Week five of the war in the Gulf and faith in talk about diplomacy is at a low ebb.
Oil traders certainly seem to have less time for Donald Trump’s pronouncements about substantive negotiations behind the scenes and are attaching more weight to reports of potential US ground operations in Iran.
“Very reasonable” people was the US president’s description of the current group running Iran – while telling the Financial Times he wants to “take the oil”.
Iran has accused the US of plotting incursions into Iranian territory at the same time as talking about peace.
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But given that the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal are splashing with the details of the “plots” – it seems the White House and Pentagon aren’t doing a great job at hiding them.
Capture of the critical oil facilities on Kharg Island and a potential raid to seize Iran’s uranium stockpile are supposedly on the table for consideration.
Talks took place in Pakistan yesterday – but neither side was directly involved and the demands being made by the two sides are so far apart that an immediate resolution looks very improbable.
Further discussions have been mooted for the coming days, but the backdrop remains bleak.
A few Indian tankers were reported to have crossed the Strait of Hormuz yesterday – but in the wider picture it is the proverbial drop in the (Indian) Ocean.
The Houthis are now in the picture – having launched missiles at Israel over the weekend – and they cast a shadow over the safe transit of tankers in the Red Sea.
The price of Brent crude is still in the red zone and rising – and there will be little immediate relief, it would seem, for Irish households when it comes to energy costs.
At home, the opening €250 million salvo from the Government is unlikely to be deemed sufficient by Opposition parties this week – and will almost certainly lead to increased demands that it do more.
Minister of State Alan Dillon told RTÉ yesterday the Government would monitor the situation and remain “nimble” in its response to unfolding events. Sinn Féin accuses it of “half measures”. The party continues to focus on the 750,000 users of home-heating oil who, it says, have been left “high and dry”.
Labour, meanwhile, is campaigning for an energy tax credit for every household earning under €80,000. Dillon said the Government was “not in that space currently”.
All this being said, many lucky Irish citizens still have large amounts of money on deposit – and will be interested to see what the Minister for Finance’s Savings and Investment Forum comes up with on Tuesday.
Simon Harris is convening a meeting of industry voices and policy stakeholders to see what shape a new investment scheme should take.
Speaking yesterday, the Tánaiste confirmed that no capital gains tax will be applied to interest earned. The “one-stop shop” for ordinary Irish punters could well be modelled on what the Swedes did with their Investeringssparkonto (ISK).
Good luck to whoever has to draw up the portfolio of assets – what with the current financial and economic uncertainties. The accounts are due to open next year – maybe the US-Israeli “excursion” will have concluded by then.
Speaking of excursions, an inability of the Minister for Sport to attend the unveiling of a new AstroTurf pitch in Co Kerry earlier this month means the new playing surface in Tralee won’t see its official opening for a while longer.
Patrick O’Donovan’s department says it didn’t receive adequate warning of the planned kick-off on March 20th and as a result the whole event was knocked into touch.
The club received €380,000 from the department to renovate the pitch and install flood lights – but, like all clubs that receive more than €100,000, was asked to provide a month’s notice of opening ceremonies so that the Minister, or junior Minister Charlie McConalogue, could attend.
It says it was only given 10 days notice and this clashed with the Minister’s St Patrick’s Day duties.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has put forward one of its academy products in the Galway West contest.
Cllr Cillian Keane was a mere 23 years old when elected to the county council in 2024.
He joins a squad of hopefuls including Fine Gael Senator Seán Kyne, Sinn Féin’s Mark Lohan, Independent Ireland’s Noel Thomas and Independent Sheila Garrity.
