The Government has aligned itself with the Big Tech firms as they escalate efforts to oppose proposed EU tariffs on technology firms, as the likelihood grows of a US/EU  trade war. Paschal Donohoe has warned that EU tech tariffs would have “an extremely harmful effect” on Ireland, while many observers are hoping that the US president's bluff has been called.

The uncertainty Trump has created has led to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers announcing that increases to the minimum wage could be pushed back to help businesses, a decision that ICTU has described as “morally bankrupt.” 

In related news, the European Commission is assembling "a sweeping package of deregulatory legislation being sold as the key to revitalising Europe’s economy." Evie Clarke, of the Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights, says the Commission's plans risk dismantling vital protections "that safeguard the basic rights of workers and vulnerable communities." She adds: "The Irish Government must take a stand to protect hard-won rights and prevent vital protections from being watered down. The cost of weakening these standards is far too high, and it’s a price people across the world simply cannot afford to pay." 

Minister for Housing James Browne has a Q&A with the Irish Times, and reckons he only has a few months to turn things around, and that the new National Planning Framework (NPF) will help local authorities to "map out where they want homes to be."

Meanwhile, Ireland is to join a European maritime intelligence network in response to the increasing numbers of Russian naval vessels travelling through Irish-controlled waters, and the AGSI has its member delegate conference in Kerry this week.

Elsewhere, the Irish Examiner has this on prison overcrowding.

Zen 

International diplomacy is probably a harder job now than it was a few years ago, so it is heartening to see the Japanese ambassador to the UK, Hiroshi Suzuki, generate so much goodwill on his foreign assignment. 

Have a lovely week. 

Niall Shanahan