Louise Burne

1 week ago | corkbeo.ie | Louise Burne

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that all options for addressing child poverty, including a second tier of child benefit, are on the table for Budget 2026. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to "continue to support families with the cost of raising their family through the child benefit payment". It also commits to exploring a targeted Child Benefit. It follows calls for the introduction of a second tier of Child Benefit.

1 week ago | corkbeo.ie | Louise Burne

Over 3,000 people not living in Ireland are claiming child benefit for more than 6,000 children, new figures show. According to these figures, it means a minimum of €866,040 worth of Child Benefit payments are being paid for children living overseas each month, totalling €10.4m each year. The data was released by Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary in response to a parliamentary question put forward by Fine Gael TD John Paul O'Shea.

1 month ago | corkbeo.ie | Daire Fitton |Louise Burne

US President Donald Trump issued a statement on social media this afternoon threatening to impose a 'straight 50% tariff' on the European Union. President Trump accused the EU of being 'very difficult to deal with' and commented that trade negotiations are 'going nowhere' in a post shared on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

1 month ago | irishmirror.ie | Louise Burne

Building on new homes in April dropped to their lowest rates in nearly a decade last month. Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin told the Irish Mirror that the lack of construction starting means that supply will be tight both this year and next year and the Government could miss its housing figures again in 2025 and 2026. The figures state that in April 2025, there were 1,027 homes commenced. This is down 95 per cent on the same month last year, when work started on 18,700 homes.

1 month ago | corkbeo.ie | Louise Burne

One common reason has led to approximately 3,000 people's social welfare payment rates being slashed in just the first three months of the year, new data shows. Recipients had their rates cut after demonstrating an unwillingness to engage with unemployment services. This data was released by People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy following a parliamentary question to Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary.