Good morning.
Politicians may claim to be getting a warm reception on the doors but temperatures have literally plummeted on the general election campaign trail overnight.
Two Met Éireann status orange weather warnings flagged the possibility of heavy snowfall in six counties and the west seems to have borne the brunt of it.
There was a yellow warning for icy conditions pretty much everywhere else.
Regardless of that, there has been a veritable blizzard of political promises made over the last week and a half as almost all of the parties have now published their election manifestos.
Our political correspondent Jennifer Bray got her snow shovel out yesterday to clear a path through the plans of the outgoing Government and Opposition parties alike in the areas of housing, the cost-of-living and health.
In housing, while the overall number of homes each party is promising to deliver over the next five years are similar, the clearest difference is between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who want to keep and enhance the Help to Buy and First Home shared equity schemes, and the Opposition, who believe they only drive up prices.
Opposition parties also want to see different variations of rent freezes and eviction bans.
On the cost-of-living, there is an array of different plans from cutting income taxes in different ways (Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin) to indexing tax credits and bands as well as social welfare rates to a basket measure of inflation and wage growth to protect against increases in the cost of living (Labour).
On health, all of the parties agree on a few basic tenets: more doctors and nurses are needed, and waiting lists need to come down. They have different plans to achieve this.
While Jennifer offers a good overview, anyone who wants to delve a little deeper into what the main parties are promising under 10 policy headings can use our new online manifesto tool.
Emmet Malone, meanwhile, has looked at what Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens promised in 2020 and how much they delivered.
The outgoing Government came into office in the teeth of a global pandemic and later had to deal with a cost-of-living and immigration crisis that were not foreseen at the time of the election.
As Pat Leahy and Jack Horgan-Jones report in our lead story today, 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. In its first meeting since the start of the general election campaign, which has seen all parties make expansive spending promises, senior officials have drawn up the starkest warning yet about the dangers to Ireland’s prosperity from factors outside our control. Ministers were told that the world is in an “especially challenging time for global peace and security” and that it was likely that Ireland would feel economic consequences from this.
It looks like the frosty outlook will continue into next year regardless of who ends up in Government Buildings after next week’s election.
Election Daily: What is Sinn Féin's 'peer review' of RTÉ Gaza coverage all about?
Campaign playbook
Taoiseach Simon Harris will be participating in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) edition of The Irish Times Election Daily podcast. Get your questions in early today for a chance to have them put to the Fine Gael leader. The email address for doing so is politicspodcast@irishtimes.com and put AMA Harris in the subject line. Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald have also agreed to AMA podcasts so get your questions in for them too.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín will unveil his party’s election manifesto in Dublin. With just one TD, Mr Tóibín, in the last Dáil, Aontú is obviously seeking to boost its presence in Leinster House and is running candidates in all constituencies.
Sinn Féin is expected set to outline its election pledges for renters.
Fianna Fáil Ministers Jack Chambers and Darragh O’Brien will be joined by their party’s other election candidates from the capital at a press conference to outline their election promises for Dublin.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik will be launching the party’s disability manifesto – which includes a guarantee of an appropriate school place for every child with additional needs – in Maynooth.
Elsewhere the Green Party will be unveiling their policy “to put the passenger experience first” on public transport with plans to end so-called “ghost-buses” that don’t show up and overflowing trains and trams.
The Social Democrats are launching their health and social care policy. Former party co-leader Róisín Shortall who was heavily involved in the cross party Sláintecare plan will be present as will Rory Hearne – who hopes to retain her Dáil seat in Dublin North-West.
Best reads
Also getting front page coverage today is Jack Horgan-Jones’ story on how Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohoe dined with Ryanair boss Micheal O’Leary during a previously undisclosed 2022 meeting. No records were kept and no actions were taken arising from meeting, the Minister’s spokeswoman has said. O’Leary of course featured prominently in the first weekend of the election race – and Fine Gael faced a significant political backlash – over comments he made about teachers at the launch of Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke’s campaign.
Pat Leahy and Marie O’Halloran outline how the Ukrainian embassy has criticised Sinn Féin manifesto call for “all sides” to “cease the current unlimited supply of weapons’ into Ukraine, which was invaded in 2022 by Russia.
Colin Gleeson has a report on Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald’s interview with Virgin Media last night. She insisted she is in full control of her party saying: “the buck stops with me” and she was also asked about recent controversies that have hit Sinn Féin.
In Opinion, Ms McDonald’s predecessor as Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams says that some see election campaigns as an opportunity to write the party’s obituary and adds: “sorry to disappoint”.
Liz Carolan feels the pain of any political correspondent who has ever sought to review the political parties’ election spending returns in a piece headlined: When it comes to following the money at election time, don’t even try. She writes that scanned, handwritten PDFs spread across multiple institutions is not acceptable in 2023 and does not enable accountability. It’s hard to disagree.
What the papers say
The Indo reports on the “surge in house prices” on its front page while the Irish Examiner highlights comments from Tánaiste Micheál Martin about how the political parties’ spending promises may have to adapt to external shocks.
The Irish Daily Mail reports on tomorrow’s debate being hosted by Sky News and Today FM and pressure being put on Simon Harris to take part.
The Star’s front page focuses on the jailing of a man who burned a Garda car and attacked a migrant centre during last year’s Dublin riot.
The Mirror and the Sun both have coverage of the funeral of former One Direction singer Liam Payne.
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