Ireland's prime minister, Leo Varadkar, delivers stark warnings and calls for unity in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. Speaking on St Patrick's Day, Varadkar called for citizens to isolate, for pubs and restaurants to close and social gatherings to be cancelled. Varadkar also said the most vulnerable would be looked after, insisting banks, government and utilities were there to help
Category Archives: Ireland
St Patrick’s day – in pictures
On the day after 54 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Ireland, deserted streets and shuttered pubs stripped of cheers, speeches and marching bands marked a St Patrick’s day like no other.
Continue reading...Airlines make dramatic cuts to services and call for state bailouts
Aviation consultancy warns that international industry could collapse within months
Major airlines including British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic announced a dramatic scaling-back of their operations on Monday, including plans to cancel the majority of their flights and ground thousands of planes, with experts and industry executives calling for government bailouts to avoid bankruptcies.
The moves came as an aviation consultancy warned that the international airline industry will collapse within months, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, unless states worldwide inject billions of dollars of emergency funding to see it through the coronavirus “catastrophe”.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Continue reading...US expands travel ban to UK and Ireland amid Coronavirus outbreak – video
All travel between the United States and the UK and Ireland will be suspended from midnight EST on Monday. Vice-president Mike Pence announced the new measure at a coronavirus task force news briefing on Saturday.
A top medical official Anthony Fauci said the move could change the course of coronavirus's spread across the country, which he said 'has not yet reached its peak'.
Continue reading...Varadkar and Foster discuss cross-border coronavirus approach
Republic of Ireland’s caretaker taoiseach and Northern Ireland’s first minister meet in Armagh
Leo Varadkar and Arlene Foster are meet to discuss a cross-border approach to combatting coronavirus.
With mass gatherings including sporting events and concerts to be banned across the UK from next weekend, pressure was growing on Northern Irish leaders to close schools in line with the move south of the border.
Continue reading...Ireland school closures reveal stark contrast to UK Covid-19 response
Critics of UK coronavirus measures call for joint strategy on island of Ireland
Ireland is shutting schools, colleges and childcare facilities to delay the spread of coronavirus in contrast to the UK which is keeping education institutions open, exposing a stark divergence in response to the crisis.
Irish authorities said the shutdown would begin at 6pm on Thursday and last at least until 29 March as part of a series of restrictions, including a ban on mass gatherings, that will be kept under review.
Continue reading...Ireland’s shock election: did a ‘youthquake’ really drive up the Sinn Féin vote? – video
Sinn Féin won the popular vote in Ireland’s recent elections shaking up a two-party system that has been dominated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for decades. The success was described as a youthquake but was that really the case? We meet some of the activists, politicians and voters to ask them what the result says about Ireland and about their hopes for a government as coalition talks continue
Welsh woman declares vindication after ‘guerrilla rewilding’ court case
Sioned Jones convicted of stealing logs after 20 years of felling non-native trees in Cork
Sioned Jones used to adore the landscape and wildlife of her adopted home in Bantry, a bucolic region in west Cork on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. She planted vegetables and herbs, foraged for nuts and berries and observed birds, insects, frogs and lizards.
Then, on land above her house, the state-owned forestry company Coillte planted a forest of Sitka spruce, a non-native species that Jones considered a dark, dank threat to biodiversity.
Continue reading...Micheál Martin faces a battle of conscience to form Irish government
Fianna Fáil leader is a key player in breaking parliamentary deadlock, but has ruled out working with Sinn Féin
Ireland’s political deadlock hinges on the cold, hard numbers of parliamentary arithmetic, but there is an additional, nebulous factor: the conscience of Micheál Martin.
The leader of Fianna Fáil is the party leader best positioned to wrangle a government and emerge as taoiseach. It would safeguard his job as party leader and crown his career, giving him a chance to shape history in the Brexit era.
Continue reading...Gerry Adams will be Sinn Féin negotiator, leaked brief reveals
Party challenged over IRA links as former leader quietly chosen to help form next government
Sinn Féin has included Gerry Adams on its negotiating team to form the next Irish government, fuelling renewed scrutiny over the party’s links with the IRA.
A party briefing note leaked on Friday named Adams as a negotiator, raising questions as to why he was not on the published list. The disclosure came as political opponents piled pressure on Sinn Féin to renounce the IRA in advance of talks to form a coalition government.
Continue reading...Varadkar resigns as Irish government enters stalemate
Taoiseach will continue as caretaker leader after inconclusive sitting of Dáil Éireann
Leo Varadkar has resigned as taoiseach after Ireland’s hung parliament entered deadlock over the choice of a new premier.
Varadkar submitted his resignation to Michael D Higgins, the president of Ireland, on Thursday night after a tempestuous but inconclusive sitting of Dáil Éireann, which met for the first time since the 8 February election. It adjourned until 5 March, giving party leaders three weeks to try to form a ruling coalition.
Continue reading...Irish contractors get first look at grounded ‘ghost ship’ MV Alta
Cargo ship ran aground near Cork after floating in the Atlantic since September 2018
It leans on the rocks at an almost jaunty angle, framed by the horizon whence it came, not a soul in sight.
MV Alta, a ghost ship that traversed the Atlantic for more than a year without crew or passengers, berthed at last. The 77-metre cargo vessel’s odyssey came to an end during Storm Dennis last Sunday when it ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork, Ireland, overlooking the Celtic Sea.
Continue reading...Andrzej Krauze on a united Ireland – cartoon
Brexit and the surprising gains for Sinn Féin in Ireland’s general election have combined to reopen the debate about economic and political partition
Continue reading...Varadkar prepares to go into opposition as deadlock continues
Irish parliament set to meet on Thursday despite no party having a majority
Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach, has said he is prepared to lead his ruling Fine Gael party into opposition and to let Sinn Féin and other parties try to form a government.
Varadkar emerged from a six-hour meeting with Fine Gael’s parliamentary party on Monday night saying he “relishes” the chance to rebuild it from the opposition benches.
Continue reading...Ghost ship washes ashore in Ireland after more than a year at sea
Public warned away from MV Alta, which ran aground on Cork coast during Storm Dennis
Abandoned by its crew, the cargo vessel made a lonely odyssey across the Atlantic, a ghost ship seemingly destined never to make port.
The 77-metre MV Alta drifted for over a year, skirting the Americas, Africa and Europe, rusting and derelict yet resolutely afloat.
Continue reading...Mary-Lou McDonald: violent dissident republicans should disband
Sinn Féin president’s statement comes after senior party figures were threatened
Violent dissident republicans should disband, the leader of Sinn Féin has said. Anti-peace process renegades threatened the party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, and veteran policing spokesman Gerry Kelly after they supported a recent recruitment campaign for new Catholic officers.
The party’s president, Mary-Lou McDonald, said they would not be deterred or intimidated by the gunmen. She added: “These people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer. They are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people.”
Continue reading...Ireland: Fianna Fáil rules out coalition with Sinn Féin
Decision leaves Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael with choice of a deal or risking fresh election
Ireland’s largest party, Fianna Fáil, has said it will not consider going into government with Sinn Féin, a decision likely to prevent the leftwing nationalists from entering power for the first time.
It effectively leaves Ireland’s two dominant centre-right parties – Fianna Fáil and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael - with a choice of joining forces or risking a fresh election that could further boost Sinn Féin.
Continue reading...Sinn Féin begins efforts to form leftwing coalition in Ireland
Mary Lou McDonald will talk to Greens and others but pact with Fianna Fáil is also possible
Sinn Féin has started reaching out to leftwing parties to try to form a ruling coalition but potential allies have said there are insufficient parliamentary numbers to produce Ireland’s first government of the left.
Ireland’s traditional ruling parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, signalled on Tuesday that they would give Sinn Féin’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, time to try to forge a rainbow alliance in recognition of her party’s stunning general election results.
Continue reading...This election shows Ireland has moved on from Sinn Féin’s past | Siobhán Fenton
Voters now appear more concerned about social justice and housing than the party’s historical connections
For almost a century, political power in Ireland has been held by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The two centrist parties have ruled in some form or another, be it through coalitions or confidence-and-supply arrangements with other smaller parties. Saturday’s general election has upended this political duopoly.
Sinn Féin topped the poll in first-preference votes for the first time, with a share of 24.5%. Fianna Fáil received 22.2%, while Fine Gael, in government since 2011, came third with 20.9%. Under Ireland’s proportional representation voting system, it will take several days for the calculations to be made to establish exactly how many seats each party will win. Once that’s clear, negotiations will begin to see who can somehow form a government.
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