Michael Brennan

Michael Brennan

Michael Brennan is political editor with the Sunday Business Post. A native of Milltown, Co Galway, he attended St Jarlath's College in Tuam and has a degree in journalism from DCU. After working with Mid West Radio and the Irish Emigrant newspaper in Boston, he joined the Examiner in Cork, where he won the Young Journalist of the Year award in 2004. He later spent two years as a reporter with the Press Association in Dublin, and worked for the Irish Independent for seven years as political correspondent and then deputy political editor.

'The most difficult thing in this plan will be the politics'

'The most difficult thing in this plan will be the politics'

The Ireland 2040 plan has been in the works for three years - but things are heating up with two months to go till the final version

Government insists 20-year plan will not lead to downgrade of towns

Government insists 20-year plan will not lead to downgrade of towns

There have been inaccurate claims that only towns with over 10,000 people would be eligible for future development in the plan

Welfare at work

Welfare at work

In an extensive interview with The Sunday Business Post, Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty discusses the pensions time bomb, naming and shaming welfare fraudsters, and political rivalry

Bogus self-employment crackdown to fund new social welfare benefits

Bogus self-employment crackdown to fund new social welfare benefits

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has promised to give the 350,000 self-employed people the rights to the same social welfare benefits as PAYE workers

Cork City Council defends spending levels

Cork City Council defends spending levels

Opponents of a boundary change proposal have pointed to the fact that Cork City Council has much higher running costs per person than Cork County Council

John Concannon: ‘I have faced relentless negativity’

John Concannon: ‘I have faced relentless negativity’

Varadkar’s spin guru defends his record and cites previous successes such as 1916 celebrations

Defence minister wants water tax credit for rural households

Defence minister wants water tax credit for rural households

Kehoe asks Donohoe for credit, but finance minister says he has no plans for such a concession

Workers’ PRSI would have to double to pay for state pension

Workers’ PRSI would have to double to pay for state pension

Figures contained in newly published review by KMPG for the Department of Social Protection

Fine Gael holds the lead as Sinn Féin gets post-budget headache

Fine Gael holds the lead as Sinn Féin gets post-budget headache

A new Sunday Business Post/Red C poll finds SF with its second poll decline in a row. Meanwhile, Fine Gael remains ahead of Fianna Fáil - and Labour, Greens and Independents all reap gains

Blow for Sinn Féin as downward trend in latest poll

Blow for Sinn Féin as downward trend in latest poll

Party’s support level in the poll, which was taken between Monday and Friday this week, is down by two points to 14 per cent

Bruton intent on keeping vacant housing site for farming

Bruton intent on keeping vacant housing site for farming

Family are sitting on a prime housing site in their home town of Dunboyne in Meath despite the severe shortage of homes there

The bould Donie Cassidy - Fianna Fáil’s new vice president at the age of 72

The bould Donie Cassidy - Fianna Fáil’s new vice president at the age of 72

He is not the future - but he is a reminder of the party’s formidable vote-getting skills

State pays €1.75m over wrongful conviction for manslaughter

State pays €1.75m over wrongful conviction for manslaughter

Martin Conmey had conviction quashed 38 years after death of 19-year-old woman

Martin vows not to go down Fine Gael’s ‘divisive road’

Martin vows not to go down Fine Gael’s ‘divisive road’

Fianna Fáil leader accused Fine Gael of becoming a more right-wing party under Leo Varadkar’s leadership

The first glimpse of Varadkarism

The first glimpse of Varadkarism

Many called it a boring budget, but it did give us a few early clues as to Leo Varadkar’s political train of thought