Lower tax rate considered for landlords
Landlords could pay less tax on rental income in an effort to persuade them to stay in the market, under proposals put forward in advance of budget talks intensifying this week.
One proposal circulated by the Department of Housing is a “distinct income-based approach”, according to a source with knowledge of discussions, which could entail a lower rate of tax or increased exemptions for landlords.
While Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has been clear in his goal to do something in the budget for both landlords and tenants, tweaking the tax system to favour income from rental has been stiffly resisted in the past by the Department of Finance and would likely face significant pushback again.
Top News Stories
- Boat suspected of carrying cocaine runs aground off Co Wexford: A boat gardaí believe was carrying a large consignment of cocaine has run aground off Co Wexford, with gardaí searching the waters on Monday night.
- Contingency plans ordered ahead of health strikes next month: Voluntary groups and charities whose staff have said they will strike from the middle of next month have been asked by the Department of Health to make contingency plans to maintain essential services
- Dublin City Council to buy notorious derelict Georgian House: One of Dublin city’s most notorious derelict buildings, a protected structure that began to collapse eight ago, is finally to be rescued by Dublin City Council.
- Analysis: What is behind the sharp rise in Ireland’s population to almost 5.3m?: There are a lot of significant pluses and minuses in the latest population figures, which show a 97,600 rise in those normally resident in Ireland to 5.283 million. But two factors are key to driving the population higher – one is the arrival of Ukrainian refugees, while the other is the strong jobs market which continues to attract people to come and live here.
- Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan announces retirement: Charlie Flanagan, former Fine Gael minister and TD, has said he will not contest the next general election. He becomes the latest in a growing list of Fine Gael TDs due to retire at the end of the current Dáil term.
- Ireland’s weather today: Met Éireann has issued a weather warning with Storm Agnes set to make landfall on Wednesday morning. Met Éireann’s yellow wind warning is from 7am on Wednesday to midnight on Thursday for Leinster and Munster. It has also issued a status yellow rain warning for the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry and Waterford for the same period.
- Happening today: The former nightclub manager at the Stardust resumes his testimony to the Stardust inquest; Garda staff groups are set to discuss rosters with Garda management; and the Dáil is sitting with Leaders’ and Taoiseach’s Questions.
News from around the World
- Ukraine calls Russia strike on Odesa ‘pathetic’ retaliation Crimea strike: Two people were killed and grain storage facilities destroyed in a Russian rocket and drone attack on Odesa, which Ukraine called a “pathetic attempt at retaliation” for a missile strike on occupied Crimea that allegedly killed dozens of Russian officers, including the commander of the Kremlin’s Black Sea fleet.
- Warsaw and Berlin clash over cash-for-visas allegations: Warsaw has accused German chancellor Olaf Scholz of impinging on Poland’s sovereignty and interfering in its general election, due next month, amid growing cash-for-visas allegations.
- Police in London investigate sexual assault allegations following Russell Brand reports: Police in London said on Monday they had launched an investigation into a number of allegations of non-recent sexual offences following media reports that four women had accused actor and comedian Russell Brand of a string of sexual assaults.
The Big Read
- Banking scams: ‘I deposited €10,000 in the morning – it was gone by 4pm’: Every other day it seems I get an email asking me to “reschedule my package” and pay an unpaid shipping fee; of course, this involves giving up personal bank details that will then be used to defraud. Or there are text messages purporting to be from your bank, or phone calls from unusual numbers. Figures from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show that fraudsters stole almost €85 million as a result of frauds and scams in Ireland last year, writes Fiona Reddan.
The best from Opinion
- This column is not what the mainstream media want you to hear: We need a new name for what you and I are involved in now – writing or reading articles on The Irish Times website or in the printed newspaper. For “mainstream media”, abbreviated in the jargon of anti-elitism to MSM, does not cut it any more. For one thing, everybody wants to play the outsider now. In his fabulously disingenuous retirement statement last week, Rupert Murdoch, arguably the most powerful media baron the world has ever seen, posed as a rebel upstart: “Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth,” writes Fintan O’Toole.
Culture and Life & Style highlights
- ‘Despite drinking so much sparkling water, I lost my sparkle before the end of the meal’: In the latest in the I Am Not an Alcoholic series, the columnist writes: “Being sober for 13 months (as I am as of today) is different from being sober for 13 days. At 13 days, it is something new. A novelty. There is a sense of: I can do this. And novelties trigger the release of dopamine which enhances our mood.”
- What do artists need to be creative? Six tell us what makes them tick: If you listen to people who make a living telling us how to solve problems, make great breakthroughs and generally lead happier and more successful lives, they all tend to agree on one thing: creativity is vital. But what does creativity itself need to flourish? And what is holding its practice back in Ireland today? Artists and writers have some answers, writes Gemma Tipton.
Today's Business
- Citigroup expands Irish commercial banking amid wider jobs concerns: Citigroup said on Monday that it is expanding its Irish commercial banking activities. The announcement comes at a time of mounting concern that staff in its European banking hub in Ireland may be caught up in wider job cuts being planned across the US banking giant.
- CRH shares jump over 3% in New York debut: Shares in CRH jumped 3.28 per cent on the first day of trading in New York to close out the day at $56.37 (€53.20). CRH shares had closed at €50.34 in Dublin last Wednesday, as it drew to an end an association with the exchange that went back 87 years.
Top Sports news
- South Africa and Ireland may meet again - but watch out for Scotland: Chatting among South African and even French journalists in Stade de France after last Saturday’s epic, there was a common feeling that not only did this monumental occasion have the feel of a final, it could possibly be a foretaste of it as well, writes Gerry Thornley.
- Ireland provided the excitement, now it’s time to relax and absorb the French way of life: Sitting in a Brasserie Au Metro on Boulevard Voltaire and watching the heightened end-of-work Parisian traffic in cars, bicycles and pedestrians, the weekend’s arrival of autumn has been replaced with a revival of summer, writes Gerry Thornley.
Picture of the Day
Letters to the Editor
Sir, – The article by Olivia Kelly “Reversing the dereliction of Dublin” on Saturday (Weekend Review, September 25th) was complemented by another article saying that “more than 12,000 homes and commercial properties are vacant across Dublin, with 40 per cent empty for more than four years – putting them at significant risk of dereliction” (News, September 26th).
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The 2 Johnnies Christmas Party at 3Arena: It’s easy to sneer at the triteness and crudeness, but are 13,000 happy fans wrong?
The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’
What a shambles!
And in the middle of a housing crisis too.
If the State (mainly through county councils and local authorities) can compulsorily acquire land for motorway construction and road improvements what is to prevent the State compulsorily acquiring derelict properties in Dublin and elsewhere? – Yours, etc,
DAVID McCABE, Shankill, Dublin 18
Video & Podcast Highlights
- In the News: Is Lough Neagh dying?: Freshwater lake now contaminated by blooms of poisonous blue-green algae
Review of the day
- Grá ar an Trá: It’s all fun and games until Gráinne Seoige swoops in and starts the interrogation: Love Island in the rain, with a light drizzle of the Irish language on top. That’s the pitch with Grá ar an Trá (Virgin Media One, Monday, 9pm), in which 10 young singles move into Oyster Bay Lodge in Woodstown, Co Waterford, hoping to find love – and improve their Irish.
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