Irish consumer sentiment hit a three-year high during June, a closely watched indicator has shown. The KBC Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 67.9 this month, which is its highest level since October 2007. This compares to a figure of 65.3 in May and to the index’s all-time low of 39.6 in July 2008. According to David Duffy of the ESRI, the improvement reflects a more positive assessment by consumers of both the current situation and also the forward-looking components of the index – the Index of Current Conditions rose to 88.4 compared with 82.5 in May, while the Expectations Index increased to 54.1 from 53.7 in May. “Expectations rose…

Vodafone has said that while it is in discussions with music rights holders, it is still too early to confirm that it will implement the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule as applied by Eircom against illegal file-sharers. Vodafone, which took over the running of BT’s unbundled local loop (LLU) DSL network in Ireland last year, making it the second largest ISP in the country, told siliconrepublic.com that discussions with IRMA have indeed started. “It is too early to speculate the outcome,” a spokesperson for Vodafone said. “We’re engaged in discussions with IRMA, and we’re looking forward to a broader discussion. We are acknowledging in principal the concerns raised by…

Nike has broken its own record for most watched viral ad in its first week of release, with its World Cup commercial ‘Write the Future’ clocking up more than 7.8m views in the first seven days of the campaign. The previous record – with 6.3m views in its first week – was Nike’s ‘Earl and Tiger’. The new ad was created by Wieden + Kennedy London and directed by Alejandro Gonzále Iñárritu, whose film directing credits include Babel and 21 Grams. Starring a host of top football stars, including Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Ronaldinho, Christiano Ronaldo, and Franck Ribery, it shows the life changing effects a split second on the…

Knowledge is the main driver of today’s global economy and countries need to harness innovation and entrepreneurship to boost growth and employment, the OECD has said. The Paris-based organization said in its Innovation Strategy that innovation will be key to a sustainable rise in living standards in OECD countries. According to the strategy, governments have a key role to play to boost innovation as some essential research often attracts little private-sector support. The OECD also said that the current economic crisis makes it even more necessary to push through reforms: “Governments battling to get their economies onto a sustainable growth path need to reduce administrative hurdles for new and existing…

Two recent analyses of Ireland’s economic situation have made for sobering reading. Writing in the Irish Times on Saturday under the headline ‘Burden of Irish debt could yet eclipse that of Greece’, UCD economist Morgan Kelly said that unless the Government abandoned the bank bailout, the country faces bankruptcy. Kelly, who correctly predicted the bust several years ago, said in his article that on the face of it Ireland’s debt position does not appear “catastrophic.” However, when the costs of the bank bailout are factored in the national debt could hit 115pc of GDP by 2015, “if we are lucky.” He warned that in the face of a borrowing crisis on the…