Women get a raw deal on pensions. Fewer of them work outside the home, and they often get paid less when they do take up paid employment. Many work only part-time.

When women play a smaller role in growing the economy, we all lose out. Women make up 50pc of the population and the female employment rate is more than 55pc.

Large numbers of women are worried they will not have enough money when they retire, with fewer men concerned about a funds shortfall.

Over 48,000 unemployed people got jobs in the last year as the number of people out of work plummeted to its lowest point in nine years.

Moves by Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to scrap the ‘Help-to-Buy’ scheme may be in doubt after the State-backed lender charged with ramping up house building endorsed the policy.

A post Brexit transition period could last up to four years, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said.

The enhanced mortgage-to-rent scheme launched by mortgage campaigner David Hall offers hope to thousands of families trapped in an arrears nightmare.

Housing minister Eoghan Murphy’s hope that the Government’s ‘fast-track’ planning application system for large-scale housing developments would speed up the delivery of new homes has been dealt an early blow.

Families who are in deep arrears have been given fresh hope that they will be able to stay in their homes – as renters.

Around three exporting companies a week on average have been approved for a state-backed Brexit-ready grant since June.