Budget 2014 On the Way

Irish people have had 3 years of Austerity Budgets - with cuts in welfare, increases in taxation and loss of public services.  The 2014 Budget is going to be the last one under the EU/IMF bailout program - and we can expect more of the same stuff.  It is expected that another €3.1 billion will be found by making more cuts in spending, more cuts in welfare and more increases to taxation.

In previous budgets - pensioners have been protected from cuts to the state pension - whilst childbenefit has been cut along with most other welfare payments.  With negative inflation in recent years - it could be argued that the state pension is due to be cut - but will the government be able to cope with a pensioner backlash?

The Budget date is Oct 15th this year instead of December - this is to fit in with EU timetables. The leaks and  rumours will be flying about all over the place in September as the politicians try to scaremonger the population.  By "leaking" false cuts or tax increases - the ploy is to get the general public to feel relieved when they find out the reality is a smaller cut or tax increase. It happens every year.

Later in 2014 we will have the new water charges in Ireland - which could average out at €300 to €400 a house. On top of the property tax - this coul be the final straw for many people. Emigration might become more popular.

Online Shopping is Growing in Ireland

Spending on online shopping by Irish shoppers hit  €1.4 billion in 2012 and is predicted to rise to €2.8 billion by 2018. 
A report by Mintel also found that 35 per cent of people in Ireland had shopped online in the previous three-month period, ( The UK figure was 65%) .

Overall in Europe , online shopping is probably still in its infancy, with ecommerce sales not exceeding 10 per cent in any of the markets examined.

The proportion of all sales generated online in Ireland is curently about 4.3 per cent. That is estimated to rise to 4.9 per cent by the end of this year, before reaching 7.6 per cent by 2018. Compared with the UK, where 2018 will see online shopping account for 15.2 per cent of all sales by 2018.

Ignoring travel - most online shopping purchases in Ireland are clothes and sports goods, with books, magazines and elearning materials also popular.

More on this site which is a directory of Online Shops that Deliver to Ireland