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McCarthy, Colm
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McCarthy, Colm
Official Name
McCarthy, Colm
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 20
- PublicationEconomic aspects of personal injury compensation in IrelandVictims of events including road accidents, workplace injuries and medical negligence are compensated in the Irish legal system through once-off lump-sum awards. In cases where victims have suffered incapacitating injuries but have extended life expectancy, these awards include provision for loss of earnings and life-long medical care that can run into millions. Where liability is contested, significant litigation costs also arise, but even where liability is admitted, the determination of quantum is complex, requiring evidence about future medical care costs, loss of earnings, life expectancy and the returns to be expected from the investment of the lump sum award. The once-off lump sum system of compensating successful plaintiffs has been criticised over the years from both legal and economic perspectives, and change was recommended in a Law Reform Commission report in 1996. Mr. Justice Nicholas Kearns, President of the High Court, established recently a working group to consider the issues involved and charged it to report by November 2010. Since 1995, courts in the United Kingdom have been free to award periodic payments, as distinct from once-off lump sums, where the parties agree, and since the passage of the 2003 Courts Act, whether or not they agree. It is opportune to consider whether periodic payments should be introduced in Ireland and this paper reviews the principal economic aspects of the issue. The paper also considers whether a move to periodic payments would require changes to the government bond market, specifically the issuance of long-dated index-linked Exchequer debt.
251 - PublicationBrowsing onwards : Irish public spending in perspectiveIn the context of the current debate over standards of public services in Ireland and the appropriate level of public spending this paper reviews historical trends in Irish public expenditure, its relationship to GDP/GNP and comparisons with other EU states. The growth in Irish public spending has accelerated sharply in recent years. Since 1996 real public current expenditure (net of inflation) has grown by almost 70% and the figure for health is 136%. This rapid growth means that, on a per capita basis, public expenditure will be above the projected EU average for 2003 and health expenditure in particular will be amongst the highest per capita in the EU. Education expenditure will also be above the EU average. Assertions to the contrary would have been more accurate some years ago, but have been overtaken by the Irish spending explosion.
527 - PublicationOwner-occupied housing costs and bias in the Irish Consumer Price IndexThe treatment of owner-occupied housing costs is a recurring problem in the construction of consumer price indices, and there are competing methodologies. In the most widely-used Irish index, the Payments Approach, which attaches a weight to a term involving historical house prices and an interest rate, is used to measure these costs. It is argued that this has resulted in a substantial over-statement of inflation in recent quarters, and that the over-statement will continue for some time. The Irish version of Eurostat’s Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, recently running well below the CPI, is a more reliable guide. Few national statistical offices use the Payments Approach, and it is argued that the procedure used in Ireland should be reviewed.
286 - PublicationCrawling through the sprawl : commuting patterns, urban form and public transport in DublinThe process of residential sprawl and accompanying car dependence has become irreversible, to the point where the case for further investment in expensive urban public transport systems has been undermined. Investments in facilities such as LUAS are taking place in parts of the Greater Dublin Area with static or declining population. Bus-based public transport looks much better value for our capital city. At the same time, the Government’s planned decentralisation of 10,300 public sector jobs will simply add to the existing rapid population growth of many towns - some of which are already dormitory suburbs for Dublin - and will do nothing to reduce car dependency.
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