Taoiseach Micheál Martin has tapped Kieran McQuinn, a research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), to become his economics advisor.
Mr McQuinn, who co-authors the ESRI’s influential quarterly economic commentary and has a special interest in research in housing, economic growth and household finances, will take up the position on April 28th.
He is set to be seconded from the ESRI to the position until Mr Martin is due to end his term in November 2027 under a rotating Taoiseach agreement between his Fianna Fáil party and Fine Gael.
“It’s an honour to have been asked to become an advisor to the Taoiseach. I’m looking forward to starting,” Mr McQuinn said to The Irish Times, responding to questions on the appointment.
Mr McQuinn joined the ESRI in 2014, having spend the previous decade working with the Central Bank.
Economics professor Alan Ahearne had previously served as economic advisor to Mr Martin between 2020 and the end of last year, before returning full time to the University of Galway.
Mr McQuinn takes on the role at a time when the Government weighing the potential economic impact of protectionist policies from US president Donald Trump’s new administration, and external estimates that it may not meet its near-term housing targets.
The ESRI warned in a report on Friday that US tariffs could cost the State more than €18 billion in lost trade while posing a long-term risk to public finances.
The institute calculated that if the US was to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all European Union exports, as Mr Trump has threatened to do, and the EU responds with reciprocal tariffs of its own, Irish gross domestic product (GDP) would be 3.7 per cent lower over the next five to seven years compared with a scenario with no tariffs.
Based on last year’s GDP figures, that equates to €18.4 billion, more than twice the State’s annual housing budget.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank and Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) forecast this week only 75,000 new homes will be built in the Republic between this year and next, shy of the Government’s goal of 84,000 being completed over the period.
