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Joined April 2016
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Nat O'Connor retweeted
Human rights lawyer and academic Maeve O'Rourke is to run in the Seanad by-election to replace Seán Kyne. jrnl.ie/7194661
Nat O'Connor retweeted
‘Forever is Now’ will be in cinemas from this Friday. theguardian.com/film/2026/oc…
It’s actually worse, as other reports point out that a lot of income tax, USC, PRSI and VAT is also coming from just a few multinationals. While it isn’t as “transient” as the corporation tax, the overall level of risk to the public finances is enormous. rte.ie/news/analysis-and-com…
Nat O'Connor retweeted
The Fiscal Council has just published its Flash Release on Budget 2027. Here are the key takeaways:
Budget 2027 puts the public finances on a worse trajectory by repeatedly breaking established spending limits and increasingly relying on high-risk corporation tax.
Nat O'Connor retweeted
1/4 Two releases came out today. The “White Paper” gives an updated glimpse of the fiscal situation before next Tuesday’s Budget package, but is thin on spending detail. We also have updated tax and spending numbers to September.
Keire Murphy and @Aidan_Regan's new podcast discusses how Ireland can deliver the quality of life that people hope for. They discuss the problems, solutions and the politics.
You can find it as a podcast (e.g. shows.acast.com/get-shit-don…) and on YouTube (youtube.com/@GetShtDonePod).
I was interviewed by Keire to talk about a few things, starting with local democracy in episode three.
You can join the conversation here (video): youtube.com/watch?v=Fds-YBIB…
Or here (audio): shows.acast.com/get-shit-don…
I’m honoured to speak in a panel discussion this evening at the launch of TASC’s annual report on equality in Ireland. It’s particularly special as TASC is 25 this year. Sadly, while the economy is expanding, Ireland still has entrenched inequalities that haven’t gone away.
Accuracy matters. I hope to see this map widely used. rte.ie/news/world/2026/0904/…
Nat O'Connor retweeted
1/4 August’s update shows taxes growing strongly. But spending is also rising faster than planned, and Department of Health overruns are mounting.
Nat O'Connor retweeted
1/11 The Fiscal Council’s latest report warns that Budget 2027 is set to be larger than appropriate for a strong economy. Spending overruns could make the package even bigger than announced on budget day, increasing Ireland’s reliance on risky corporation tax receipts.
ALT Cover image of report.
Nat O'Connor retweeted
16 Sept at 15:30 - online NERI seminar presented by Enda Keenan @centralbank_ie Title: 'The Irish Labour Market - recent developments & future growth'. Chaired by @ciarannugent Details & registration - nerinstitute.net/events/2026…
Nat O'Connor retweeted
1/6 The council has a new blog post out today. It shows that Ireland’s public finances are becoming increasingly reliant on foreign-owned multinationals, not just for corporation tax but for other taxes too.
The other side of this story is that forcing people to retire is illegal in Canada, Australia, NZ, USA and UK. The minimum age is 70+ in France, Norway, etc.
Ireland’s new law is still ageist.
It forces able workers to lose income.
@rtenews @owenreidy
rte.ie/news/2026/0622/157959…
Although Irish alcohol consumption has decreased since 2000, it's still double the world average. Labels on alcohol of the cancer risk warning and zero alcohol during pregnancy message have been postponed following industry lobbying.
So this is timely...
rte.ie/news/health/2026/0617…
I look forward to be speaking at the @ire_solar conference on 18th June, where I will be focusing on the challenges of ensuring everyone can access affordable energy, including older persons and people on lower incomes.
Nat O'Connor retweeted
📰 “Failure and Learning in Policy Innovation” is a new paper by Philipp Trein, University of Lausanne, published as part of a new Policy Innovation Ideas series on PublicPolicy.ie. This paper argues that policy failure frequently serves as a precondition for innovation in the public sector, due to voter myopia, blame avoidance, and the ill-structured nature of policy problems. Drawing on the Innovator's Dilemma framework and Switzerland's Electronic Health Record case, it shows how failure creates the political conditions necessary for reform.
publicpolicy.ie/policy-innov…
#innovation #policy
Nat O'Connor retweeted
‘Stay in Control of your money’ – that’s the message of a new awareness drive to increase understanding of financial abuse. The initiative led by Safeguarding Ireland aims to highlight the many things which people can do to ‘stay in control’. View the resources at: safeguardingireland.org/stay…
Nat O'Connor retweeted
Europe 2050 project.
The traditional rules of trade do not apply anymore. How should Europe think about trade? This is the question taken up by Alan Wolff, a former deputy director general of the WTO. Very much in the spirit of a coalition of the willing. Most of the world still wants to play by rules, if not the same ones as in the past. Given its size, Europe can be the central player of this group and take leadership of the world trading system. Alan discusses in detail how it should be done. cepr.org/publications/europe…
Nat O'Connor retweeted
There is still time to register for this week's Inspiring Policy Innovation Webinar "Designing institutions for designing policy" by Prof B. Guy Peters.
🗓️ 7th May 2026
🕐 3-4pm
You can register here: ucd-ie.zoom.us/webinar/regis…
#UCD #Webinar #Policymaking
