So technically Ireland is in recession.

We have a rising cost of living ordinary items are going up in price by 20 per cent or more people will have less money to spend on luxury items or going out as they have to spend more on food ,energy bills .the pubs in temple bar or near Grafton Street are not in recession they are doing great business

I won't believe there's a real recession until there isn't record low unemployment and house prices stop shooting upwards.

The big multi-nationals have made a lot of our macro-economic figures virtually meaningless with regards to the domestic economy.

GDP isn't a good measure for anything. Under GDP, an open cast uranium mine is great. All the clean-up costs and costs of treating health issues caused by it all contribute to increased GDP.

It's two and yes.

How you feel trumps evidence?

Its a terrible measure. If we take GDP then Ireland is richest country in the world per capita

But obviously reality is different. Multinationals are basically using this country as a tax haven

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QDAa6ZQeEJ4

We're also a massive manufacturing hub for very profitable products; pharmaceuticals and medical devices mostly.

We're no.4 in exports per capita, after Singapore, Hong Kong, and Lichtenstein.

No. 2 in GDP and no.6 in GNI, which is seen as a better measure. By all accounts, the country is doing fantastically well.

I think a sovereign wealth fund is better than a rainy day fund, keep topping it up and live off the interest.

Disposable Income is the measure. People have less money to spend after paying bills.

Wouldn't trust SF with either. Thank Christ they're not in Government or they'd be splashing the Dosh.

True. Sf's money trees will also make us carbon neutral.

You didn't get the point did you? Even using your erroneous definition of disposable income, just because I may have less disposable in a period does not mean I still don't have more than I need nor that I'm experiencing a recession.

Okay, one last try. I spent considerably more discretionary income over the past few months than usual, while my available disposable or discretionary income was reduced due to food and energy increases, but I still had enough left. That is not recessionary.

Bottom line us your measure of disposable income is not an economic gauge.

You might have managed but I bet there's others who are struggling.