Simon Harris tells US ambassador ‘landing zone' can be found to avert trade war
Simon Harris
discussed trade issues on Monday with the new US ambassador to Dublin, Ed Walsh, following President
Donald Trump
's threat at the weekend to impose 30 per cent
tariffs
on EU exports to the US.
At the scheduled meeting, Mr Harris told the ambassador that he believed there was a 'landing zone' for an agreement between the two sides that would avoid the threatened tariffs on August 1st.
Mr Harris also outlined Ireland's concerns for the
pharmaceutical
sector, which is the subject of an investigation by the US authorities that could lead to further trade measures by Washington. Mr Harris explained how this was a 'significant concern for Ireland', officials said.
The two men also discussed the situation in the Middle East and the need for a ceasefire. When the
Occupied Territories Bill
was raised by the ambassador, the Tánaiste explained the process that the Bill is going through, officials said.
READ MORE
The Bill, and the Irish Government's wider response to the situation in Gaza, has been the subject of significant criticism in Washington. The previous US ambassador, Claire Cronin, made representations to Dublin about the Bill, which would ban – as currently drafted – the import of goods produced in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Pro-Israeli organisations have been lobbying against the Bill in Washington, with an analysis supplied by one group to the Irish Government claiming it would affect US companies operating in Ireland.
Commenting on the Bill recently, the US senator Jim Risch, who is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it showed Ireland was on a 'hateful, anti-Semitic path that will only lead to self-inflicted economic suffering'.
Mr Harris and Mr Walsh also discussed in Ukraine, Northern Ireland, Ireland's J1 visa programme and the upcoming college (American) football and NFL games taking place in Ireland later this year, officials said.
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Irish Times
30 minutes ago
- Irish Times
How can I find what my likely State pension will be?
I am 59 this year and I am trying to enquire with Department of Social Protection about transferring and combining my UK national insurance contributions to my Irish PRSI record in order to plan my retirement at 60 years of age in 2026. DSP advise repeatedly that this is done six months prior to applying for the old-age pension but I need to know now, as I plan to retire at 60 and can't risk not qualifying for the maximum OAP. Is it possible to have my UK contributions transferred and combined into my Irish record now? Ms SC READ MORE I'm a big fan of planning ahead but I wish you luck if you think you can strong-arm the Department into changing its structures to accommodate you. However, that does not mean that you cannot get an understanding of what State pension you will ultimately be able to get. The Department of Social Protection is set up to address people's likely State pension in the months running up to the point at which the qualify – currently when they turn 66 years of age. As I understand it, the legislation allows the Department determine when application should be made for the contributory state pension and the Department has determined that it will entertain applications only six months before a person reaches retirement age. As recent legislation allows people defer pension drawdown, that date is not necessarily when we are 65 but, for most people, it is likely to be. Why? There is little point, as they would see it, in telling people definitively what their State pension position will be several years hence when they have no clarity on whether you will or won't work here or elsewhere in that time. You say you are retiring next year but I have come across many people who do that only to find they miss work for one reason or another – not always financial – and go back part-time or on a consultancy basis here or in another country. All of that will affect your entitlement and, as importantly, the calculation of the impact of any UK contributions. However, there is nothing stopping you at any time getting details of your Irish PRSI record up to the end of the most recent tax year. And, given you are going to have to calculate your future entitlement for yourself, this is a necessary first step. If you have a MyGovID, the easiest way of doing this is via . If you don't have a MyGovID or do not wish to sign up for one, you can contact the PRSI records team at Department of Social Protection, McCarter's Road, Ardaravan, Buncrana, Co Donegal, or by phone at (01) 471 5898 or 0818 690690 PRSI and pension It doesn't help that the whole system is currently in a period of transition. There are two ways of calculating your pension entitlement. The newer one is called total contributions and simply tots up your paid and credited contributions, including for up to 20 years of homecaring if appropriate. You need 2080 (40 years of weekly PRSI payments) for a full State pension. If you fall short of that figure, you get a reduced pension calculated strictly on a pro-rata basis. The old system is called yearly averaging. It starts the clock on the date you first pay PRSI (possibly as a student). It tots up all your weekly PRSI payments and divides it by the number of years from your first payment to the end of the tax year before the year in which you will turn 66. You do not get credited contributions for homecaring; instead, under what it calls homemakers, it will take up to 20 years as appropriate out of the equation to cover years out of the workforce caring four young children so that your average is worked out over a shorter number of years. If at the end of the day, you average is greater than 48, you get the full pension. Below that number, you get a reduced pension in a system that runs in bands. Anyone with an average of between 40 and 47 gets a pension that is just over €5 a week less but the figure drops more sharply for those with average contributions per year of between 30 and 39, 20 and 29, 15 and 19 and, finally between 10 and 14. Over recent years, the Department calculated your entitlement under both systems and paid you on the basis of whichever one delivered a better pension. From this year, the yearly average is being phased out. What does that mean? The Department will still