Flanagan jokes about having legs insured after mistakenly putting iPad in portrait mode for call
Gazing into the camera while you sit on a bed with no trousers on might, in another context, arouse certain expectations.
But Luke “Ming” Flanagan, an Irish MEP, was unaware his bottom half was showing as he beamed in from home to discuss agriculture policy on the European parliament’s official live broadcast.
Continue reading...Budget carrier is imposing 20% pay cuts for flight crew and 10% for cabin staff
French flight crew have accused Ryanair of blackmailing them into taking pay cuts or losing their jobs.
The Irish airline, which has warned it may cut up to 3,000 jobs in Europe, told staff in France it was imposing 20% salary cuts for flight crew and 10% for attendants. Those who are already on legal minimum wages will have their hours reduced.
Continue reading...Gardaí received intelligence about planned Offaly murder and put men under surveillance
It sounds like a scene from a Latin American gangster movie: police intercept four young Brazilian men with a submachine gun and a sawn-off shotgun – an alleged hit squad en route to assassinate a gang member over a drug debt.
But the checkpoint and arrests on Wednesday happened not in Rio de Janeiro but in Clara, a town in County Offaly in the midlands of Ireland.
Continue reading...Influential thinktank warns that UK will need to extend transition period in wake of coronavirus or risk very hard border
A new Brexit border in the Irish Sea will not be ready by Boris Johnson’s end-of-year deadline, according to a new analysis that warns more than 60 administrations, government departments and public bodies will be involved in overseeing the new system.
Ministers finally admitted last week that there would be some checks on certain goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from next January, when the Brexit transition period comes to an end.
Continue reading...UK government makes change to immigration law after Derry woman’s residency case
All British and Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland will be be treated as EU citizens for immigration purposes, the government has announced after a landmark court case involving a Derry woman over the residency rights of her US-born husband.
The move is a major victory for Emma de Souza ending a three-year battle to be recognised by the Home Office as Irish, a right enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).
Continue reading...The author’s bestselling novel of confinement has gained new resonance during coronavirus
As the author of Room, a story about a mother and child held captive for years in a garden shed, Emma Donoghue mapped the mental toll of extreme confinement long before coronavirus lockdowns.
Her character Ma endured boredom, frustration, anguish and worse – yet somehow created a rich, nurturing environment for her son.
Continue reading...Salvage experts say owner of MV Alta, which ran aground in February, may never be found
The ghost ship that washed on to Ireland’s coast earlier this year remains something of a mystery: its owner has not been found, which could potentially leave the Irish state with a bill of millions for its removal.
Authorities are still trying to trace those who own and are responsible for the MV Alta, a 77-metre cargo vessel that ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork overlooking the Celtic Sea, in February.
Continue reading...Three-month easing includes some retailers opening from 18 May and restaurants from 29 June
Ireland has extended its lockdown for another two weeks to 18 May, when it will introduce a phased, five-stage exit over three months.
The country’s lockdown regime has been much stricter than the UK’s, but Friday night’s announcement offers a clear, step-by-step map out of the lockdown for schools, shops and businesses as well as the global Irish diaspora including more than 300,000 in the UK, many of whom would normally make visits home in the summer.
Continue reading...Men fled country while on bail after their arrest in 2001 and a highly-publicised trial
Three alleged IRA members accused of training Colombian rebels in bomb-making techniques have been granted amnesty nearly two decades after they were arrested, as part of the South American nation’s ongoing peace process.
Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley, who became known as the Colombia Three, were arrested at Bogotá’s El Dorado airport in 2001. They were charged with travelling on false documents and teaching members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc) how to build improvised mortar bombs.
Continue reading...O’Rahilly, who also managed pop stars and James Bond actor George Lazenby, was diagnosed with dementia in 2013
Ronan O’Rahilly, the Irish founder of the notorious Radio Caroline that popularised pop music on British radio, has died aged 79.
His death was announced by the radio station that is still broadcasting, who said: “In a pastime populated by unusual people, Ronan was more unusual than all of them combined.” He had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2013.
Continue reading...Drone footage from Ireland shows the streets of Dublin eerily empty after the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, announced coronavirus lockdown restrictions would be extended for another three weeks. The measures, which prevent people from leaving home in all but limited circumstances, were due to expire on Easter Sunday
Continue reading...Party leaders agree to seek ‘full and equal partnership’ for five years and rotate taoiseach role
Ireland’s ruling Fine Gael party and its longtime rival Fianna Fáil have moved closer to forming an unprecedented coalition government.
Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, and Micheál Martin, the Fianna Fáil leader, agreed on Tuesday to seek a “full and equal partnership” for five years, during which they would rotate the position of taoiseach. The pair will brief their parties on the details on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Figures from Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium suggest UK may be underestimating care sector deaths
About half of all Covid-19 deaths appear to be happening in care homes in some European countries, according to early figures gathered by UK-based academics who are warning that the same effort must be put into fighting the virus in care homes as in the NHS.
Snapshot data from varying official sources shows that in Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium between 42% and 57% of deaths from the virus have been happening in homes, according to the report by academics based at the London School of Economics (LSE).
Continue reading...Taoiseach has announced Ireland will extend its coronavirus lockdown for at least three more weeks, until 5 May. He said the decision was taken on expert advice. 'We cannot be complacent. What we're doing is difficult, but it is making a difference'
Fatal shooting of Dublin criminal is latest incident in saga of vicious score-settling
It started with taunts about stolen flip-flops, veered into a litany of horrors – abduction, murder, dismemberment, betrayal, vengeance – and ended with a party.
The gangland feud propelling such violence and depravity has played out in Ireland and now moved to the UK.
Continue reading...Authorities have announced measures ranging from the draconian to the quixotic
Authorities around the world are preparing to use curfews, roadblocks, travel bans, surveillance technology and threats of fines and arrests to deter people from travelling and congregating over Easter.
Many governments have already announced tighter restrictions and increased police enforcement in an effort to sustain lockdowns during a holiday period traditionally associated with trips and socialising.
Continue reading...Growers from Ireland to Spain says coronavirus lockdown has stopped migrant workers from arriving
At this time of year John Greene is usually preparing to welcome dozens of Slovakian strawberry pickers for another harvest at his farm in County Wexford in south-east Ireland.
The work is arduous and repetitive and he relies on their experience and stamina to get the fruit picked, packed and sold.
Continue reading...Video by activists appears to show cruel treatment of weeks-old cattle transported on long journeys to Europe for veal
Footage which appears to show Irish calves being beaten and kicked at a French feeding station has been published by animal campaign groups.
The video, published by Eyes on Animals (EoA) and French welfare organisation L214, appears to show workers repeatedly beating calves that are a few weeks old with sticks. One is kicked and another is dragged away, unable to stand. The calf was euthanised by a vet, said an EoA observer.
Continue reading...Coronavirus crisis spurs Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil government formation talks
The coronavirus crisis has spurred government formation talks in Ireland between Leo Varadkar’s ruling Fine Gael party and its old rival, Fianna Fáil.
Both parties lost seats in a general election last month that marked a revolt against the political establishment, but parliamentary arithmetic and the coronavirus pandemic have prodded them towards an unprecedented coalition.
Continue reading...Officials say proposed 38,000-tonne sea barrier could damage sand dunes at Doonbeg resort
The climate crisis just became more personal for Donald Trump, after authorities in Ireland rejected an attempt by his Doonbeg golf resort to build a wall to combat rising sea levels.
The planning agency An Bord Pleanála said on Wednesday that the proposed 38,000-tonne rock barrier at Doughmore Bay could damage dunes that straddle the golf course in County Clare, on the Atlantic coast.
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