Government to progress 'right to be forgotten' for cancer survivors
The plans will be brought forward by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and will see legislation proposed by Fianna Fáil's Catherine Ardagh progressed.
She introduced the proposals in February, arguing that those who have survived cancer ' deserve to be treated fairly when accessing financial products such as mortgages, health insurance, and travel insurance'.
Sources said on Monday evening that the Department of Finance has engaged extensively with stakeholders, including the Irish Cancer Society, Insurance Ireland, regulators, and international peers, in order to identify the most appropriate and effective means to progress this legislation.
This culminated in the recommendation to adopt and substantially amend the Central Bank (Amendment) Bill 2025, introduced by Deputy Ardagh.
Minister Donohoe will recommend that the Bill should be progressed through the second stage of the legislative process.
Committee Stage amendments are also being prepared as the Department of Finance works in consultation with the Attorney General's Office to ensure the Bill is fully compliant with EU law and operationally viable.
The amendments will ensure that the Bill is focused on mortgage protection insurance, in line with EU best practice.
Elsewhere, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) will be able to sell off the assets of crime within two years rather than seven under plans to be brought to Cabinet by Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan.
Cabinet will hear that the confiscation of criminal proceeds is 'an essential means of combatting organised crime as it deprives criminals of illicit profits, preventing the further investment of criminal proceeds in either the legitimate economy or criminal enterprises'.
When a judicial determination is made that assets are the proceeds of crime, it will allow for the 'immediate and automatic appointment of a receiver' to ensure that the criminals cannot continue to benefit from those assets pending a final disposal order being made.
In the EU, estimated criminal revenues amount to almost €110 billion per year, which is equivalent to 1% of EU GDP.
In Ireland, the value of crime markets is calculated at €1.7 billion per annum.
Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill will bring a memo to crack down on overspending in the health service.
This will put requirements on the HSE Board and CEO regarding appropriate systems, procedures and practices to 'exercise the highest standards of prudent and effective financial and budgetary management'.
It will also require that proposals for corrective action be put in place where expenditure levels have been exceeded.
Arts Minister Patrick O'Donovan will provide an update on the National Broadband Plan and will tell Cabinet that it will be delivered 'ahead of time and within budget'.
He will also tell ministers that a Daniel O'Connell commemorative programme of events will take place, featuring a state-led commemoration in Derrynane House in Kerry, the gifting of a statue from Bank of Ireland, the creation of special stamps by An Post and commemorative coins from the Central Bank.
Environment Minister Darragh O'Brien will seek approval of the Air Pollution Act (Amendment) Bill 2025.
This will further support enforcement personnel to protect public health from the impacts of air pollution and to support continuous improvement in air quality.
Sources stated that it will not impact the current arrangements for householders and makes no changes to the existing rules relating to turf.
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RTÉ News
32 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Can Trump's threatened tariffs make Russia end its war?
First it was 50 days. But that deadline hardly made the Kremlin blink. Then, earlier this week, US President Donald Trump gave Russia a new 10-day deadline to end its three-and-half-year war in Ukraine. It was a simple ultimatum from the US: sign up to a ceasefire agreement by next Friday or face 100% tariffs. A couple of weeks ago, the White House indicated that tariffs on Russia and its trading partners could be as high as 100%. Russian exports of oil and gas account for about 60% of the country's overall exports, according to various estimates. Given that the profits of Russian oil companies are taxed heavily by the Russian state, implementing such high tariffs would deny Russia much-needed revenue for its war in Ukraine. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Helsinki-based thinktank, Russia has made more than €920bn on exports of fossil fuels since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Oil exports accounted for more than €630bn during that time. The Kremlin ignored Mr Trump's first 50-day ultimatum and has done the same with the new one, simply saying that the US president's comments were "noted". True to form, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not responded directly to Mr Trump's latest ultimatum to end the war. Russia's missile strikes on Ukrainian cities during this week have also indicated that Mr Trump's new deadline has not influenced Russia's war tactics. On Thursday, Russian strikes killed 31 people in Kyiv, including five children, and on Tuesday, Russian airstrikes on a prison and hospital in the Zaporizhzhia region killed 19 people. Russian forces are continuing their slow advance along the front, claiming to have captured Chasiv Yar on Thursday. Chasiv Yar is a strategically important but destroyed town in eastern Ukraine that has been fought over for 16 months. Ukraine denied that the town had been lost. If there are any moves inside the Kremlin towards agreeing a ceasefire deal by next Friday, then its leadership is hiding it very well indeed. During the week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia had "developed an immunity" to Western sanctions after years of being sanctioned, while other senior officials aired similar views. Many analysts agree that Russia's economy has largely weathered more than three years of Western penalties - actions that included sanctions on Russian banks, freezing