Latest news with #FergalO'Brien
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
No evidence of economic issues for Ireland with Occupied Territories Bill
Employers' group Ibec has been asked to present evidence following its warning that it would be "incredibly difficult" for businesses to implement a ban on services coming from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Secretary General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, said that Ireland is not putting itself at economic risk in the US by implementing a ban on goods and services coming from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, adding that there is more Ireland could do to sanction Israel for its conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. She said that the latest information was that there is no evidence that the implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill will result in economic problems for Ireland. Ibec Executive Director of Lobbying and Influence Fergal O'Brien told the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade that services coming from the Occupied Palestinian Territories were "incredibly hard" to identify. Ms Callamard called on IBEC to present evidence following its warning. Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said that at the moment, Israel has preferential treatment by the EU territory regarding trade. She said that this needed to be stopped, as Israel is violating the EU's own rules on human rights. "This issue is not about isolating or not Israel, rather the EU working according to its own rules and upholding the principles at the heart of the European Project. "Not one action has been taken to stop Israel. It is time to take action to protect people from complete annihilation, it is a genocide." She added that Ireland was showing leadership in this regard, but it must continue the process to adopt the Occupied Territories Bill. She said that this would allow Ireland to meet its international obligations under the ICJ ruling on trade with the Occupied Territories. "Ireland has shown repeatedly that it can stand up to bullies, and there is nothing else apart from bullying Ireland coming out of the US." She said that international law and the international system were being destroyed by a "bullying state" and that this was not acceptable.
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
'Difficult' to ban services from Occupied Palestinian Territories
The employers group IBEC has warned that it would be "incredibly difficult" for businesses to implement a ban on services coming from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The group's Executive Director of Lobbying and Influence, Fergal O'Brien, told the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade tonight that such services were "incredibly hard" to identify. Asked if he could quantify the value of services in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mr O'Brien said he did not have such data. He said each business would have to conduct a customer by customer analysis to establish the facts, and this would be "extremely difficult." Mr O'Brien said, unlike goods which are labelled, services are part of an integrated complicated trading system and so the likely impact would be that activities would be served by another jurisdiction. He said even if only goods were banned by the proposed legislation, his members would be concerned at the likely international reputational damage which would flow from adopting such a bill. Mr O'Brien indicated that US companies based in Ireland are deeply concerned with anti-boycott legislation in many US states, which were introduced to protect Israel, and the damage this could pose on them. He said an IBEC survey suggested that Ireland's US trading partners view the country as having taken "an isolationist approach" in considering such legislation, and was possibly acting "outside of EU" - even though we're "interlinked with the US more than any EU country." Mr O'Brien said Irish companies are being asked a lot of questions about what Ireland is doing and the sense is that the approach is being viewed as "anti-Israel." He said it appeared that Ireland conducted "minuscule" trade with the Occupied Territories and therefore the financial impact pf a ban on goods would be "minimal." However, he said there could be complications due to Ireland's all-island economy, as well as goods from the Occupied Territories entering the EU.
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Irish exporters likely to face baseline US tariffs higher than 10pc, says Barclays
Mr Trump has threatened a 30pc rate on imports from the EU from August 1, but negotiations will continue in the meantime and it is expected that a headline agreement will be in place by the new deadline. Given that Mr Trump appears to have rejected the current draft US-EU deal, which would have kept the tariff rate at the current 10pc and exempted some goods such as aircraft, European businesses need to brace themselves for a higher rate, Barclays has warned. 'While we do not foreclose the possibility that the US and EU can still reach a provisional agreement by August 1 that maintains the average tariff on most EU goods at 10pc, we think it may be more likely than not that the tariff on the EU increases from 10pc, but short of 30pc,' it says. 'We also expect more sectoral tariffs to be announced, which could cover a largefraction of EU exports to the US.' As Mr Trump has been preparing tariffs of 15pc to 20pc on other countries, Barclays says this 'suggests to us that it may be more likely' he will fix on a number in this range for the EU as well. Many Irish businesses are already 'materially hurting' from the current regime of 10pc, according to Ibec. Fergal O'Brien, a director at the lobby group, said low-margin businesses were particularly affected, and also hit by the weakness of the dollar. 'The 10pc tariffs is layered on top of the existing tariffs, and particularly in the case of the food and dairy industry, those are quite chunky,' he said. 'The most tangible impact has been in the drinks sector. 'We still have close to 90pc of distillery capacity mothballed at the moment.' Mr O'Brien said that following the announcement of a 20pc 'reciprocal' tariff by Mr Trump on April 2, the so-called Liberation Day, some firms in the life-sciences sector considered putting staff on immediate short-term work after having contracts in the US cancelled. 'If you go to 30pc, that would raise a lot more issues in terms of the ongoing viability of supply from Ireland, or Irish companies continuing to sell into the US. We think 30pc, if that did transpire, which we don't think it will, would be extremely damaging.' Markets largely shrugged yesterday in response to Mr Trump's threat on Saturday, when he also threatened Mexico with a 30pc tariff from August 1. The Iseq in Dublin finished down almost 1pc on the day, with the stocks usually most reactive to tariff announcements disproportionately affected. Ryanair was down 1.6pc, similar to AIB, while Bank of Ireland was down 1.36pc. Also down was the Kingspan group, whose share price fell by 1.46pc. The biggest fall was experienced by Uniphar, down 1.7pc. Other European stocks also slipped in early trading, but recovered most of their losses by the end of the day. The Cac in France fell by just 0.2pc overall, while the Dax in Germany closed only 0.4pc lower, having been 1.2pc down earlier. The overall Stoxx Europe 600 index, which includes some non-EU markets, was only 0.1pc down on the day. By contrast, the FTSE index gained 0.6pc. The UK has an outline trade deal in place with the US, with a baseline 10pc tariff, leaving it largely immune from fluctuations in Mr Trump's trade policy. US stock indexes had even risen slightly by lunchtime, reflecting the fact many investors think Mr Trump won't ultimately follow through on his threats. The euro also remained unchanged against the dollar.
