It’s keep-the-head-down time. In the week when Donald Trump’s latest hissy fit has led to the imposition of 10 per cent tariffs across the board, no country wants to appear on his mercantilist radar screen. But Wednesday’s publication of Eli Lilly’s annual report might be a red rag to the Mar-a-Lago bull. Eli Lilly is a large American drug company with a significant operation in Kinsale – and a single line in its 2025 annual tax filing captures something extraordinary, which is likely to incense the Maga crowd.

In 2025, Lilly paid a whopping $6.6 billion in taxes to Ireland. In contrast, this American flagship pharma giant paid only $3.3 billion in taxes to its home country. Ireland, a foreign country with a population of a just over five million, received roughly two times more tax income than the US, the home country with a population of 340 million. It’s not so much America First as America Last.

Mounjaro is going on. Eli Lilly’s miracle weight loss drug is a blockbuster. Big Americans are getting smaller. In clinical-trial terms, Mounjaro (and its sister brand Zepbound) has proved to be a life-altering drug for many overweight people. Millions who have found it impossible to shed kilos through diets and exercise, have seen the weight fall off them on these drugs. In those with obesity, Mounjaro has delivered weight loss on average of over 20 per cent when taken at high doses consistently over a 72-week period.

Ireland’s low urban population has left us with a problem of extreme commuting

Even if it could, would the Central Bank want to encourage more lending?

The Irish banking system is not working........

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