Irish data regulator says platform put 13- to 17-year-old users’ accounts on default public setting, among other breaches
TikTok has been fined €345m (£296m) for breaking EU data law in its handling of children’s accounts, including failing to shield underage users’ content from public view.
The Irish data watchdog, which regulates TikTok across the EU, said the Chinese-owned video app had committed multiple breaches of GDPR rules.
Continue reading...Retailer warns there may be ‘small stones’ in four products from its range and urges customers to return them for refund
Costa Coffee has recalled some of its range of sandwiches and wraps after it emerged that they could contain small stones.
The chain warned customers that four of its products could be affected, and that they could pose a choking hazard if they were eaten.
Continue reading...Taoiseach says ‘whole nation mourns’ after three teenagers and 24-year-old die on exam results night
Four young people who died in a crash in County Tipperary while on the way to exam results celebrations have been named.
Luke McSweeney, 24, his sister Grace McSweeney, 18, Nicole Murphy, 18, and Zoey Coffey, 18, died at the scene after the car they were travelling in struck a wall on Friday, Gardaí said.
Continue reading...Ivan van Chittenden and Brendan Wall were competing in event that Triathlon Ireland did not sanction owing to bad weather
An Ironman swimming race in which two competitors died was not sanctioned by the governing body for triathlons in Ireland due to concerns about “adverse conditions”.
Triathlon Ireland said it had not sanctioned the Ironman Cork event in Youghal because of the weather.
Continue reading...Sacking of star presenter over pay scandal stirs debate about his treatment by Irish broadcaster
Ireland’s national broadcaster faces an uncertain future after axing its star presenter, Ryan Tubridy, in a scandal over under-declared payments.
RTÉ surprised the public and divided opinion by announcing Tubridy would not return to the airwaves, capping two months of turmoil over accounting and governance practices that has cast doubt on the organisation’s future funding.
Continue reading...National broadcaster’s director-general says negotiations for star presenter’s return ended after breakdown of trust
The Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ, has announced Ryan Tubridy will not be returning to his presenting role after a controversy over the under-declaration of his salary.
The RTÉ director-general, Kevin Bakhurst, said negotiations with the 50-year-old about returning to his radio show had concluded, after stating that trust between the parties had “broken down”.
Continue reading...‘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.
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