calculate your entitlement using both systems and if the more modern total contributions pays better, great. If not, they will pay you a pension based on a blend of your entitlement under both systems. For instance, in 2025, the pension paid would be base don 90 per cent of what you would get under yearly averaging and 10 per cent of your total contributions entitlement. By 2033, it will be 10 per cent yearly average and 90 per cent total averaging and from the following year yearly averaging will not count at all. For you, hitting 66 in 2032, your entitlement will be measures under total contributions and, separately, on the blending of 20 per cent of your yearly average record and 80 per cent total contributions. The UK impact Having spent some years in the UK, there will clearly be gaps in your Irish pensions record. That will obviously impact the yearly average over your working life and most likely reduce the chance of you hitting 2,080 stamps under the total contributions approach. This is where your UK record comes in. To understand how your UK record will affect your ultimate State pension, you need to multiply something called a 'notional rate of pension' (A) by the number of Irish contributions (B) as per your PRSI record updated to when you will finish work next year and then divide that by the total of all contributions – Irish and UK (C). The tricky bit here is the notional pension, which is the pension you would get if all your social insurance contributions in Ireland and Britain were treated as Irish PRSI payments. To get this figure, you add all the contributions from your time here and in the UK and then divide that figure by the number of years between the year you first paid PRSI and the last year before the year in which you turn 66. If you turn 66 in 2032, the last year for notional pension is 2031. Let's say you started work in 1986 when you were 19 or 20. That will be a working life of 46 years. For illustration purposes lets assume you have 1,500 PRSI stamps and 268 UK national insurance stamps built up over five-plus years working in Britain. That gives you 1,768 stamps all told which, divided by 46, which comes to 38.43 – between 30 and 39 on the state pension rate of payment under yearly averaging. With the current maximum state payment being €289.70, the payment for those with an average in the thirties is €260.10 a week. So 260.10 is your notional rate of pension (A). Multiplied by B (your 1,500 Irish contributions), you get 390,150. Dividing this by C (all your 1,768 contributions in Ireland the UK), you come to a figure of €220.67 which would be your pro rata weekly pension. That's modestly higher than the €206.80 you'd get on a total contributions approach of just your Irish PRSI, and fractionally higher than the €217.50 you'd get under the transitional yearly average/total contributions regime. Clearly, that's just an example but it shows you how you can calculate your future pension. One final thing. You could boost your pension by paying voluntary PRSI stamps from when you retire next year even though you are not working as long as you have at least 10 years of paid PRSI in Ireland and apply with 60 months from the end of this year – so before the end of 2030 – using Form VC1 which you can find here . If you work in the PAYE sector, you will have to pay 6.6 per cent of your income in the previous tax year in voluntary PRSI contributions, subject to a minimum of €500. Civil and public servants employed before April 6th, 1995, pay at a rate of 2.6 per cent. People who were self-employed pay a flat rate of €650 a year. Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2, or by email to , with a contact phone number. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
EU commissioner shocked Michael McGrath by dangers of some goods sold by Shein and Temu
EU justice Michael McGrath commissioner has expressed shock at the toxicity and dangers of some goods being sold by Shein and Temu, amid a crackdown on the popular Chinese retail platforms. With 12m low-value parcels each day coming into the EU from online retailers outside the bloc, Michael McGrath has vowed to crack down on the sale of goods that blatantly break the law. He is waiting for the imminent results of an EU-wide secret shopper operation to further test evidence already gathered that Chinese retailers are bypassing EU laws. Among the worst examples Mr McGrath came across were baby soothers with beads that fall off easily, which pose a choking hazard because they did not have the regulation size hole to enable a baby who did swallow one accidentally to continue to get air. Among other goods cited by MEPs in a report released this month include children's raincoats with toxic chemicals, sunglasses with no UV filter and kids shorts with draw strings longer than regulation length that cause a trip hazard. They also found cosmetics containing butylphenyl methylpropional, also known as Lillal, which is listed as a chemical of 'very high concern' by the EU and has been banned since 2022 over concerns that it affects fertility and fetal development. EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath. File Picture: Shane O'Neill 'I am shocked by it, and I think we have a duty to protect European consumers,' Mr McGrath said. National consumer protection authorities send out rapid alerts across the EU warning of unsafe non-food products as part of a service, Safety Gate, which is also open to consumer complaints. Last year, Safety Gate received a record high of 4,137 alerts with more than a third relating to cosmetics, ahead of toys, electrical appliances, auto and chemical products. While consumer groups are concerned about safety, Mr McGrath is also worried that the platforms which have exploded in popularity in the last two years are damaging local businesses through unfair competition. The growth is extraordinary, and it has placed enormous pressure on the systems at member state level. 'I am determined that we step up our enforcement of our product safety laws and our consumer protection rules," he said. "It's not only about protecting consumers, but there is a very serious level playing field issue here for European businesses, because they are expected to compete with sellers who are not complying with our rules." 