The other big story this week is that the State collected €28 billion in corporate taxes last year, an 18% increase on what it collected the previous year, not including the €11 billion in Apple back taxes.

The Irish Times editorial sounds some caution, describing the tax haul as 'an opportunity which must not be wasted': "The risk to the next coalition, if it does not pursue a prudent policy, is that it ends up having to cut spending and hike taxes in the second half of its term," while the Cantillon column sounds a similar caution in anticipation of the next US president.

On the same topic, Business Plus reports the the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has expressed alarm over the “inappropriate” rise in State expenditure 'after the Government forked out almost double its limit last year.'

Elsewhere, ICTU's Laura Bambrick explains compromise changes to the State Contributory Pension aimed at bridging the gap between pension expenditure and the Social Insurance Fund’s resources. The explainer is published in Eolas magazine.

Meanwhile, The Irish Examiner reports that nurses and paramedics have issued warnings about the “unacceptable” post-Christmas pressures hospitals are facing as it emerged there were 113 hospitals patients on trolleys for longer than 24 hours by Monday. The Echo also reports.

Finally, virtual employees could join the workforce as early as this year, according to the chief executive of OpenAI, while consulting firm McKinsey is one of the early adopters of Microsoft's introduction of 'AI agents', tools that can carry out tasks autonomously. 

Zen

I was delighted to be gifted a couple of tickets to see Landless performing later this month, as part of TradFest 2025. Performing centuries-old ballads as well as more recently penned folk songs, their latest album,  Lúireach was produced by John ‘Spud’ Murphy (Lankum and ØXN).

Here's one of the tunes from that album, a gentle take on a well worn standard.

Have a lovely day. Stay warm and safe. 

Niall Shanahan