Willie O'Dea

And that declaration was then accepted and written into the EU constitution.

So this is, and as well as that, I mean, people like Willie O'Dea, who was a former minister for defence, has come out against abolishing the triple lock.

So has Eamon O'Keefe, the former minister and former deputy leader of Fianna Fáil.

And I believe there is significant opposition on the ground by Fianna Fáil councillors and Fianna Fáil members to abolishing the triple lock.

and business confidence.

And before we speak to Limerick Chamber on this particular issue, during the week, of course, we were speaking with Willie O'Dea, Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick City, on the issue of the network and the importance of CCTV in Limerick.

It's very, very serious indeed, and I've been trying to impress that both on the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Housing.

You see, the CCTV network in Limerick, it's critical to the prevention and detection of crime.

What's happening is the Mayor feels, obviously, from conversations he's had himself, he feels that that permission might be refused this year, which, in the absence of any other funding, of course, would result in the system being closed down, which we can't have.

So, I mean, I'd be talking to the Minister about that anyway.

Of course, Willie O'Dea chatting to me on the programme earlier this week around the issue around safety on the streets and CCTV.

Sean Golden, Chief Economist and Director of Policy at Limerick Chamber.

by the way, you can't do me! You do a great Willie Odie! Ah!

And I started to do Willie O'Dea toward him.

What do you mean I talk about Willie O'Dea? Is that a good Willie? And

that's great! But you can't do me!

And then after that, Michal, obviously.

So a different spat here.

According to this, Fianna Fáil TD and former Minister Willie O'Dea and his party colleague Seamus McGrath have launched attacks on Simon Harris over the new savings scheme that the Fine Gael leader has proposed.

and also proposed changes to stamp duty.

So there's only so much to go around.

You have strong feelings on it.

But the two pieces you picked today are Willie O'Dea saying that in the Sunday Independent that this could expose savers to risk at the worst time.

And Fergal O'Connor, also in the Sunday Independent business section, I think Harris has missed a trick and risked diverting millions away from startups.

Yeah, and so this is one of the big, I don't know how many times Simon Harris has announced this new scheme at this stage, but we're still waiting for some key details.

I think a lot of the energy and attention on this scheme has come from the lobbyists.

And I think there's something more to be done around that or just looking, well, just how much the sector is looking for this.

And why are they looking for it? It's what Willie O'Dea is talking about today in the paper.

It's because of fees.

Now, let's kick things off with a big story of the week, Donald Trump's visit to Ireland.

Willie, I'm extremely concerned going

forward about President Connolly meeting Trump.

I know, she's a loose cannon, me heart.

Jesus, not climate change.

Look, look, look, President Connolly, we thought we might have a little rehearsal before President Trump arrives.

How can we rehearse when the man himself is not even here? Ah, well, you see, going forward, Willie O'Dea here does a great President Trump, don't you, Willie?

Make America great again, tremendous.

But before Trump touched down, there was huge, huge trepidation about how the government would deal with him and more especially, how Catherine Connolly might deal with him in her expected meeting with Donald Trump this weekend.

We join Michal and Willie O'Dea, who are waiting to see Catherine, at

Horace

O'Nuchteron.

Jesus, not climate change.

Look, look, look, President Connolly, we thought we might have a little rehearsal before President Trump arrives.

How can we rehearse when the man himself is not even here? Ah, well, you see, going forward, Willie O'Dea here does a great President Trump, don't you, Willie?

Make America great again.

There's plenty more going on as well, Barry.

Yesterday, we had a gathering of EU foreign ministers in Wicklow and an apparent difference of views emerging between the defence minister, Helen McEntee, and the Taoiseach over whether Irish troops would serve as part of a European mission in Lebanon.

What's going on there?

Well, Helen McAtee suggested two days ago, alongside Kai Callas, that Irish troops could serve as part of a new European mission in Lebanon when the UN-sanctioned mission, the UN Security Council-sanctioned mission, expires at the end of the year.

That is the law that states that any deployment of more than 12 troops abroad needs approval from the Dáil, the cabinet, and indeed the UN Security Council.

Now, what does that mean? Well, you'll remember there is some difference of opinion within Fianna Fáil, the Taoiseach's party, on this matter.

The former Defence Minister, Willie O'Dea, has said he is worried at comments from Helen McEntee that perhaps Irish troops could be deployed abroad without the sanction of international law.

Now, a spokesperson for Helen McEntee yesterday evening saying she wants to plan ahead with those plans to remove the triple lock and that no Irish troops would be deployed abroad until perhaps even heads of Bail are published in that regard.