.

The total gross income (before adjustments and allowances) in 2006 of 2,261,136 earners was €81,517,980,000 (€81.5 billion) on which income tax of €11,976,340,000 was charged.  Allowances, deductions, reliefs and exemptions reduced the gross income figure to €76,494,900,000.  Tax credits amounted to €8,537,700,000.  The average tax wedge on gross income was 14.7% and on taxable income 15.7%.  Gross individual income represented 46% of Gross Domestic Product in 2006.

The ‘Schedule E’ - (PAYE component) of gross income was €66,956,400,000 and the public sector element of this in 2006 was €16.71 billion – 25% of the total salary and waged component.

The following table summarises the demographic profile of taxpayers

Category	Number of taxpayers	€ Gross Income	€ Tax
Single males	774,968	19,763,200,000	2,735,810,000
Single females	665,682	14,801,160,000	1,745,000,000
Married, both earning	391,212	29,174,110,000	4,860,930,000
Married, one earning	354,072	15,720,150,000	2,416,630,000
Widowers	19,101	669,420,000	94,240,000
Widows	56,101	€1,389,950,000	€123,740,000
TOTAL	2,261,136	81,517,990,000	11,976,350,000

904,944 taxpayers are exempted from income tax on grounds of low income or having sufficient credits, reliefs and allowances. 

957,233 taxpayers pay income tax at the 20% rate.  Their average income is €32,446 per annum and their tax wedge is 8.8%

The balance, 398,969 taxpayers, pay tax at the 42% rate and their average income in 2006 was €89,477 per annum.

The latter group represent middle-income earners and they suffer a a higher tax wedge – summarised for each category as follows:

 

Middle Income Earners

	Average Income	Tax Wedge
Single males	€66,379	25.6%
Single females	€58,979	24.2%
Married, both earning	€120,607	25.1%
Married, one earning	€111,208	27.3%
Widowers	€75,285	25.1%
Widows	€67,743	23.5%

Lower Income Earners

Some 41% of Irish taxpayers, 926,100 persons earned less than €20,000 in 2006 – most of which was not liable to any income tax.

Higher Income Earners

I classify 88,214 persons (less than 4% of all taxpayers) who earned €100,000, or more, in this category.  An elite cohort of 8,905 earned more than €275,000.  But some of these earned significantly more as the average earnings of this subset were €665,678.

Tax Restrictions on High Income Earners’

Regulations under the Finance Acts of 2006 and 2007 introduced, with effect from 1 January 2007, measures to limit the use of certain tax reliefs and exemptions by high-income earners.

This applies to incomes in excess of €500,000 per annum and they are required to pay an effective tax rate of approximately 20% on what is defined as a combination of adjusted income and ring-fenced income.

There were 214 Irish taxpayers with incomes in excess of €500,000 in 2007 and they paid an effective tax rate of 20.8% on this income.  The Revenue Commissioners collected €34.15 million as a consequence.

The type of reliefs that these individuals traditionally availed of include reliefs applying to artists and patent income.

The range of income and the number of taxpayers effected is as follows:

 

Adjusted Income €	Number of taxpayers
500,001 to 650,000	55
650,001 to 800,000	39
800,001 to 1,000,000	35
1,000,001 to 1,500,000	48
1,500,001 to 2,000,000	12
2,000,000+	25

Overseas travel to and from Ireland implodes

The trend in May 2009 of overseas travel into and out of Ireland has dropped by 18.4% in May reflecting weaknesses throughout the economy. Irish residents made 610,000 overseas trips in May – a drop of 10% in 12 months.

The following table summarise current trends:

 

(000)’s	Irish trips overseas	Trips to Ireland	from GB	from Europe	from North America	from other places
Jan-May 2008	3,045	2,951	1,547.6	959.6	335.6	109.9
Jan-May 2009	2,729.4	2,667.5	1,320.	927.3	325.3	94.7
Decline	-10.3%	-9.6%	-14.7%	-3.3%	-3.0%	-13%

 

Aer Lingus is suffering a severe downturn in its transatlantic passenger traffic with passenger numbers in the first 6 months of 2009 down by 14.2% from 613,000 last year to 526,000 this year.  This has translated into an even more severe impact on revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) which has dropped by 17.7% in the case of its long-haul business from 3,487,000,000 to 2,871,000,000.

The latest passenger traffic data from Ryanair relates to May 2009 – even though Ryanair promises to publish monthly passenger trafiic data within 5 working days of the end of each month.  Today is Wednesday, 15 July.  The May figures show passenger numbers increasing to an annualised 59,573,427 from 52,464,692 in May 2008.  Ryanair increased in load factor in May 2009 from 80% to 81%.  This compares to an overall load factor at Aer Lingus of 74% for the first six months of 2009, up 1.2% – attributable to its short-haul business.

