With less than four weeks to Budget 2025, robust exchequer returns are in again this year as it's reported that the overall tax revenues stood at €59.8bn at the end of last month, €6.7bn ahead of last year. Tax receipts of €7.4bn were collected in August, up over €2bn (40%) on the same month last year, of which €3.7bn was corporation tax, up €1.9bn on August of last year. 

With all that cash in the coffers, the Irish Times editorial responds to the concerns expressed yesterday about public spending by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: "Budget 2025 should focus on investment and supporting those who need it. Instead, a blatantly pre-election package is in the offing. The latest buoyant exchequer returns will only increase the political demands."

Congress is calling for the promotion of collective bargaining by the next Government. The ICTU election manifesto says unions will be focussing on ensuring that clear commitments are included in the manifestos, and programmes of political parties and independent candidates, to promote collective bargaining if they form part of or support the next Government.

The report on the Grenfell Tower tragedy, published yesterday, revealed that Irish firm Kingspan “knowingly created a false market” for the insulation used on the facade of the buiilding, by falsely claiming it successfully passed tests to allow it to be used on high-rise buildings over 18 metres in height.

Zen

Like everyone else (aside from Vladimir Putin) I've enjoyed the momentum of the Harris/Walz campaign in the US. Aside from the Trump meltdown it has precipitated, and the neutering of JD Vance (he had it coming), it appears to have genuinely energised younger US voters. We can but hope, should Harris win, that a much more progressive direction for the US is possible. In the meantime, here is Harris extolling the virtues of organised labour.

One of the more interesting voices I discovered during the summer is comedian Trae Crowder, hailing from rural Celina, Tennessee, and co-author of The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark. His Instagram account provides lots of delicious hot takes on the Republican campaign. And here's Trae also extolling the virtues of organised labour.

Have a super day.

Niall