Failte Siveen

Minister 'wrong' to blame HSE regions for €1bn overspend in health budget. Carroll MacNeill's recruitment claims undermined as leaked internal report shows non-pay costs - not hiring- driving deficit ✍️ JohnEdwardLee According to the calculations this was 4.6 per cent above agreed spending. Non-pay costs are areas like the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS), which is made up of payments to GPs, pharmacists, dentists, and community health schemes. Non-pay spending also includes payments for medical devices, pharmaceuticals, clinical supplies, IT systems, and facilities maintenance. The report also shows that the controversy-plagued Children's Health Ireland (#CHI) accounts for the worst cost control levels, with an overspend of €50.8million #HSÉ #Budget #FFG #IrelandisBroken #NCH

Back to Basics. Old Fogey Simon Harris delighted the Fine Gael delegates at last night's conference. Check out Ryan Carrick's video! #TikTok vm.tiktok.com/ZN8ftBV1c/

Ireland’s first-ever national demonstration against data centres saw hundreds marching to the Dáil from the Garden of Remembrance. “Build homes, not data centres,” read one of the signs, as hundreds gathered as part of a Europe-wide day of action on data centres, with over 85 groups from 10 countries taking part. #datacentres #electricity independent.ie/irish-news/we…

The Truth the first casualty of War So, It's definitely the Russians? Where is the evidence? THE Taoiseach has not attributed responsibility to anyone as far as I am aware. Or is this article just propaganda from the media who are desperate for years now to push us into NATO ? How Russia tried to sabotage Ireland's hosting of crucial EUJ summit ✍️John Mooney Amid fears Kremlin is waging a hybrid war on Ireland, a sophisticated wave of bomb hoaxes targeting Ryanair and RTE has put Dublin on high alert The bomb threat arrived by email to RTE early last Friday morning from someone using the pseudonym of Mikhail Andropov, who claimed responsibility for the flurry of bomb threats delivered to mid-air flights across Europe last week. The threat concluded by saying an explosive would detonate in 45 minutes, prompting an evacuation of the RTE ­campus. No device was found but gardai are concerned someone could have accessed the building during the evacuation and planted one. The latest escalation in Russia's campaign to disrupt everyday life across Ireland did not begin last week but months ago when schools in Carlow received bomb threats. Months later, in October, 150 to 200 primary and secondary schools in Dublin, Cork Donegal, Kildare. Carlow and Limerick simultaneously got a mass-mailed bomb threat with the subiect line "Death awaits you", The government is also passing legislation to remove the triple lock on posting troops, which will alter Ireland’s defence posture. Yury Filatov, the Russian ambassador to Ireland, labelled the debate over removing the UN approval condition as “deeply flawed”. “The dogs in the street know Russia has been involved in hybrid activities in Ireland, such as the HSE cyberattack. Where the evidence points to Russian involvement, being clear about that helps society understand both the threat and its purpose: to sow confusion, undermine confidence and weaken our cohesion. For Russia to become stronger, Europe need only become weaker,” he said. “Our response must draw on the strengths of democracy itself: an informed public, trusted institutions and a shared commitment to preparedness. In the final analysis, resilience is the ­centre of gravity of deterrence.” thetimes.com/article/49a11a7…

Lawyers representing the man convicted of the murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan are examining the killer’s legal options, now that the garda watchdog is examining the safety of the detective’s firearm holster. ✍️Ali Bracken Last week, garda watchdog #Fiosrú said it had received a request from Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan to open an independent investigation into “matters concerning the safety and suitability of the firearm holster used by Det Gda Colm Horkan at the time of the incident in which he was murdered”. Contacted last week, Silver’s solicitor Phelim O’Neill, a partner at Harringtons LLP in Dublin, said: “I’m gravely concerned about what we’re hearing in respect of the holster. We’re actively considering all of our client’s options.” There is potential for Silver’s lawyers to launch a further appeal on the basis of any possible issues identified with the detective’s holster, citing new evidence. #GardaHorkan independent.ie/irish-news/la…

