
Frances Black rules herself out of the presidential race
Senator Frances Black has ruled herself out of the running to become the country's next president.
The Independent politician was flagged as a potential candidate for Áras an Uachtaráin for an alliance of left-leaning parties late last year.
Ms Black previously said that she had been approached to enter discussions about the prospect of contesting November's election. Senator Frances Black. Pic: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
However, in an interview earlier this week, she stated that she had received no official offers, leading her to conclude that she would not run.
The former singer told The Last Word with Matt Cooper on Today FM: 'I'm ruling myself out of the presidency for sure.
I had conversations with people at the start of the year, around this, around the smaller opposition parties, and I haven't heard anything.'
The Dublin-based senator described the presidential election campaign as a 'bloodbath', adding: 'I've said it before, you'd want to be a very brave person to go into the presidential election.'
Ms Black also cited her work on the Occupied Territories Bill, stating: 'I have too much work to do, particularly on this Bill.
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Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
How will the State support families in the budget?
How will the Government support families through child benefit and similar payments in the budget? It is a tricky and politically charged question. The Taoiseach has said consideration is being given to a second tier of child benefit for less well-off households, but will this happen, who would get it and what does it mean for the universal child benefit payments? There is a lot still to decide, but here are the key questions? Are the days of double payments over? With a general election in the offing, the last budget gave parents two double child benefit months in late 2024, one in early November and one in early December. READ MORE This meant a payment of €280 per child, twice the usual monthly €140 payment. This was a substantial cash boost – particularly for bigger families. For example, a family with three children got an additional €840 over the two months. [ Childcare in Ireland: 'Even as well-paid professionals, it was an exhausting struggle. The numbers never added up' Opens in new window ] Child benefit is paid to parents of children up to 16 years of age in all cases and up to 18 in they are in full-time education or have a disability. It is paid to approximately 678,000 families with more than 1.2 million children. The two double payments came at a hefty cost of €371.4 million. A 'new baby grant' of €280 was introduced paid to families of babies born after December 1st 2024 in addition to child benefit. While the new baby payment is permanent, the issue for the Government is whether to repeat any double child benefit weeks this year. Up to now, Ministers have suggested that these once-off payments will not continue, because inflation has come down sharply. IATA Director General Willie Walsh on airline profits, air fares and why the Dublin Airport passenger cap makes Ireland a laughing stock Listen | 35:56 However, Sinn Féin continues to push for a so-called cost-of-living package and the Government will know that not giving one will leave some families feeling worse off later in the year. For now, senior Ministers continue to indicate that once-off universal payments – which also included the energy credits, will not be repeated this year. But we will see what happens. What about the proposed new second tier of child benefit payment? The idea of a second tier of payment to give more cash to lower income households goes back nearly 20 years and was first raised in papers from the National Economic and Social Council and later government officials. It featured as a recommendation in the 2022 report of the Commission on Tax and Welfare . The Programme for Government said the Coalition would 'explore a targeted child benefit payment and examine the interaction this would have with existing targeted supports to reduce child poverty such as the working family payment and child support payment.' So it is on the agenda, but the word " explore' left no hostages to fortune. The aim of the second tier of payment would be to tackle child poverty and disadvantage by giving more cash to lower income households. [ Why most families can't afford to take paternity leave Opens in new window ] In additional to child benefit, families reliant on social welfare get additional child support payments (formerly called qualified child payments). Meanwhile, lower income families with a parent in work can qualify for the working family payment – and also increased amounts based on family size. The idea of the second tier of child benefit would be to merge these two into one, additional income-based payment. This would be paid in addition to the existing child benefit payment. The biggest beneficiaries would be many families on social welfare who would get significantly more cash than they currently do. How would it work? The most detailed work has been done by economists Barra Roantree – now assistant professor in TCD - and Karina Doorley in Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) publications looking at child-related benefits. They modelled a system where the second tier of payment would be structured similarly to the working family payment, providing families 60 per cent of the difference between what a measure of what a family earns and a set income level based on their circumstances including the size of the family. This would be of most benefit to those on welfare but would also support lower income working families – similar to the working family payment. [ New tier of child benefit could be introduced in October budget Opens in new window ] A 2023 paper estimated that a lone parent in receipt of only Jobseeker's Allowance would get another €170 per week. The measure, it said, would lift 40,000 children out of poverty. The analysis suggested that this was a much more efficient route to tackle child poverty than other methods – such as increasing existing child benefit payments or working family payments. Some work would be needed to examine exactly what rules would be put in place – and the researchers warned that decisions would also be needed to ensure that nobody lost out. The complexity of the welfare system and how people qualify for benefits comes into play here. What would it mean for the existing child benefit payments? In the short term, nothing. In the sense that there is no suggestion that resources would be transferred from the existing payment to fund the new one. That said, the second tier of child benefit would be costly. The latest ESRI research costed its proposal at €772 million in a full year. Directing this level of resources could have an impact on the affordability of increases in the main child benefit rate in the years ahead. It has fallen in cash and real terms since before the financial crash – in 2008 at its peak it was €166 per child, Adjusted for inflation that would be about €200 per month in today's terms. [ New tier of child benefit could be introduced in October budget Opens in new window ] Could money be saved by taxing or means testing child benefit? The answer is yes but this is not likely to happen. The universality of the payment is generally seen as an important sign of the State's support for families with children. Previous suggestions that it be taxed or means tested have met a decidedly frosty response from the public and the Commission on Tax and Welfare did not recommend going down this route. And the Programme for Government said it will continue to support families via this route. Are other changes to child benefit possible? Yes. For example, the idea has been floated of having a higher level of child benefit for larger families, perhaps those with three children or more. This would be designed to encourage larger families at a time when the average age of the population is ageing. Families with more children can also be vulnerable to financial pressures for obvious reasons – though directing support to these households via child benefit would fall back on the issue of giving cash to better-off families as well as those in need. [ The Irish Times view on cost-of-living increases: children are bearing the brunt Opens in new window ] A pointer to what options are under consideration will come this month when the Department of Finance publishes what are called the tax strategy papers, which look at the tax and welfare options for budget day. Pervious experience shows, however, that just because something is featured in these papers it does not necessarily mean that it will happen. What about other supports to parents? The general supports for parents have been increased in recent years, for example via additional childcare supports, medical and GP visits cards, the free schoolbooks and school meals scheme and the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance. The Programme for Government promises to expand some of these schemes – finishing the roll-out of the school meals scheme to all secondary schools in its term, looking at the income limits for the back to school schemes and extending support for people taking parental leave. The supports for parents and families thus come via a combination of cash and social services. While money into parent's pockets is a vital part of this, the wider cost of and access to services in key areas like health and education are obviously central, too. The question for the Government, in a budgetary era where resources may start to tighten, are where its priorities lie. The first indication of this will come in the October budget. Will the second tier of child benefit get the go-ahead? Given its significant cost and other priorities, you would not bet your house on it. We will just have to wait and see.


