Government stalls on fuel excise duty; politics reacts to M9 tragedy

Inside Politics Live is coming to Cork on September 30th. Get your tickets here.

Harry McGee and Jack Horgan-Jones join Hugh Linehan to look back on the week in politics:

Today the Government announced that it will stall the planned increase to fuel excise duty that was due to come into effect at the start of September. The increases for September and October 1st will no longer go ahead. A recall of the Dáil next Friday to pass this measure is looking likely. The decision comes after the Government faced pressure from Coalition backbenchers as well as members of the Opposition. On Thursday night Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin demanding the Dáil be recalled for a vote to delay the planned reversal of excise duty cuts.

Sunday’s tragic collision on the M9 motorway left five teenagers dead and three sisters and a 7-year-old child in serious condition. The tragedy raises questions about Garda pursuit capabilities and training and the responsibility of social media platforms like TikTok to respond to footage of dangerous driving and joyriding shared on the platform.

An aide for Tánaiste Simon Harris has come into the spotlight after The Irish Times reported on social media posts where he mocked teachers for being work-shy and deemed the public “racist”. John Kelly is Harris’ constituency director who deleted his X account after he was questioned about numerous posts. Comments that are now deleted refer to Britain’s Prince Harry as a “snowflake” and call US president Donald Trump a “moron”.

Plus, the panel picks their favourite Irish Times pieces of the week, including the decline in number of Catholic baptisms in Ireland, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate leading the polls in Saxony-Anhalt election and the ridiculousness of “Woke 1.0”.

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