Peter Thiel Powerscourt event criticised by opposition TDs

James Cox

Here, we have a look at the topics likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come.

Peter Thiel's Wicklow conference

Controversial billionaire investor Peter Thiel is due to front a conference at Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow in August, with talks including 'Navigating WWIII'. 

Thiel has used his vast wealth to back right-wing political groups and figures. His company Palantir Technologies, an 'AI-driven decision' tech, has been used by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza. 

Thiel, 58, is also a prominent supporter of US president Donald Trump and has donated millions of dollars to his campaigns.

The Ditch was the first Irish outlet to report on Thiel's 'Dialog' conference planning an event at Powerscourt. The report states that the event is due to take place from August 12th - 16th.

Dialog is an extremely secretive organisation that includes government officials, from the US and other countries, tech giants and right-wing influencers.

Other talks at the event reportedly include Build-a-Cult, Build-a-Party, Money (Does?) Buy Happiness and Bring Back Nuclear.

US outlet Wired has acquired documents belonging to Dialog, including a membership list. The list included Trump administration officials, two US senators, six members of the so-called Paypal Mafia (former founders and early employees who worked at PayPal in the late 1990s and early 2000s), a former Middle East chief of intelligence, a sitting ambassador to the United States, private equity billionaires, television actors and best-selling authors.

Names on the list included Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and an informal White House adviser, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, Texas senator Ted Cruz, and political commentator Ezra Klein.

Actress Sophia Bush, controversial music manager Scooter Braun and YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan were also on the list.

Billionaire members included Reid Hoffman and Elon Musk.

The list is said to include active members of Dialog, those who have attended the organisation's retreats, and those who plan to attend for the first time at the Powerscourt event in August.

Powerscourt Estate said it would cancel the event if it had the power to do so.

A statement read: “Within the last 36 hours Powerscourt Estate has, through media coverage, become aware of an event scheduled to take place in August on the premises of Powerscourt Hotel and Spa, a long-standing tenant of the estate.

“The estate wish to unreservedly state that if it was within their remit they would cancel the event planned. However, as they have a legally binding lease with MHL Hotels this is not possible.

“Powerscourt Estate are currently taking legal advice as to whether or not they can affect the planned event. No further comment will be made at this time.”

Sinn Féin TD John Brady said: "I do not believe this conference should be taking place anywhere in Ireland.

“Peter Thiel is the co-founder of Palantir, a company that has been central to facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“A UN human rights report stated that Palantir has provided defence infrastructure, military software and its artificial intelligence (AI), which allows automated decision-making.

“They are using AI to automate the slaughter of Palestinians."

Niamh Ní Bhriain, coordinator of the War and Pacification Programme at the Transnational Institute, appeared as a panelist on The Tonight Show on Virgin Media One, where she challenged Minister of State Thomas Byrne over the Dialog conference.

She claimed the Government should arrest Thiel and other attendees.

“They’re all people who are deeply embedded in militarisation, in war,” she said.

“I would ask Mr Byrne if these people come here whether the Irish Government is planning on making an arrest of these people.”

Byrne said An Garda Síochána is responsible for arrests, not the Government, and that is only the case if there is evidence of crimes.

When asked about the conference, and whether taxpayer money would be spent on security for high profile figures, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration told BreakingNews.ie: "The Department does not comment on operational security matters."

On Sunday, June 28th, a group of protesters gathered at Powerscourt Hotel over the Thiel-fronted conference.

EU Presidency

Preparations continue over Ireland's EU Presidency.

Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1st to December 31st, 2026. 

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Helen McEntee has insisted there will be adequate safety and security in place.

“An Garda [Síochána] has been planning for this for a number of years now. So, the measures that need to be put in place are in place and I look forward to things kicking off on Wednesday,” she told reporters in Dublin.

McEntee said it was “important from a policy perspective” that Ireland has a successful presidency, “but also from a security perspective”.

Retirement age

Employees - previously contracted to retire before 66 - will be allowed to continue working, under a new law which takes effect on Monday.

It will allow staff to delay retirement and work until the qualifying age for the state pension, which is 66.

It also brings new legal obligations for employers, particularly around how they respond to employees who do not want to retire.

Legislation to provide paid leave for miscarriages

Draft legislation providing women who suffer an early miscarriage with five days of paid leave is set to be brought to Cabinet in the coming weeks.

The bill would also apply to women who receive an abortion before 12 weeks of pregnancy.

It comes more than five years after Labour first introduced a proposal to provide 20 days' leave for early pregnancy loss.

Abroad

Andy Burnham promised to give the UK a “new direction” with the biggest transfer of power out of Whitehall in modern times.

The prospective British prime minister promised to end “politics as usual” to rescue a country which is “stuck in a rut”.

In his first major speech since Keir Starmer announced he would be leaving Downing Street, Burnham pledged to pull people together in the “broadest possible coalition” to revive hope across the country.

The Supreme Court has rejected a push by president Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s finding that he sexually abused the writer E Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.

The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical.

There were no noted dissents.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the five million dollar verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Mr Trump of sexual abuse decades ago.