Curiouser and curiouser! Who is telling the Truth here? Someone was leant on by higher powers to act but didn't realise the meeting was being recorded? Taoiseach urged to clarify what he was told about heated #CUH meeting ✍️Maeve Sheehan Taoiseach Micheál Martin is facing calls to correct the Dáil record after dismissing as “untrue” reports that a HSE official was under political instruction to have words with a hospital chief executive. However, HSE executive Dr Andy Phillips has now admitted he made those comments in a meeting with Jennifer Kearney, the chief executive of Cork University Hospital (CUH). He has also admitted he received no such political instructions, and he “should not have suggested” he had. Ms Kearney has repeatedly pushed back against the Government’s attempts to rein in health spending at CUH, by warning that staffing shortages may affect patient safety. Social Democrats health spokesperson Padraig Rice claimed this weekend that the Taoiseach “misled” the Dáil. He has called on him to clarify exactly what he was told about the meeting at CUH. “This raises very serious questions for the Taoiseach. For a start, why was he so happy to contradict the official minutes of this meeting without apparently having consulted with anyone from CUH who had attended the meeting?” Sources said Dr Phillips was not aware the meeting had been recorded. #HowIrelandWorks #FFG independent.ie/irish-news/ta…

Not up to the Job. In case you missed this extraordinary meeting of the Finance Committee this week. Minister for Finance Simon Harris looking to delegate key responsibilities for steering the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2026 through the Finance Committee to his Junior Minister, Robert Troy.

Opponents of the Government’s planned changes to the triple lock on Irish neutrality had hoped to throw the matter to the people. The triple lock guarantees that no more than 12 Irish soldiers can be sent into battle zones without the permission of the Government, the Dáil and the United Nations. ✍️Karl McDonald /@IrishTimes The plan was to “utilise Article 27 of the Constitution to trigger a referendum” on the current triple lock legislation by making a “petition to the President”. Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, People Before Profit-Solidarity, the Green Party, Senator Tom Clonan, Senator Frances Black, Senator Alice-Mary Higgins and TD Brian Stanley were listed as part of the campaign. But the press conference was cancelled. Why? Because, it seems, it’s not actually possible to utilise Article 27 in the way envisaged. But there’s a snag: it only applies to bills “which shall have been deemed, by virtue of Article 23 hereof, to have been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas”. Article 23 says something like this: if the Dáil wants a bill, and the Seanad blocks it, the Dáil can pass it anyway after a certain period. In other words, as Trinity constitutional law professor David Kenny tells Overheard: “The Dáil overrules the Seanad.” Which isn’t to say it definitely won’t happen – the left never loses faith in its chances of shaking loose a few Fianna Fáil backbenchers – but it won’t happen soon. Clever plan to trigger a referendum on the triple lock trips up on a technicality #TripleLock #Neutrality #PresidentConnolly irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/…

They don't care! The legacy of @finegael & @fiannafailparty after decades in Government. All Grown up with no homes To Go To! FINE art photographer Saoirse Sexton took the poignant photographs that you see on these pages as part of her project entitled A/S/L, a series of 25 portraits of people over 25 living in their family home. ✍️Colm McGuirk / @IrishMailSunday It comes as CSO data shows that more than 41 per cent of Irish 18 to 34-year-olds - 440,000 people - are still living with their parents, often in the homes they grew up in. because of high rent costs soaring house prices, and especially due to the country's severe and chronic housing shortage. #HomeAgain #HousingDisaster #IrelandisBroken #FFG

The Housing Crisis Election #GE24 Interviewer: You have responsibility for housing at the minute - this is your mess! Micheal: What mess!? 100 Years is Enough! #HopeForAChange #HousingDisaster

At first I thought this was a skit, but no, the delegates at the Fine Gael Conference. Check out The Journal's video! #TikTok vm.tiktok.com/ZN8fsq9Dy/