Condemnation and bewildered dismissal – these are the reactions which have greeted US president Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would relocate Palestinians and redevelop and “own” the Gaza Strip.
As Keith Duggan reports today, the international response – from the Middle East to the European Union and beyond – has been uniformly negative.
Mr Trump’s plan, formalised during public remarks with Mr Netanyahu in the East Room of the White House, envisages the removal of the Palestinian population of an estimated 2.1 million people to neighbouring countries so that Gaza can be razed and reimagined, in the president’s words, as “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
At home, this has led to calls for Taoiseach Micheál Martin to boycott the annual St Patrick’s Day trip. Those calls have been mainly led by People Before Profit TDs, but Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney said that if Trump continues with his plan, then her party would not support Mr Martin travelling to the US this year. Similar pressure will come on Sinn Féin, too, with party figures acutely aware of previous criticism about last year’s trip to visit Joe Biden.
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Read Keith’s full piece here.
Sinn Féin go back to basics
With the speaking row temporarily resolved, proceedings in Leinster House were less rocky as the Dáil returned. That sense of peace didn’t last too long, though, as Sinn Féin sought to hit the Government where it hurts.
In the coming weeks and months, sources in the party have said we can expect to see Sinn Féin becoming a far more aggressive party of the Opposition. Sinn Féin has made big – and, given recent election results – untested promises to fix the housing crisis. But leader Mary Lou McDonald gave a flavour of what’s ahead when she accused the Government of talking “a load of bull” in relation to its target of 40,000 housing completions for 2024. She claimed the Taoiseach and Tánaiste Simon Harris “knowingly deceived people” about the figures when they knew they were “pure fiction”.
Martin insisted however that there was “no attempt to deceive” and he was “extremely disappointed” that the number of homes completed was less than the official 33,000 target, as Marie O’Halloran reports today.
McDonald said the two Coalition leaders had repeatedly claimed during the election campaign that close to 40,000 homes would be built in 2024.
She said “you deliberately used a figure when you had to have known it would not be delivered”, adding that “you openly and knowingly deceived the public” during the general election campaign.
But insisting that there was no attempt to deceive the public, Martin said that both Cairn Homes and Deutsche Bank predicted 40,000 homes would be built. It was “very, very disappointing” that they had not reached the target for completions. “We got the figure wrong and I regret that.”
Key pieces of legislation restored to the Dáil order paper
Proposed legislation to reform Ireland’s defamation law is among Bills set to be revived by the Government for progression in the new Dáil, Cormac McQuinn reports.
The Taoiseach has briefed the Cabinet about plans to restore 11 proposed laws to the Dáil order paper. Legislation that has not passed all stages in the Houses of the Oireachtas lapses with the dissolution of the Dáil but it can be restored by the new Government.
The programme for government commits to restoring the Defamation Bill to the order paper and to “make passing the legislation a priority”.
Other Bills to be restored to the Dáil order paper include the Health Information Bill 2024, aimed at providing a clear legal basis for the establishment of digital health records for patients and the Mental Health Bill, which covers provisions around the admission and discharge of patients from hospitals and their care.
Read more about the 11 key pieces of legislation the Government intends to progress in Cormac’s report.
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Playbook
Here’s the plan for the day’s business in the Dáil.
There will be statements on the Government’s response to Storm Éowyn at 9.30am, followed by Topical Issues at 11am. Leaders’ Questions will be taken at noon.
At 12.34am, there will be Questions on Policy and Promised Legislation before statements on the Programme for Government. The Dáil will adjourn just after 5pm.
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