I have spent the last few weeks building Public Purse Ireland. Its aim is simple. List every line item of government expenditure with the supplier, description and the amount, starting with grants and purchase orders. No fancy charts, no broad economic strokes, but just there in black and white. The information is out there, scattered and hidden on the web. Public Purse brings it under one roof.

I have spent the last few weeks building Public Purse Ireland. Its aim is simple. List every line item of government expenditure with the supplier, description and the amount, starting with grants and purchase orders. No fancy charts, no broad economic strokes, but just there in black and white. The information is out there, scattered and hidden on the web. Public Purse brings it under one roof.

At #UNGA81, Minister @nealerichmond delivered 🇮🇪’s national statement to mark 40 years of the Declaration on the Right to Development. The Right to Development must enable us to respond to today’s realities: rebuilding international cooperation, ensuring meaningful participation, defending equality and human rights, addressing poverty and sustainable development, and harnessing digital transformation. #ABetterWorld

Democracy cannot be taken for granted. As President von der Leyen stressed in #SOTEU, disinformation and foreign interference seek to divide us and erode trust. The European Democracy Shield will help protect our democratic processes and freedoms. ℹ️link.europa.eu/rMjPVj

Introducing Claude Opus 5.5, the first model in our new Claude 5.5 family. It performs at the level of Claude Fable 5.1 for most tasks, and costs 40% less to run than Opus 5.

Waking people up in Ireland is one thing. Getting them to understand how local politics works and how the country actually runs is another. The system is extraordinarily difficult to read: PPNs, local development companies, local authorities, committees, plans, agencies, funding streams and overlapping responsibilities. That creates a serious civic gap, and it’s not just a problem for disengaged citizens. Even intelligent, capable people can spend years without understanding how these structures fit together. And that challenge is only growing as the country becomes more complex, fragmented and harder to navigate. This is the real problem in Ireland today. This is the thing that needs most addressing.

Trouble brewing in the maths curriculum... thefitzwilliam.com/p/leaving…

🌎 A clean environment, resilience and competitiveness go hand in hand. Today, the renewed Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform meets to bring together cities and regions, researchers and civil society. Follow live: 👉environment.ec.europa.eu/eve… @JessikaRoswall @EU_ENV

Young people are our future, and their perspectives must be heard. With @felipepaullier, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, we discussed how to give more young people the opportunity to participate, connect and make their voices heard especially those with fewer opportunities. Youth participation must be part of shaping the policies that affect their future. #UNGA2026

Jobs, skills and human capital at the centre of my exchange with @Paschald from the @WorldBankGroup Preparing young people for the future starts in the classroom with strong basic skills, digital skills and AI literacy that help them navigate a rapidly changing labour market.

Working Session on Harnessing Technological Developments Towards Improvements in Road Safety 🤝

Irish Minister for Finance, Tánaiste @simonharristd welcomes European Commissioner for Economy, Productivity, Implementation and Simplification @VDombrovskis to Day 1 of the Informal Meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN)