Pat's Sunday Paper Review July 12th

episode

The Pat Kenny Show 15 min 3 speakers 5 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: chapters · speakers · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Pat Kenny 0:01

The Pat Kenny Show. With timber living log cabins. Saturday and Sunday from 10am on Newstalk. Conversation that counts. Well, I'm joined in studio first of all this morning by Mark Hennessey, Ireland and Britain editor for the Irish Times. Mark, good morning. Good morning. Thank you very much. The Sunday Times, Harris plans 1.5 billion income tax giveaway. And then they tell us that the identity of the Irish killer of the American nurse in Hungary has been revealed. That's also a story in the Sunday Independent.

What headlines are highlighted from the Sunday papers at the start of the show?

Pat Kenny 0:55

And they have an interview with the creche worker who halted the Parnell Square attacker. And the headline is, I hate how just just how much 15 seconds has changed my whole life. And the Irish Mail on Sunday, the flow of immigrants over border halves after the Belfast attack. Now, Mark, you've been going through the papers in detail. What takes your eye?

Mark Hennessy 1:19

Well, there's quite a lot about tax and the upcoming budget. And clearly the focus of ministers is already turning on that. And there's a lot of talk about increasing of tax bands to 46,000 euro and that it's a particular demand of Simon Harris. Now, that issue of increasing bands is always interesting about how it's perceived as a tax giveaway when you could argue that if the band isn't increased, it's a tax increase. But it's certainly going to be costly and it's going to be set against the backdrop of public sector pay talks where public sector unions have already made it clear at the last talks in Dublin Castle that they have learned lessons from the fuel protests and that they are going to be pretty sticky when it comes to the talks and that they're going to be active in terms of disruption.

Mark Hennessy 2:08

and strikes. So that's going to be a particularly difficult chapter for government to manage. And this is all happening at a time when we are spending six out of every seven euro we get in corporation taxes, which can be reasonably regarded as windfall on current day-to-day spending. And we're building that into future spending. And one of these days, it's going to catch up with us.

Pat Kenny 2:30

So even though we're entering what might be called a political silly season, Budget 27 already looming large in the thinking of ministers.

Mark Hennessy 2:37

Oh, undoubtedly. I mean, and an awful lot of work is going to be done on this over the summer when perhaps other people aren't paying too much attention. And, you know, we have all the usual issues, massive overruns in health. There's a significant overrun in education. There are endless demands from everybody, all of us believing that our particular demand is justified and realistic and all the rest of it. And that has to be squared by ministers in a coalition. And you have somebody in the form of Simon Harris who tends to be somewhat dictated by the news list of the day.

Pat Kenny 3:12

Now, going to UK politics, a bad week for Nigel Farage. By the way, his name is probably Farage, but it's become Farage. It's been poshified. Anyway, Farage has had a bad week because he ends up going for a by-election, having resigned his seat against Count Binface.

Mark Hennessy 3:30

Yeah, I mean, you're always in trouble as a politician if you become the subject of mockery. And he has definitely become subject. And particularly against Binface, who has become somewhat of a beloved character in British by-elections over the last number of years.

Pat Kenny 3:46

People might remember from days of yore, screaming Lord Such from the monster-raving Lunar Party.

Mark Hennessy 3:50

Yeah, yeah. There's history. And this guy is no fool. I mean, he's capable of messaging very cleverly. And, you know, the constituency of Clacton, which I knew from my previous life in London, is a particularly deprived place. They're infuriated at the idea of having press all over them for the course of the summer. And I think they've already made that clear to any member of my trade who's been down there. What are they going to do? Are they going to stay at home? Are they going to vote for a candidate in the form of Farage, who has never been in the constituency practically since the day he was elected? And Farage is a charlatan of the highest order.