Ben Scallan

1 week ago | gript.ie | Ben Scallan

TDs are due to vote today on Sinn Féin’s Restrictive Financial Measures (State of Israel) Bill 2025, following a stormy Dáil debate last night that was interrupted by heckling from the public gallery and frequent clashes between Government and Opposition benches. The proposed legislation seeks to prohibit the Central Bank of Ireland from authorising or facilitating the sale of Israeli government bonds, which Sinn Féin claims are being used to fund Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

1 week ago | gript.ie | Ben Scallan

Dear Reader, It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.

1 week ago | gript.ie | Ben Scallan

Judicial reviews are being “weaponised” to “prohibit very badly needed homes,” Housing Minister James Browne has said. Speaking to reporters on Monday, the Fianna Fáil Minister said the Government’s reforms to planning law would help ensure that only individuals with a “legitimate interest” in a development could bring legal objections. “I do believe judicial reviews have been weaponised by some people, with a view to simply, if you delay a project long enough, the project will fall,” he said.

1 week ago | gript.ie | Ben Scallan

Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he is “absolutely not” satisfied that the State has received value for money in its spending on the IPAS accommodation system. Speaking to Gript outside Government Buildings on Tuesday morning ahead of this week’s cabinet meeting, the Fine Gael Minister said the current model is “absolutely not” appropriate either. “Am I satisfied we’re getting value for money in relation to IPAS? Absolutely not,” he said. “Am I satisfied that the model is appropriate?

2 weeks ago | gript.ie | Ben Scallan

The Public Accounts Committee will launch a formal investigation in June into how the State is spending billions on accommodation for asylum seekers and refugees. The move was confirmed today in a statement by the committee’s chair, Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who said the inquiry would focus on the governance, oversight, and value for money of State payments made through the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS).