Just 4 months ago, 33-year-old Jack Chambers (a medicine graduate) was appointed Finance Minister of Ireland. Ben Scallan asks what it was like to head right into #Budget2025 having just taken up the job. Chambers replied that the €13bn in Apple money was a “challenge”.
Gript’s Ben Scallan asks how the State will avoid cost overruns on the Dublin Metro. Ministers Eamon Ryan & Ossian Smyth reply that projects like the National Broadband Plan are on-budget because they “balanced risk” between the State & the contractor as part of the agreement.
It was recently revealed that the OPW’s modular homes for Ukrainians had doubled in cost from €200k to €436k. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that this doubling in cost “frustrates” him, adding that ‘lessons should be learned’. Question by Ben Scallan.
Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman announced “additional funding” to help “receive and accommodate” asylum seekers in #Budget2025. Asked how much the State has spent already on asylum accommodation since the start of the Ukraine war, he replied: “I can get that for you.”
Minister Heather Humphreys denies that the government announcing the biggest Social Protection budget ever right before an election is an attempt to buy votes: “It’s about supporting people.” Question by Ben Scallan
The Small Firms Association, which seeks to represent Irish small businesses, tells Gript ahead of the budget that in recent years businesses have been hit with an “avalanche of regulation”.
Robert Tyler of New Direction says that the West needs to be “confident” and “stand up” for it’s “values” against those who would welcome it’s decline.
Recently Taoiseach Simon Harris and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that there’s a link between housing issues, homelessness and immigration. Minister Roderic O’Gorman pushed back on this notion, but refused to outright say his colleagues were wrong.
Independent Ireland Leader Michael Collins TD says his party is ready for a general election, with candidates at the ready. He also addresses the Ciaran Mullooly controversy, and explains how he would avoid being dominated by a bigger party in a coalition government.
“Let’s cover everybody’s ass!…But for the people pulling up the cash, we have no respect for them”: Independent TD Marc MacSharry grills members of the OPW over the infamous Leinster House bike shed, and the agency’s general use of taxpayer funds.
“You’re really not being clear, Minister. I’m asking you a simple question.”
Gardaí say suspect in Dublin car theft where baby girl was in rear of vehicle is “best described” as “a white middle aged male”.