Good morning.
The general election campaign is entering its sixth day, kicking off with Taoiseach Simon Harris promising, in an Instagram video, a permanent double child benefit in August to help parents with the back-to-school costs. More on that below.
Throughout the day, we’ll bring you all the updates from the campaign trail, including People Before Profit’s election manifesto commitments to protect neutrality, Fianna Fáil’s proposals to get more people back living in our city centres and more.
Our reporters will be attending these press conferences for live updates.
Virgin Media Television is set to hold The Big Interview with the three main party leaders, at 10pm each Wednesday of the general election campaign. We’ll bring you updates on that later.
Key reads:
- Sinn Féin spends more on online ads than other parties combined
- John McManus: VAT cuts for restaurants were a bad idea last month. Why are they a good idea now?
- ‘I can’t even get a plumber. How are they going to build those houses?’ Dublin taxi drivers give their verdict on election pledges
- How many landlords and property owners are in the Dáil?
Fine Gael have posted a video on X in which school children interview the Taoiseach about plans to help parents with the cost of raising a family…
“I want to extend hot school meals to every school in the country,” Harris says.
“What, like broccoli?” one kid replies.
Election posters have been a hot topic already this year, with complaints of them being damaged, stolen, or incorrectly placed.
This year, someone is putting googly eyes on the election posters in Co Cork, as spotted by this user on X.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has promised an additional yearly double child benefit in advance of children returning to school. In a video posted on Instagram this morning, he said his party wanted to help parents with the cost-of-living challenges associated with that time of year.
“This morning Fine Gael is proposing that we would have a permanent additional child benefit every August to help people with the costs of going back to school,” he said.
“I know from travelling right across the country, the cost-of-living challenges are real. The cost of raising a child is real”.
