Category Archives: Ireland

No 10 startled by EU insistence that UK accept Brexit trade terms

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Bloc’s stance apparently taken as challenge to Boris Johnson’s threat to walk out on talks

Downing Street reacted in dismay as Emmanuel Macron led EU leaders in warning Boris Johnson that he must swallow the bloc’s conditions, in what appeared to be taken as a direct challenge to the British prime minister’s threat to walk out on the talks.

At a summit in Brussels, the EU proposed a further “two to three weeks” of negotiations but Europe’s heads of state and government offered Johnson little succour, demanding that he alone needed to “make the necessary moves to make an agreement possible”.

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EU needs clear sign UK will get real in Brexit talks, says Irish minister

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Simon Coveney says talks will not progress without signal that UK is ready to show some realism

The EU’s Michel Barnier will not move Brexit talks into the so-called “tunnel” of more intense negotiations “unless he gets a very clear signal from the UK that they are willing to show some flexibility and realism” in its approach to a deal, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said.

Simon Coveney, who played a significant role in the first three years of talks, also said the talks would blow up completely if the UK went ahead with clauses in the yet-to-be-tabled finance bill giving ministers unilateral powers over the Northern Ireland protocol for a second time.

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Coronavirus: Europe struggles to contain surge of cases

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Rise in infection rate in Paris as Spanish authorities clash over Madrid lockdown

Bars in Paris have been ordered to close for two weeks, Madrid residents may no longer leave their city and Ireland is set to introduce tighter national restrictions as governments struggle to contain a Europe-wide surge in Covid-19 cases.

As infections in the Paris area rose to 270 for every 100,000 people – and as high as 500 for every 100,000 among 20- to 30-year-olds – with 36% of intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients, the city’s police chief said bars must close from Tuesday.

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Irish court rules Subway bread is not bread

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The US chain’s sandwiches do not meet definition of bread or a staple food, Supreme Court rules in tax case

The Irish Supreme court has ruled that the bread served at Subway – a US sandwich food chain with branches in more than 100 countries – cannot be defined as bread.

Under Ireland’s Value-Added Tax Act of 1972 it cannot even be defined as a staple food, according to the Irish Independent, because it contains too much sugar.

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European commission to appeal against €13bn Apple tax ruling

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Brussels seeks to overturn decision over alleged unpaid taxes to Irish government

The European commission is appealing against a court ruling that said Apple did not have to pay €13bn (£11.9bn) in alleged back taxes to the Irish government, reopening a landmark battle in the EU’s campaign to stop sweetheart deals for multinationals.

The bloc’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, said on Friday she would appeal to the EU court of justice to try to oblige Ireland to collect the alleged unpaid taxes and interest from the tech giant.

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As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?

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Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent

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Woman throws drink over Leo Varadkar as he gives Dublin interview

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Footage shows woman tossing liquid in white cup over tánaiste’s face in Merrion Park

A woman wearing a face mask was filmed throwing a drink over Leo Varadkar as he gave an interview in Dublin.

Footage shared on social media shows the woman, who was carrying a skateboard, walking over to where the tánaiste and a camera crew were standing in Merrion Park at about 3pm on Friday.

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Foreign offices: the Britons who work from home – abroad

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Covid has forced many people out of workplaces. Some have saved money by moving overseas

When the coronavirus lockdown forced Mason Palmer, 26, to start working from home, the digital content creator had a rethink about where that home was and in July he moved from Bristol to Milan. “I’ve always loved travelling to Italy,” he says. “I was always going over there; it was like an expensive hobby.”

He did not expect his boss to necessarily be on board with his plans and suggested that he move to working for the company, Working Word, on a freelance basis. But the firm was open to the idea and his boss kept him on staff. “Now I’m like the unofficial Milan branch,” he laughs.

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Brexit: consortium of companies led by Fujitsu wins £200m Irish Sea contract

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Deal is the first concrete implementation of the special arrangements for Northern Ireland

A £200m contract to implement Brexit checks on goods in the Irish Sea has been won by a consortium of companies led by Japanese company Fujistu.

HMRC announced on Friday that a two-year contract for the new trader support service (TSS) had been awarded to a consortium led by the tech company and its partners, the Customs Clearance Consortium, an organisation run by customs expert Robert Hardy and the Institute of Export and International Trade.

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‘Off the charts’: Ireland’s contact tracers face return of sleepless nights

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Tracers express their fears as infected people reveal multiple close contacts in multiple locations

In the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, Ireland’s contact tracers often made calls to people who were very sick, with some struggling to breathe.

“In a lot of cases people were suffering extreme physical distress,” said Eamonn Gormley, a tracer at University College Dublin. “One person collapsed on the floor and we could hear them gasping for air. You got questions like: ‘Am I going to die?’ Some nights I had trouble sleeping.”

