There’s less than 48 hours to prevent a potential winter of discontent.
With hundreds of thousands of public sector workers readying not to go to work on Wednesday, even the Dáil won’t be sitting as a result. The Seanad and the committee rooms will also be locked up.
The Taoiseach had said the sitting should go ahead, but with Sinn Féin, Labour and Social Democrat TDs all saying they wouldn’t be passing a picket to get to the chamber, Government chief whip Mary Butler confirmed over the weekend that Wednesday was off the week’s agenda.
There are some suggestions that all could be avoided.
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The Government is expected to say again that it wants talks with the unions – but with the unions insisting that pay should be negotiated upon first, there was no indication this morning that such a position would be deemed acceptable.
Perhaps in an effort to sweeten the offer, sources have been hinting that there is plenty of money available beyond the €1.2 billion mentioned by Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers last week.
The unions are demanding that existing shortfalls in pay be addressed up front – and a guarantee that wages will not slip behind inflation during the period of any new deal.
But a collision seems all but inevitable despite the last-minute throwing of shapes.
With a further one-day stoppage planned for next week, union bosses are suggesting even more industrial action could be coming in the absence of proper progress.
Does Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ exist?
Speaking of deals and proverbial carts being put before proverbial horses, Donald Trump’s weekend ‘ENERGY CEASEFIRE’ between Ukraine and Russia might not actually exist.
With Trump keen to get some diesel refineries back online ahead of the US midterms, he is keen for the two sides to stop pummeling each other.
Announcing the supposed ceasefire yesterday, Trump appears to have struck the deal in the absence of one of the participants.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it sounded like a good idea – but was news to him. And then reports started coming in that the Russians were still striking Ukrainian energy targets. Zelenskiy said the skies above parts of his country were still full of Russian drones and that power plants in Kyiv and the east had been struck since Trump’s big announcement.
Trump, it has been pointed out, made a similar announcement last month.
Amid this ‘deal or no deal’ carry-on, Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee is in Luxembourg with the rest of her European counterparts – many of whom are very concerned with Trump’s poor treatment of Zelenskiy of late.
First there was an agreement between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin to allow Russia to export diesel to the US – and then Trump’s comments that Ukraine needs a new leader.
McEntee says Europe needs to “redouble” its efforts to support Kyiv and has described Trump’s comments about Zelenskiy as “concerning”.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will be at the meeting. She has said the EU would welcome any energy ceasefire “if it holds”.
More sanctions are up for discussion today – it’s not obvious whether Irish alumina exports to Russia will come back under the spotlight.
Irish delegation takes budget proposals to EU
An Irish delegation will be heading to Brussels later in the week with the EU summit scheduled for Thursday. There’ll be more Irish interest than usual, what with Dublin’s suggested revisions to the draft EU budget.
The Irish proposal would see €141 billion slashed away, a scaling back of overseas aid spending and an economic “competitiveness fund”. No further cuts to agriculture subsidies have been mooted, however.
The European Council president wants agreement among member states by December and the Irish-devised compromise will be put through the wringer before then.
Whatever about the “frugal” members and their concerns about rising budget contributions, Irish farmers don’t seem happy. The Irish Farmers Association says the new Irish proposal does nothing to restore suggested cuts to payments and is a “huge let down”.
Burnham: more Brussels than Brexit
Separately, Andy Burnham is fluttering his eyelashes at Brussels again. He’s due to tell the House of Commons that it would be a “dereliction of duty” for London to turn its back on the EU.
Burnham has been distancing his Labour Party from the whole Brexit business – saying last week it had caused “more harm than good”.
He will tell MPs that a fresh deal with the Europeans could mean more economic growth and make it easier to deal with illegal immigration – the very things the Brexiteers promised that separation would achieve.
With Nigel Farage of the Reform Party promising a five-year ban on asylum seekers should it win the next general election, Burnham is in a right old bun fight.
Houthis exert pressure on Saudi Arabia
Meanwhile, the Saudis and the Houthis spent the weekend attacking one another’s airports. The Houthi attack on Riyadh on Saturday killed 12 and injured 300.
The ability of the Houthis to wage war further complicates the whole mess that has ensued since the US and Israel attacked Tehran back in February.
With the Houthis managing to exert all manner of pressure on Saudi oil production and exports, they are helping to ensure the price of oil remains firmly lodged above $100 a barrel.
Plenty to consider for any pay talks here at home, if they are to happen.
