When Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday morning that the company was shedding 13,000 jobs worldwide or 13 per cent of the workforce, it prompted a spate of predictions that anywhere between 390 and 1,000 employees based in Ireland would lose their jobs.
The figure of 390 was arrived at because it amounted to 13 per cent of the Irish workforce. In the event, the figure looks like it will be somewhat lower than that, closer to 350.
It is still a blow, and coming so quickly on the heels of similar redundancy announcement in another social media giant, Twitter, now under the control of Elon Musk.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar did try to put it into some kind of positive context. He argued it was important not to “catastrophise” the downsizing.
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“Whatever retrenchment we see among some companies or in the sector as a whole, I still believe, in the medium to long term, this is still a growth area.”
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath was more downbeat later in the afternoon describing the job losses at Meta as “a dark day”.
When asked if there was a risk that the country could tip into recession, McGrath acknowledged that if forecasts went wrong the country’s finances could go into “negative territory”.
Ireland was dependent on external demand, he said. “That is a reality. That’s what we have to focus on, remaining competitive.”
US midterm elections
Meanwhile in the US, the expected “red wave” for the Republicans in the midterm elections just did not happen. The Democrats were defending a wafer-thin majority in the House of Representatives and it looks like control has passed to the GOP, but only by a few seats. The Senate was already almost hung and the fate of both parties rests on a handful of seats that could swing it either way.
So even though the Democrats stemmed the surge, it is still possible it could cede control of both Houses, making the remainder of president Joe Biden’s term tricky.
As Martin Wall reports, the Republican surge did not materialise.
Martin’s assessment is that it provided a boost to Biden and might prove to be fateful for (and fatal to) Donald Trump’s bid to be re-elected.
He writes: “The elections may prove a setback to former president Donald Trump as he contemplates another run for the White House in 2024. Many of the Republican candidates he endorsed were defeated, while a potential rival for the Republican Party nomination for the presidency, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, had a resounding win in his home state.”
No Sipo investigation of Leo Varadkar but decision is less than resounding
Jennifer Bray and Jack Horgan-Jones are reporting on the decision by the Standards in Public Office Commission not to launch a formal investigation into then taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s passing of a document on the new GP deal with the Irish Medical Organisation to Maitiú Ó Tuathail, the head of another GP organisation.
Essentially, the ethics watchdog does not have the capacity to adjudicate on the extent of the powers of the taoiseach of the day. Varadkar did not deny passing on the document but said that in doing so it came within the ambit of his position as taoiseach. Without being able to inquire into that the commission concluded that evidence sufficient to sustain a complaint was not available.
It was not a clear-cut decision though. Two of the five commissioners dissented from the judgment, with a majority of three deciding there was no case to answer. The sixth commissioner, former senator Geraldine Feeney, recused herself because she had done some professional work for the rival GP group.
There are six commissioners with Sipo: Garrett Sheehan, Seamus McCarthy, Ger Deering, Peter Finnegan, and Martin Groves. The identity of the dissenting two commissioners was not revealed.
Three complaints had been made to Sipo, including from People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy. The Tánaiste said he had now been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing and any breaches of ethics or standards.
We suspect he would have preferred a unanimous verdict.
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Rumours of Chris Heaton-Harris’s political death have been slightly exaggerated. An email which looked like it came from the Northern Ireland Office was circulated to journalists yesterday saying that the Northern Secretary had resigned for “personal reasons”.
Heaton-Harris issued a statement soon afterwards that read: “Someone has sent a fake email to press outlets saying I’ve resigned. This is totally untrue,” the minister said in a statement on Twitter. “I hope one of Elon Musk’s first moves is to eliminate fake news on Twitter... Very exciting I know, but complete and utter tosh.”
Earlier on Wednesday, he extended the deadline for restoring the Stormont Assembly – which passed on October 28th without resolution – for up to 12 weeks, until January 19th.
Jack Horgan-Jones and Jennifer Bray confirmed that the Government has agreed that the Taoiseach’s position will change hands on December 17th.
Jennifer also has a report on Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman facing further pressures to find accommodation for Ukrainian refugees as their number continues to rise.
Sarah Burns reports on another Dáil clash between Micheál Martin and Mary Lou McDonald on housing.
PLAYBOOK
Taoiseach Micheál Martin travels to England today for a two-day visit that will include a meeting with British prime minister Rishi Sunak. He will attend a summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Blackpool on Friday and also visit Manchester.
The meeting with Sunak is expected to focus on the Northern Ireland protocol as well as other political developments in the North.
In Manchester, he will meet the Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, and also the Manchester Greater Authority Mayor Andy Burnham.
DÁIL
9am: Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan takes questions.
10.30am: Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe takes questions.
12am: Leaders’ Questions.
Afternoon: Two Bills are being debated. The first is the second stage of the Credit Guarantee (Amendment) Bill 2022. Then it’s the second stage of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022.
SEANAD
The main business of the Seanad today is a debate on a motion with regard to exempted development regulations in Ireland.
Later this afternoon, the chamber will be taken over by young people who are members of Seanad na nÓg.
COMMITTEES
9.30am: Committee of Public Accounts CR3, LH 2000
Looking at the greyhound industry.
09.30am: Joint Committee on Housing.
Pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Planning and Development and Foreshore (Amendment) Bill 2022.
1pm: Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure.
Committee Stage consideration of the Finance Bill 2022. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe will appear.