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Biden and Pelosi warn UK over risking Good Friday agreement

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Leading Democrats tell UK foreign secretary that Northern Ireland peace deal cannot be casualty of Brexit

Joe Biden on Wednesday joined the clamour of Democrats warning Boris Johnson not to let the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement become a casualty of his Brexit talks.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, is in Washington trying to repair relations with pro-Irish Democrats amid concerns that the UK’s attempt to leave the EU on its own terms will undermine the Good Friday peace agreement.

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Irish health minister tests negative after Covid-19 scare

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Stephen Donnelly was taken ill after unveiling country’s pandemic plan

Ireland’s government suffered a Covid-19 scare on Tuesday after the health minister reported feeling unwell after a cabinet meeting.

Cabinet ministers were told to restrict their movements and parliament was suspended pending a coronavirus test for Stephen Donnelly. Hours later it came back negative, averting the spectre of an outbreak at the heart of government.

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Ireland accuses Boris Johnson of trying to sabotage peace process

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Dublin minister says UK plan to undo Brexit deal would have ‘unthinkable’ consequences

The Irish government has accused Boris Johnson of trying to sabotage the Northern Ireland peace process with a “unilateral provocative act” based on spurious claims about the Good Friday agreement.

As Brexit talks hang by a thread following the UK’s threat to renege on parts of the withdrawal agreement, Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s European affairs minister, branded the UK government’s claims that its move was to protect the peace process as “completely false”.

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‘Not a game’: Europe pleads with young people to halt Covid-19 spread

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Health authorities across continent try to reach under 30s as cases among younger people rise

As the number of Covid-19 cases rises sharply in parts of Europe, health authorities from the UK to Spain are calling on young people to do more to halt the spread of the virus. This is how the situation looks in a number of major European countries and how it is being tackled.

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Irish MEP in line for EU finance role vacated due to lockdown scandal

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Mairead McGuinness to take role in overseeing access for the City of London to EU markets

The veteran MEP Mairead McGuinness has been proposed as Ireland’s new EU commissioner, replacing Phil Hogan, who was forced to resign after breaching coronavirus lockdown rules.

McGuinness, a European parliament vice-president, would take on the portfolio of financial services, giving her a key role in overseeing access for the City of London to EU markets.

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Downing Street defends Brexit plans for Northern Ireland

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UK on collision course with EU and Ireland over unilateral powers for British ministers

Downing Street has defended plans to give British ministers unilateral powers over Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland, putting them on a collision course with the EU and Irish leaders in a week of crunch negotiations.

A No 10 spokesman said the measures were “limited and reasonable” and insisted the UK would remain compliant with the Northern Ireland protocol – despite anger from Brussels and Dublin at the plans leaked overnight.

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EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan resigns after flouting Covid rules

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Hogan’s resignation comes after Irish government signalled it wanted him to quit or be sacked

The embattled European trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, has resigned his post after an outcry over his breaches of coronavirus rules during a golfing break in Ireland.

Hogan issued a statement on Wednesday night apologising to the Irish people and the EU commission for causing hurt and embarrassment, ending his attempts to ride out the controversy and keep his post as a key player in Brexit talks.

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EU trade commissioner under pressure to quit over Covid rules breach

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Irish government says it has lost confidence in Phil Hogan after he flouted quarantine regulations

The Irish government wants the embattled European trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, to quit or be sacked after concluding he flouted coronavirus regulations during a golfing break in Ireland.

The Green party leader, Eamon Ryan, part of the ruling coalition, on Wednesday said the government had lost confidence in Hogan.

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EU trade chief faces fresh criticism over breaking Covid rules in Ireland

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Phil Hogan gave more detail about his trip but said he was exempt from lockdown restrictions

The embattled European trade commissioner Phil Hogan is facing fresh accusations that he flouted coronavirus regulations during a golfing break in Ireland.

Hogan attempted to douse the controversy and save his job in a media interview on Tuesday evening, but ended up tacitly admitting he had violated quarantine rules, triggering more questions and calls for his resignation.

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Coronavirus live news: Italy ‘won’t lock down again’ to curb cases; English schools had 67 infections in June

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Italy reported 1,071 new infections on Saturday; PHE report into levels of transmission in schools released; Australian deaths pass 500

Travellers from the UK to France are required to self-certify that they are not suffering coronavirus symptoms or have been in contact with a confirmed case within 14 days preceding travel.

The requirement to self-certify has been added to the UK government’s travel advice for those visiting France.

Russia aims to ramp up production of its potential Covid-19 vaccine to between 1.5 million and 2 million doses a month by the end of the year, Reuters reports.

Industry minister Denis Manturov said on Sunday that the nation hopes to eventually produce 6m doses a month, according to the RIA news agency.

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