‘Technical issue’ allowed transfers and withdrawals beyond customer limits and made online banking unavailable
Bank of Ireland has apologised for an IT glitch that meant some customers were able to withdraw money they did not have in their accounts at cashpoints.
The bank said it had resolved the “technical issue”, which had also allowed transfers beyond customer limits and had made its online banking and mobile app services unavailable.
Continue reading...La Rochelle coach Ronan O’Gara lights up the internet seamlessly blending French with English with a few choice words
French may be the language of Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Voltaire, but sometimes it takes a rugby player from Cork to inject extra oomph.
Ronan O’Gara, a former Ireland international who coaches the French club La Rochelle, has lit up the internet with a pep talk to his team that seamlessly blended French with English swearing, graced with a Cork accent.
Continue reading...Installation appears on hillside overlooking seaside town of Bray, where singer is to be buried
A fleeting installation honouring Sinéad O’Connor has been unveiled on a hillside overlooking the Irish seaside town of Bray, where she is to be buried on Tuesday.
A message in 30ft-tall letters spelling out “ÉIRE ♡ SINÉAD” that was visible from the air appeared on Sunday outside the County Wicklow town, south of Dublin, that was her home for 15 years.
Continue reading...Confusion over whether Justin Barrett remains leader of National party after his allegations of theft
It has the ingredients of a Frederick Forsyth thriller: stolen gold bullion, political intrigue, betrayal and a sprinkling of Adolf Hitler.
The saga of Ireland’s far-right National party and its vault of gold bars, however, has played out more like an Armando Iannucci farce.
Continue reading...Shocked by her death, the singer’s compatriots recall her courage, kindness and humour
The memories have come tumbling out. The little girl who played in a Dublin park. The teenager who sat on school steps strumming a guitar. The pop star who leaned out of a record company’s limousine in Washington DC to shout joyous insults at the Pentagon.
Ireland is remembering Sinéad O’Connor – and grasping what it has lost. For some people in Glenageary and Dún Laoghaire – the south Dublin suburbs where the singer grew up – the news of her death still had an air of unreality on Thursday.
Continue reading...From Ghent to Galway, Amsterdam to Edinburgh, everyone is tiring of rowdy drunkenness. Is this the end of the foreign stag weekend?
Name: The Great Stag Ban.
Age: Recent.
Continue reading...National broadcaster embroiled in a real-life drama over clandestine payments to its star presenter
It has become Ireland’s top-rated show – a tale of celebrity, secrets and lies that has entranced the public and dominated the airwaves. Some reckon it is the most gripping drama ever produced by RTÉ.
Unfortunately for the national broadcaster, it is an all too real scandal over clandestine payments that has engulfed its star presenter and senior managers and planted a question mark over RTÉ’s future.
Continue reading...Parents and schools across Greystones adopt voluntary ‘no-smartphone code’ in bid to curb peer pressure
On the principle of strength in numbers, parents in the Irish town of Greystones have banded together to collectively tell their children they cannot have a smartphone until secondary school.
Parents’ associations across the district’s eight primary schools have adopted a no-smartphone code to present a united front against children’s lobbying.
Continue reading...Document says man claimed he would attempt to harm monarch while she was visiting California
An FBI file relating to a visit to the US by the late Queen Elizabeth II has revealed a potential plot to assassinate her.
The document, available on the FBI’s online vault, outlines what appears to be intelligence provided to federal agents about a threat to the queen’s life in California 40 years ago.
Continue reading...Live life to the full and relish the simple things, says Máirín Hughes
Ireland’s oldest woman has marked her 109th birthday by sharing two tips on how to enjoy a long life: don’t waste time, and live it to the full.
Máirín Hughes follows her own advice by bird-watching, reading newspapers and novels, doing crosswords, listening to music, playing Scrabble – and enjoying the fuss every time she reaches another birthday. “I just like living,” she told reporters on Monday.
Continue reading...Penalty from Ireland’s privacy regulator is a record for breach of EU data protection regulation
Facebook’s owner, Meta, has been fined a record €1.2bn (£1bn) and ordered to suspend the transfer of user data from the EU to the US.
The fine – equivalent to $1.3bn – imposed by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), which regulates Meta across the EU, is a record for a breach of the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Continue reading...The piece ran on 11 May and accused people who use fake tan of mocking those with naturally dark skin
The Irish Times has apologised for running an article about Irish women’s use of fake tan that was submitted by a hoaxer who used artificial intelligence.
The editor, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, said on Sunday that it had fallen victim to “a deliberate and coordinated deception” that showed a need for stronger controls.
Continue reading...Matt Barrett’s Instagram posts from Westminster Abbey cause embarrassment after Irish delegation sets precedent by attending
When Ireland’s leaders attended the coronation of King Charles III, it was hailed as a milestone in relations between Dublin and London.
The Irish president, Michael D Higgins, the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, set the precedent – their predecessors had shunned previous coronations – to show respect to their neighbour.
Continue reading...Passenger numbers rose to 16 million last month amid pent-up demand for air travel
Ryanair has recorded its third busiest month for traffic, having flown 16 million passengers in April as it continued to benefit from pent-up demand for air travel.
The budget airline said the figure marked a 13% increase in passenger numbers compared with the same month a year earlier, when it carried just over 14 million people, as customers sought to jet off on spring getaways including during the Easter holidays.
Continue reading...Sir Charles Trevelyan was Treasury official during great famine in 19th century when potato crops failed
The former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan has said her family would consider paying compensation to Ireland because of an ancestor’s role in the Great Famine of the 19th century.
Her great-great-great-grandfather Sir Charles Trevelyan, a senior British government official, was among those who “failed their people” during the humanitarian catastrophe in the 1840s, she said.
Continue reading...University said 18th-century philosopher and bishop bought enslaved people to work on his Rhode Island estate
Trinity College Dublin is to remove George Berkeley’s name from its biggest library because of the Irish philosopher’s links with slavery in the 18th century.
The university said on Wednesday it would “dename” the Berkeley library and review an academic award that carries his name, as well as portraits of the scholar.
Continue reading...Dominic Raab denies wrongdoing after report on his behaviour delivered to Rishi Sunak this morning
Today’s announcement by the Association of School and College Leaders that it is to hold a formal ballot for national strike action for the first time in its history (see 9.49am) marks a significant development in the ongoing dispute between teachers and the government.
Up until now only members of the National Education Union (NEU) have taken strike action in England, with five more days of strikes planned for later this term. In addition a fresh ballot is to be held to provide the NEU with a mandate for further strike action up until Christmas.
Continue reading...US president says Ireland trip ‘reinforced my sense of optimism about what can be done’
Joe Biden left Ireland in the early hours of Saturday vowing to run again for president, promising to formally announce his decision to run for a second presidential term “relatively soon”.
At the same time he spoke of his hope of an epoch of renewal in Northern Ireland, restating the “incredible” US investment opportunities that lay ahead if peace endures.
Continue reading...US president, whose son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015, tearful after chance meeting with Fr Frank O’Grady in Co Mayo
Joe Biden broke down in tears on the final day of his four-day trip to Ireland after a chance meeting with the priest who gave his son Beau the last rites before he died in 2015.
Fr Richard Gibbons, parish priest and rector of Knock Shrine, said Fr Frank O’Grady – the chaplain who was by Beau Biden’s side as he died – had moved to Knock to work there, leading to an unplanned meeting with the president.
Continue reading...US president turned his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina into a celebration of Irish and American values
Joe Biden has concluded his visit to Ireland with a passionate riverside address to tens of thousands of people at his ancestral town in County Mayo.
The US president turned his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina on Friday night into a celebration of Irish and American values that appeared partly aimed at US voters.
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