Category Archives: Ireland

Dublin riots: Conor McGregor accuses Irish officials of making him ‘scapegoat’

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Police are said to be investigating former martial arts star’s social media posts before and during violence

The former mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor has accused Irish authorities of making him a “scapegoat” for the riot in Dublin last week amid reports police are investigating his social media posts before and during the violence.

McGregor on Wednesday accused the government of trying to deflect attention from a stabbing attack on children that triggered anti-immigrant protests and anarchy in Ireland’s capital on 23 November.

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Israeli foreign minister accuses Irish taoiseach of legitimising terror over hostage statement

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Eli Cohen criticised Leo Varadkar’s description of nine-year-old Emily Hand as being ‘lost’, not ‘kidnapped’

The Israeli government has accused Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, of legitimising terror and losing his moral compass by saying a freed Irish-Israeli hostage had been “lost” as opposed to kidnapped.

Eli Cohen, Israel’s foreign minister, on Sunday summoned the Irish ambassador to the foreign ministry in Jerusalem for a formal reprimand over Varadkar’s response to the release of nine-year-old Emily Hand, who was reunited with her family after 50 days as a hostage in Gaza.

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Almost £300,000 raised for delivery driver who intervened in Dublin attack

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Brazilian Deliveroo worker Caio Benicio used motorbike helmet to hit assailant who was attacking children outside a school

Almost £300,000 has been raised for a delivery driver who intervened in an attack by a man suspected of attacking children outside a school in Dublin.

Caio Benicio was on his motorbike in Dublin city centre when he spotted the attack on Thursday. He said he used his helmet to hit the assailant “with all my power”.

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Irish police chief warns of further disruption by far right after Dublin riot

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Drew Harris says radicalised people exploited ‘terrible crime’ of knife attack to unleash mayhem on streets

Ireland’s police chief has warned that far-right radicalisation will continue to disrupt the country after a night of arson, rioting and looting left parts of Dublin resembling a war zone.

The capital was tense on Friday as significant numbers of police remained on the streets and Dublin counted the cost of an anti-immigrant protest that turned into anarchy, leaving the political establishment shocked.

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Violent protests in Dublin after woman and children injured in knife attack

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Crowd chanting anti-immigrant slogans clashes with police hours after stabbing incident outside school

Buses and trams have been torched and a shop looted during riots in Dublin city centre after a stabbing attack outside a school left three children injured.

Police and politicians called for calm amid warnings against misinformation as violence escalated from a demonstration that began on Thursday afternoon at the scene of the incident.

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Sinn Féin’s rising tally of lawsuits fuels fears it is trying to stifle scrutiny

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The Irish PM has accused the party of trying to take away democracy through threats as press freedom organisations raise concerns

In Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Féin, is suing the national broadcaster RTÉ for defamation, while her husband, Martin Lanigan, is suing the author of a biography of McDonald. Chris Andrews, a Sinn Féin member of Ireland’s parliament, is suing the Irish Times and one of its reporters.

In Northern Ireland, Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Féin member of the Stormont assembly, is suing two media commentators. John Finucane, a Sinn Féin MP, is suing a unionist councillor over Twitter claims. Michelle O’Neill, the party’s deputy leader, recently sued another unionist councillor over a Facebook post.

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Man jailed for life after murdering Irish teacher Ashling Murphy

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Jozef Puska, 33, stabbed 23-year-old as she jogged along a canal last year in a case that shocked Ireland

A man has received a life sentence for stabbing to death a primary school teacher last year in a case that shocked Ireland.

Ashling Murphy, a 23-year-old teacher and musician, was murdered as she jogged along a canal near Tullamore, County Offaly, in January 2022.

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More than half of UK and Ireland seabirds in decline, census finds

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Species populations falling, with some decreasing due to loss of habitat and less food availability

More than half the seabird species breeding on British and Irish coasts have declined over the last 20 years, according to the most comprehensive census to date.

Eleven of 21 nesting seabirds species have fallen, five species have remained stable and five have increased, some because of targeted conservation work, according to the Seabirds Count survey.

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Storm Debi: warnings of heavy rain and strong winds across Ireland and NI

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Forecasters issue yellow warnings for entire island and stronger warning of ‘severe and damaging gusts’ for 18 Irish counties

Weather warnings have been issued for the entire island of Ireland as forecasters said Storm Debi would bring a new spell of heavy rain and strong winds. Parts of the island are still recovering from

floods during intense spells of rain in the preceding storms, Babet and Ciarán.

