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Covid budgets were dramatic, but Budget 2024 will be the Coalition’s most politically difficult

IT Sunday: Latest columns from Trish Murphy, David McWilliams, Cliff Taylor and more

The Government is forecasting a cumulative budget surplus of €65bn over the next three years.

The exchequer will struggle to meet the expectations of a public squeezed by higher interest rates and rising prices. Illustration: Paul Scott

Sun Sep 17 2023 - 09:25

Welcome to this week’s IT Sunday, a selection of the best Irish Times journalism for our subscribers.

This weekend David McWilliams is talking about Ireland’s policy on immigration and the importance of providing adequate housing for people who come to Ireland to work and live. “If more people arrive in the country outpacing the ability of the economy to deliver houses, things could take a turn for the worse, allowing a tolerant people to become hijacked by slogans that blame immigrants for the inability or unwillingness of those who pull the levers in the economy to deliver more of everything. As we’ve seen in other countries, once anti-immigration becomes a central political plank and an alternative for voters, it is difficult to eradicate,” writes McWilliams.

Cliff Taylor is looking ahead to Budget 2024 – which he says will be the Coalition’s most difficult from a political standpoint. The exchequer has a large surplus, explains Taylor, yet it will struggle to meet the expectations of a public squeezed by higher interest rates, energy prices way above what they are used to and prices that still seem to be rising at every turn. He writes: “A key issue in terms of spending State resources is that while some in the middle ground are genuinely squeezed, there is also a lot of money around Ireland at the moment – and many households who don’t need help. Just ask anyone selling upmarket EVs, or in the pensions business or the travel trade: there is a well-heeled, generally older group whose bank accounts are more than healthy, and who probably wouldn’t even notice a €200 energy credit off their bills.”

In her latest foray into Ireland’s culinary scene, Corinna Hardgrave visits a “charming” Japanese restaurant that she says is bringing something new to Dublin. “Highlights are the pickled mackerel, which is meaty with a gentle acidity; turbot which is dotted with torched sweet miso, eliciting a scorched caramel flavour; blue fin tuna which has been marinated in shoyu and aged for five days; and blue fin otoro which is soft and silky.”

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Trish Murphy this week responded to a query from a reader whose husband recently suffered a brief psychiatric illness. The reader recently received a diagnosis of adult-onset Type 1 diabetes and is having trouble managing a new lifestyle along with work and a caring role at home: “I cannot change my job or reduce my hours because it is my salary that is now paying the mortgage and most of the bills. I cannot also bring myself to tell my husband about this new situation, as I fear it could lead to a relapse of his symptoms. I also know that he would want to return to his previous position at work.”

Irish Olympic boxing champion, Kellie Harrington, sits for an interview with Malachy Clerkin this weekend. Earlier this year, the athlete got embroiled in a Twitter controversy about immigration, compounded by an Off The Ball interview that followed. The incident created impression of her that she doesn’t want out in the world, one she has struggled with for long stretches of this year. “I’ve just been in a bit of a dark place with it,” she says. “I’m just sad. I’m sorry for the tweet I put up. I’m sorry for the hurt that I caused. I am sad. I’ve been sad because of it. It happened. People say things without thinking about the consequences of it. And that was what happened.”

You can catch up here on full reports and analysis from our rugby writers following Ireland’s victory over Tonga in their second Rugby World Cup pool game last night in France. The game marked a special night for Johnny Sexton, whose first-half try saw him become Ireland’s all-time record points scorer.

In this week’s On the Money newsletter, Conor Pope examines steps you can take to reduce your energy bills this winter. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.

As always, there is much more on irishtimes.com, including rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews, tips for the best restaurants in our food section and all the latest news from the world of business. There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.

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