Finance « Thurles Information

Thurles Blisters Burst After Just 6 Weeks.

Blister tactile paving, installed in early September of this year; same, as part of the long awaited and current upgrading at the junction at Irerrin Road and Kickham Street in Thurles, are already disintegrating.

**New blister style tactile paving & kerbing shows signs of physical breakdown just 6 weeks after installation**.

This paving is designed especially for visually impaired pedestrians (and those with the more modern affliction of staring intently at their mobile phone screens, surfing Google), while out walking.

Seriously, same should indicate controlled and uncontrolled street crossings, thus warning pedestrians that the pavement is about to end and the road begins.

The paving on this junction indicates an uncontrolled crossing and is earth buff (light earth brown) in colour, same designed colour to provide an additional visual cue for those with low vision.

Sadly, as in this case, engineers in their design, failed to understand that same are not suitable for busy street corners or for parking areas where 18 wheeler trucks halt, forced to park on a narrow street in an effort to off-load their merchandise.

Ah, sure it’s only another €1,000 or so of taxpayers money to spend to correct; a small price to pay for engineering stupidity.

Cost Of Recent Deportation Flight To Pakistan €473,000.

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery”.
Extract from Charles Dickens’s 1850 novel “David Copperfield”.

Government Confirms €473,000 Cost Of Recent Deportation Flight To Pakistan.

The Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Mr Jim O’Callaghan, has confirmed that a chartered flight used to deport 24 men from Ireland to Pakistan on September 23rd last cost approximately €473,000 — almost €20,000 per person, the most expensive deportation operation to date this year.

It was the fourth chartered deportation flight in 2025, following earlier flights to Georgia and Nigeria, which together cost over €530,000. In total, 130 people have been deported via chartered flights so far this year, with a further 137 removals carried out on commercial flights by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB).

Mr O’Callaghan said the cost of the Pakistan flight may rise as invoicing is still being finalised. He noted that deportations are “costly and complex to enforce,” adding that voluntary returns remain the preferred option.

“The returnees on this flight were accompanied by Garda personnel, medical staff, an interpreter, and a human rights observer,” he added.

The Department of Justice has issued 3,035 deportation orders so far this year, up from 2,403 in 2024.

One wonders would it have been cheaper to have allowed them to stay and found them jobs in the catering industry at the new national minimum wage of €14.15 per hour, but then I suppose what with no houses and despite global warming, tents can be still be draughty in Ireland in our winters.

Sadly, the government Learjet 45 owned by Irish taxpayer has only 7 passenger seats and the new one we the taxpayers just bought for world influencers Mr Simon Harris and Mr Micheál Martin at a cost of €53m; (due for delivery Xmas 2025, in time for Ireland’s EU Presidency in the second half of 2026), will only have 10 seats.

Could they not have used an Emirates Economy Return Flight from Dublin to Karachi which would only have costs €842.37 per person, (a saving of €19,000 per person), but then I suppose unions representing Garda personnel, medical staff, an interpreter and a human rights observer, would have objected to travelling Economy Class.
Meanwhile, we read last month that Community Foundation Ireland, ranks Ireland 16th out of 27 European Union countries when child poverty is rated.

Over €1.1 Million Spent On Taxis For IPAS Residents Since 2024.

More than €1.1 million has been spent on taxi services for residents of International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) centres since the start of last year, according to new figures supplied from the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.

The costs, which cover transport to and from IPAS centres and urgent journeys such as medical appointments, totalled €904,222 in 2024 and €228,107 up to the end of May 2025. These figures exclude any direct payments made by accommodation centres.

Justice Minister Mr Jim O’Callaghan said transport forms part of the State’s legal obligation to provide accommodation and basic supports for international protection applicants. He noted that taxis are used when smaller groups require travel, or when transport is needed urgently or outside regular hours.

“The IPAS system involves residents regularly arriving, leaving, or moving between centres. Transport is required as part of these movements and for specific urgent needs,” the Minister stated.

He added that overall taxi costs have “reduced significantly” since last year.

Separately, the Department has spent over €12 million on wider transport for international protection applicants — including buses and taxis — since February 2022, following the activation of the EU Temporary Protection Directive.

A Quick Glance At Today’s Budget.

Take A Quick Glance At Ireland’s Budget Details Announced Today.

Workers earning the national minimum wage will see an increase of 65 cent per hour, bringing the new rate to €14.15.
Motorists; Same will face higher fuel costs, with a 60-litre tank set to rise by €1.28 for petrol and €1.48 for diesel.
Smokers; The cost of a 20-pack of cigarettes will increase by 50 cent, bringing the average price to just under €19.
Social Welfare, Child benefit & Pensions; Core weekly social welfare payments, including the State pension, will rise by €10 per week. Child benefit; Same will increase by €8 per month for children under 12 and €16 for those aged 12 and over.
Fuel allowance: Eligibility for the fuel allowance will be expanded to include recipients of the Working Family Payment, and the weekly allowance itself will rise by €5.
Education & Grants; In education, college fees will be permanently reduced by €500, bringing the annual charge to €2,500—though this will represent an increase in real terms from the temporarily reduced rate of €2,000 in recent years. SUSI Grants; The income threshold for SUSI grants will rise by €5,000, to €120,000 per household. Capitation grants; Same will increase from €224 to €274 for primary and special schools, and from €386 to €406 at post-primary level. Special Needs Assistants; 1,717 new Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) will be appointed, bringing the total to almost 24,900, alongside 1,042 new teaching posts, including 860 for special education. Building Projects; A €1.6 billion capital investment will progress over 300 school building projects, delivering around 2,800 new places for special classes and schools.
Hospitality: The VAT rate on hospitality will be cut to 9% from July 2026, while the rate for completed apartments will drop from 13% to 9% until the end of 2030.
Renters; Renters will benefit from the extension of the tax credit for a further three years, remaining at €1,000 for individuals and €2,000 for couples. Mortgage interest relief will continue for two more years—€1,250 in 2025 and €625 in 2026.
Income Tax Bands; There are no major changes to income tax bands or credits, other than an increase in the USC 2% rate band to €28,700.
Public Transport; Reduced public transport fares will continue throughout 2026, and the 9% VAT rate on energy bills will be extended until the end of 2028.
Defence; The Defence budget will rise by 11%, funding 50 new civilian roles, 70 additional civil servants for areas such as cybersecurity, and new body armour and ammunition stock replenishment.
Health; The Health budget will increase to €27.3 billion, up €1.5 billion on this year, including 300 new mental health staff.
Law Enforcement; Up to 1,000 new Garda recruits will be deployed in 2026, with further investment in immigration processing, youth diversion, and domestic violence prevention programmes.
National Broadband Plan; A further €433 million will go towards the National Broadband Plan, while €357 million will be provided for broadcasting, including €65.4 million for TG4.
Renewable energy; Households generating renewable energy will benefit from an extension of the €400 income tax disregard for microgeneration earnings until 2028.
Sport; €3 million will be provided to establish League of Ireland youth academies, and the GAA will receive €1.6 million in funding for inter-county players.
Music; From Budget 2026, income tax relief for makers of uilleann pipes and Irish harps will be extended to 2028.