RTÉ News
08-07-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
How will tariffs affect Irish business?
Fergal O'Brien from the Economics and Policy Division with Ibec looks ahead to the potential impact of the EU/US trade talks on Irish businesses.
Metro
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Metro
Aaron Hill loving Fergal O'Brien link-up as he sets sights on snooker's elite
Things are going in the right direction for Aaron Hill (Picture: Getty Images) Aaron Hill is impressively climbing snooker's greasy pole and feels he has struck upon the formula that will take him to the top. The Irishman famously made a splash as a teenager when he beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in a ranking event and while that didn't catapult him to instant success, progress has been slow and steady since then. Still just 23 years old, Hill is at his highest ranking of 50 in the world and feels increasingly confident in his game. Five years as a professional already behind him, excellent practice partners and a link-up with Fergal O'Brien as his coach are all behind his encouraging improvement. 'I think I've developed as a player in the last couple of seasons, experience is massive,' Hill told Metro. 'I'm in a lot of situations that I can deal with better these days. 'My practice as well has been brilliant. I've been playing quite a bit with Mark Allen, Jordan Brown and Robbie McGuigan up in the Antrim Sports Club. Big shout out to the Antrim Sports Club because my game has come on a lot since I've practised with those boys. 'And starting work with Fergal O'Brien as well last year. We had a great season together, I loved it and I'm looking forward for next season with him.' Hill is Ireland's great hope on the snooker table (Picture: Getty Images) O'Brien was a pro for 33 years, a ranking event winner, Masters finalist and famously an intense competitor who was fiercely difficult to beat. Also a brilliant guy, who his student is delighted to get to spend time with. 'He's great,' said Hill. 'It's exactly who I wanted in my corner, whatever kind of question I have he's going to have the answer to because he's been through it all. 'And we get on great together as well, you know, we're great buddies so it's brilliant.' On O'Brien's never-say-die, scrape-him-off-the-table attitude, Hill says: 'That's an inspirational way to be, you need to be like that on the table. You need to be tough as nails out there because there's no one else can pot the balls for you. You need to be tough and hard. Then he just switches it off when he's off the table. 'Having Fergal is just unreal. He's one of the most experienced players in the game so when you're around a fella like him, it can only improve your game and your mental strength.' Fergal O'Brien is an incredible source of knowledge and support (Picture: Getty Images) An experienced veteran may be the ideal person to have in your corner, but having anyone at all is a plus because the tour can be a lonely, difficult place. Something Hill discovered in his first couple of seasons as a professional. 'It's tough on your own,' he said. 'The first couple of years of my own were not that much fun. You need someone in your corner. I was trying to find the right person and he retired at just the right time. It was written in the stars.' Those tricky first couple of years saw Hill very briefly drop off tour in 2022, but he immediately regained his place at Q School, returning with a stronger mentality that continues to improve as his passion for the game only grows. 'It is tough and hard at times, especially when you're young and you're travelling on your own, but I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. If I won the Lotto in the morning I'd still play snooker. Hill will hope to better his best ranking run of a quarter-final this season (Picture: Getty Images) 'I love the game, I love competing and love winning. I'm holding goals high up in the sky for myself now, to start winning trophies. I love what I do. Those hard times at the start, and still some now, they're all worth it in the end when when it comes good. 'Every season for me so far has been my best season, I've been progressing every year. It's going in the right direction and I feel like I've a lot more to offer. 'I want to keep pushing on. It would be nice to get in the top 32 next and then we'd push for the top 16.' Aaron Hill's biggest wins 10-5 Anthony McGill – 2025 World Championship qualifying 5-2 Mark Williams – 2025 German Masters 4-3 Ding Junhui – 2024 British Open 4-2 Mark Selby – 2024 Welsh Open 4-1 Judd Trump – 2022 Northern Ireland Open 5-4 Zhao Xintong – 2021 European Masters 5-4 Ronnie O'Sullivan – 2020 European Masters Hill displays a really impressive attitude, thinking positively and purposefully, with even one of the more stinging defeats of his career not getting him down too much. He was one win away from a Crucible debut in April and led Dave Gilbert 7-3 only to be pipped 10-9 and miss out on a first trip to snooker's most famous venue. 'I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt, but I got over it fairly quick and took a lot of positives from that week. 'It's been taking good performances all season to beat me and Dave did well to come back, I didn't put it on a plate for him, hats off to him. 'I can't be dwelling on it and just have to keep moving on and in the right direction and take all the positives. One frame away from the Crucible, one of my biggest dreams to get there, so I'm not too far away.' Hill will undoubtedly get there at some point, with snooker lucky to have attracted the talents of someone who describes himself as 'handy' at football, hurling, Gaelic football, boxing and basketball when he was growing up. 'Snooker came last and that's what I stuck with,' he explains. With the Crucible's current contract to hold the World Championship only running until 2027, Hill may not have long to fulfil his dream, but he is not just talking about appearing at the Sheffield theatre, but lifting the trophy in the iconic building. 'I'd be gutted if it moved and I didn't play there once,' he said. 'Give me a chance to play there before it moves at least, you know, and once I play there and hopefully win it, they can move it to wherever they want.' Aaron Hill sends his thanks to sponsors Singleton SuperValu, Holly the Crucible Snooker Club in Cork. Arrow MORE: Snooker star Jackson Page begins very different job after landing huge 147 bonus Arrow MORE: Zak Surety on wild Crucible debut: They can't ever move from there – it's mad