their assets and excluding them from using the global system for international payments. The West also set a price cap in late 2022 of $60 per barrel on Russian maritime exports of oil. However, Russia has continued to export its oil to buyers from non-sanctioning countries through its so-called 'shadow fleet'. These are mostly aging tankers with opaque maritime histories, registered in third-party countries to circumvent sanctions. The EU's latest batch of sanctions last month - the 18th so far - aims to make it harder for Russia to transport its oil around the world by lowering the price cap to $47 per barrel and blacklisting more than 100 of the shadow fleet's vessels from docking at ports across the EU. So Mr Trump's threat to impose 100% tariffs on Russia and its trading partners is a novel move to reduce the Kremlin's ability to collect oil revenues and thereby dent its war chest. "If the US comes with secondary sanctions on Russian oil, I can't see a bolder play," Ben McWilliams, an energy expert at the Bruegel thinktank in Brussels, told RTÉ News. "It's playing all their cards and that's trying to exert maximum pressure on Russia through energy," Mr McWilliams added. China buys almost half of all Russian crude oil exports, followed closely by India. Turkey and the EU both account for about 6% each of total Russian oil exports - most Russian crude oil flowing into the EU is bought by Hungary and Slovakia via pipeline. Russia also sells smaller volumes of oil to other markets including Myanmar, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Pakistan and Venezuela. The loss of revenue from those smaller markets is surmountable for Russia. However, a reduction in Chinese or Indian imports of the commodity would deny the Kremlin vital revenue for its war. Last year, China's level of Russian crude oil imports reached a record high of 108 million tonnes, according to data from China's national customs authority. Those imports account for about 20% of all Chinese oil consumption and are estimated to be worth about $62bn in 2024, based on analysis by the Centre of Eastern Studies in Warsaw and MERICS, a Berlin-based thinktank that focuses on China. In April, after the Trump administration imposed 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing hit back with high 110% tariffs of its own on US goods. A truce has been in place between Washington and Beijing since May, with the US reducing its tariffs to 30% and China to 10%. Statements from senior Chinese officials earlier this week suggest Beijing is unlikely to yield to pressure from Washington to stop buying Russian oil. "China will take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests," Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for China's foreign affairs ministry, told reporters. Tariff wars have no winners. Coercion and pressuring cannot solve problems," he added. India might be more likely to reconsider reducing the amount of Russian oil it buys, if faced with 100% tariffs. On Friday, the US hit India with 25% tariffs on its imported goods - just one of many countries whose goods are to be levied by the US as part of Mr Trump's plan to, as he sees it, address US trade imbalances with other countries. The $60 price cap in late 2022 drove down the price of Russian oil exports, leading India to buy up much larger quantities of the stuff than it did before the war - it now buys more than two million barrels of oil a day from Russia, equivalent to about 2% of the world's total supply. Russian crude oil now accounts for about 35% of India's oil imports. Those purchases were valued at an estimated $50bn last year, according to India's government data, sourced by Reuters. New Delhi's reaction to the 25% levies has been to engage in trade talks. Mr Trump has also threatened to impose additional economic penalties on India for trading with Russia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that India's purchase of Russian oil was "a point of irritation" so it looks like the US sees India's heavy reliance on Russian oil as a deal breaker in their overall trade talks. A number of Indian state oil refineries stopped buying Russian oil in the past week, buying more oil from Gulf States instead, an indication that American pressure is working. Reduced oil exports to India would force Russia to find substitute markets to make up for the shortfall. "Russia could still manage to get many barrels to market. You could still imagine small markets, each taking 50,000 barrels or something," Mr McWilliams said. "The question would be, at what price," he added, pointing to the cheaper price that buyers from India and China paid for Russian oil after European demand all but disappeared in 2022. If India and another big economy such as Turkey stop buying Russian oil, then buyers in other markets might have more leverage to offer lower prices for Russian crude, he argued. Turkey is the world's largest importer of Russian oil products such as diesel, heating oil and jet fuel. However, Turkey has also played a key role recently in US efforts to broker a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine. Turkish diplomats have mediated three brief face-to-face meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul since May. Unleashing 100% tariffs on Turkey for buying Russian oil would jeopardise Turkey's eagerness to work alongside the US as a mediator. Turkey, a NATO member, is also one of the few countries that Russia views as an acceptable mediator. Mr Trump's threat of 100% tariffs is unlikely to sway Russia to stop its war immediately, nor in the weeks ahead. The Kremlin has been quite clear that it plans to weather new sanctions. Imposing high tariffs on China for trading with Russia could also set off a new, all-out trade war between Beijing and Washington. But tariffs could force India and a number of other smaller economies that buy Russian oil imports to buy elsewhere and that lost revenue would dent the Russian state's war economy in the months ahead. The big unknown factors are whether Mr Trump will follow through on his tariff threats and whether Mr Putin might yet come up with a diplomatic ploy to delay them.
RTÉ News
34 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
New AI rules come into force in EU
New rules came into force yesterday requiring makers of artificial intelligence (AI) models to ensure their systems are safe and transparent. The latest phase of the EU's AI Act also means the Government must put structures in place to police the companies providing AI tools. Europe's regulation of AI comes as the US vows to cut red tape for the sector. At the offices of digital agency All human in Dublin, developers are working on a new project for a client - an AI-driven energy price comparison tool. Advances in technology mean the AI chatbot being used in the project has an Irish accent and sounds human. The new AI rules mean it must be made clear to consumers if a realistic voice they are engaging with is in fact an AI chatbot. "With the sophistication of AI, things like artificial voices can be so nuanced that they can convince you it's human," said John Mitchell, CEO of All human. "As a consequence of the AI Act, organisations, brands and providers of services, particularly in a digital context, have to declare what is real and what is not," Mr Mitchell said. The EU AI Act came into force last year and is being implemented on a phased basis with its latest provisions taking effect yesterday. The Act bans artificial intelligence systems considered a clear threat to the safety, livelihoods and rights of people. 'Businesses need to start making their preparations now' There are also rules for AI systems in terms of transparency and safety. Maureen Daly is a Partner specialising in Intellectual Property and AI at law firm Pinsent Masons Ireland. "Businesses need to start making their preparations now," Ms Daly said. "Obviously it relates to the big players like Google and Meta, but also to start-ups and SMEs that have AI systems, they are going to have to comply as well." And there are big fines for companies found to be in breach of the AI rules. "The European Commission has said because they don't have the relevant powers they won't start fining people until 2 August 2026 but that doesn't mean you can just sit on your laurels until then because all of this is going to take time and resources," Ms Daly said. "The fines are quite large, 3% of annual turnover or €15 million if you don't comply," she added. The AI rules that came into force yesterday require EU Member States to prepare for the policing of the act. It means the Irish Government must designate competent authorities and legislate for penalties for infringements. Government has not done enough to prepare for rules - senior fellow Dr Kris Shrishak is a senior fellow with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). He believes the Government has not done enough to prepare for the AI new rules. "They should have started this process much, much earlier," Dr Shrishak said. "There needs to be an urgency from the Government not only to set up the required governance mechanism for the regulators, but also to provide the resources so that regulators can do their jobs." "Part of that job will be the setting up of sandboxes to help and guide Irish companies, so it's not just about stopping bad AI, it's also about promoting the good uses of AI." "I think the State needs to accelerate what it is doing," he added. The Department of Enterprise said Ireland has met all of its obligations under the act to date and will continue to do so. "A significant body of work is ongoing to support the designated authorities in preparing for implementation of the Act, including workshops, working groups, and facilitated dialogue with the Commission and counterparts in other Member States," a Department spokesperson said. "Resourcing is managed through the estimates process," they added. Trump vows to 'win the AI race' But while Ireland presses ahead with EU regulation, a very different stance is being taken in the US where President Donald Trump has vowed to cut red tape to ensure America "wins the AI race". But is there a danger that regulation will see Ireland, and the EU, fall behind when it comes to innovation? Caroline Dunlea is the Chairperson of Digital Business Ireland (DBI) and believes it is now on member states and the EU to allow the European AI space to grow and evolve. "Bridging the competitiveness gap between ourselves and the likes of the US and China in AI is essential, if we are to stay ahead of the curve in the digital sector and its emerging technologies," Ms Dunlea said. "DBI believes that a balanced attitude to enforcing the Act must be taken to avoid overregulation of the AI space," she added. All human CEO, John Mitchell agrees that a balanced approach is key. "I think there needs to be guardrails," Mr Mitchell said. "I think the EU has got the balance right with a combination of being progressive but also being protective." "In the long term, that is the way to go with AI because it is very unregulated today," he added.
Irish Times
34 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Ending of electricity credits will bite hard this winter
It is the August bank holiday weekend – the height of meteorological summer, and of political summer. The Dáil is not sitting, Cabinet is not meeting, and aside from committees reporting on Government legislation on the triple lock and Occupied Territories Bill last week, the agenda was deathly quiet. In the midst of that August haze, it can be hard to believe that the weather will ever turn again. Inevitably, however, it will – this is as true of politics as it is of climate. And there are signs that as the days shorten and the weather turns, the old truism will be borne out – winter will be much trickier for the Government. Earlier this week, figures released to Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan showed that 301,000 households are now in arrears on their electricity bills. One of the significant things about this is that the arrears figures appear to be creeping up even when the weather is mild – and doing so as the last of the previous government's electricity credits wash out of the system. It seems likely that the credits suppressed a rate of electricity arrears that would otherwise have emerged given the still-elevated cost of power. The electricity credits were a blunt, expensive – and politically expedient – tool to address a genuine crisis. In September 2022, as the country faced its first post-Ukraine invasion winter (and budget), a senior government figure texted me to say that modelling suggested energy bills over the winter would be more like mortgage payments. Cabinet had been warned earlier that week that household bills could hit €6,000 annually. That was both economically and politically unsustainable, and the Coalition applied €600 worth of electricity credits to household bills between November that year and March 2023, costing a little over €1.2 billion. From April 2022 until February this year, households got nine payments worth a total of €1,500 – costing almost €3 billion. It was a stark summation of two things: the scale of the crisis and the political willingness to cure – or at least ameliorate – it with exchequer spending. READ MORE Both those things have changed in important but different ways. Firstly, the cost of electricity has come down in line with reductions in wholesale gas prices – the main input into Irish electricity prices. However, it has not returned to pre-crisis levels, and energy boffins who understand these things expect that utility bills this winter will be about the same as last winter (or maybe even a little higher). The second important change is that while the situation has improved, the Coalition has resolved to turn off the tap completely on electricity credits. From a policy point of view, given the economic backdrop and the constant refrain over State spending, there is a strong case to be made for this – and it is one that has been made early and often by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers . Both have been backed up by their respective party leaders. But the politics of this has a hard edge: the simple fact is that voters up and down the country are likely to be exposed to a more expensive winter in real terms than they have been for many years. As universal once-off payments are rolled up, they will get a delayed – but real – shock. This also comes against the backdrop of ever-higher grocery costs. More expensive turkey and electricity bills (or colder homes) beckon for the festive period. That does not sound like a recipe for a happy electorate. It is often said that inflation kills governments, but the last coalition was returned to power at least in part because it insulated households to an extraordinary degree as the election beckoned – not just the electricity credits, but recall two double payments of child benefit, either side of polling day. Against this backdrop, there is a compelling logic to intervene to protect lower-income households – and this is something I would expect the Government to do in the budget. Ditto extending the lower VAT rate on electricity bills. Meanwhile, Minister for Energy Darragh O'Brien has convened an energy affordability task force, which is to sketch out support measures for Budget 2026 some time soon. The Government's actions suggest it knows it has an issue – but all the steps the Coalition is minded to take – targeted measures, structural reforms, investment in the grid – are either partial or much more long-term in nature. They lack the raw retail politics of the once-off payments. Meanwhile, the Opposition's actions are equally as instructive. Before the Dáil rose for summer, the cost of living seemed to be the issue they most routinely raised in the Dáil. During his meeting with UK prime minister Keir Starmer this week, US president Donald Trump riffed on how politics is pretty simple, at the end of the day. The politician who wins out, he opined, is generally the one that cuts taxes the most, who keeps you out of wars – and 'the one who gives you the lowest energy prices'. Say what you like about him, he is an operator with extraordinary instincts for the prevailing politics of the day. It is possible that higher energy costs – and the price of the low-carbon transition – will become baked into economies in the time ahead. That suggests that energy politics may become a feature of the system here and elsewhere, not a passing storm.
