PORTO SUMMIT
LISBON. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa hopes that the Social Summit in Porto on Friday will be a milestone in the EU history with the achievement of a general agreement subscribed by European institutions and, for the first time, social partners.
“If we succeed at the Social Summit to obtain for the first time a compromise in which the Council and the Commission sign an agreement with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), with Business Europe, which is the association of European SIBS, with the confederation of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the confederation of general services companies, then it will be the first time in the EU history that there is a general agreement bringing together all social partners and European institutions,” Costa told
Irish PM: Any move away from Stormont House Agreement a ‘breach of trust’ 07-05-2021
This comes after reports from UK media citing that UK authorities are to ban prosecutions of former British soldiers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, a move that is to be announced in Queen Elizabeth’s speech next week. [EPA-EFE/JOHANNA GERON]
Ireland announces bonuses for vaccinated people
AFP/London
Irish Prime Mininster Micheal Martin holds a press briefing.
(AFP file)
Irish prime minister announces plan to lift Covid-19 restrictions on May 10
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Thursday announced plans to lift lockdown restrictions starting May 10, including “vaccine bonus” perks for those who have had both jabs.
“Hope is returning,” Martin said. Ireland has had more than 248,000 cases and 4,899 deaths from coronavirus.
People who are fully vaccinated can meet each other indoors, with up to three households present. They can also meet members of one unvaccinated household indoors, as long as they are not at high risk, Martin said.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has accused Sinn Féin of “covering their tracks” and “flailing about” after party leader Mary Lou McDonald admitted it was in breach of privacy legislation.
“One gets the sense of flailing about the place, covering their tracks in respect of this issue,” said Martin, adding that “transparency would be the easiest route for them.”
Mcdonald admitted earlier this week that the voters’ database, which is now stored in Germany, was in breach of Irish data protection law. She admitted her party only appointed a data protection officer to oversee the personal data of millions of voters after they were contacted by the Data Protection Commissioner about their secret database.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has warned against presenting every Brexit issue “as a zero-sum, win-lose fight”.
Speaking at the annual Fianna Fáil 1916 Rising commemoration at Arbour Hill in Dublin, Martin also described the Northern Ireland Protocol as “a fair conclusion to attempts to limit the potential destructiveness of Brexit on this island,” despite Unionist tensions in Northern Ireland over the last few weeks.
The protocol is “complex, but it is nowhere near as complex as it is presented, said the prime minister, adding that “it is not as complex as the thousands of Brexit issues remaining in relation to trade and other contacts between Great Britain and the European Union”.