Ireland

Fine Gael is seeking an unprecedented fourth successive term in office and could well achieve it on 29 NovemberIreland’s voters go to the polls on Friday 29 November, three weeks after the prime minister, Simon Harris, ended months of speculation by dissolving the coalition government before the end of its five-year term in March next year.Harris’s […]

Nikita Hand, who alleges she was raped by the mixed martial arts fighter, lives in fear, jury toldA woman who alleges the Irish mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor brutally raped her after a Christmas party six years ago in Dublin will “always be a marked woman” simply because she had the courage to stand up to the fighter, a jury has been […]

The adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book isn’t flawless – but it doesn’t airbrush the complex, messy story of the TroublesI will admit that when I heard there was to be a TV adaptation of Say Nothing, based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s book of the same name, released on Disney+, I thought: “Oh no.” I had images of Florence Pugh or whoever […]

Best known as one half of D’Unbelievables, Kenny also starred in Father Ted and The Banshees of InisherinThe Irish prime minister has led tributes to the comedian and actor Jon Kenny, who has died at the age of 66.Kenny died on Friday evening in Galway Clinic, his wife, Margie, told the Limerick Leader on Saturday. Continue reading...

Yantar intelligence ship was seen operating drones in an area containing subsea energy and internet infrastructureA Russian spy ship has been escorted out of the Irish Sea after it entered Irish-controlled waters and patrolled an area containing critical energy and internet submarine pipelines and cables.It was spotted on Thursday east of Dublin and […]

Simon Harris has called a vote for 29 November because he is leading in the polls. But the current economic boom masks serious inequalitiesIreland’s imminent general election on 29 November has aroused little interest in Britain. Many here may not even know it is taking place. No surprise there, unfortunately. It was ever thus for Britain’s insular […]

Margaret Hodge, the ex-Labour minister who now sits in the Lords, has criticised Wes Streeting on the BBCA minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.Many in […]

Regulator issues online safety ruling after finding weak processes leave networks ‘exposed to terrorist content’Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Meta’s Instagram have been ordered by Irish media regulators to take “necessary measures” to prevent terrorist content being platformed in order to comply with sweeping new online safety legislation.The Irish […]

Competition to resemble Normal People star is markedly lower-stakes than chaotic Timothée Chalamet event in New York last monthTwo weeks ago, a mobbed competition to find a Timothée Chalamet lookalike in New York led to one arrest, a $500 fine for an “unpermitted costume contest” and a surprise appearance by the real-life Chalamet, fuelling further […]

Announcement comes as polls show Simon Harris’s Fine Gael and coalition partners Fianna Fáil in position to win fourth termIreland will hold a general election on 29 November, the prime minister, Simon Harris, announced late on Wednesday, as polls show his centre-right party Fine Gael and coalition partner Fianna Fáil in position to win a fourth […]

Saltburn actor tells Louis Theroux podcast about his difficult childhood and decision to keep his child offlineOscar nominee Barry Keoghan has hit back at “disgusting” online trolls who he claimed use his relationship with his son as “ammunition” against him.The 32-year-old Irish actor, who is dating US singer-songwriter Sabrina Carpenter, has a […]

Simon Harris expected to dissolve parliament on Thursday or Friday, with election day likely to be at end of NovemberThe Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, has said he plans to call a general election this week, paving the way for a polling date likely to be at the end of November.Harris is expected to dissolve the Dáil, or Irish parliament, either on […]

Election watchers in Europe, Asia and elsewhere will be tuning in – and some have a particular interest in the resultUS election results 2024: live map and trackerSenate and House results 2024: live maps and trackerFrom Brazil to Ireland and Germany to the Caribbean, this year’s knife-edge – and more than usually momentous – US presidential vote […]

Paul Reiser and Colm Meaney go into cliche mode when an Irish patriarch wills half his legacy to his son’s unknown American cousinNever mind people. The problem with this comedy is the cliches. It could not be more Irish if it was dropped into a pint of Guinness and rolled in shamrocks by a dancing leprechaun. The script is co-written by the American […]

Thousands lined streets of Irish capital waiting for wrongly advertised parade after website’s ‘human error’A Pakistan-based company has issued an apology to Dubliners after a “human error” on its events website led to thousands of people turning up on the Irish capital’s main thoroughfare for a nonexistent Halloween parade.Footage on Thursday […]

Former pupils of Catholic schools say corporal punishment was ‘hourly occurence’ in 60s and 70sThe Irish government has been urged to extend the scope of a statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in schools to include corporal punishment, including a practice known as “leathering”.Survivors of physical assault in Catholic schools have […]

Actor ran last part of course pushing friend Emma Fogarty who has genetic condition known as butterfly skinColin Farrell has raised €774,000 (£644,000) for a charity supporting people with a rare skin condition by running the Dublin marathon while pushing one of the oldest survivors of the disease in Ireland around part of the course in her […]

My father, Gerry Foley, who has died aged 88, was an expert on energy use and conservation, first as a civil engineer and then as a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London.His first book, The Energy Question (1976), challenged the prevailing 1970s notion that existing patterns of energy […]

Irish prime minister speaks of need to overcome housing and infrastructural deficits to maintain foreign investmentThe Irish prime minister has said a shortage of homes and a need to invest in Ireland’s infrastructure risk being a “drag” on its competitiveness as the country attempts to lure more foreign investment.Simon Harris said it was time to […]

My friend Tony Boycott, who has died aged 73, was a GP and experienced caver. He used his medical knowledge to become a caving doctor, helping those in trouble underground.A member of Mendip Cave Rescue in Somerset, he attended many emergencies, including a two-day retrieval in 1981 of a caver with a compound leg fracture from a narrow passage in Agen […]