She said the tax-free payments for Ukrainian accommodation was "radically distorting the private rental market" and embedded "a form of preferential treatment that is not available to renters in other categories.
BREAKING: A local councillor has said that a second asylum centre in Thurles has been approved, just days after the first one came to light, as he described the development as “shocking”:
MATT TREACY: The stark reality is that if he continues to revoke deportation orders on the same scale, and if the state continues to allow even claimants from safe countries to arrive in large numbers, then he may as well give up.
French political candidate Marine Le Pen faces being banned from running in France’s presidential election in two years after she was found guilty in a financial case involving misappropriation of European funds:
"What would you do if you were denied the truth about what happened to your son or daughter? .. This isn’t just a fight for Noah Donohoe — this is a fight for every child, every mother, every family in this country," she told the large rally.
Singer Gearoid McCarthy says most Irish politicians are “not qualified” for their roles and that the “Irish people know this government treats us like shit,” in video calling for change after his father’s death last week.
JOHN MCGUIRK: The collapse in Irish tourism is so blatantly and directly a result of identifiable government decisions that one could for once be forgiven for wondering if it is not mere incompetence, but conspiracy:
Local people in the small Gaeltacht village of Carna in Conamara are holding a 24/7 protest at the local hotel to stop its use as a migrant centre housing 84 persons – saying a “continuous watch” would also be kept on the 3 main routes into the village. https://gript.ie/watch-in-carna-locals-vow-24-7-protest-to-stop-migrant-centre/
06.04.202514:20
KEVIN MYERS: If the frantic and endless discussion about the television series Adolescence teaches us anything, it is that we live in a prison of left-wing fantasy, where real facts are unimportant and the fantasies of left-feminism are all that matter: https://gript.ie/myers-adolescence/
10.04.202513:43
'His FOI revealed multiple incidents of physical violence, aggression and threats against staff, claims of arson, psychotic episodes, fires, and much more – all within a four month period, and from just 3 of the 320 IPAS centres operating in the state. '
MATT TREACY: According to the 2022 Census, 68% of the people living in the Lucan electoral district said that they had been born in Ireland. 32% who had been born outside of the state.
Speaking in a week that saw protests in Carna, Peadar Tóibín said that the Minister for Integration "needs to reverse any placements in Gaeltacht areas across the country ... and put in place a blanket restriction on future placements."
KEVIN MYERS: The "national counter disinformation strategy" has not one negative thing to say about Official Ireland. RTE, the Irish Times, and their fellow travellers are the goodies. The rest of us? A threat to be monitored. https://gript.ie/myers-national-counter-disinformation-strategy-gript/
This week on The Long Game Podcast, Ben and Jason discuss the news that plans for a directly-elected Dublin mayor have been shelved over Conor McGregor-shaped fears, whether citizen journalists are the threat they're made out to be and the new Climate Leaving Cert subject which will see students considering 'environmental racism' and the role of colonialism is 'climate injustice'.
THADE ANDY: In the light of the current economic uncertainty - and the shock de-industrialisation of Germany driven by a surge in energy prices - Ireland must rethink our costly green energy policy.
NIAMH UÍ BHRIAIN: But then, as Quest Retirement Solutions noted, it was the Department of Integration who requested the Carnew building be used as an IPAS centre. It's a reminder of the absolute failure of the State to consider our own ageing population.
MATT TREACY on the company with TUSLA care contracts who are seeking to pivot into the lucrative business of asylum accommodation, including with a property in leafy, sea-blown Howth.
JASON OSBORNE: ‘Climate Action and Sustainable Development’ has no business being a Leaving Certificate subject, and the students that sign up to it are going to be primed for activism as much as, if not more than, they’re educated about ecology.
JOHN MCGUIRK: At the age of 46, with his career peaks firmly in the rear view mirror, Iar-Taoiseach Varadkar appears to be attempting to re-invent himself as a sort of political Roy Keane, delivering punditry from the sidelines. https://gript.ie/jmg-varadkar-trump/
14.04.202510:15
LAURA PERRINS on the immense humanity - and specifically male appeal - of Golf. "My father informed me that it was the best night of sport he ever witnessed. Ever. And he’s 81." https://gript.ie/perrins-mcilroy-masters-golf/
14.04.202510:03
Michael Collins TD has sharply criticised the government’s proposed Airbnb Register, warning that it threatens to destabilise rural tourism economies - though the Housing Minister says tough choices need to be made.
"We're now in the territory of cancelling elections altogether out of a fear that the wrong person might win". JOHN MCGUIRK on weekend reports that the Dublin Mayoral election will not be held on foot of Government fears of Mayor Conor McGregor: https://gript.ie/jmg-mcgregor-mayor-of-dublin/
