Most people in France, Germany, Italy and Spain would be in favour of UK rejoining EU on new terms, poll finds
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Most people in the four largest countries in the European Union would welcome the UK back into the bloc, a new poll has found – but not on the same terms it had before.
At the same time, most Britons are in favour of rejoining the EU, the YouGov survey of six western European nations found, but only if they could keep the opt-outs the UK previously had, such as remaining outside the Schengen zone and keeping its own currency.
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Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Inspector of prisons backs findings of jail report by European watchdog
The inspector of prisons Mark Kelly has echoed the 'deep concern' about the state of Irish prisons documented in a detailed report by a European inspection body. Mr Kelly said the findings by the Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT) mirrors those that he has made. The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IRPT) welcomed the CPT report and said that key ways of reducing overcrowding are to expand the availability and use of community sanctions and reduce the increasing numbers of people being held on remand in custody pending trial. The comments come as prison overcrowding reached another record on Thursday, with 5,539 in custody. That compares to just under 5,000 when the CPT team visited in May 2024. In a brief statement online, the office of the inspector of prisons in Ireland said: 'Council of Europe anti-torture committee publishes its new report, highlighting deep concern about the state of our prisons. OIP Ireland echoes that concern and notes that the CPT's recommendations mirror those of the Inspectorate.' IPRT legal policy and public affairs manager Niamh McCormack said the committee left no room for doubt that the cumulative impact of conditions in prisons 'may well amount to inhuman and degrading treatment and that overcrowding turns prisons into human warehouses'. She said the IPRT recognised the Irish Prison Service is 'treading water' and that it was 'simply not possible' for it to comply with basic human rights. 'Responsibility does not fall solely on the prison authorities as the Government must take clear and immediate action to reduce the prison population and alleviate pressure on the system,' she said. IPRT supports the committee's recommendation that when a prison has reached capacity, no one else should be admitted. Some justice sources have said the focus on building more prison spaces has resulted in the need for alternatives to custody being 'drowned out'. They questioned how many recommendations on community sanctions in various government reports and policy documents had been implemented. The CPT said that while legislation enables the judiciary to impose alternative sanctions for short and medium-term custodial sanctions, they were 'not used as fully as they could be'. It called on Irish authorities to adopt more community sentence measures, in "a systemic approach" that includes judges. The IPRT has also called for a supported bail service, where people are supervised in the community by probation officers, to cut down on rising remand numbers. It has sought €300,000 to enable the Probation Service to run a pilot supported bail service for women and €270,000 to build capacity on restorative justice. Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan said on Wednesday that €495m in the revised National Development Programme would go to prison capital projects over the next five years and create 1,500 spaces. They will be at Castlerea, Cloverhill, Mountjoy, Portlaoise, Wheatfield, Midlands, Dóchas, and the Old Cork prison site. The projects at existing jails are not expected until 2028 onwards. Some sources have doubted the old Cork prison could be demolished and a new male and female prison, for 400-500 people, built there within five years.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
TP O'Mahony: Pope Leo's words on Gaza have gone unheeded in the Knesset and the White House
With Gaza haunted by the spectre of mass starvation, Pope Leo XIV's call for respect for humanitarian law has gone unheeded in the two places on Earth where it requires compliance if peace in the Middle East is ever to be achieved - the White House in Washington DC and the Knesset in Jerusalem. The phrase 'the globalisation of indifference' has for too long accurately described the inaction of the international community to Israel's genocidal war in Gaza, and its collective punishment of the Palestinian people. When I learned just over a month ago that nine out of 10 members of one family had been killed in Gaza during an Israeli raid, I thought - in my naivety - that if one incident could stir the conscience of the international community this was surely it. Never, it seemed to me, were the lessons of Pope John XXIII's great encyclical Pacem in Terris ('Peace on Earth') more apposite. But in today's troubled world it is the absence of peace - the peace of which John XXIII spoke so eloquently and movingly back in 1963 - that is one of its most worrying features. Gaza is a shocking example, but it is by no means the only example of the world's lawlessness. In 2024 there were 61 'state-based conflicts' in the world, the most since 1946, according to the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. And that was before the Israel-Iran conflict. We may well ask: why are there so many wars? That lawlessness - fostered by President Donald's Trump's disregard for international law, conventions and norms - is tragically evident on a daily basis in Gaza. Each day Palestinians continue to be killed while attempting to collect food for their families. Medicins Sans Frontieres has accurately described the system as 'slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid'. The Belfast rap trio Kneecap - who have drawn a lot of criticism, especially in the British media - have been unflinching in their support for the Palestinian people. JJ O Dochartaigh, one of the group, said in a pre-Glastonbury interview: Everyone knows what's happening is wrong. You can't even try to deny it now - Israel's government is just acting with impunity and getting away with it. Gaza's health ministry says that over 58,000 people (mostly civilians) have died in Israeli attacks since the war began. And that number grows daily. Studies at Yale and other universities suggest the official tolls are being underestimated. Meanwhile, the two-state solution - backed by Ireland and other countries - is looking more and more remote. The political situation is not helped by the fact that the Trump White House does not see an independent Palestinian state as a goal. Matters are also not helped by the fact that the EU is divided on support for a Palestinian state, or how to respond to the systematic destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, beyond mere words. Kaja Kallas, the foreign policy chief of the EU - Israel's biggest trading partner - has said that 'all options are on the table'. But so far there is no agreement on a plan of action. Ireland has played its part, at least in terms of recognition, much to the chagrin of the Israelis. On May 22, 2024, it was officially announced by the then Taoiseach Simon Harris that 'Ireland will recognise the State of Palestine, effective 28 May'. Ireland made the announcement on the same day as Spain and Norway. 'Ireland today recognises Palestine as a nation among nations with all the rights and responsibilities that entails,' said the Taoiseach. Ireland has for many decades recognised the State of Israel and its right to exist in pace and security. We had hoped to recognise Palestine as part of a two-state peace deal but instead we recognise Palestine to keep the hope of that two-state solution alive. The formal recognition of the State of Israel was an altogether different story. The new state of Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, and it immediately sought diplomatic recognition from countries around the world. The United States, under President Truman, was the first to grant recognition. On May 28, 1948, Ireland received a telegram from the Israeli foreign secretary asking that 'Eire may grant official recognition to the state of Israel and its provisional government'. On June 4, the Irish government discussed the telegram, and it was decided that 'no action be taken on the telegram apart from the appropriate acknowledgement'. 'For Ireland the issues of Israeli statehood, protection of the Holy Places, the status of Jerusalem and diplomatic recognition remained unresolved. It could have chosen any tack concerning Israel, including the Arab position that the partition of Palestine was illegitimate . . . Instead, Ireland chose the position of the Holy See as a basis for its policy towards Israel. "Not only did the Holy Places argument win prestige for Ireland from the Holy See, but placing such a condition on recognition meant that Ireland would not be entering into diplomatic relations with Israel in the immediate future,' according to Paula Wylie, lecturer in international relations at the University of North Carolina (she studied at UCC). A charity organization distributed food to Palestinians facing severe difficulties accessing basic necessities due to Israel's ongoing blockade and military operations in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images The Holy See's policy was that there would be no recognition of Israel until it guaranteed the internationalisation of Jerusalem and the protection of, and free access to, the Holy Places throughout Palestine. 'Ireland's policy of non-recognition towards Israel was maintained by the Department of External Affairs from 1949 to 1963 as a unilateral foreign policy. To date, historians have accepted the thesis that Ireland refused de jure recognition to protest Israel's lack of regard for the Holy Places in and around Jerusalem,' wrote Ms Wylie. On February 11, 1949, the Irish Government had granted de facto recognition to the state of Israel, an acceptance of the situation on the ground. The New York Times reported Ireland's de jure recognition of Israel in January 1964, just after Pope Paul VI's historic visit to Israel and the Holy Places. Recognising the State of Palestine On June 29, 2025 - 10 years after the Holy See formally recognised the State of Palestine - the new minister of state for foreign affairs of the Palestinian Authority, Varsen Aghabekian, said the 2015 agreement offered a 'vision of hope for the future of the Holy Land'. The historic agreement between the Holy See and Palestine was signed on June 26, 2015, making the Holy See one of the first states in Europe to recognise the statehood of Palestine. The question now is who will follow the example of the Holy See and Ireland? The 'vision of hope' to which the Palestinian foreign minister referred will remain dormant until Israel's ends its collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The Trump White House is the key to that. Only Washington can persuade Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon his genocidal war. Meanwhile, the peace for which Pope John XXIII so fervently pleaded and prayed still seems in this troubled world a distant prospect. But without it, at least in the Middle East, the dialogue that could prepare the way for a solution in which two states, Israel and Palestine, can co-exist side-by-side with equal dignity, respect and security, cannot even begin. Read More Israeli official says Gaza ceasefire proposal from Hamas is 'workable'
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Consumer sentiment slips in July amid concern over cost pressures and tariff threats, survey shows
Irish consumer sentiment has slipped backwards during July, amid renewed concerns over cost pressures and the threat of higher tariffs being implemented by the US, the latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Survey shows. The survey showed after a slight improvement across May and June, Irish consumer confidence slipped back this month towards the level seen in April, when tariffs announcement by US president Donald Trump prompted a deterioration. During July, the consumer sentiment index recorded a reading of 59.1, down from the 62.5 figure reported for June. The reading of 58.7 in April represented a two-year low. The July reading is well below the 70.5 recorded during the same month last year, and the long term average of 83.9. The Credit Union Irish Consumer Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults conducted by Core Research. The analysis for the sentiment was written by economist Austin Hughes. Earlier this month, Mr Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on imports from the EU from August 1 if a deal is not reached. This is higher than the 20% he initially proposed on April 2, before he backtracked and lowered it to 10%. On Thursday morning, EU member states voted to approve counter-tariffs on €93bn on US goods in case a deal is not reached, potentially increasing prices here in Ireland. 'At current levels, the tone of consumer sentiment on the Irish economy is altogether more negative than that implicit in a range of recent forecasts for the Irish economy,' Mr Hughes said. 'While this doesn't mean Irish consumers envisage an imminent economic collapse, it does suggest very elevated fear and uncertainty, coupled with a strong sense that economic conditions could deteriorate markedly through the next 12 months.' 'It could also suggest that many consumers don't feel their own financial circumstances are as robust as the economy as a whole.'
