Households earning up to €90,000 a year would be eligible to buy affordable homes starting at €300,000 under a new Sinn Féin affordable housing plan – but the State would retain ownership of the land the homes are built on with ongoing conditions on the sale and rent of the home.

The plan, unveiled by the party in Dublin today, also promises rents at or below €1,000 a month, with renters and purchasers who earn too much to qualify for council housing but who cannot purchase a home being targeted.

EU standard VAT is 23%, but we usually charge a lower rate on energy: 13.5%. It'll is likely to go back to that at the end of October, having been temporarily 9% since May 2022. If they extend the 9% thing, it'll cost the government €319 million. A further complication of State policy is that the planned increase in carbon tax – which operates like an excise duty on fuel – will add to prices of most fuels in 2025 and raise a hefty €160 million for the exchequer (much of it ring-fenced for environmental and social spending).

Advice to cut VAT on bikes and e-bikes from the standard 23% to 13.5%

An interesting proposal understood to be in the mix for budget day is a cut in VAT on internet connections from 23 per cent to 13.5 per cent. This would cost around €60 million and would benefit households (by about €40 a year on average) and businesses.

Is 9% VAT returning for hospitality? The lower rate on hospitality applied from November 2020 – in the wake of the Covid-19 downturnbusiness – until August 2023, when it reverted to 13.5%. The sector is calling for a return of the low rate, but that'd cost €764 million a year

New homes could also be taxed at the lower 9%. The civil servants don’t like this either, arguing that there is no guarantee it would be passed on to buyers. If applied to all new houses it would cost €721 million a year, which makes it look unlikely.

Heat pumps might also see their VAT cut.

Experts believe that Irish tax revenues will have to increase in the medium term to meet the cost of ageing and climate change. Revenues based on fossil fuel cars will drop off sharply assuming the switch to electric cars is successful and the exchequer will have to look at a way to replace these. The Fiscal Advisory Council estimatedhttps://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/2024/02/28/switch-to-electric-motoring-will-cost-exchequer-25bn-in-lost-tax-revenue-by-2030/#:~:text=The%20switch%20to%20electric%20motoring) the annual losses would climb to €2.5 billion by 2030. The council – and previous Tax Strategy papers – have looked at ways to do this, via measures such as taxing cars on their weight, or congestion charges. None of this will feature in Budget 2025. Also, the EU Commission, the OECD and the Commission on Tax and Welfare have all argued for measures to get more revenue from VAT and broaden the base over time.

Counting my chickens before they've hatched I know

Related to: https://lemmy.ml/post/9176011

Wiffen came first in the heats, the final is starting shortly....

Ok maybe silver.... at least.... come on Ireland

(Sez you: didn't you make this post a week ago? Sez I: different sport)

Galway v Armagh at 3:30, so about 75 minutes after this post.

This is going to be incredible. The most evenly-matched final in ages. My prediction: a draw.

Watch

Here's an old comment about watching GAA online

It's on RTÉ2 (which is on daddylive, though I'm not promising the stream will work smoothly), on BBC Sport NI, and on GAAGO Abroad (with DRM)

• Record 133 athletes

• Why no women's hockey? We're usually good at that.

• Rowing: Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy (lightweight double sculls) are back after gold in Tokyo: https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/tokyo-2020/results/rowing/lightweight-men-s-double-sculls

• In women's boxing: Kellie Harrington has every chance of another gold. She is 34 now. Aoife O’Rourke is absolutely a gold-prospect too and has four European golds on her matelpiece.

• Men's boxing: Aidan Walsh got bronze four years ago.

• Swimming: Daniel Wiffen has world records, is 22, would be disappointed not to be on a podium or two. He is in three events.

