Story of the Week
Another week. Another war. The prospect of carnage and thousands of deaths. Worrying questions about its impact on the region and beyond, the impacts on global stability.
Israel’s launch of a war against Iran was not defensive or triggered by any attack. Rather it is a war of choice. Its stated aims at the start – eliminating Iran’s nuclear threat – quickly pivoted into something else, regime change, or, more accurately, regime destruction.
True to his make-it-up-as-you-go-along presidency, Donald Trump had pivoted within a day from his strict America first non-interventionist stance on international wars (a strong position with his MAGA base) to cheerleading the Israelis and threatening to deploy the only piece of arsenal the Israel Defense Forces do not have. That is, the 14-tonne so-called bunker-buster bomb which just might be able to penetrate into Fordo, the mountain where the Iranian regime has its main underground nuclear enrichment facility.
[ Netanyahu’s ruling party gets popularity boost in wake of Iran conflictOpens in new window ]
True to form, Trump tells the whole of Tehran (population 10 million) to evacuate. Which, by all reports, most citizens have done. Meanwhile the Israelis and Iranians continue to pound each other.
The move has drawn attention away from Israel’s continuing onslaught against the population of Gaza. The statement of the G7 was read by some as troubling as it seemed to give almost unconditional support for what Israel had done. Of course, a war between Israel and Iran is a different proposition than its siege of Gaza, as the Iranian regime is unsavoury by any yardstick.
It seems that Israel’s move to being an international pariah – even in the eyes of erstwhile supporters – has been modified, with some ambivalence expressed. Make no mistake it will employ the same ruthlessness and indifference to civilian casualties as it has done in Gaza and elsewhere.
There is a long and sad history of intervention by big global powers in this region, where regime-change unfortunately leads to a new regime that is in some cases worse than the henchmen they replaced.
Meanwhile Ireland continues to work to try to assist the few hundred citizens still in Iran and Israel. The Tánaiste has spoken to foreign affairs ministers in the region but, in truth, there is little our State can do bring influence to bear.
Bust-up
Row of this week. And every week. When you meet all the leaders outside the chamber they are all so civil. But there’s something about the cauldron of the Dáil chamber that brings out the raspiness in Micheál Martin, Mary Lou McDonald, Simon Harris and Pearse Doherty.
No matter what the issue it descends within seconds into a dogfight. If you want a perfect summary of what happened this week there no better place to start than these two (verbal) blow-by-blow accounts Miriam Lord. The first is here and the second is here.
All very well but does it affect me?
The story was almost missed given everything else that was happening this week but it was a significant moment in recent Irish political and financial history. AIB bought the very last part of its shareholdings back from the State making it a fully independent entity once more.
After the financial crash, the State took shares in our two biggest pillar banks, Bank of Ireland and AIB, in order to make sure they survived. Bank of Ireland, which was less exposed to the property crash, came out of State ownership relatively quickly but it has been a long and slow process for AIB, taking almost a decade and a half.
But the moment finally arrived this week. And Joe Brennan has a wonderful account of it, including that enticing line that at one stage the bank’s art collection was worth more than the bank.
Banana Skin
When you go on a solo run as a Minister, just make sure the ball does not slip form your grasp. Minister for Arts and Media Patrick O’Donovan found out all about that this week, when he got a slap on the wrist from the bean counters in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER).
In recent months, O’Donovan brought two memos to Cabinet, “under his arm”, without informing DPER first. The memos related to the Arts Council’s half-abandoned ICT project as well as a plan to spend €10 million bringing an American football NFL game to Croke Park later this year.
As Ellen Coyne reports, a senior DPER official said this practice “makes it very difficult for this department, and indeed for Government generally, to thoroughly and properly consider issues and their implications, particularly regarding substantial expenditure implications and serious governance issues”.
O’Donovan’s spokespeople said there were time pressures involved which required him to bring both matters to Cabinet at short notice.
He would not want to make a habit of it, as far as DPER is concerned.
Winners and losers
Winner: Colin Hunt, AIB’s chief executive and former special adviser ministers for Finance. This week, the bank bought back the last of the shares held by the State since the banking collapse in 2010.
Loser: Children’s Hospital Ireland, which faced a grilling and dressing-down for its many failings at the Oireachtas Committee on Health.
The Big Read
Jack Horgan-Jones is on political column duty this week.
Miriam Lord’s Saturday column is a must-read.
Martin Wall and Jack also have a big piece looking at the CHI in crisis.
Hear here
Sally Hayden joins Inside Politics on Friday from Beirut where missiles flying overhead have become a fact of daily life despite the ceasefire agreement Lebanon signed with Israel last November. The rising death toll and continuing aerial attacks from Iran and Israel show no signs of abating. And is the US on the verge of joining Israel’s attack on Iran? Meanwhile, Children’s Health Ireland appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee this week with politicians eager to tear strips off the embattled group responsible for running children’s hospital services in Dublin.
