Newstalk Breakfast

France will officially recognise a Palestinian state in September, President Emmanuel Macron has said. This move will make it the first G7 nation to do so, drawing the ire of officials from Israel and The United States. This coming as talks for a ceasefire in Gaza were dealt a new blow on Thursday after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams.  We heard from Sean Bell, Former Fighter Pilot, Military Analyst and Co-Host of the Red Matrix Podcast and also Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson of the UN Secretary General a little earlier.

Amazon scraps Dublin plant and hundreds of jobs over failure to secure power supply. Shane and Jonathan discussed this breaking news.  

From Amble packing the 3 arena, to Kingfishr selling out a headline US tour - Irish trad and folk music is having a serious revival at home and abroad.   But what’s behind the resurgence of interest in Gaelic culture and how can we all get involved?    Newstalk’s Sarah madden reports: 

Thousands of Donegal and Kerry fans will be descending upon Dublin this Sunday for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final and those in their cars will be paying a toll on the motorway. Should toll fees be scrapped? We asked Michael Healy Rae, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Independent TD for Kerry.  

Ghislaine Maxwell met a top justice department official yesterday as pressure grows on the Trump administration to release files linked to the disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking network. We get the latest on this with David Smith, Washington Bureau Chief with The Guardian. 

Weight tax for SUVs now on the table for Budget 2026 as strategy papers offer a glimpse at potential measures. While the tax strategy group marks inconsistencies  inconsistency in greenhouse gas taxes. All to discuss with Charlie Weston, Personal Finances Editor with the Independent.  

Gwen Loughman Freelance writer and self-confessed serial self-talker, who says chatting to herself and sometimes to flowers and shopping trolleys brings her calm, clarity, and a surprising amount of joy.

Staff at AIB have slammed a decision requiring them to work in person at least three days a week, the tightest among Irish retail banks. They have described it as “a solution to a problem that didn’t exist” and “something this serious that affects staff lives”.  For more on this we were joined by John O’Connell, General Secretary of the Financial Services Union. 

Negotiators from the European Union are moving towards accepting US import tariffs of 15 per cent as the price of a deal in ongoing trade talks with Washington. Here to discuss is Dan Mulhall, Former Ambassador of Ireland to the United States. 

Investigations are ongoing into a potentially “extensive outbreak” of listeriosis in Ireland after one person has died with a confirmed case of the disease.  The Food Safety Authority has recalled 140 ready-made meals from Irish stores over concerns of the presence of Listeria.  To explain more about the bacteria was Alan Reilly, Adjunct professor at the Institute of Food and Health in UCD and former chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.