Key reads
- The Cabinet was yesterday given a stark warning about potentially damaging economic fallout for Ireland from the unsettled global situation and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in the new year. Read Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones’s story here
- Paschal Donohoe had a private undisclosed dinner with Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. The story is here
- The Ukrainian embassy has criticised Sinn Féin’s manifesto call for an end to arms supply. Pat Leahy and Marie O’Halloran report
- Promises, promises: What do the Election 2024 parties stand for? Use this tool to compare their manifestos
It is day 14 of Election 2024 and there is just over a week to go until ballots are cast.
In parts of the country politicians are trudging through snow as they seek votes and parties are continuing to unveil election promises amid concern over the potential for looming economic stormclouds.
For Fine Gael it is its “blueprint for supporting rural communities”.
Fianna Fáil is outlining its plans to “make Dublin a safe, liveable, and vibrant city for all”.
Sinn Féin will set out what it will do to help renters, and Aontú is unveiling its manifesto.
Stick with us during the day for all the latest developments on a chilly campaign trail.
Dogs Trust has asked whoever is in the next Government to give dogs the “greatest gift” this Christmas and to appoint a Junior Minister with responsibility for dog welfare and control. ‘Peaches’ – a poodle and bichon frise mix - showed up at Leinster House with a giant gift box. It presumably contains a dog-loving politician who hopes to get a new canine brief in the next government. The tag on the box reads: “To all dogs, love from the government”. Dogs Trust has launched a petition and is urging the public to sign it and support their campaign for a dedicated Minister of State.
The charity said a recent study of more than 24,000 dog owners and enthusiasts – “Ireland’s Dog Census” – revealed that 88 per cent of respondents believe there should be a dedicated junior minister to provide a more coordinated response to dog welfare issues in Ireland. It said that currently, policy and legislation for the welfare, breeding, selling and supplying, control and traceability of dogs falls between multiple government departments. “Without one person having sole responsibility for all areas of dog welfare, including enforcing and resourcing legislation, our canine companions can sadly fall through the cracks,” the charity’s statement added.
A junior minister for dogs is not something we have spotted in the parties’ manifestos just yet but who could say no to Peaches?
Fianna Fáil has launched its Dublin manifesto with claims that the capital has not been a safe city under Fine Gael justice ministers, and that housing progress had been moribund before Darragh O’Brien took over the portfolio.
The party has promised to provide an additional 1,000 gardaí for the city centre, increase the number of Garda Reserve officers and have all members wear body-worn cameras. It has also said it will introduce Dispersal Orders to deal with groups involved in anti-social behaviour and to increase the sanctions for public order offences.
The party has pledged that provision of social, affordable and cost-rental homes will be ramped up further if the party is in government, and says it will regenerate the city centre with more homes, as part of a €1 billion commitment to the capital.
Senior party figures including Minister for Finance Jack Chambers and Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien were at the launch at Sandymount Strand on Thursday, alongside other candidates.
Fianna Fáil has also pledged to deliver the Metrolink, Dart lines and to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport “as soon as possible”.
The party said it would seek both the justice and housing portfolios if in the next government.
Senator Mary Fitzpatrick said the quarter around O’Connell Street which has been declared a National Monument will be developed into a commemorative centre for 1916.
Its justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said that Dublin was not a safe city.
“At certain times, at night, it’s not safe. We need to work on that. And what Fianna Fail is proposing is that we’re going to allocate an extra 1000 gardaí to Dublin.”
Mr O’Callaghan said that Fianna Fáil would also get a transport police established in Dublin and throughout the country.”
Mr O’Brien and Dublin North West TD Paul McAuliffe said the approach on affordable homes to the nearby Glass Bottle site in Ringsend and the Oscar Traynor Road on the Northside of the city highlighted the different approach of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Asked if Fianna Fáil could stand over reports that affordable homes on the Glass Bottle site could be priced at €700,000, Mr O’Brien replied: “I think the Glass Bottle site is a really good example of where a previous government made a mess of it. It could actually have purchased a significant portion of that site and delivered affordable housing directly, and they didn’t.”
He said the price had not yet been agreed with the developer but that the Government intended to ensure there were affordable units there.
Harry McGee
The Green Party have been out talking about their election promises for public transport. It has said it will establish a new Office of Punctuality and Reliability to oversee public transport services if returned to Government. The party has also promised a dedicated public transport police, to be known as the Transport Safety Unit, within the Garda and said it would ensure private transport operators were given funding for private security officers. In addition the Greens revealed plans for high speed bus corridors; camera enforcement on existing bus lanes; the elimination of so-called ‘ghost buses’ by introducing online, automatic vehicle location systems; roll out quiet carriages on trains and reintroduce the food and drinks trolley. The Greens would also progress an ‘every village every hour’ model for local link bus services in rural areas.
Tim O’Brien
If you are interested in election spending Liz Carolan has a good opinion piece here on the frustrations of trying to navigate Ireland’s less-than ideal system of how political spending disclosures are returned and published. Headlined “When it comes to following the money at election time, don’t even try”. Those of us who have grappled with the issue can relate! Liz works on democracy and technology issues, and writes at TheBriefing.ie
Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ramp up online ads while Sinn Féin’s spending with tech giants slows
A week out from election day it is timely to have another look at how much the three main parties are spending on advertising online.
The Irish Times last week reported that Sinn Féin had spent €91,150 on advertising with online platforms Meta and Google since August – more than eight other political parties combined at that point.
However, with spending by the others ramping up in the first week of the campaign – and Sinn Féin’s expenditure in the same period considerably lower in comparison – Fine Gael is catching up.
Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – and search giant Google have online tools that offer information on political advertising including expenditure.
In the first week of the election campaign – November 8th to 14th – Sinn Féin was still spending – with some €2,500 going on Meta ads. It has spent a total of €200 with Google this month. Since August Sinn Féin has still spent the most – some €93,700 on advertising online.
However, Fine Gael are catching up. Fine Gael spent €35,300 with Meta in the first week of the formal election campaign and it has spent €11,600 on Google ads this month. This brings its total spend since August to €87,900.
In the week after the election was called on November 8th, Fianna Fáil spent €16,300 with Meta. It has spent €3,150 on Google ads this month. In total Fianna Fáil has spent €33,550 on online ads since August.
The figures are for spending by parties and do not include spending on ads that individual candidates are paying for.
Green leader Roderic O’Gorman has said that a €10 billion capital investment in public transport is central to his party’s manifesto.
In an interview On RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland Mr O’Gorman insisted that the Green Party was the “key driver” of the success of the outgoing Government.
“We have been able to implement key policies so we have been able to cut the cost of public transport for everybody and add new bus routes. But we have go further and that is why central to our manifesto is that commitment for a ten billion euro investments in public transport so we can roll out those big projects like DART +, like Metrolink, like Metropolitan Rail and continue the roll out of local link services in rural Ireland as well.”
Meanwhile, Mr O’Gorman refuted suggestions that the default position of the Green Party was always to “threaten to walk” if they “don’t get their way.”
He said that the opposite was the case with the Green Party being part of a four and a half year “stable government.”
“I think for a small party to be able to come of four and a half years with that strong track record of delivering the things that we got written in to the programme for government is really important. And that shows what sort of Coalition partner we are.”
Olivia Kelleher
Also from that Newstalk interview Taoiseach Simon Harris has admitted that he was “unnecessarily pedantic and semantic” during Monday night’s TV debate when speaking about his involvement in the national children’s hospital project.
Plagued by delays and spiralling costs, the NCH project set to cost more than €2 billion and it has been a key focus of attacks on the Coalition parties from the Opposition during the election campaign.
During the RTÉ Leaders’ Debate on Monday journalist Katie Hannon put it to Harris that during his time as Minister for Health he “personally signed the contract that brought us the children’s hospital saga.”
The Fine Gael leader replied: “well of course I didn’t, but continue.” When Ms Hannon said that as then-minister for health he was responsible for signing the contract, he said: “The Government of Ireland made a decision to build the national children’s hospital and I was a part of the Government.”
In his radio interview today Mr Harris acknowledged that the “buck stops with him” in relation to the NCH.
He said: “The point I was trying to make is [that] there’s sometimes comments that are a little flippant, like one person signed off on the contract. The point I’m making is these things go through a very deliberative process.
“Lots of departments look at them; lots of bean counters – and I don’t mean that disrespectfully – in different departments.
“There’s a board, a National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, and then the minister of the day, in this case was me, would bring a proposal to Cabinet rather than sign a contract. That kind of missed the point, though.”
Olivia Kelleher
On the topic of Donald Trump the incoming US president’s entrepreneurial zeal has not been diminished by his election – here he is promoting Maga guitars. Perhaps some of our soon-to-be-elected politicians will be inspired to keep up their business interests (so long as they declare them fully of course).
As reported in out lead story today the Cabinet was given a stark warning about potentially damaging economic fallout for Ireland from the unsettled global situation and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in the new year.
It was the first thing Taoiseach Simon Harris was asked about during an interview on Newstalk Radio.
He mentioned he had spoken to other European leaders about the expected “policy shift” in the US and that he had spoken to Mr Trump himself.
Harris said it was “appropriate” that he would update Cabinet on preparations “for a reality that there may well be a transatlantic trade shock”.
He said that work is under way in Government departments and it is “absolutely essential” that the next government prepares for those shocks by putting in place a buffer in the form of funds “that can protect us”.
It was put to the Taoiseach that despite the possible economic turbulence ahead, his party, Fine Gael, is “partying like there is no tomorrow” in its election manifesto.
Harris said Fine Gael was the only party promising to keep within the 5 per cent Department of Finance spending rule for budgets.
When it was pointed out that the outgoing Coalition repeatedly broke this rule Harris said there was “good reasons” for this, citing the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation.
Harris also said: “while there are significant headwinds”, Ireland “is in a good shape to withstand it but only if we continue the policy direction in terms of setting aside money in funds to protect us form any future shocks”.
In advance of Aontú's manifesto launch, leader Peadar Tóibín insists there has been a “wave of support” towards his party as campaigners they go door-to-door canvassing.
Mr Tóibín told Morning Ireland, on RTÉ Radio 1 that the final seat in ten constituencies Aontú is focused on will go down to the wire between a party candidate and a Government TD.
“In places like Cavan-Monaghan, Mayo, Wexford, Dublin West – if people really want change, they have to concentrate their vote on the Aontú candidate in that location.”
Mr Tóibín said Aontú has only ruled out engaging in talks with Fine Gael and the Green Party.
“Even though we are unhappy that Sinn Féin are still not sure of what they stand for we [will talk to them].
He said Tánaiste Micheál Martin needs to be “a bigger man” and not dismiss the possibility of forming a government with the contribution of Aontú.
“I know Micheál Martin ruled it out [going into government) with Aontú], but he also ruled out going into Coalition with Fine Gael before the last election. So I am not sure we can be confident of that red line from Micheál Martin.
Olivia Kelleher
Someone in the snowbound Galway West constituency is making sure Sinn Féin candidate Mairead Farrell’s face is still being seen by voters. Here she is peeking out from a frozen poster.
