Aughinish Alumina; unsafe vapes ‘flooding’ EU market, and World Cup hydration breaks

Plus: What income tax cuts might we expect in Budget 2027?

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Argentina's head coach Lionel Scaloni speaks to Exequiel Palacios during a hydration break in the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage match. Photograph: Albert Pena/EPA
Argentina's head coach Lionel Scaloni speaks to Exequiel Palacios during a hydration break in the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage match. Photograph: Albert Pena/EPA

Aughinish Alumina will be forced to pay up front for the costs of closing down the Co Limerick plant and repairing environmental damage in the area, under a new deal agreed with the State.

Europe is being “flooded” by cheap vapes and e-cigarettes produced in Asia that often do not meet EU safety rules, dodge customs taxes and in some cases contain harmful and illegal substances, the head of the EU’s anti-fraud office has said.

With more than one million taxpayer “units” paying tax at the higher rate of 40 per cent on their incomes and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the pressure is on to deliver some form of relief in this October’s budget.

Meanwhile our Government parties are still dreaming of income tax cuts in forthcoming budgets, most economists are predicting various shades of financial Armageddon, writes Eoin Drea.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino says it doesn’t make any additional revenue from them. Stadium fans loudly boo them and TV viewers blast them on social media, but the hydration breaks introduced in this World Cup have been the bonus money spinner of the tournament, writes Bernice Harrison.

Aideen Finnegan

Aideen Finnegan

Aideen Finnegan is an audio producer at The Irish Times

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