A vessel that regularly transports cargo from Aughinish Alumina, the Co Limerick industrial plant, to Russia was observed dropping its anchor near critical subsea cables off the Irish west coast last year after collecting a shipment from the plant. A month later it was boarded by German police and found to be missing its anchor … Read more
A recording of a call between a top Irish EU official and a journalist was intercepted and released online. An off-the-record conversation between a communications adviser to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and journalist Gerardo Fortuna of the Brussels-based Politico website was anonymously published online this week. Though the recording has since been … Read more
Ireland’s position of politically supporting Ukraine while remaining militarily neutral is a “difficult path” to follow, a senior Irish official has said after being challenged to explain Irish neutrality at a defence conference in France. “It is a difficult path or line to us to follow, but that’s the line,” Department of Defence secretary general … Read more
The price of diesel and petrol is set to be cut by the Government from midnight on Tuesday in response to the energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East. Minister for Finance Simon Harris will bring forward proposals at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to cut excise duty on diesel by 20 cent and … Read more
Key points Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to a new investigation. The project, by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), draws on confidential documents, customs data and transport records along with satellite imagery and financial records. The smelters … Read more
The price of diesel and petrol is set to be cut by the Government from midnight on Tuesday in response to the energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East. Minister for Finance Simon Harris will bring forward proposals at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting to cut excise duty on diesel by 20 cent and … Read more
An aircraft chartered by the Trump administration stopped to refuel at Shannon Airport on St Patrick’s Day while deporting up to 15 Ukrainian nationals. The aircraft, a private Gulfstream business jet, was hired by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the controversial agency leading president Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. It departed Mesa Gateway Airport in Phoenix, … Read more
Almost €1 million will be spent on a new secure meeting room in Government buildings, to guard against surveillance of conversations with other world leaders. Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that a €958,000 increase in “premises expenses” at his department this year will go towards a new secure room “because surveillance is everywhere”. Martin was speaking … Read more
Most of the foreign ministers from the European Union’s 27 states were sporting sunflowers knitted in the colours of Ukraine, to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full invasion. But nobody was surprised to see Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto did not have one pinned to his lapel in Brussels on Monday. “We don’t hate … Read more
There is “no shortage” of countries willing to fund Ukraine’s military efforts, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said on Sunday as she defended her party’s opposition to the State’s participation in an EU loan for the war-torn country. The €90 billion loan is to support Ukraine as it resists the Russian invasion. Of the … Read more