'They are incurring significant costs in Europe to comply with our requirements, and they should not be expected to compete with those who are not doing the same.' EU figures show 12m low-value items coming into the bloc a day, amounting to 4.6bn consignments under €150 for 2024 – double that of 2023 and three times as many as 2022. Among the moves the EU is considering is an abolition of the €150 duty-free threshold and the introduction of a handling fee for each package which may deter low-value purchases and help pay the cost of extra customs investigations. The move would echo the situation in the US, where Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the $800 duty-free threshold in an assault on the Chinese sellers. American buyers have had to pay an additional 30% tax or a minimum of $50 an item after 1 June this year. Also possible is the creation of a EU-wide customs authority to cope with the systemic issues. Mr McGrath said it 'remains to be seen' if the subject will be raised at an EU-China summit in Beijing on 25 July but he plans to address it directly himself. 'It will certainly be engaging directly with Chinese authorities and we will visiting later on this year,' he said. Shein said it was investing $15m this year in compliance and safety initiatives including 2.5m product and safety quality tests and has partnerships with 15 testing centres. It said it had removed 500 vendors since the launch of its marketplace. A spokesperson said: 'Earning and maintaining the trust of our consumers is paramount, and we are fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant." 'All of our vendors are required to comply with Shein's code of conduct and stringent safety standards, and must also abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the markets where we operate.' Temu has been approached for comment. - The Guardian Read More
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Soothers with choking-hazards, sunglasses with no UV filters, raincoats with toxic chemicals: McGrath shocked by dangers of some Shein, Temu goods
The EU justice commissioner has expressed shock at the toxicity and dangers of some goods being sold by Shein and Temu , amid a crackdown on the popular Chinese retail platforms. With 12m low-value parcels each day coming into the EU from online retailers outside the bloc, Michael McGrath has vowed to crack down on the sale of goods that blatantly break the law. He is waiting for the imminent results of an EU-wide secret shopper operation to further test evidence already gathered that Chinese retailers are bypassing EU laws. Among the worst examples Mr McGrath came across were baby soothers with beads that fall off easily, which pose a choking hazard because they did not have the regulation size hole to enable a baby who did swallow one accidentally to continue to get air. READ MORE Among other goods cited by MEPs in a report released this month include children's raincoats with toxic chemicals, sunglasses with no UV filter and kids' shorts with draw strings longer than regulation length that cause a trip hazard. They also found cosmetics containing butylphenyl methylpropional, also known as Lillal, which is listed as a chemical of 'very high concern' by the EU and has been banned since 2022 over concerns that it affects fertility and foetal development. Last year, the UK government told consumers to dispose of any products containing the ingredient. 'I am shocked by it, and I think we have a duty to protect European consumers,' Mr McGrath told the Guardian. National consumer protection authorities send out rapid alerts across the EU warning of unsafe non-food products as part of a service, Safety Gate, which is also open to consumer complaints. Last year, Safety Gate received a record high of 4,137 alerts with more than a third relating to cosmetics, ahead of toys, electrical appliances, auto and chemical products. While consumer groups are concerned about safety, Mr McGrath is also worried that the platforms that have exploded in popularity in the last two years are damaging local businesses through unfair competition. 'The growth is extraordinary, and it has placed enormous pressure on the systems at member state level,' he said. 'I am determined that we step up our enforcement of our product safety laws and our consumer protection rules. It's not only about protecting consumers, but there is a very serious level playing field issue here for European businesses, because they are expected to compete with sellers who are not complying with our rules,' he said. 'They are incurring significant costs in Europe to comply with our requirements, and they should not be expected to compete with those who are not doing the same.' EU figures show 12m low-value items coming into the bloc a day, amounting to 4.6bn consignments under €150 for 2024 – double that of 2023 and three times as many as 2022. Among the moves the EU is considering is an abolition of the €150 duty-free threshold and the introduction of a handling fee for each package which may deter low-value purchases and help pay the cost of extra customs investigations. The move would echo the situation in the US, where Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the $800 duty-free threshold in an assault on the Chinese sellers. American buyers have had to pay an additional 30 per cent tax or a minimum of $50 an item after June 1st this year. Also possible is the creation of an EU-wide customs authority to cope with the systemic issues. Mr McGrath said it 'remains to be seen' if the subject will be raised at an EU-China summit in Beijing on July 25th, but he plans to address it directly himself. 'I will certainly be engaging directly with Chinese authorities and we will [be] visiting later on this year,' he said. Shein said it was investing $15m this year in compliance and safety initiatives including $2.5m toward product and safety quality tests and has partnerships with 15 testing centres, including operations in the UK and Germany. It said it had removed 500 vendors since the launch of its marketplace. A spokesperson said: 'Earning and maintaining the trust of our consumers is paramount, and we are fully committed to ensuring the products we offer are safe and compliant. 'All of our vendors are required to comply with Shein's code of conduct and stringent safety standards, and must also abide by the relevant laws and regulations of the markets where we operate.' Temu has been approached for comment. – Guardian
