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Housing is Ireland’s biggest problem - the budget interventions are contradictory and short-sighted

Ireland crash out of the Rugby World Cup; EU response to the Israel-Hamas conflict is an ugly mess; and the death of Chuck Feeney - the ‘James Bond of Philanthropy’

Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD after announcing the budget for 2024. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Sun Oct 15 2023 - 09:10

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

The Government on Tuesday unveiled a huge spend-and-save budget that boosted permanent spending and promised large cash giveaways in the coming months, but also channelled billions in windfall tax revenues into long-term national savings and investment funds. With a general election due within 18 months, budget Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath responded to intense political pressure to increase spending on both permanent allocations and on one-off giveaways. The result was a package that will see households gain from tax cuts, spending increases, welfare boosts (including a double payment of child benefit), childcare subsidies, energy credits and – for some – mortgage relief.

However, if you want a lesson in what happens when the vicissitudes of electoral politics hi-jack economic planning, putting the State on a short-term collision course with their long-term objectives – then look no further than what was announced this week in the budget concerning the property market, writes David McWilliams.

“The State’s primary objective should be – and this Government’s chance of re-election rests on – making homes available to people at an affordable price. A government wedded to affordable housing should, when interest rates raise, sit back and let house prices fall. Monetary policy is, in this case, doing its job. But what does this Government, supposedly wedded to affordable homes, do? It gives a tax break to blunt the impact of higher rates on mortgage holders, which will ensure that house prices continue to rise!” Read the rest of his column, here.

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Following on from Ireland’s devastating loss to New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals last night, Johnny Sexton has bowed out of international rugby at the age of 38.

Sexton, who won 117 caps for Ireland in his 14-year Test career, struggled to keep his emotions in check when speaking to the media after the match but backed his teammates to go on and achieve great things, saying he would be watching from the stand with a pint in hand.

It’s an eighth World Cup quarter-final defeat for Ireland and means the record of never getting past the last eight lives on. At the Stade de France, Johnny Watterson ran the rule over Andy Farrell’s men with his player ratings.

This week’s On the Money newsletter was also budget-focused. Dominic Coyle wrote that the mortgage interest relief measures announced in the budget will benefit the few rather than the many, and says more detail is needed on some of the measures in the Government’s €14 billion package. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.

You can read all of our budget news, analysis and opinion, here.

Under the EU’s new laws for tech platforms, those that do not act sufficiently to prevent misinformation can face vast fines of up to 6 per cent in global revenue. Anyone with the misfortune to spend time X, formerly known as Twitter, since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on Saturday will have experienced its deterioration into a cesspit of lies, unspeakable video footage and sociopathic hot takes, wrote Naomi O’Leary on Thursday. However, the European Commission should ask itself: what about when the misinformation is coming from inside the house? A claim remains public on X on the official, verified account of Hungarian commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. It states that all EU donor money to the Palestinians, a total of €691 million, has been put “under review” and adds: “all payments immediately suspended.” Such a decision can only be made by EU member states, not the commission, according to the legal understanding of the Irish Government and multiple member states. However, this declaration was launched a full day before foreign ministers had a chance to meet to discuss their stance on the issue. When they did so, the idea was roundly rebuffed. Read O’Leary’s full analysis here.

You can find full coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict here.

In her weekly column, Karlin Lillington looked at how the breach of sensitive user data from DNA company 23andMe earlier this month “has clearly demonstrated that spitting into a small plastic tube can have unforeseen and disturbing consequences”. Security and digital rights experts have long warned about using increasingly popular DNA analysis services, which generally rely on saliva samples. The industry remains largely unregulated (still!) though the data produced is extremely sensitive . . . .If accounts are compromised, little can be done. You can get a credit card reissued, but you can’t change or re-cloak your DNA. The 23andMe breach is an important counternarrative, revealing the possible consequences of taking DNA tests and sharing that information to genealogy websites.” Read more, here.

A cultural obsession with happiness has led some psychologists to warn against “toxic positivity”, wrote Joe Humphreys in Unthinkable this week. “They argue the very reason we’re all so anxious is because we focus on unattainable goals. Moreover, there’s something particularly capitalistic about putting an onus on individuals to be chirpy while ignoring societal causes of distress. To bring some balance to our thinking, a philosopher from eastern Europe invites us on to the psychologist’s couch for some “negatively oriented psychoanalysis”. You can read more of Humphreys’ interview with Julie Reshe, a Ukrainian academic, here.

Chuck Feeny died on Monday. The Irish-American philanthropist who made a fortune as a worldwide retailer of luxury goods, spent the last four decades of his life giving it all away, mostly in clandestine fashion. By the time of his death, aged 92, he had donated more than $8 billion (€7.5 billion) to education, medical research, healthcare, ageing and civil society through his foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, in the United States, Ireland, Vietnam, Australia, Bermuda and South Africa. Feeney was unique as a major, global philanthropist in that he never sought recognition or honours; he courted anonymity and gave away the totality of his vast fortune in his lifetime. You can read more about his fascinating life in our obituary.

In her advice column, Trish Murphy advised a reader who who says: “I’m frightened of spending retirement with my husband, I’m not sure he is someone I would choose again”. Read Murphy’s response here.

And finally, in her advice column, Roe McDermott advises someone whose boyfriend would like a threesome. “Am I a prude if I say no?”. Read McDermott’s reply here.

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 in sport. There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.

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