Ireland

Google says move is to prevent ‘unhelpful or prank reviews’, after petition by Merseyside deputy headteacherGoogle has agreed to remove all user comments and ratings of UK and Irish schools from Google Maps, after a petition organised by a Merseyside teacher.The decision means thousands of often spiteful and outdated online reviews and star ratings […]

As commercial monocultures increase, ecologists are calling for the remaining splinters of native woodland to be identified, protected - and expandedPhotographs by Rob Stothard“This could almost be part of Lapland, up here,” says retired researcher John Spence, approaching a clearing in the Correl Glen nature reserve in Fermanagh, near Northern […]

This fervently acted Irish film about a dispute between farmers begins with some sheep rustling and ends in Peckinpah-esque violent horrorA tang of bad blood rises from this flawed revenge-feud drama set in the rural west of Ireland from first-time feature director Christopher Andrews, in which the audience might be shocked by male violence but are at the […]

Sinn Féin politician to step down after being elected to Seanad, and aims to push reunification agendaThe economy minister for Northern Ireland is to step down from his role at Stormont after being elected to the Seanad in Dublin, the upper house of the Irish parliament.Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy secured one of the 60 seats in the Seanad, with the support […]

The award-winning author on his move from short stories to novels, writing marginal characters in small-town Mayo and the Irish fiction he rates mostBorn in Canada in 1982, Colin Barrett was raised near Ballina, County Mayo, and though he left as a teenager, studying creative writing at University College Dublin, Mayo has provided the setting for almost all […]

Mourners applaud while member of the Nolans pop group is carried in a pink coffin as sisters and celebrities pay tributeLinda Nolan obituaryFans of the singer Linda Nolan have gathered as her funeral took place in Blackpool.People applauded as a hearse, carrying a pink glittery coffin lined with flowers, arrived at St Paul’s church in the Lancashire town. […]

My husband, Tony Langlois, who has died aged 64 during a procedure to treat an aneurysm, was an academic, ethnomusicologist, composer and festival founder.For the past 17 years, Tony was a lecturer in media studies at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. He co-led the Limerick Soundscapes community sound archive project and the Audio Research […]

One of Ireland’s most important novelists and a woman of fierce intelligence and bravery is celebrated in Sinéad O’Shea’s thoroughly enjoyable documentarySinéad O’Shea’s documentary portrait of the author Edna O’Brien is a reminder that most writers – most people, in fact – don’t have lives anywhere near as exciting or fulfilling as […]

Italian and Irish regulators want answers on how data harvested by chatbot could be used by Chinese governmentThe Chinese AI platform DeepSeek has become unavailable for download from some app stores in Italy as regulators in Rome and in Ireland demanded answers from the company about its handling of citizens’ data.Amid growing concern on Wednesday about […]

Businesses should avoid panic amid fears US will attempt to repatriate jobs and taxes, says Danny McCoyBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump will not be a knockout “meteor” to Ireland’s economy despite its heavy reliance on US multinationals, the head of the country’s business trade organisation has said.While the US president told world […]

Paula Doyle was raped by a man she had known for years. It took five painful years for the case to come to trial, but she was determined to fight for justiceIt was Paula Doyle’s best friend who suggested that her husband walk Doyle home. This was a Friday night in September 2019, and Doyle, then 46, a mother of five, had been at their house for a family […]

Families of children killed will speak at inquiry into whether Northern Ireland atrocity could have been stoppedVictims of the Omagh bombing, the single deadliest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles, are to take centre stage at the public inquiry which reopens on Tuesday.The car bomb attack that ripped through the town on 15 August 1998, killing 29 […]

Man, 19, died after car struck in Scotland and 20-year-old man killed in Ireland, as Met Office issues further warningsTwo people were killed by falling trees during the record-breaking gusts of Storm Éowyn, which also damaged property and led to widespread power cuts across the UK and Ireland.The deaths were confirmed as the Met Office issued more wind […]

A very personal view of an Irish scandal; a comprehensive survey of mystical beliefs; and a dystopian sci-fi novel where humanity is on the brinkClair WillsPenguin, £10.99, pp208 (paperback) Continue reading...

Thousands of homes in Britain and Ireland still without power after wind speeds of up to 114mph recordedStorm Éowyn was probably the strongest to hit the UK in the past 10 years, the Met Office has said.At its height, it left more than 1 million people without power as hurricane-strength gusts battered the country, bringing widespread disruption to rail […]

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereIrish premier Micheál Martin said every effort is being made to restore power and water supplies following Storm Eowyn.He described the destruction caused by some of the strongest winds on record as “unprecedented”. Continue reading...

Some say recent suspected sabotage of transatlantic cables serving Europe and UK means Ireland must be able to defend itselfThey are the bedrock of the internet, keeping everything from TikTok to emergency services, business, banking systems and political and military communications running smoothly.But deep under the sea, the network of cables around […]

The country’s most controversial politician, Michael Lowry, is the cornerstone of the coalition. That deal could haunt taoiseach Micheál MartinThe art of the stroke used to be a hallowed practice in Irish politics. To pull a stroke meant wiping the other fellow’s eye, by fair means or foul. The art might involve anything from “brown envelope” […]

Researchers say study may help global efforts in controlling disease that still destroys crops today It was a disaster that killed about 1 million people, devastating 19th century Ireland, but while the potato disease linked to the Irish famine is well known, a battle has raged over where it originated.Scientists have long been divided over whether the […]

One dead, rail and ferry services also badly hit and hundreds of thousands of people left without powerStorm Eowyn live – latest updatesMore than 1,000 flights were cancelled and a number of main roads closed as millions of people in the UK and Ireland were asked to stay home amid red “danger to life” warnings owing to a rare “weather bomb” […]