{"id":69390,"date":"2025-09-17T10:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/69390\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T10:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T10:16:07","slug":"the-political-circus-returns-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/69390\/","title":{"rendered":"The political circus returns \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two months of summer break, the Oireachtas<\/a> returns. The D\u00e1il puts on a special fireworks display otherwise known as Leaders\u2019 Questions especially for the occasion. A three-week period of pre-leaking about what\u2019s in the budget begins, with just about every measure that\u2019s in the document shared with the media and the public by the time Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe<\/a> announces it on October 7th. <\/p>\n

Normally, what happens in the chamber would dominate domestic politics. But there are other distractions this week. The hunt for a third (and perhaps a fourth) presidential candidate continues apace with a small number of hopeful Independents making pleas to councils right across the State. The other big political set piece of the autumn, the National Ploughing Championships<\/a>, continues apace in Screggan, Co Offaly.<\/p>\n

The budget<\/p>\n

Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers announced an overall package worth \u20ac9.4 billion when unveiling the Summer Economic Statement. <\/p>\n

That will amount to \u20ac1.5bn of tax cuts and a spending package of \u20ac7.9bn. This is a 7.3 per cent increase on 2025. Both the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and Central Bank Governor Gabriel Makhlouf have cautioned about the expansionary nature of the budget, and the potential for overheating the economy. <\/p>\n

Most of the tax package will be eaten up by the Government commitment to lower VAT rates for food and drink hospitality to 9 per cent. A lower rate of VAT for energy prices (a once-off measure) may also be retained against the backdrop of energy prices remaining high. <\/p>\n

Housing and health (two of the big spending departments) will be under the spotlight. The figures for homelessness has crept above 15,000 with almost 5,000 children homeless. <\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin and T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris have both given some hints, with funds to target child poverty, more spending for childcare, some relaxation of the means test for carers, stimuli for small business and the cost of education. <\/p>\n

What will be absent from this year\u2019s budget are once-off measures that were worth \u20ac2.2 billion last year. <\/p>\n

However, expect a flurry of lobbying on this from Ministers, reaching a crescendo in early October. That will include the removal of a \u20ac1,000 subsidy for third-level college students, a feature of the budget over the past few years. The Government will come under enormous pressure to walk back on that one over the coming weeks. <\/p>\n

The Eoin Hayes \u2018blackface\u2019 controversy<\/p>\n

Holly Cairns picked the wrong day to return to her role as leader of the Social Democrats after maternity leave. The party had planned a one-day \u2018think-in\u2019 in Dublin and the party anticipated media attention on her return, allowing her to set out her and the party\u2019s stall. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there was a fly in the ointment. For the second time in two years, the party\u2019s TD for Dublin Bay South, Eoin Hayes, became the story. <\/p>\n

Last year, his shifting narrative on how he disposed of his shares in the US firm Palantir (which provided military technology to Israel) took the gloss of its big general election success and led to a nine-month suspension. <\/p>\n

This time around, it was a story of how he dressed up as Barack Obama for a Halloween party in 2009 by using brown make-up to darken the colour of his skin. Cormac McQuinn has the details<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Blackface is a historical practice that is seen as racist and considered deeply offensive. It commonly refers to when a person, typically with white skin, paints their face darker to resemble a black person and dates back to a time when black people were mocked for the entertainment of white people promoting negative stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Hayes has apologised. The party \u2013 and others \u2013 have pointed out that it occurred 16 years ago. Cairns said that if had occurred more recently, Hayes would no longer be a member of the Social Democrats. <\/p>\n

The Ploughing Championships<\/p>\n

Over the past two decades, the National Ploughing Championships has become a central feature of the autumn political calendar. In 2017, Michael D Higgins hinted for the first time he wanted a second term, a significant political moment. <\/p>\n

In an interview with RT\u00c9\u2019s Se\u00e1n O\u2019Rourke at the festival, he said: \u201cI am going to give the job my full concentration and will make an announcement after the summer next year,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Seven years later, the three declared presidential candidates all visited the championships yesterday and indeed some of them will be there all week. Here\u2019s what they had to say<\/a> to the media during their canvasses. <\/p>\n

Fine Gael leader Simon Harris also visited the site yesterday. His counterparts in Fianna F\u00e1il and Sinn F\u00e9in, Miche\u00e1l Martin and Mary Lou McDonald, will visit the large site in Screggan, Co Offaly, on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Bob Geldof pulls out of contest<\/p>\n

And another celebrity has thrown in the towel before even getting into the ring. Hot on the heels of Conor McGregor\u2019s announcement (in a very long tweet) and that of meteorologist Joanna Donnelly, the Boomtown Rats singer and TV producer has told Sky News this morning that London is where his home is. Cormac McQuinn has the details.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Two in the bag for Gareth Sheridan<\/p>\n

Jack Horgan-Jones followed the proceedings of Tipperary County Council yesterday which backed entrepreneur Gareth Sheridan but only after a Fine Gael councillor rebelled against the whip. <\/p>\n

Sheridan now has two local authorities and needs two more. Jack reports that he is targeting Carlow and Offaly.<\/a> However, there could be as many as ten councils still in play so it\u2019s likely that he will look at a few more. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a change in the past few weeks. Despite grumbling from Fianna F\u00e1il councillors that they were left out of the party\u2019s selection process \u2013 and the fact that no whip was imposed on them \u2013 they seem to be voting as if they were whipped and blocking candidates. That makes the path for Independents more difficult. <\/p>\n

If Sheridan gets a third, it\u2019s certain that a council somewhere will hold a special meeting to facilitate a nomination (which is not akin to an endorsement). <\/p>\n

The route for the other two prominent aspirants, Maria Steen and Nick Delahanty, looks much more difficult. Wicklow and Galway County Councils both rejected any candidate yesterday. <\/p>\n

Best Reads<\/p>\n

Ronan McGreevy\u2019s account of all the colour<\/a> at the ploughing<\/p>\n

Conor Pope explains the history of \u2018blackface\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Jack Horgan-Jones\u2019s analysis on what Gareth Sheridan\u2019s second nomination means<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael McDowell\u2019s column on the moral emptiness of Donald Trump\u2019s state visit<\/a> to the UK. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mix sports and politics. Thankfully Fintan O\u2019Toole has ignored that dictum in his opinion column<\/a> comparing the seamless preparation for the Ryder Cup with the less-than-perfect approach to other pressing issues in Ireland. <\/p>\n

Playbook<\/p>\n

D\u00e1il<\/b><\/p>\n

14:00: Leaders\u2019 Questions <\/p>\n

14.34: Other Members\u2019 Questions<\/p>\n

15.13: Taoiseach\u2019s Questions<\/p>\n

15.58: Statements on National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030<\/p>\n

18.23: Private Members\u2019 Business (Sinn F\u00e9in): Motion re Special Education School Places<\/p>\n

20.23: Topical Issues<\/p>\n

21.23: D\u00e1il adjourns<\/p>\n

Committees<\/b><\/p>\n

09.30: Disability Matters \u2013 Inclusive education for people with disability<\/p>\n

12.30: Arts, Media, Communications \u2013 Launch of the Committee Report on its Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the revised General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill<\/p>\n

12.30: Climate, Environment and Energy \u2013 Engagement with Climate Experts on the Carbon Budgets<\/p>\n

15.30: European Affairs \u2013 Engagement with Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n<\/p>\n

Opening Statement by John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner, Coimisi\u00fan na Me\u00e1n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two months of summer break, the Oireachtas returns. The D\u00e1il puts on a special fireworks display otherwise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,4767,18,13,14,6,19,48189,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-69390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-dail-eireann","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-inside-politics","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-latest-news","19":"tag-latestnews","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}