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Irish woman inspired to return African and Aboriginal antiquities by Guardian article

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Isabella Walsh has contacted embassies and consulates to repatriate 10 objects that her father wanted to be returned

An Irish woman has been inspired by the Guardian to return her late father’s collection of 19th-century African and Aboriginal objects to their countries of origin.

Isabella Walsh, 39, from Limerick, has contacted embassies and consulates in Dublin and London to repatriate 10 objects, including spears, harpoon heads and a shield, after she read about other cases in the newspaper.

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Man found guilty of murdering Ashling Murphy in case that shocked Ireland

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Jozef Puska faces mandatory life sentence over January 2022 killing of 23-year-old teacher

A man has been found guilty in Dublin of the murder of Ashling Murphy while she was out jogging in broad daylight, in a case that sent shockwaves across Ireland.

Murphy, 23, a teacher and musician, was killed on a canal towpath near Tullamore in County Offaly in the Irish midlands in January last year after being set upon and stabbed 11 times in the neck and left to die in a deep ditch.

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Eurozone economy shrinks by 0.1%, putting it at brink of recession

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Ireland and Austria post biggest declines, while Germany contracts by 0.1% and France grows by 0.1%

The eurozone is teetering on the brink of a winter recession after the latest official figures showed its economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2023.

In a worse than forecast performance, the 20-nation single currency zone has now failed to grow in three of the past four quarters, leaving its economy only 0.1% higher than it was a year earlier.

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‘Pervasive and relentless’ racism on the rise in Europe, survey finds

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Poll of 6,752 people of African descent in 13 countries finds almost half have experienced discrimination

Racism is “pervasive and relentless” and on the rise in Europe, with nearly half of black people in member states surveyed by the EU reporting discrimination, from the verbal abuse of their children to being blocked by landlords from renting homes.

In every walk of life, from schools to the job market, housing and health, a survey by the EU’s rights agency of people of African descent found high levels of discrimination, with some of the worst results recorded in Austria and Germany, where far-right parties have been on the rise.

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‘It was a plague’: Killarney becomes first Irish town to ban single-use coffee cups

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A blanket ‘bring or buy’ reusable scheme has been introduced in the town, which was getting through 23,000 cups a week

Killarney used to accept it as a price of being a tourist town: ubiquitous disposable coffee cups spilling from bins, littering roads and blighting the area’s national park.

The County Kerry town went through about 23,000 cups a week – more than a million a year – adding up to 18.5 tonnes of waste.

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Ireland’s embrace of Zombie song at Rugby World Cup stirs debate over lyrics

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Fans seen singing the Cranberries’ hit in stadiums but some Irish republicans are unhappy at revival

Twenty years after a lethal IRA bomb inspired its stark, chilling lyrics, the Cranberries’ song Zombie has experienced an unlikely rebirth as a Rugby World Cup anthem.

Ireland fans have belted out its chorus in stadiums across France and hope to do so again on Saturday after a quarter-final tie against New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris.

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EU appears to backpedal on freezing of Palestinian aid payments

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Earlier announcement by Olivér Várhelyi had prompted surprise from member states including Ireland and Spain

The EU has been plunged into a diplomatic row after an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel led to clashes with several member states including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.

After six hours scrambling for an explanation, the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement made by the commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, saying: “There will be no suspension of payments.” But it muddied the waters by saying there were “no payments foreseen”.

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Goalkeepers perceive the world differently, study suggests

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Goalies’ brains appear able to merge signals from different senses more quickly, say researchers

The former Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel once said that to be able to work well in the box, you have to be able to think outside the box.

Now scientific data supports the idea that goalies’ brains really do perceive the world differently – their brains appear able to merge signals from the different senses more quickly, possibly underpinning their unique abilities on the football pitch.

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Former pupils demand apology from Irish school over Nazi teacher’s bullying

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Louis Feutren joined a nationalist group in occupied France and went on to teach at a prestigious Dublin school

There was never any mystery about the fact that Louis Feutren, a French teacher at St Conleth’s school in south Dublin, was a Nazi collaborator.

He had a taste for violent punishments and bizarre humiliations that terrorised pupils. He liked to reminisce about the second world war, when he had joined a Breton nationalist group that fought on the side of Germany. And he showed pictures of himself in uniform.

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Storm Agnes brings 70mph gusts and heavy rain to Britain and Ireland

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Danger-to-life warning issued as first named storm of autumn damages buildings and disrupts travel

Gusts of 70mph were recorded as the first named storm of the autumn, Agnes, swept across Britain and Ireland, damaging buildings, causing travel delays and leaving homes without power.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings covering much of the UK, where strong winds and heavy rain were expected on Wednesday evening and into Thursday.

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