Government to Decide on Excise Cuts; Asylum Seeker Numbers Halve; Donaldson Revelations Continue

The Taoiseach announced a «definitive» decision on paring back petrol and diesel excise cuts will be made on Tuesday. The Government needs legislation for a phased return to old rates before the summer recess. Despite Brent crude returning to pre-late February levels, the volatile oil market makes predicting August prices difficult. The Government aims for a careful, phased approach to avoid an abrupt U-turn, reassuring motorists there will be no «cliff edge» after fuel protests two months ago.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan reported a 50% drop in asylum seekers to Ireland in two weeks, attributing it to «vigorous» EU migration pact measures. He mentioned the Government is open to «return hubs» outside the EU for assessing claims and confirmed a State apology to Bill Kenneally’s victims on July 14th. O’Callaghan denied Fianna Fáil should apologize for Kenneally canvassing for Mary Butler.

Revelations from a BBC Spotlight program about former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson are expected to continue. The program reported police suspicions of Donaldson as a child sex abuser a year before he was named to the PSNI and observed him entering a London sauna for gay men, despite his public condemnations of homosexuality. Doug Beattie, a former Ulster Unionist leader, called for a police ombudsman investigation into what the PSNI knew before Donaldson’s 2024 arrest.

The drug decriminalisation agenda faces a political roadblock, with sources close to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste expressing reservations about an Oireachtas committee recommendation to decriminalise personal possession. One source stated, «We will not be doing this.» Former Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte warned Ireland risks political instability similar to the UK and US if social inequities are not addressed. He dismissed a broad left-wing alliance, believing the «ultra left» are uninterested in governing, and compared Sinn Féin to 1930s Fianna Fáil.