France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire said that Brussels has blocked the proposed rail merger between Siemens and Alstom — a moved he criticised as a “an economic mistake” and a “political mistake.” The Financial Times reported last week that Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, was pressing ahead with an internal recommendation to veto the tie-up after last-ditch concessions from the German and French train manufacturers failed to address her concerns. The veto announcement on the merger is expected to be formally announced later today.
Health Minister Simon Harris was told about overruns in the cost of the National Children's Hospital on two separate occasions, but failed to get to grips with the fiasco. It emerged yesterday that Mr Harris was warned about the spiralling costs twice, including an escalation of €200m last August. The hospital was signed off by the Government in April 2017 for €983m but the cost of construction escalated to €1.4bn last November.
Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly has said that Harris’ position is now “untenable” and called on Varadkar to “remove him”.
Ministers have been ordered to draw up lists of projects that can be scaled back or delayed to divert €100m to the National Children’s Hospital this year. Health Minister Simon Harris remains in the firing line, but Fine Gael has decided to stand by him in the hope the controversy abates. Government departments are scrambling to find savings so the hospital can proceed as planned. The black hole has been described as “manageable” by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, but is likely to cause a frantic battle among ministers to protect their own resources.
Ministers on alert for the 'major decisions' that now loom amid Brexit chaos.
Major decisions aimed at saving Irish industries will have to be made within days if a breakthrough on Brexit is not achieved.