Category Archives: Uncategorized

Working from Home – What are the Regional Patterns?

Posted on May 7, 2020 by WDC Insights

Introduction In a recent blogpost I examined the data on working from home and the trends that have occurred up to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data over the last two decades suggest that there may be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Covid 19, Employment, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Exploring some potential impacts of the Covid 19 shock on the Western Region – revisiting sectoral employment patterns

Posted on April 27, 2020 by WDC Insights

  The Corona virus pandemic and consequent shutdown is bringing, and will bring, a massive economic shock globally, nationally and regionally, but the detail and scale of the consequences are not yet clear.  There are many unknowns including in relation … Continue reading →

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Challenges and interventions for transitioning to renewable heat in rural homes

Posted on February 27, 2020 by WDC Insights

To reduce the carbon footprint of our rural homes, the decarbonisation of the energy used for heat is essential. We have to switch to renewable energy, either electrical (generated from wind, solar or in future ocean energy) or bioenergy (e.g. … Continue reading →

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Renewable heat in rural areas: what are the options?

Posted on February 17, 2020 by WDC Insights

How we heat our rural homes needs to change significantly as we move to a low carbon society.  There is an important focus on energy efficiency in our homes (read more here) and the government Climate Action Plan has set … Continue reading →

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Public Consultation on Transport and Sustainable Mobility Policy

Posted on December 13, 2019 by WDC Insights

Introduction The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has opened a public consultation to review Ireland’s sustainable mobility (active travel and public transport) policy. Sustainable Mobility refers to active travel, such as walking and cycling and public transport (e.g. bus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Action, Infrastructure, Roads, Transport, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Does a Rising tide lift all Boats? A look at the latest CSO data on Poverty and access to Services

Posted on December 6, 2019 by WDC Insights

The CSO released the latest data on Income and Living Conditions (Survey on Income and Living Conditions SILC) last week, see here. The headline figures indicate a continued rise in incomes between 2017 and 2018 which in turn was higher … Continue reading →

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e-Work, Remote work and Hubs, Some Recent Evidence

Posted on November 18, 2019 by WDC Insights

Introduction The WDC produced the Policy Briefing e-Working in the Western Region in March 2017, see here. This briefing aimed to quantify the extent of e-working in the Western Region and nationally and set out policy recommendations. Since then e-working … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Sectors, Economy, Employment, Financial & ICT Services, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Agency Workers – How Many Are There and Where do they Work?

Posted on November 13, 2019 by WDC Insights

Introduction There is much discussion about the growth of ‘atypical’ forms of work – such as e-working, remote working, the gig, shared economy and temporary work etc. The WDC has previously examined various aspects of atypical ways of working, identifying … Continue reading →

Posted in Census, Disparity, Economic Sectors, Economy, Employment, Regional Statistics, Rural Development, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Energy efficient homes in the Western Region: some thoughts on retrofit.

Posted on November 8, 2019 by WDC Insights

The government target of improving home energy efficiency through the retrofitting of 500,000 buildings by 2030 (see the Climate Action Plan 2019) is ambitious.  It is therefore useful to look at the retrofits in more depth, and consider the target … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Action, Economy, Electricity, Energy, renewable, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Low carbon transition for Western Region homes- what’s the base line?

Posted on October 24, 2019 by WDC Insights

One of the most important elements of the transition to a low carbon rural region will be emissions reduction from homes in the Western Region by improving energy efficiency and switching to renewable energy sources for heating in particular (as … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Tax, Climate Action, Economic Sectors, Energy, Regional Statistics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment