Good morning.
Day two of the conclave and non habemus papam yet anyway. Keep an eye on irishtimes.com during the day and we’ll let you know as soon as there is white smoke.
It goes without saying that Conor Pope is running the live story for us. Our long-time religious affairs correspondent Patsy McGarry is at the Vatican to make sense of it all for you.
(Or you could switch to RTÉ which is somehow managing to cover the conclave with a mere 47 staff on location).
Here’s Patsy’s guide to the runners and riders.
Back at home, the Government is likely to come under pressure from pro-Palestinian activists and Opposition politicians on the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territories. Yesterday Simon Harris said that he wanted to “progress” the Bill but as we report this morning, the need to write an entirely new piece of legislation means that the Dáil will not debate the Bill until the autumn, at the earliest.
To some, this will look like foot-dragging. But there remains extreme nervousness about the Bill in Government and about the possible diplomatic and economic fallout from it.
But opposition to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza – which has cost over 50,000 Palestinian lives and now threatens famine in the enclave, campaigners say – is growing among European countries. Yesterday Simon Harris was one of six foreign ministers to sign a letter expressing concern about Israel’s latest plans to intensify its assault.
The Middle East is likely to feature in discussions between the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels today.
Elsewhere in Europe, the new German chancellor Frederick Merz is settling into the job. On his first full day, he flew to Paris and Warsaw to emphasise ties with his eastern and western neighbours and to kickstart what he hopes will be a new energy (to coin a phrase) in the EU. Derek Scally reports.
Between Donald Trump’s tariffs and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe faces defining challenges on all sides. Merz wants to be a leading part of a strong response to these threats, economically and militarily. But can a fractious EU agree on anything? On VE Day, Jack Power has some thoughts.
Still with the geopolitics, and as Mary Hannigan reports on our front page, the rebellion against skorts in camogie in gathering pace. The issue was the talk of Leinster House yesterday; surely all that is required now is an intervention in the form of a strong statement by Simon Harris. Female Sinn Féin TDs and Senators wore shorts to Leinster House on Wednesday in a show of support. As far as the Irish Times could see, none brought their hurleys.
Miriam Lord also gives the skorts issue the once over.
Best Reads
In our lead story, Education Editor Carl O’Brien reports that schools are putting up barriers to children with autism in their entry policies.
Newton Emerson has identified an unlikely source of hope for united Irelanders: the possibility of Nigel Farage as British prime minister.
Even more unlikely, Finn McRedmond feels sorry (sort of) for Prince Harry.
Denis Staunton on the potential for conflict between India and Pakistan.
Playbook
Thursday means it’s Tánaiste Simon Harris for leaders’ questions at noon in the Dail, and Harris will also answer defence questions shortly afterwards.
The Social Democrats have a private members motion about parental choice in education (they are likely to be for it) at half-four and the Dáil adjourns at the civilised hour of 7.30pm.
A half-day in the Seanad with only a couple of Government motions to consider.
The committees are mostly not up and running yet but the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC), holds its first meeting since the general election today. New PAC chairman, Sinn Féin TD John Brady, has previously outlined how he hopes to examine recent controversies like the €6.7 million spent by the Arts Council on a new IT system that was eventually abandoned and the €125,000 x-ray scanner bought by the National Gallery that lay idle for eight years.
No heads of government departments or State agencies will be grilled by TDs this morning but members of the Dáil’s spending watchdog are likely to raise issues they want to look at as they plan their work for the coming weeks and months. Proceedings begin at 11am.
The Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage is due to meet at 3.30pm.
You’ll get the full Oireachtas schedule here.
It’s also Lions selection day, goys. Like everything else you need to know, you can follow it on irishtimes.com.
Conclave: why this papal election is the hardest to call in decades
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