Full coverage: government

When it comes to climate change and sustainability, the Programme for Government contains a lot of positive commitments – until you look at the direction set for individual sectors of the economy.

The move by Israel to shut its Dublin embassy comes in reaction to what Israel's foreign minister described as the Irish government's "extreme anti-Israel policies". The pro-Palestinian movement here, however, still expects tougher domestic action on economic ties to Israel.

The appointment of rural TD and SME champion Peter Burke as minister for enterprise marks a shift in the Government’s attention towards the domestic economy, where expectations are high.

Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation as Taoiseach and party leader, two positions he first assumed in June 2017. A pandemic and a European war later, how has the Irish economy changed under his tenure?

Investing billions in a new city quarter is always going to be hard. Just getting the government lined up it is a big job in itself.

If we have learned one thing from the two decades it took to build 72 homes on one Dublin site, it is that the public bodies involved in housing delivery must move from box-ticking to joined-up thinking.

The profits of multinationals have become the second-largest source of Exchequer funding and the latest Government forecast is that the weight of corporation tax will peak this year, but “windfall” receipts remain unpredictable.

RTÉ has appointed three new journalists to report on previously ignored global issues, the latest to receive backing from the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Green Party ministers have allocated funding to broadcasts about climate change. Personal experience shows the limits of this model.

The latest edition of the Government’s climate plan marks a step change towards the decarbonisation of Ireland’s economy, but still lacks a clear narrative on expectations from business. Yet we can start to pull it together from threads in the hefty document’s various chapters.

Having raised expectations with a sugar-coated Climate Action Plan last year, Eamon Ryan and Charlie McConalogue are faced with the hard reality of carbon budgeting figures. It could be make-or-break time for the coalition.