Ireland should seriously examine going nuclear.
That was the word from Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Armenia this morning, where European leaders are meeting.
Given the damage done by fossil fuels and the whole carry-on in the Gulf, Martin said alternative options should be explored – though he also said offshore wind was the “next big play”.
He also said there were further cost-of-living measures coming in the next budget – though he wasn’t clear on what they might look like.
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The man with the hand on the purse-strings is also on the Continent today – Minister for Finance and Tánaiste Simon Harris and fellow EU finance ministers will be in Brussels to discuss their latest spreadsheets.
Harris has more moohlah at his disposal than others – and the trade unions know it. The Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed that new talks over pay are coming soon.
Having seen what a few parked tractors and lorries can extract from the exchequer, union bosses will be in no mood for any half-measures.
Some of the candidates in the Dublin Central byelection got their first proper run-out over the weekend as RTÉ hosted a bit of an old TV ding-dong. The days won’t be long rolling in until the voters there and in Galway West have their say on May 22nd.
It was standard enough fare on The Week in Politics – with candidates from Opposition parties calling for more help on the cost of living – and the Coalition’s pick stressing how prudent and professional the Government’s approach has been.
Of course, there was one notable absentee.
Gerry “the Monk” Hutch told the national broadcaster he won’t be taking to a studio anytime soon. Back from Lanzarote, where this newspaper spoke to him a few weeks ago, Hutch was instead hosting a voting awareness event in Corinthians Boxing Club in the North Inner City.
Catherine Connolly ‘suffering from that leaking tendency’, says Michael D
The former occupant of the seat in Galway West is the victim of leaking and sniping from the Department of Foreign Affairs, says Michael D Higgins.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, the former president suggested Catherine Connolly - like he previously - was “suffering from that leaking tendency”.
Higgins said some officials in the department had been speaking against him when he was in the Arás. Department sources instead responded that they had protected the president from himself.
Speaking of presidents needing a bit of help, the fellow in the White House spent the weekend lashing out at those who he feels could be doing more to resolve the pickle in the Gulf.
Friedrich Merz attempts some soothing noises over the weekend aimed at Trump
After the German Chancellor had the temerity last week to claim Iran was humiliating Donald Trump, the US president said he would be bringing some of the boys back home from Berlin.
Five thousand of 40,000 US troops stationed in Germany are to be sent elsewhere, according to reports, and Trump has implied he’s only getting started. A plan conceived during Joe Biden’s presidential stint to station long-range missiles in Europe was also shelved.
The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who was very supportive of the attacks on Iran in the early days – now not so much – attempted some soothing noises over the weekend. He said Americans remained the most important part of the whole Nato operation, and claimed the planned drawdown of soldiers was nothing to do with the little spat between him and his US counterpart.
Marco Rubio looking to take some of the heat out of US-Vatican relationship
Trump’s European horse-whisperer Marco Rubio is meanwhile going to be in Italy this week, where he’s planning a chin-wag with Pope Leo in Rome.
Relations between the Vatican and the White House have been strained recently – what with the pope denouncing the inappropriate use of Christian rhetoric amid general war-mongering – and Trump saying he prefers Leo’s older brother anyway.
Rubio presumably will seek to take some of the heat out of the relationship.
The whole Iran thing isn’t really moving on, it seems, or maybe it is. It’s hard to tell. The Iranians tabled some stuff late last week, Trump sounded unhappy about it and the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
He said last night that the US would help to move neutral ships out of the Strait – whatever that entails.
“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these countries that we will guide their ships safely out of these restricted waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Iran has warned the US Navy to stay out of it.
With Trump due to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a couple of weeks, efforts to reach a breakthrough could be ramped up this week - or we could be back to things blowing up again. Who knows?
