Jim Power

Okay.

I actually don't find technology very interesting.

I, you know, I'd much prefer to go off and read political biography and

or business, whatever, rather than tech.

But anyway, I'll move on.

Chris, I want to start with a piece on Ireland today.

Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund published its Article 4 mission on Ireland.

Basically, the IMF comes over here occasionally and

goes around town for a few days, around the country actually, and meets lots of different people, produces a report and it published the results yesterday.

And I just want to run through pretty quickly the key conclusions from the IMF.

Ireland has done well.

but resilience cannot be taken for granted.

It addresses a number of issues of relevance to Ireland, and indeed they're not unique to Ireland, but the war situation.

And it recommends agile, calibrated responses that prioritise temporary and targeted measures for the vulnerable rather than broad-based ones such as tax cuts, subsidies and price controls.

And that is definitely a criticism of resilience

government policy to date during this crisis.

On the fiscal side, it recommends that we accelerate public investment efficiently while closely controlling current expenditure.

We need to control the spending overruns, a broadly neutral fiscal stance is desirable.

It recommends a broadening of the tax base, and I'll talk about that in a second, and strengthening the national fiscal framework and budget credibility.

On the structural side, it recommends boosting housing supply, enhancing energy security, staying on course for the green transition, integrating more with EU energy markets, and preparing workers for the AI transformation.