Paschal Donohoe visits Kilkenny for Kilkenomics festival

The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe was in Kilkenny on Thursday evening as part of the Kilkenomics festival.

The Minister joined comedian Colm O’ Regan for a discussion on stage at the Watergate Theatre. 

This was the Minister’s first time participating in the festival but he said he had been watching it from afar for many years, he also admitted that he didn’t think he could attend when he was serving as the Minister for Finance. 

Colm O’ Regan joked that Paschal was one of his most recent Instagram follows and compared follower counts.

The Minister spoke about a number of topics including the economic choices that had to be made during the coronavirus pandemic, his role as president of the Eurogroup, his desire to build more libraries and his role reviewing books for the Irish Times. 

He described working with other finance ministers as part of the Eurogroup and the work that went into being elected as President of the group in 2020.

He said that dealing with the fact that a lot more people are paying with their phones instead of cash nowadays is a big part of the work they are currently undertaking.

The Minister spoke about his time in the private sector, selling Daz washing powder and when asked by Colm whether he would ever return to the private sector, he said that no politician should plan on being a politician forever. 

A large crowd turned out for the event and the Minister answered several insightful questions from the audience.