Good afternoon, and welcome to our Friday digest of the week’s events in politics – the biggest political stories of the week, and what they mean. We’ll be sending out this briefing to everyone who has signed up to the morning politics newsletter on the Friday afternoon of every week the Dáil is sitting.
The state of chassis
It was the first week back for the Dáil, and the first meeting of the Cabinet, after the Christmas break. Everyone took up where they left off: Sinn Féin hammered the Government on economic and cost-of-living issues, first over approving pay rises for semi-State chiefs. Labour fretted about the state of the world. The Social Democrats were outraged by social media. Independent Ireland raged about Mercosur. Miriam Lord looked on.
The state of chassis in the world overhangs everyday politics here, as it does everywhere. This week, two major stories dominated – the protests in Iran and the American threats to Greenland.
Our Berlin correspondent Derek Scally was in Greenland all week. Find his reports here.
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There has been a gradual, horrified realisation in the EU that Donald Trump is deadly serious about his plans to take over the island, which he insists is vital for US defence, despite an agreement with Denmark that allows the US pretty much unlimited defence facilities there.
The analysis of many Trump watchers is simply that he wants to add to the territory of the United States, a move analogous to the purchase of Alaska from imperial Russia or the Louisiana Purchase from France. We have seen little to contradict it. If Trump does proceed to take control of Greenland and smashes the western alliance, it will be the biggest story since 1989 – and maybe longer.
For Ireland, the prospect of a definitive break between the EU and the US over Greenland is a horror show. Never mind the folding up of the security umbrella under which the State has prospered. For decades, Ireland has had a political and economic foot in both camps. The awful prospect of a choice between Europe and America now looms for Ireland in a way it never did before. The St Patrick’s Day trip to Washington by the Taoiseach looks more daunting than ever.
Meanwhile, protesters against the regime in Tehran look to Trump, not in fear, but in hope for salvation. Typically, he has given mixed signals – one minute citing assurances from the Iranians that the killing of protesters has stopped, the next threatening military action and promising protesters that “help is on the way”.
The fact that so much of the Iranian story is refracted through a Trump-tinted lens shows how much one man has come to dominate world affairs. We are all living in Trumpworld.
Meanwhile, on the home front ...
Not for the first time, the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) found itself at the centre of political controversy. Government and Opposition were united in their criticism of the Grok artificial intelligence app that enables users to generate nude and pornographic versions of real people (charming).
The Opposition, not unreasonably, wanted the Government to do something about it, because they are the, er, Government. And the Government did not seem to have a very clear idea what it was doing about it.
After an initial brush-off, junior minister Niamh Smyth is due to meet representatives from X today.
Elsewhere, at Cabinet, there were plans to tighten up the rules on family reunification for immigrants and plans to facilitate more data centres without sucking up energy needed for new housing. However, with one data centre using as much power as 200,000 homes – as we revealed yesterday – it’s hard to see how that circle can be squared.
Several minor squabbles rumbled all week. A new entrance to a south Dublin park cost half a million euro more than budgeted.
Semi-state chiefs may get big pay rises. Ministers may have to repay money paid to them in error in recent years (the error was not theirs, it should be said). Neither issue will exactly bolster the reputation of the Government for careful financial management.
Perceptions of immigration
An ESRI study revealed that most people overestimate the number of immigrants in Ireland – though, to be honest, not by all that much. The misperception is “strongly associated with negative attitudes to immigration”, the study found.
One bunch of lads paying close attention to immigration numbers is Ireland’s emerging new right – some of whom may be reasonably described as “far right” by anyone’s standards.
Many of them gathered for a conference last week hosted by Eddie Hobbs. They are looking to – who else? – Donald Trump and his pals for inspiration, guidance and help.
As if the Donald hasn’t enough on his plate.