Banking Salaries in Ireland and Elsewhere

When the Governor of the Central Bank, John Hurley, appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs on Tuesday, 10th March, he explained that the public exhortations of the Central Bank that highlighted risks to financial stability in Ireland from August 2007 were “not as effective as they might have been and they did not lead to a sufficient or timely change in behaviour”.

The Central Bank of Ireland's share of the paid up capital of the European Central Bank since January 2009 is 1.1107%. As a member of the European system of central banks it has no direct influence over interest rate determination but maintains responsibility for monetary policy functions and economic analysis - but there seems to be little attention to the latter, judging by the behaviour of the Irish banks and Mr. Hurley's comments.

The Committee were reminded that the Governor is paid an annual salary of €348,000, a figure that reflects the voluntary reduction taken by the Governor last October from the €368,000 that he had hitherto been paid.

It is interesting to compare the salary for this position with those whose influence on global economic affairs is absolutely pivotal and whose utterances and nuances hugely impact the world investment climate and the effectiveness of economic recovery initiatives.

The U.S. Federal Reserve System consists of 12 federal reserve banks located in major cities throughout the United States supported by the Federal Reserve Board based in Washington DC. The System as a whole employs almost 20,000 persons and the Board employs 2,053 persons. The annual salary of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Mr. Ber Bernanke, is $191,300 (€150,000), and was approved by the US Congress in February 2008.

The President of the European Central Bank, M Jean-Claude Trichet, oversees a staff of 1,499 persons and was paid €351,816 last year. He is also provided with a residence, in lieu of a residential allowance, but his salary is subject to EU tax, pension, medical and accident insurance deductions.

The Oireachtas Committee observed that the Canadian banking system “had operated quite well with prudential supervision of a high standard”. The Bank of Canada Governor, Mr David Dodge, whose 7-year term concluded on 31st January, was paid a salary scale the maximum point of which was CAN$407.900 (€250,000).

The Central Bank was founded in 1943 and Mr. Hurley is the 9th governor. He and seven of his predecessors formerly held the position of Secretary General of the Department of Finance. The exception was Mr. Maurice Moynihan, co-drafter of the 1937 Constitution and formerly Secretary of the Department of the Taoiseach.

The salary of the governor is therefore influenced by the salary of the Secretary General of the Department of Finance. This was set at €303,000 on 14th September 2007 by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector, in its 7th general review, a figure that may have been reduced voluntarily by the current incumbent.

Charity Begins at Home!

The Irish Government may not have anticipated the grave extent of the exchequer deficit at the end of February, but this deficit, the enormous increase in unemployment and the threatened reductions in welfare in the forthcoming budget are all indicators that must surely alert the Government to rising levels of destitution, neediness, distress and desperation in this country. Ireland will no longer be a rich nation and the national economic wellspring is severely weakened.

The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2007 published by the Central Statistics Office indicated that the risk of poverty in Ireland at that time was 16.5% and that 5.1% of the Irish population endured consistent poverty. There is now a compelling need for urgent new thinking, fresh priorities and new practical initiatives, beginning with a separate approach to aid and welfare by the Government.

The Irish Government, through Irish Aid, has spent more than €5.3 billion on overseas development assistance making the nation one of the most generous donor countries in the world. Ireland committed to spend 0.7% of GDP on official overseas development assistance by 2012 at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000. That ambition is laudable and realistic when the resources to achieve it are ample but this is not the case in the foreseeable future and the Government needs to pardon itself from fully meeting this objective within that timescale. Charity begins at home and a portion of these resources are now badly needed to provide aid at home.

This arises in the context of the number unemployed in Ireland escalating from 165,000 to 365,000 requiring a further €200 million in welfare support and with singificant further increases anticipated. There has been a 19% drop in tax revenues in January and a 20% drop in retail sales in 2008.

A significant amount of FÁS resources are distributed to community related initiatives at least some of which, like meals-on-wheels in provincial areas, have essentially a charitable purpose and need to be realigned and accounted for as such.


The Government could begin by diverting at least €100 million to augment the diminishing resources of credible long-established voluntary charities, such as The Society of St Vincent de Paul, The Simon Community and others that directly alleviate dire need and galvanise their voluntary efforts. Their reputation is impeccable and their integrity above challenge. Their overheads are modest. Their modus operandi is focused, practical, widely understood and readily acclaimed. Their reach is extensive and their impact is mighty.


The Department of Community Rural & Gaelteacht Affairs could be augmented to act as overseer of such an initiative and create inspired guidelines and policies. The distributions of funds to the charities could be controlled by an independent commissioner operating to specific guidelines and accountable to the Public Accounts Committee.


There is a well developed and experienced set of voluntary agencies in this country that operate overseas and which demonstrate great flair in fund raising and promoting their work. The Irish people are deeply compassionate and demonstrate enormous generosity in their support of these, particularly at Christmas, Lent and in response to catastrophes’, strife and famine. There is no reason to believe that this spirit will abate and Ireland should continue to be a prominent donor to the relief of distress throughout the world while the Government is not ignoring the consequences of imminent poverty at home.