Coalition leaders meeting to discuss the country\u2019s energy supplies but rule out any more immediate support for energy crisis, as fate of global economy will be decided by Trumps next move<\/p>\n
T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris, who is also the finance minister, has said that the decisions that will be made by the US government overnight will have \u201cprofound global economic impact in one direction or another\u201d as he condemned \u201coutright\u201d President Trump\u2019s “collective punishment\u201d against Iranian civilians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the level of volatility. They say a week used to be a long time in politics. Now 20 minutes, and a Truth Social post is,” he said.<\/p>\n
He rejected the idea that the government has adopted a \u201cwait and see approach\u201d in relation to the energy crisis and pointed to the \u20ac250m in energy supports provided last month, and said the situation is \u201cunder review.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the wake of nationwide go-slow protest clogging up major roads, the T\u00e1naiste said \u201cpeople are really feeling the challenge here. People are worried, people are anxious, people are stressed. There’s absolutely no doubt about that\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Harris did not say there was any further imminent support for people when it comes to rising fuel prices, and said that the government were directly engaging with farmers and hauliers on specific supports.<\/p>\n
The leaders of the Coalition and other key ministers are meeting tomorrow to get a full briefing on the state of Ireland energy supply and \u201cstress test various scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said: \u201cthe country is in a reasonably good position in terms of security of supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s true to say that our level of reserves may be higher than many other countries, and that’s not in any way to be complacent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the government will be looking at \u201cdemand management measures\u201d around energy usage and how households can be helped to make their homes more energy efficient.<\/p>\n
The government has established an Oil Security of Supply group who will be updating the government leaders tomorrow.<\/p>\n
The chief economist at the department of finance John McCarthy said that the idea that the war in Iran will only have a \u201cshort sharp shock [to the economy] has receded\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said that the \u201changover effects\u201d of the war in Iran and the damage to energy infrastructure including refineries will be felt for longer than previously anticipated.<\/p>\n
“Even if it finished tomorrow, there would be still some hangover effects. I think a kind of worst case scenario would involve a kind of stagflationary type of world. I’m not just talking about Ireland. I’m talking about the global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said this is where there will be stagnant growth and inflation alongside it. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in the best case scenario, all roads lead to higher inflation. It’s a case of the scale of the impact on inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy said that if the war ended imminently there is \u201cvery substantial destruction to energy infrastructure in the Gulf\u201d that will not come back on stream \u201canytime soon\u201d.<\/p>\n
The T\u00e1naiste said: \u201cThis is not 2008, we have full employment. We have a growing economy, and crucially, we have public finances that are managed in a way that gives us options.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the Irish economy is still expected to grow this year, but he added that \u201cthere\u2019s no doubt\u201d there will be higher inflation this year. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Harris said the level of inflation to be expected will \u201cvery much depend\u201d on the decisions made in the hours and days ahead on the outcome of the conflict in Iran.<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy said the government\u2019s balance sheet \u201cis in a much better position\u201d to deal with this economic shock than it was in 2008, and he added that household balance sheets and the accounts of small and medium enterprises are also in a \u201cbetter position than they were in 2007 and 2008″.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have the capacity to smooth the shock. So I’m not for any in any way dismissing this sort of the scale of the shock. It could be a difficult shock,\u201d Mr McCarthy said.<\/p>\n
The minister for public expenditure Jack Chambers said the government is not considering introducing energy credits or universal supports for households in response to the energy crisis.<\/p>\n
He said the government\u2019s energy supports after the war in Ukraine cost \u20ac10bn over three years, \u201cthe scale of that was difficult to unwind.\u201d<\/p>\n
The T\u00e1naiste criticised President Donald Trump’s threats to wipe out Iranian civilisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of any form of collective punishment against innocent civilians is clearly outside all international norms and international law,” he said.<\/p>\n
He added that some of the language from President Trump in recent days was also \u201cunacceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr McCarthy said the government is carrying out modelling on different economic situations, one he said was a \u201cvery severe scenario\u201d where oil prices average at $150 per barrel.<\/p>\n
Ministers were asked about fossil fuel alternatives as a result of the Middle Eastern crisis \u2014 and said nuclear power could be considered.<\/p>\n
The T\u00e1naiste said there is no ideological objection to Ireland embracing nuclear power, while minister Jack Chambers said it could alter the affordability question.<\/p>\n
The only attempt to build a nuclear power plant in Ireland \u2014 at Carnsore Point in Co Wexford \u2014 was defeated by people power in the 1970s.<\/p>\n
Ministers Harris and Chambers were commenting against background reports of ministers discussing the possible use of nuclear energy in recent weeks. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s too easy in Ireland to say we have a form of energy that people are against when we have energy supply and energy security issues,\u201d Mr Harris said.<\/p>\n
Mr Harris added: \u201cI don\u2019t profess to be an expert in this area, and we have put a lot of time and energy into trying to develop offshore renewables. But we do have to approach this with an open mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Chambers said he had a similar attitude, but ended up sounding much more positive about the advantages of going nuclear, particularly when it comes to consumers and the cost of living. Arguments against it were decades old and \u201cin a very different world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should have a debate and a public discussion on nuclear energy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something being positively embraced across many European economies, and it is a clear backstop of energy security for many economies.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt is a very different context now from the 1990s when it was banned. We know from economists and experts how it could form part of our energy mix (in Ireland) going forward.\u201d This suggests the Government has taken inputs from stakeholders on the issue, with a small but vocal group emerging in recent years to advocate for nuclear power in Ireland.<\/p>\n
While there would could continue be an emphasis on renewables, nuclear energy did offer a lot of benefits, \u201cparticularly on the affordability question in the long term,\u201d Mr Chambers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the T\u00e1naiste is also correct. If we were to positively approach that question, it is only something that could be delivered in the medium to long term, and there are other short-term priorities that we must focus on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut excluding ourselves from that policy discussion, when nearly every other European country, and countries across the world in fact is appropriately addressing nuclear as part of their energy mix, I think we should do likewise \u2014 and we shouldn\u2019t exclude it because of an argument from twenty or thirty years ago in a very different world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the concentration of risks that are there when you are relying solely on the Straits of Hormuz for energy. I think we should have any open policy consultation about it and hear from respected voices on either side. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery other country in Europe is having that discussion, and we should do likewise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aisling Moloney and Senan Molony\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coalition leaders meeting to discuss the country\u2019s energy supplies but rule out any more immediate support for energy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10100,943,969,42,11829,3410,1843,43,3589,70,40,38,41,39,812,5936],"class_list":{"0":"post-387154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-micheal-martin","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-simon-harris","18":"tag-top-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topnews","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-usa","23":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}