OECD Economic Survey of Ireland 2025 Launch

The OECD launched the Economic Survey of Ireland 2025 on Wednesday,12 February 2025. The biennial Survey provides detailed analysis of economic developments and key structural challenges, as well as making specific policy recommendations in these areas. This year’s Economic Survey contains an in-depth thematic chapter entitled 'Making housing more affordable and resilient for all’, in addition to exploring recent economic developments, competitiveness, and the green transition. About the Speakers: Paschal Donohoe is the Minister for Finance. He was appointed to this role on 23 January 2025. Before this, he served as Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. Minister Donohoe was elected President of the Eurogroup of finance ministers in July 2020 for a two-and-a-half-year term. He was re-elected in December 2022, beginning his second mandate in January 2023. Álvaro S. Pereira is the OECD Chief Economist and G20 Finance Deputy. He oversees the Economics Department and ensures they are at the forefront of the international political economy agenda. He identifies ways in which the OECD can promote policies to improve member and partner countries long-term economic performance. Previously, he was the Director in the OECD Policy Studies Branch and OECD Country Studies Branch. Prior to the OECD, Mr Pereira was Minister for Economy and Employment in Portugal (2011- 2013) and was also a Professor at Simon Fraser University, Canada, a Lecturer at the University of British Columbia, Canada and at the University of York, UK. Müge Adalet McGowan is a Senior Economist and Head of the Japan/Ireland desk in the Economics Department at the OECD. Since joining the OECD in 2011, she has worked at several desks (Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden) and the Productivity team, where she conducted policy research on productivity, insolvency regimes, and skill mismatches. Before joining the OECD, she worked as a Lecturer in Turkey and New Zealand, and as an economist at the New Zealand Treasury. She holds a PhD in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. Dr Martina Lawless is a Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Before joining the ESRI, she received her doctorate from Trinity College Dublin and worked as a research economist at the Central Bank of Ireland. Her research has focused primarily on firm-level dynamics and decision making, covering a range of topics, such as access to finance for small and medium firms, effects of taxation, and participation in exporting. More recently, she has investigated the potential effects of Brexit and COVID-19 on firms in Ireland. Her work has been published in a number of leading international academic and policy journals. From 2017 to 2020, she was a member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and she spent 2023-2024 on secondment to the Strategic Economic Development section of the Department of Finance. John McCarthy is the Chief Economist in the Department of Finance, with responsibility for the provision of economic and budgetary analysis and forecasts. He is currently the vice-chair of the OECD’s Economic Policy Committee and an advisor to the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council; he was previously the chair of the European Union’s output gap working group and a member of the National Statistics Board. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin and an M.Econ.Sc from UCD. He previously worked as a senior economist in the Central Bank of Ireland. This event was co-organised with the Department of Finance and the OECD.