What the papers say: Thursday's front pages

Eva Osborne

Here are the stories making headlines this Thursday.

There are growing fears that jet fuel supplies could be disrupted during the summer months if the war in Iran continues throughout April and beyond, according to The Irish Times.

The concerns were raised by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, senior Government figures, and the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The Irish Examiner leads with jet fuel supplies too, with Michael O'Leary saying that Ryanair has already bought 80 per cent of its fuel, but that rising fuel prices have resulted in aviation fuel costs doubling to $150 a barrel.

The Echo leads with the long-awaited Cork city taskforce, approved on Wednesday by the Government, being described as a "pointless exercise" by a Fine Gael councillor, because no funding as been committed to the project.

Up to 19,000 derel­ict prop­er­ties could be hit with the new 7 per cent tax being intro­duced by next year, according to the Irish Independent.

Rev­enue will be given the powers to col­lect the self-assessed Derel­ict Prop­erty Tax under plans to boost hous­ing sup­ply.

Also leading with concerns surrounding jet fuel supplies, the Irish Daily Mirror reports that EU energy ministers will meet to discuss the issue.

The Transport Min­is­ter was ‘taken aback’ by the case of a garda who was hit with a road ban for pur­su­ing scram­bler bikes, according to the Irish Daily Star.

On the day he signed the ‘Grace’s Law’ legis­la­tion to ban scram­blers in pub­lic places fol­low­ing the killing of 16-year-old Grace Lynch by a scram­bler bike, Dar­ragh O’Brien said he had spoken to the Justice Min­is­ter about the case of Garda Sean Shields.

The Irish Daily Mail leads with Donald Trump threatening to ditch Nato on Wednesday night after European allies turned their backs on his war in the Middle East.

The US pres­id­ent was expec­ted to use an overnight address to the United States to register his ‘dis­gust’ for the his­toric alli­ance after blast­ing it as a ‘paper tiger’.

The par­ents of Dub­lin school­girl Grace Lynch who was killed by a scram­bler in Fin­glas said there is no point hav­ing a new law ban­ning the bikes if the gardaí aren’t allowed do their job and pur­sue reck­less riders, The Herald reports.

“It’s all good that the ban is in place, but it’s no use if the guards can’t do their job,” said Grace’s father Mar­tin after an officer was given a driv­ing ban for chas­ing a joyrider.