Category Archives: Ireland

‘Every girl now wants to be a boxer’: excitement in Katie Taylor’s home town for her valedictory bout

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Irish boxer lauded for her tenacity and inspiration before her last fight in front of 80,000 people at Croke Park

When Katie Taylor steps into the ring on Saturday night to defend her titles and once again enthral Ireland, there will be a bittersweet tinge. After a singular career that pioneered women’s boxing, the super-lightweight champion and Olympic gold medallist is bowing out. She is 40 and it is to be her final bout.

“The end of an era, isn’t it?” said Trevor McMahon, her brother-in-law and founder of a gym where she trains. “It’ll be an amazing night but it’ll also be a little bit sad. Everything she did, it might not ever be achieved again.”

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Mark Zuckerberg buys 440-acre Strancally castle estate in Ireland

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Meta chief executive paid roughly €20m for gothic-style mansion built in 1830 and its surroundings

It stretches the definition of pied-à-terre but Mark Zuckerberg now has a pad in Ireland: Strancally castle.

The Meta chief executive and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have bought the gothic-style mansion and its 178-hectare (440-acre) estate in county Waterford to use as a base during visits to Ireland.

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Five teenagers killed after car driven on wrong side of Irish motorway

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Head-on collision between two vehicles on M9 in County Kildare also injured four other people, say police

Five teenagers have died and four other people have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a motorway in the Republic of Ireland, police said.

Gardaí confirmed the bodies of the youths, all male, had been removed from the scene of the two-vehicle collision, which happened at about 3am on Sunday on the M9 in County Kildare.

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Safety check calls after Irish teenager electrocuted taking shower in Greece

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Alex McKee died when picking up showerhead in ‘outdoor and rudimentary’ bathroom on Kimolos

The death of an Irish teenager, electrocuted while taking a shower in a holiday home in Greece, has led to calls for tighter checks on appliances at tourist accommodation.

Alex McKee, 17, is said to have died instantly when picking up the showerhead in a bathroom described as “outdoor and rudimentary” on Kimolos.

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From Dubai luxury to an Irish jail cell: Daniel Kinahan’s drastic lifestyle shift

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Only spending outlet for man accused of helping to control a third of Europe’s cocaine supply will be prison tuck shop

It sounds like the penal equivalent of five stars: a private gym and library, daily outings to the exercise yard and a landing cleared of other prisoners.

Daniel Kinahan’s first full day inside the walls of Portlaoise prison on Monday, however, marked a drastic change from his luxury lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates.

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Mayo beat 75-year-old ‘curse’ to become Gaelic football champions

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Team to return for euphoric homecoming after winning all-Ireland men’s final against Kerry, ending decades of defeats

The hex is broken, dispelled, banished, and a story that bewitched Ireland for decades has ended in fairytale: Mayo are all-Ireland champions.

Seventy-five years after a supposed curse condemned its Gaelic men’s football team to endless defeat, the county prevailed and uncorked a wave of emotion that engulfed even its rivals.

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Brenda Fricker, Oscar winner for My Left Foot, dies aged 81

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The acclaimed Irish actor started her career in Coronation Street and Casualty before a string of high-profile Hollywood roles

Brenda Fricker, who became the first female Irish Oscar winner for acting with My Left Foot, has died aged 81. Her agent Phil Belfield told the BBC in a statement: “We will never see her like again and the world is lesser for the lack of her … I was honoured to know, love and work with her and she will always have a place in my heart and in the heart of so many film and TV fans the world over.”

In My Left Foot, Fricker plays the mother of Christy Brown, whose cerebral palsy means he only has muscular control over one of his feet. The film, directed by Jim Sheridan, was released to enormous acclaim in 1989, winning the best actor Oscar for Daniel Day-Lewis as well as best supporting actress for Fricker.

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Man guilty of attempting to murder three children in attack that triggered Dublin riot

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Jury also finds Riad Bouchaker guilty of assaulting two other children and a childcare worker in 2023 stabbings

A man has been found guilty of attempting to murder three children during a stabbing attack in Dublin in 2023, a crime that horrified Ireland and triggered a riot in the capital.

A jury at the central criminal court on Wednesday also found Riad Bouchaker, 52, guilty of assault causing serious harm to a childcare worker, Leanne Flynn, and of assaulting two other children and a teenager.

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Datacentres are growing target of global climate-related legal cases, report finds

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LSE analysis highlights litigation linked to energy sources, water consumption and air pollution

The proliferation of datacentres and AI is increasingly at the forefront of environmental litigation around the world, from the US and UK to Chile to Ireland, a report has found.

In an analysis of about 3,600 climate-related lawsuits filed since 2015, the latest annual review of climate litigation by the London School of Economics (LSE) found a growing number of cases challenging the energy sources, water consumption and air pollution of datacentres, all of which have related climate implications.

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Nightclub promoter, 21, stabbed to death after brawl in Dublin’s tourism district

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Qayyum Balogun chased and attacked after gig ended in Grafton Street area following clash between rival groups, police say

A brawl in the heart of Dublin’s tourism district led to a nightclub promoter being chased and stabbed to death.

