Martin not out of woods yet with Fianna Fáil presidential review
James Cox
Here, we have a look at the topics likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come.
Fianna Fáil presidential review
The internal review of Fianna Fáil's disastrous presidential campaign is expected to be completed before Christmas.
It was delayed as Jim Gavin's legal team requested to review it before publication.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week In Politics, Minister for Higher and Further Education James Lawless said the campaing had been an “unedifying spectacle”.
However, he defended the record of Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil party leader Micheál Martin.
“I think it’s been an unedifying spectacle ... It didn’t work out for us. There’s nobody more disappointed than me and I think every other member of the parliamentary party."
Despite this, and Mr Martin's insistence that the review will not be a big issue, plenty of backbenchers are understood to be unhappy with the Taoiseach.
He was recently forced to reject claims he spends too much time abroad.
When it was put to him at the EU/African Union Summit in Angola, Mr Martin said: "Are people thinking we go back to a sort of isolated position where we don't attend any meetings? This is ridiculous... whoever is asserting that.
"You're saying mutterings... noone has ever said to me [that he travels too much]. In terms of my visits and so on... I've limited them to just functional meetings, I don't go abroad for any other reason but to advance the country's agenda."
“Most people in the country accept that the leader of the country has to engage internationally,” he added.
“So much emanates from the international world in terms of influence. The first crisis we had to deal with was the tariffs issue. It is important for jobs in our economy, for the technology industry, for the life sciences industry. We navigated that well both within the European Union and indeed with the United States. That’s why international engagement matters, for God’s sake."
“Are people saying we shouldn’t attend COP?," he asked.
“There’s a need for a bit of common sense, a sense of perspective."
Asked if he was referring to criticism from some members of Fianna Fáil, he replied: "Yes."
Sources have indicated Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan is the most likely successor to Mr Martin.
Ireland 'unprepared' for coastal threats
Ireland is "totally underprepared" for protecting its waters and undersea cables from malicious actors, and could avail of European Union assistance, according to an Irish MEP.
The presence of Russian vessels off the Irish coast has been well documented in the last few years.
Ireland is connected to the global undersea cable network via existing cables to North America and the UK, and these are integral for everything from internet to banking services and gas pipelines.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews said Ireland is "totally underprepared" for dealing with threats in our waters, but can avail of new support from the Connecting Europe Facility, an EU funding programme that is set to be increased from €6 billion to €30 billion.
Some of this includes funding for coastal defence.
"I'm negotiating the Connecting Europe Facility. It is a major investment, a six-time increase in investment from €6 billion to €30 billion in energey connectedness. That includes protecting vital infrastructure that is vulnerable to attack and particularly Russian interference.
"I think that will probably be voted on in the EU Parliament in June, therefore the trilogues, essentially the final negotiations, would fall during the Irish EU presidency so Ireland would bring something very special to that.
"We have 16 per cent of all EU territorial waters, we have 70 per cent of all transatlantic cables coming through Irish waters so we have a really important role to play there during the presidency to highlight that issue."
Ireland has 'huge role' in Ukraine's future during upcoming EU presidency, MEP says
Ireland will have a "huge role" to play in Ukraine's future with the EU presidency, an MEP has said as peace talks led by the United States continue.
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews was in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv two weeks ago. He said people were cautiously optimistic about peace talks involving the US and Russia, but still feel they need the support of Europe.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Mr Andrews said: "I was in Ukraine just two weeks ago and they are excited about Trump's interest in Ukraine. They desperately want peace but they know that Europe has a crucial role to play to ensure that it's not just peace as the absence of war but peace with justice, democracy and sovereignty, the opportunity to choose their own future."
US influence on far-right slogans
The recent move from X, formerly Twitter, which shows the origin of posts once again highlighted American influence on far-right activists in Ireland, and this is a continuing trend according to a US group that monitors far-right groups and hate speech.
The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (Gpahe) monitors far-right and extremist groups across the globe.
In an interview with BreakingNews.ie, Wendy Via, Gpahe co-founder and president, said English-speaking countries, particularly Ireland and the UK, are vulnerable to the spread of hate speech and extremism from the US.
"It's not just Ireland, it is across the globe, but particularly in English speaking countries it is easier for it to be picked up and with the way the algorithms work.
"You're going to see a lot more 'make Ireland great again' posts.
"'Make Ireland great again', 'Irish lives matter', things like that in addition to terms like re-migration, on and on this is spreading like wildfire."
Abroad
Israeli police forcibly entered the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Jerusalem early on Monday.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli forces, including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts, entered the compound in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.