GDP – Gross Domestic Push: Tipperary’s Economic Trolley Indicator.

Mikey Ryan discusses the new Trolley Tax and the Great Thurles Trolley Crisis.
Cartastrophe: How We Are Wheeling Up Food Prices.
Cart-Flation: How Abandoned Shopping Trolleys Are Undermining Tipperary’s Economy.
Are Abandoned Trolleys Driving Up the Cost of Your Roast Beef?

I swear all I said to Mikey Ryan was that Seamus Hanafin’s Walkway, has once again returned to being an unkempt dump, strewn with Supermarket Trolleys and after all the public money wasted, it is like the River Suir, no longer maintained by Thurles Municipal District. But my statement was enough to get local man Mikey Ryan ‘Riled Up’.

**The** **‘Great Trolley Tax’**.
*Pic G. Willoughby*.

“Economists, retailers, and the good people of Thurles may all be missing the obvious culprit behind Ireland’s stubbornly high food prices, the malefactor being those feckin humble shopping trolleys”, declared Mikey Ryan.

We were above in the Arch Bar, Liberty Square, last night, supping a few pints, when Mikey Ryan announced to all and sundry that he really should have applied to local councillors to support him for the position of President of Ireland; the election due to take place on October 24th, 2025.

“Sure I would get through the Presidential election nomination process without any bother, through reinventing the global climate agenda by simply expanding planetary consciousness regarding shopping trolleys”, said Mikey confidently.

“On paper”, inflation is blamed on everything from energy costs to global supply chains. But take a closer look at our rivers, hedgerows, and half-finished Liberty Square, and you’ll spot the real drain on our wallets; it’s supermarket trolleys gone rogue”, stated Mikey, who now had the ear of everyone present.

“A single 100-litre trolley, supplied by ROLLCAGE, costs €287.20. Add VAT and it rolls out at €353.26. There were twelve such trolleys in the immediate vicinity; six of which, up until yesterday, were enjoying a leisurely soak in the River Suir and another six still gathering moss along the route of the still-mythical Thurles Inner Relief Road”.

Mikey paused to wet his whistle, before announcing that the cost of same 12 trolleys came to €4,239.12 in missing hardware.

“That’s not just metal and wheels, folks. That’s the equivalent of: 2,400 loaves of bread (pre-inflation). 1,500 litres of milk (assuming the cows agree to cooperate), or, given the latest CSO figures, perhaps just two bags of shopping if you’re fond of butter, beef, and chocolate.” he continued.

“The CSO yesterday tells us food inflation reached 5.1% in August. Butter is up 18.3%, Beef 22.7%, Milk 12.4%, Chocolate 16.3%, Coffee 12.1%. Coincidence? Is every percentage point tied to a trolley floating belly-up in the Suir and other rivers around our emerald isle?”

Mickey stopped again to gulp down another mouthful.

In a room where you could hear a pin drop, Mikey continued,
“For one minute, let’s consider the supermarket boardroom’s conversation:-
Manager: “Profits are down this quarter Sir”.
Chairperson on the Board: “Why? “.
Manager: “Well, six of our €353 Euro trolleys are living in the river Suir and another half-dozen are auditioning as urban sculptures on the Thurles inner relief road“.
Chairperson: “Feck it, right so, put 20 cents on the price of milk and double it for butter. The cows won’t complain“.

“And so”, said Mikey, “here we see, for the first time, the introduction of the ‘Great Trolley Tax’, same being quietly passed on to every struggling, underprivileged household in the land” said Mikey, now in full verbal flow to his newly acquired audience.

He continued, “Some conspiracy theorists even whisper that these trolleys aren’t stolen at all, but strategically “misplaced” to justify current inflation. After all, nothing distracts the public like a shiny bit of stainless steel glinting in the sun beside the proposed inner relief road”.

“Good Lord”, said I, “So next time we’re standing in the supermarket queue, wincing at the cost of our Sunday roast, we should spare a thought for the twelve brave trolleys dumped in Thurles. They may look abandoned, but in truth, they are hard at work, driving up inflation”.

“True for you”, said Mikey, “and if you or anyone else happen to see a trolley making a slow escape toward the riverbank, don’t just hold your nose and grab it. You might not only be helping in the saving of this polluted River Suir, but end up shaving 2% off the price of your next packet of rashers”.