It happened at about 3am on Monday after a gig ended in the Grafton Street area of the city centre that is popular with tourists.

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Death of Congolese man renews scrutiny of race relations in Ireland

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Yves Sakila died after being restrained by security guards ‘in broad daylight’

Irish authorities have agreed to a second postmortem on the body of a Congolese man who died after being restrained by shop security guards on a Dublin street, prompting an outcry and comparisons to the death of George Floyd.

A forensic pathologist from England is to conduct an independent postmortem this week on Yves Sakila, 35, an alleged shoplifter who was pursued and pinned to the ground in the city centre on 15 May. The police force, An Garda Síochána, is investigating.

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‘Hidden datacentre tax’ costing Irish households millions, report says

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Datacentres used 22% of country’s electricity last year, pushing up household bills, study suggests

Energy demand by datacentres in Ireland has added hundreds of euros to household electricity bills in a pattern that could be replicated across Europe, according to a report.

Ireland’s growing number of datacentres last year used 22% of the country’s electricity, more than all urban homes combined, according to the Central Statistics Office. The equivalent figure in the US and UK is 6%.

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Irish gangland figure fails in Dublin byelection bid for seat in parliament

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Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch comes fourth in contest won by Daniel Ennis of Social Democrats

The Irish gangland figure Gerry “the monk” Hutch has failed in his bid for a parliamentary seat in a Dublin byelection.

The 63-year-old came fourth in a contest won by Daniel Ennis of the Social Democrats, a victory for progressive politics after a campaign dominated by concerns over the cost of living and immigration.

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Dublin gangland figure brings extremist views to Irish mainstream on campaign trail

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Gerry ‘the monk’ Hutch has won fans in north Dublin byelection campaign with anti-immigrant rhetoric

Elaine Roe, 61, a cafe worker, has no doubt what is the most important issue in this week’s byelection for Dublin’s north inner city. “The government is wrecking our country, they’re bringing in rapists and murderers and kidnappers. It’s a shame. I might vote Hutch, he seems a normal person.”

That would be Gerry “the monk” Hutch, a prominent gangland figure who is running as an independent in an election that is far from normal. The 63-year-old – who was jailed for robbery convictions in his youth – is a celebrity candidate in a contest for a parliamentary seat that has been dominated by xenophobia and immigration.

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Keir Starmer tells cabinet he is not resigning amid growing pressure to stand down – UK politics live

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Cabinet ministers rally around PM after critical meeting where he said he would not quit without a leadership challenge

Here are some pictures from No 10 this morning.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the PM, is now being interviewed on the Today programme. Nick Robinson, the presenter, is asking him if he knows whether Keir Starmer has decided how to respond to the pressure on him to resign. Jones is avoiding the question, as he did on Sky News earlier. (See 7.43am.)

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Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

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Dublin scholars find 1,200-year-old manuscript of Caedmon’s Hymn composed by Northumbrian cattle herder

A lost copy of a poem composed in the seventh century by a Northumbrian cattle herder – the earliest surviving poem in the English language – has been discovered in Rome.

Scholars from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome.

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Slovenia to air films about Palestine instead of Eurovision song contest

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Ireland and Spain will also not broadcast Eurovision after decision to boycott live event over Israel’s participation

National broadcasters in Ireland, Spain and Slovenia will not air the Eurovision song contest this year, after they decided to boycott the event over Israel’s participation.

Having announced it would not submit a national entry, the Slovenian broadcaster RTV confirmed on Thursday it would implement a broadcasting blackout of the world’s largest live music event and instead show a series of films about Palestine.

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Peace activist, 91, walks across Ireland in protest against US military stopovers

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Lelia Doolan, who finished 220km trek at parliament gates, says use of Shannon airport violates Irish neutrality

A 91-year-old peace activist has crossed Ireland on foot and arrived in Dublin to petition the government to bar US military flights.

Lelia Doolan completed a two-week, 220km (138 mile) trek on Wednesday, ending at the gates of parliament accompanied by throngs of supporters.

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Irish police clear Dublin blockade staged by fuel price protesters

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Hundreds of officers deployed to regain control of O’Connell Street on sixth day of protests by farmers and hauliers

Police have cleared a blockade of central Dublin by farmers and hauliers who were protesting about fuel prices, signalling a possible end to six days of protests that have rocked Ireland.

Mounted units and hundreds of officers regained control of O’Connell Street in a peaceful operation that emptied the thoroughfare of trucks and tractors on Sunday morning.

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Man arrested for allegedly damaging US military aircraft in Shannon airport

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Suspect in 40s arrested after man apparently climbed on to USAF C130 Hercules transport plane on remote taxiway in County Clare

A man has been arrested after entering an unauthorised area of an airport in the Republic of Ireland and allegedly causing damage to a US military aircraft, police have said.

The suspect, aged in his 40s, was arrested for alleged criminal damage and remains in custody over the incident on Saturday at Shannon airport in County Clare.

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