Irish Examiner
7 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Zelensky approves plans to set up special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has formally approved plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The special tribunal will be created through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body. Mr Zelensky visited the Strasbourg-based organisation for the first time as part of the announcement. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and Alain Berset, secretary general of the Council of Europe, attend a press conference in Strasbourg, eastern France (Pascal Bastien/AP) The special tribunal aims to target senior Russian leaders for the 'crime of aggression', which underpins the countless war crimes Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing since the start of the war on February 24 2022. Existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, lack jurisdiction to prosecute Russian nationals for that specific offence. Since early in the conflict, Kyiv has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal that goes beyond prosecuting war crimes that Ukraine alleged Russian forces committed – including bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape, taking hostages and torture. Russia denies those accusations. There are logistical details still to be resolved, including where the court will be based. The Hague has been suggested because of its existing legal infrastructure, but no final decision has been made. Russia does not extradite its own citizens, and whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin will ever end up in the dock remains to be seen. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky delivers a speech at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (Pascal Bastien/AP) Under international law, sitting heads of state and certain other top officials – often referred to as the 'troika', including a country's head of state, head of government and foreign minister – enjoy immunity from prosecution. That means any potential indictment of Mr Putin could only move forward if he leaves office. There is no statute of limitation on the crime of aggression. The institution will be funded by supporting countries known as the Core Group, including the Netherlands, Japan and Canada. The United States backed the project under former president Joe Biden, but President Donald Trump's administration did not support the initiative.

The Journal
8 hours ago
- The Journal
'No double standards': Zelensky signs agreement to try 'war criminal' Vladimir Putin
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR Zelensky has signed an agreement that will establish a trial for President Vladimir Putin whom he described as a 'war criminal'. Zelensky signed an accord with the Council of Europe to set up a special tribunal to try top officials over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as he made his first visit since the start of the conflict to the France-based rights body. But after a face-to-face meeting with Trump earlier the day at the Nato summit in The Hague, Zelensky made an impassioned call for close ties between Europe and the US president. 'We need a strong connection with him (Trump),' Zelensky, who had a public spat with the American leader in the Oval Office earlier this year, told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 'We need unity between Europe and the United States and we will prevail,' Zelensky said, adding: 'We need unity in Europe first of all.' The proposed special tribunal would prosecute the 'crime of aggression' in the full-scale invasion, which Russia launched in February 2022, and could, in theory, try senior figures up to Putin. 'We need to show clearly aggression leads to punishment and we must make it happen together, all of Europe,' said Zelensky after signing the accord with Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset. 'There is still a long way to go. Justice takes time but it must happen,' he added, saying the accord is a 'real chance to bring justice for the crime of aggression'. 'It will take strong political and legal courage to make sure every Russian war criminal faces justice, including Putin,' Zelensky said. Advertisement 'No double standards' Berset said the next step to set up the tribunal, which the Council of Europe hopes could start work next year, would be an enlarged agreement to 'allow the widest possible number of countries to join, to support, and to help manage the tribunal'. It has not yet been decided where the tribunal would be based but Zelensky said The Hague would be 'perfect'. 'International law must apply to all, with no exceptions and no double standards,' said Berset. This is the first time such a tribunal has been set up under the aegis of the Council of Europe, the continent's top rights body. The 46-member Council of Europe is not part of the EU and members include key non-EU European states such as Turkey, the UK and Ukraine. Russia was expelled in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and its supporters want to see justice served for Russia's all-out invasion in 2022 and European foreign ministers endorsed the creation of the tribunal in a meeting in Lviv in western Ukraine on May 9. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has already issued arrest warrants for Putin over the abduction of Ukrainian children and four of his top commanders for targeting civilians. But the ICC does not have the jurisdiction to prosecute Russia for the more fundamental decision to launch the invasion – otherwise known as the 'crime of aggression'. According to the Council of Europe, the tribunal will be set up within the framework of the body 'with the mandate to prosecute senior leaders for the crime of aggression against Ukraine'. It said the tribunal 'fills the gap' created by the 'jurisdictional limitations' of the ICC. With reporting from AFP. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal