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THE TIMING COULDN’T have worked out better for Ireland’s political parties. A general election round the corner, and lo and behold! A €14 billion Apple has fallen from the magic money tree. The first €3 billion of the sum was transferred to the Irish Exchequer earlier this very month, with billions more to come before the end of the year. Just before the Budget in October, Finance Minister Jack Chambers said the extra cash would be invested in a variety of infrastructure projects, including housing, energy, water and transport. The official spending plan was meant to be approved in early 2025. But where’s the fun in that? The decision to call an election before Christmas, rather than allowing the government to run its full term until early in the new year, means the pot of gold is now up for grabs. That’s why we’ve asked all of Ireland’s major political groups how they would spend the Apple tax money – here’s what they had to say. On housing, €4 billion will go to the Land Development Agency (LDA), the state body tasked with getting affordable homes built on state sites. €2 billion will also go to a new ‘Towns Investment Fund’. €2.5 billion is to be spent improving Ireland’s creaking electricity grid, while €3 billion is to go to Irish Water for similar reasons. On transport, €3.6 billion will go to the slightly vague area of ‘the improvement of transport networks countrywide’, while €2 billion will go towards improving digital technology in the healthcare system. The party wants most of the Apple money to go into housing. Part of this will go into extending two grants for first-time buyers: the Help-to-Buy grant will be increased from a maximum of €30,000 to €40,000 until 2030; and the First Home Scheme will be extended to second-hand homes for five more years. Another part of the money for housing will go into increased building. While €4 billion will go on various energy, water and transport projects. The party said it will give a more detailed plan for the allocation of the funds ‘within 100 days of taking office’. Sinn Féin’s premier idea for the Apple tax money is to start an ‘Equality for Communities Fund’. The money would be allocated on the basis of the Pobal Index, the national deprivation index. The funds would be used for the likes of sports facilities, arts facilities and public spaces. It also said slightly over half the money, €7.6 billion, would be used to build affordable housing. Other key areas the money would be spent on include €2 billion in health, €2.5 billion on a renewable energy fund and €1 billion on redress for Celtic Tiger-era housing defects. Like many parties, housing features heavily in Labour’s plans for the Apple tax money. €6 billion would go towards setting up a new state construction company, which would be developed through the LDA. €1 billion would go on works, such as developing water infrastructure, which would make the land suitable for development. On the climate front, €1 billion would be reserved for offshore wind, while €2.5 billion each would go towards a National Retrofitting Plan and then to developing large-scale transport projects. Finally, €1 billion would be set aside for modernising the health service, such as by digitising records. Approximately €7 billion will go towards major transport projects in urban centres. The party has suggested that this could include the likes of a Luas tram line in Cork. This would be part of a €10 billion transport plan, with the remaining €3 billion coming from unidentified ‘other sources’. The focus would be on major infrastructure projects, such as Metrolink, Luas extensions and heavy rail projects. As mentioned, the €14 billion would be split between housing and climate measures. The party told : ‘50,000 affordable purchase homes and 25,000 affordable rental homes would be delivered’. On the climate side of things, the party said potential projects would include ‘investing in State-owned renewable energy’ and additional grants for retrofitting and solar panels. “Infrastructure, Infrastructure Infrastructure,” leader Peadar Tóibín wrote on X, formerly Twitter, recently, adding that Ireland is “creaking at the seams”. Key areas aligned with those identified by other parties – housing, transport, energy and health. Similar to Labour, PBP wants to use the Apple tax money to set up a state building company. An indication of the scale envisaged is indicated from their comparison to Ireland’s two biggest private housebuilders, Cairn and Glenveagh. “[They] build less than 2,500 homes a year – we need tens of thousands,” the party said. “Funded with the Apple tax revenues, such a body can easily access the land, finance and labour that are needed at scale to directly build at least 35,000 social and affordable homes per year.” The group has not given a detailed breakdown on the Apple funds. Richard O’Donoghue, one of Independent Ireland’s TDs, said in a recent Dáil debate that the Apple tax money should be used for infrastructure, specifically highlighting the lack of affordable housebuilding.
