Cost of living tops public concerns for budget
Help with the cost of living is the number-one priority of voters in advance of the budget, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A opinion poll.
Half of respondents to the poll said they wanted the Government to prioritise “immediate help with the cost of living” when it delivers its final budget in less than a fortnight.
Asked which from a list of options they wanted the Government to put emphasis on in the budget, 50 per cent of voters cited help with the cost of living.
- Analysis: Strained electorate may sense chance to get issues addressed
- Graphics: The Irish Times/Ipsos B&A poll: full results in charts
News in Ireland
- South Dublin creche worker accused of hitting toddler as colleague ‘laughed and joked’: Children being “dragged” and “thrown on to beds” and a child being hit on the head with a plastic bowl as a team leader “laughed and joked” about it are among further allegations of serious abuse of toddlers at a south Dublin creche.
- Lorries will choke up M50 unless rail is redeveloped - Eamon Ryan: Dublin Port’s drive to double its business will see an additional 2.5 million trucks annually on the M50, the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has stated.
- €335,000 Leinster House bike shelter was delayed due to concerns over removal of parking spaces for politicians: The construction of the €335,000 bike shelter at Leinster House was hit by delays due to concerns over the removal of car parking spaces for TDs and Senators as well as challenges over not disrupting the Dáil.
- Anti-immigration protesters cleared from Dublin city centre with 19 arrests: An anti-immigration protest in Dublin’s city centre was dispersed by gardaí after several hours on Thursday, as 19 people were arrested in a large policing operation actioned to manage the demonstration.
- Phoenix Park gate restored in €800,000 project damaged after being hit by truck: One of the historic gates of Dublin’s Phoenix Park, restored in 2021 as part of a €800,000 three-year-long conservation project, has had to be removed after a Dublin City Council lorry became wedged in the entrance.
- Weather forecast: The current warm spell will continue on Friday with any areas of mist and fog clearing through the morning. There will be long spells of sunshine, though cloudier at times near the east coast. Highest temperatures of 17 to 22 degrees, coolest near the east coast. Tonight will be dry with clear spells. Lowest temperatures of 8 to 13 degrees. Saturday will start cloudy with patches of mist and some drizzle, mainly in Leinster and Munster. It will brighten by the afternoon but some heavy showers are possible near southern and eastern coasts during the evening. Highest temperatures of 16 to 20 degrees.
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The Big Read
- Undercover as a hotel cleaner in Ireland: ‘I work for 11 hours, but it feels like 20’: There is no one at reception when I arrive at the hotel in a small town about 50km from Dublin, so I go to the bar and, as instructed, ask for the duty manager.
Opinion
Business
- Learning on the job: apprenticeships offer options for workers and employers: “When you’re doing something you love, everything just changes,” says Molly McGauley, an apprentice electrician with Irish Rail.
Sports
- Leona Maguire brings the fun back with impressive start to LPGA return: Leona Maguire has adopted a policy of being kinder to herself, which was very much in evidence after a fine opening round of five-under-par 67 saw the European Solheim Cup player trail clubhouse leader Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa by two strokes in the Kroger Queen City Championship outside Cincinnati in Ohio on the LPGA Tour.
World
- Titan sub malfunctioned just before final dive to Titanic, says scientific director: The scientific director for the company that owned the Titan submersible that imploded last year while on its way to the Titanic wreckage told a hearing on Thursday that the sub had malfunctioned just before the fatal dive.
Radio Review
- Oliver Callan ‘insults everybody equally’: If, as the late American screenwriter William Goldman observed, all Hollywood executives know that sooner or later they’re going to get fired, so too every Irish radio presenter lives with the knowledge that they will some day end up broadcasting from the National Ploughing Championships.
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