• Women's 400m: Rhasidat Adeleke may be the most famous athlete in Ireland now

• Men's gymnastics: Rhys McClenaghan has all sorts of laurels, underperformed in Tokyo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhys_McClenaghan

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/18310182

https://invidious.materialio.us/watch?v=0WY3tuOZsGc&listen=1 / https://invidious.perennialte.ch/watch?v=0WY3tuOZsGc&listen=1 / https://invidious.flokinet.to/watch?v=0WY3tuOZsGc&listen=1

https://telefis.bandcamp.com/

http://www.telefis.ie/

Sinn Féin would require an official audit of the existing capacity of local services before an accommodation centre for asylum seekers is opened.

Sinn Féin will also recommend that a “two-tier system”, in which Ukrainians enjoy better conditions than asylum seekers from other countries, should end.

Local residents would be entitled to take part in a formal process of consultations.... nobody would have a veto on the location of facilities for asylum seekers.

Clare versus Cork in a rerun of the 2013 final

Throw-in is at 3:30, so about 80 minutes after this thread

I had an RTÉ2 link, but it's gone down now 😔, maybe someone good at finding these things can find it. rte.ie/player might work with a VPN - or watch reddit /r/teilifis for a download later

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/946773

It is the misfortune of the Irish that they rose prematurely, before the European revolt of the proletariat had had time to mature. Capitalism is not so harmoniously built that the various sources of rebellion can immediately merge of their own accord, without reverses and defeats. On the other hand, the very fact that revolts do break out at different times, in different places, and are of different kinds, guarantees wide scope and depth to the general movement; but it is only in premature, individual, sporadic and therefore unsuccessful, revolutionary movements that the masses gain experience, acquire knowledge, gather strength, and get to know their real leaders, the socialist proletarians, and in this way prepare for the general onslaught, just as certain strikes, demonstrations, local and national, mutinies in the army, outbreaks among the peasantry, etc., prepared the way for the general onslaught in 1905.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/jul/x01.htm

A spokesman for the Chinese ambassador said in a statement: “The Irish Government has made it clear that Ireland adheres to, and will continue to adhere to, the one-China policy. Visiting Taiwan as a member of the Irish parliament, claiming Taiwan as a ‘country’, meeting with Taiwan political figures and separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ are in clear violation of the Irish Government’s One China Policy.”

FF Senator Gerry Horkan said “we want to have good relations with both mainland China and Taiwan. We understand the one-China policy and are happy to comply with it.”

Independent Senator Sharon Keogan said “we’re delighted to promote Ireland as a gateway to Europe for Taiwan”.

In 2018, Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl wrote to Oireachtas members to “remind members of the current position with regard to Taiwan”.

In his letter, he said that “active engagement between members of the Oireachtas and Taiwan can damage the relations between Ireland and China and is in conflict to the long-standing one-China policy.

“As Ceann Comhairle, I have no intention of telling Oireachtas members who they, as elected public representatives, can meet or what functions they can attend. That would never be my wish.

“However, I am aware that there continues to be engagement between some Oireachtas members and the Taiwanese authorities. This can cause serious offence and grave concern to our Chinese friends and has the potential to cause serious damage to Ireland’s developing relationship with China as well as being a danger to Ireland’s national interest.

“I write to members merely to remind them of the one-China policy long in place, and to highlight the implications that a parliamentary engagement with the Taiwanese authorities can have on the excellent relations [ this before the Richard O'Halloran thing] currently enjoyed by Ireland with China.”

New immigration policy document due to be published on Monday (22 July)

Will lay out SF's immigration policy. They've been criticised for being vague on this.

Mary Lou McDonald admitted her party had “lost the trust” of its regular supporters and claimed the party had diverged from “where most people are” on immigration. “We are a party of the working class and the left,” the party leader said on social media this week, but the question was posed to Doherty today that due to their positioning on immigration, their grassroots working-class voters are migrating from the party.

“There are small minorities that are trying to exploit the frustration and fears that many communities face and it’s important that we actually get in there and listen to them and have proper dialogue and consultation with them,” Pearse Doherty said.