{"id":415340,"date":"2026-04-24T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415340\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T14:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T14:36:11","slug":"europe-leaders-pessimistic-on-iran-wars-long-term-impact-on-energy-prices-says-micheal-martin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415340\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe leaders \u2018pessimistic\u2019 on Iran war\u2019s long-term impact on energy prices, says Miche\u00e1l Martin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was \u201ca lot of pessimism\u201d among European leaders about the longer-term impacts of the war on Iran<\/a> on energy prices, Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> has said. <\/p>\n

Ireland was not \u201cimmune\u201d to a slowdown in economic growth across the world as a result of the oil shock, given exports and trade was a big part of the Republic\u2019s economy, he said. <\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said he did not anticipate there being a need for a mini-budget this year, echoing recent comments from T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris. <\/p>\n

Martin was speaking on Friday morning in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on the second day of an EU leaders\u2019 summit<\/a> where the war in Iran and the resulting energy crisis was high on the agenda. <\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said other European leaders had expressed a grim view about the impact of the war. <\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route that brings oil and gas from the Gulf, has seen the price of energy soar, putting pressure on fuel-dependent industries. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have to be conscious of the fact that the impacts of this oil shock could be more medium to longer term,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n

There was a growing fear the current energy crisis would be worse than the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 and the 2022 Ukraine war all rolled into one, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe [European] Commission and others are saying, you know, you\u2019ve got to keep funding in reserve if the situation gets worse and deteriorates,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n

Separately, Europe\u2019s relationship with Israel had to be put under a \u201cmicroscope\u201d, in light of its \u201creckless\u201d bombing of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, the Fianna F\u00e1il leader said. <\/p>\n

The strikes on civilian populations during the war Israel launched against Hizbullah militants were \u201cabsolutely disproportionate\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a lot of displacement of civilian populations \u2013 significant consequences can flow from that, but fundamentally we welcome the fact now that there\u2019s a ceasefire that has been extended in Lebanon,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

However, the Taoiseach said the international community \u201ccan\u2019t be overly confident\u201d that the further three-week halt to the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah militants would hold up. <\/p>\n

The summit in Cyprus saw the union\u2019s 27 national leaders get stuck into contentious talks about the size and focus of the EU\u2019s next seven-year budget. <\/p>\n

The negotiations are set to become a significant feature of EU-level discussions over the coming months, with different coalitions inside the bloc competing to shape how the pot of cash will be spent. <\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s existing \u20ac1.2 trillion budget runs until the end of 2027 and encompasses Common Agricultural Policy subsidies, funding for roads and regional development, and a huge range of other schemes. <\/p>\n

There will have to be \u201ccompromise\u201d by national governments to agree a deal settling the new EU budget, Martin said. <\/p>\n

It was \u201cdifficult to reconcile everybody\u2019s priorities with the available budget … some think the budget is too high as it is, others think it\u2019s not high enough. So those are the challenges,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The Government will have a central role in brokering that compromise during the second half of the year, when it holds the Council of the EU presidency, a deal-making role that rotates between countries every six months. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will aim to try and bring the negotiations on the budget to a conclusion during our presidency, which will be very challenging,\u201d Martin said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was \u201ca lot of pessimism\u201d among European leaders about the longer-term impacts of the war on Iran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2244,5148,42,11829,1843,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-415340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415340","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=415340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}