ESRI disagrees with peers over Budget 2025

Despite warnings, including several from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, that Government spending is now rising at an alarming and potentially unsustainable rate, the Economic and Social Research Institute disagrees, suggesting it is in keeping with recent and projected increases in economic output. Eoin Burke-Kennedy has the details.
When Iseult Ward and Aoibheann O’Brien started FoodCloud, it was as a college project. The first box of food that was donated through the organisation was picked up at the Honest 2 Goodness Farmers Market in Glasnevin, Dublin, and delivered to the Don Bosco youth services centres writes Ciara O’Brien. Now it works with more than 700 charity partners, and diverts usable surplus food from a network of retail partners to charity partners and community groups.
Arguably, when it comes to generative artificial intelligence we are now witnessing a different form of intelligence which we do not fully understand, and cannot yet accurately mathematically analyse and predict, argues Chris Horn. Equipping such intelligence with the capability to autonomously carry out its own actions raises philosophical, ethical and practical implications.
Resident sage Cantillon finds the ESRI more or less greenlighting Budget 2025 and notes that the multinational tax bonanza still has a bit to go.
Why not have a place on the internet that you can go and have a nice, civilised chat with someone who shares your worldview without the risk of coming across a load of vile racist content? Jemima Kelly ponders the echo-chambered world of social media.
One in 400 pregnancies in Ireland and other developed countries ends in stillbirth, and in many cases stillbirths occur in babies with no apparent medical problems. What is known is that a baby’s movement pattern can change before a stillbirth; this prompted Niamh Nowlan, professor of biomedical engineering at UCD, to develop FeMo, a foetal monitoring device that allows expectant parents and clinicians to keep a much closer eye on a baby’s movements in the womb. Olive Keogh reports.
What does the Apple Watch Series 10 bring to the table? There is, among other things, the slightly bigger display, with Apple changing the case to 42mm and 46mm while also curving the display more towards the edges of the case. It’s a subtle change, but one that gives you a little extra space without adding too much bulk to the watch. Ciara O’Brien takes a good look at what’s on offer.
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