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Small Business Growth

Economy to grow at moderate pace despite record employment [Video]

A moderate pace of growth is expected for the Irish economy for the rest of the year according to AIB’s latest economic forecast.

The bank looked at modified domestic demand (MDD) which it said was “a less volatile gauge of domestic activity than Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”.

After years of rapid growth, MDD is expected to grow by just 2.3% in 2024.

According to AIB’s Economic Outlook for October, the domestic economy will be buoyed by further employment growth and a renewed rise in real wages as inflation normalises. 

The slow down in growth is expected as as the economy and labour market reach full capacity. 

The bank says MDD is expected to grow by 2.8% next year and 2.7% in 2026.

The report also noted inflation “has returned to its normal range and is expected to remain there for the near term”.

The report suggests the annual harmonised index (HICP) of consumer prices is expected to fall to 1.9% …

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Small Business Growth

Trump names Brendan Carr, senior GOP leader at FCC, to lead the agency [Video]

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC's general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesnt like.Carr has of late embraced Trump's ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in Project 2025, a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.Trump has claimed he doesnt know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed "the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth.Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans Freedoms, and held back our Economy, Trump said in a statement on Sunday. He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling Americas Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America.The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump gets to appoint a new member.Carr has made appearances on Fox News Channel, including when he slammed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris appearance on Saturday Night Live the weekend before the election charging that the network didnt offer equal time to Trump.Also a prolific writer of op-eds, Carr wrote in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal last month decrying an FCC decision to revoke a federal award for Elon Musks satellite service, Starlink. He said the move couldnt be explained "by any objective application of the facts, the law or sound policy.In my view, it amounted to nothing more than regulatory lawfare against one of the lefts top targets: Mr. Musk, Carr wrote.