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Canada Post quarterly loss tops $300M as strike hits second week — and rivals step in MONTREAL — Canada Post saw hundreds of millions of dollars drain out of its coffers last quarter, due largely to its dwindling share of the parcels market — while an ongoing strike continues to batter its bottom line. Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press Nov 22, 2024 12:23 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Canada Post says it lost $315 million before tax in the third quarter compared with a loss before tax of $290 million a year earlier.Canada Post signage is seen during a national strike action in Ottawa, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby Listen to this article 00:01:14 MONTREAL — Canada Post saw hundreds of millions of dollars drain out of its coffers last quarter, due largely to its dwindling share of the parcels market — while an ongoing strike continues to batter its bottom line. The Crown corporation said Friday it lost $315 million before tax in the third quarter, larger than its $290 million loss a year earlier. "An increasingly crowded and highly competitive e-commerce delivery market continued to impact parcels results in the third quarter of 2024," Canada Post said. The number of packages dropped by six million or nearly 10 per cent year-over-year. Letter mail volumes also eroded further, though revenue nudged up due to a hike in stamp prices, it said. The financial results put Canada Post on track for "another significant loss" in 2024, which would mark the seventh year in a row in the red. They also come as Canada Post deals with an ongoing shutdown of its operations after more than 55,000 workers across the country walked off the job on Nov. 15. The two sides have been wrangling over wages and contract work as well as job security, benefits and working conditions. Amid the sudden halt of deliveries — government benefit cheques are among the few exceptions — business has increased at other shipping outfits. "We have record numbers of shippers within the last week. Our volumes — we’re just trying to keep up," said Kevin Ham, CEO of e-commerce shipping platform Chit Chats. "Everybody’s at full capacity." Purolator, which is majority-owned by Canada Post, said this week its volumes rose by double digits due to the job action. Meanwhile, FedEx has implemented a "contingency plan" to manage higher volumes, the company said earlier this week. Profit margins for shippers may be widening too, at least temporarily. Montreal-based pantyhose maker Sheertex said that alternative carriers, overloaded with orders, have implemented "significant surge pricing" on shipments. Small businesses especially have felt the squeeze of the strike, as store owners and entrepreneurs frantically search for workarounds to get orders to customers quickly and affordably. "It’s a hard time of year for both sellers — like e-commerce sellers — as well as consumers. The consumers are ordering, and if it was in the Canada Post network, their shipments are stuck," said Ham, who added that Chit Chats handles deliveries for some 12,000 online shippers each month ranging from boutique sock makers to jewelry designers. Even big corporations face hurdles. "Customers shipping to PO boxes and more rural areas may see delays," said Walmart Canada spokeswoman Stephanie Fusco in an email. However, she said most consumers making online purchases directly from the company — rather than from third-party sellers on its site — would see "minimal impact." The last postal work stoppage took place starting in late October 2018, when employees carried out rotating strikes lasting 31 days. That strike as well as one in 2011 ended when the federal government passed legislation sending employees back to work. Canada Post has reported more than $3 billion in losses since 2018, as Canadians sent fewer letters while competitors gobbled up even more of the parcel market. Households received seven letters a week on average in 2006, but only two per week last year, according to Canada Post’s latest annual report, which dubbed the trend "the Great Mail Decline." Both the union and the Crown corporation have pushed expanded parcel deliveries as a way to boost revenue, but they differ on how to go about it. The union says full-time employees should deliver package shipments on weekends at overtime wage rates, while Canada Post hopes to hire contract workers. According to last year's annual report, the postal service’s share of the parcel market eroded from 62 per cent before the COVID-19 pandemic to 29 per cent last year, as Amazon and other competitors seized on skyrocketing demand for next-day doorstep deliveries. — With files from Tara Deschamps in Toronto This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024. Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message More National Business S&P/TSX composite up Friday, U.S. stock markets also rise Nov 22, 2024 1:23 PM U.S. court tosses hostile workplace, pay discrimination claims against BlackBerry Nov 22, 2024 1:19 PM New Brunswick oysters test positive for dermo disease, first confirmed case in Canada Nov 22, 2024 1:14 PM Featured Flyer