World of Politics with Harry McGee

The dust hasn’t settled on the budget, but – if any further indication was required – we now know everything is pointing to a November election.

We have had the biggest Budget of all time possibly, totalling €8.3 billion. For the first time, the Budgetary figures are topping €100 billion in 2024.

There’s also a €2 billion kitty for once-off spending to deal with the cost-of-living crisis – even though, if truth be known, that is not really a crisis any more for most people (for some, of course, it is).

The goodies don’t stop there. There’s a double child benefit payment. And there’s a second double child benefit payment at Christmas for good measure.

Corporation tax is like a Eurobillions lottery win every year. And that’s not even counting the €13 billion worth of moolah that’s coming through from the Apple judgement.

Everything is screaming – November.

And yet, I was talking to a fellow political journalist on Monday and he’s now convinced it’s going to be February.

He thinks that the endless speculation in recent weeks – and the Government insistence that it would go for the full term – all mean that it has to do its full term, otherwise the electorate will call it out.

I’m not so sure – and yet timing is a tricky proposition.

We have seen that in the past week with the lavish overspends on the €2.2 billion (and counting) National Children’s Hospital and the two modern-day follies: the €336,000 bicycle shelter in Leinster House and the €1.4 million new security hut just up the road from it.

And then this week, we learned from the Auditor and Comptroller General’s Annual report that the modular homes that the State has built for Ukrainian refugees have cost a staggering €442,000 each.

The original bill for these homes – which are prefabricated in factories and were supposed to be rapid build – was predicted at €200,000 per unit.

But just about like everything else in Ireland, by the time the project has come to an end the price has doubled and then some.

This is becoming a bit of a scandal. These modular homes are tiny. Some are one bedroom, most are two bedrooms. But the maximum size is 45 square metres.

Pictured: Ministers Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe delivering Budget 2025.