Category Archives: Ireland

Third night of unrest in Dublin as protesters target asylum hotel

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Officers pelted with stones and fireworks near Citywest facility after man charged over alleged assault on 10-year-old

Twenty-three people were arrested after an hours-long standoff with Irish police, whose members were directly struck with fireworks, stones and other debris on a third consecutive night of disorder in Dublin.

Two members of the Irish police service, An Garda Síochána, were taken to hospital with injuries sustained during clashes with protesters. One garda was struck on the head by a bottle while the other sustained a shoulder injury.

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Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin withdraws from Irish presidential race

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Election becomes unpredictable two-horse contest after political novice quits over debt revelations

One of the three main candidates in Ireland’s presidential election has quit the race in a bombshell announcement that has upended the contest.

Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin withdrew on Sunday night after revelations about an unpaid debt to a former tenant, turning the election into an unpredictable two-horse race between a centre-right former government minister and an independent leftwing member of parliament.

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Storm Amy: man dies in Ireland as fresh weather warning issued for UK

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Man dies in ‘weather-related incident’ in Co Donegal, while Met Office issues yellow wind warning for whole of UK

A man has died and a fresh weather warning covers the whole of the UK as Storm Amy continues to bring widespread disruption.

Irish police said the man died in a “weather-related” incident in the Letterkenny area of County Donegal, Ireland, shortly after 4.15pm on Friday.

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London’s royal parks closed due to strong winds; Scotland hit by power cuts and travel disruption – Storm Amy as it happened

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This blog has now closed, you can read more on this story here

The Environment Agency has issued two flood alerts where “flooding is expected” for Keswick Campsite in the Lake District and locations near the River Ure, particularly around Boroughbridge Camping and Caravanning Site in North Yorkshire.

“Avoid using low-lying footpaths and any bridges near local watercourses. Take care and avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water,” it advises.

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New research may rewrite origins of the Book of Kells, says academic

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Exclusive: Author challenges assumption monks on Iona created manuscript, instead positing its origins are Pictish

The Book of Kells was likely to have been created 1,200 years ago in Pictish eastern Scotland, rather than on the island of Iona, according to research that challenges long-held assumptions about one of the world’s most famous medieval manuscripts.

The Book of Kells is an intricate, illuminated account of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that was long thought to have been started in the late eighth century at the monastery on Iona before being taken in the 9th century to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, Ireland, after a Viking raid.

The Book of Kells by Victoria Whitworth (Bloomsbury Publishing, £35). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Assisted dying bill gets second reading in Lords, but with peers also setting up select committee to review it – as it happened

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Committee to conclude review of bill by 7 November. This live blog is closed

The UK is preparing to recognise the state of Palestine imminently, after Israel failed to meet conditions that would have postponed the historic step, including a ceasefire in Gaza, Patrick Wintour reports.

YouGov has relased polling today suggesting that Britons are in favour of this by more than two to one, although a large minority of people do not have a view.

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Irish police find child remains in hunt for boy not marked as missing for four years

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Gardaí believe body is that of Daniel Aruebose, whose 2022 disappearance was not noticed by authorities until last month

Irish police investigating the fate of a boy who disappeared four years ago but was only registered by authorities as missing last month have found the remains of a child on Dublin wasteland.

Gardaí named the missing boy as Daniel Aruebose, who is thought to have vanished in 2022 aged three, after they discovered the remains on Wednesday in the Donabate area of north Dublin.

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Conor McGregor pulls out of Ireland’s presidential race

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Former mixed martial arts fighter had vowed to curb immigration to shore up ‘Irish culture’ and give power ‘back to the people’

The former mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor has withdrawn from Ireland’s presidential election and complained that nomination rules were a “straitjacket” that prevented a true democratic contest.

“Following careful reflection, and after consulting with my family, I am withdrawing my candidacy from this presidential race,” he posted on X on Monday morning. “This was not an easy decision, but it is the right one at this moment in time.”

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Universities around the world cut ties with Israeli academia over Gaza war

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Educational bodies from Europe to South America are boycotting Israeli institutions, though Universities UK said it did not support the action

A growing number of universities, academic institutions and scholarly bodies around the world are cutting links with Israeli academia amid claims that it is complicit in the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 63,000 people have been killed in the territory – the majority of them civilians – with the true toll likely far higher. UN-backed experts have confirmed parts of Gaza, much of which has been reduced to rubble, are now in a “man-made” famine.

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‘Standing up for Palestinians’: why Greta Thunberg wears a Bohemian FC shirt

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The Swede has has not necessarily become a fan of Irish football, as she sports a club jersey made with help from Fontaines DC

The humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza is a serious mission with an incongruous detail: Greta Thunberg sporting a jersey of the Dublin football club Bohemians.

The Swedish activist wore the pale blue shirt during an earlier flotilla in June and again this week as vessels prepared to leave Barcelona.

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Eight people kidnapped from Haitian orphanage released after three weeks

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Irish aid worker and director Gena Heraty was taken along with seven Haitians, including a three-year-old child

An Irish aid worker and seven fellow captives have been released nearly a month after they were kidnapped in Haiti.

Gena Heraty, a missionary who ran the Our Little Brothers and Sisters orphanage in the hills outside Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, was abducted on 3 August along with seven Haitians, including a three-year-old child.

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‘We’re publicans’: County Limerick community forms syndicate to save village’s last pub

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Group in Kilteely pooled savings to buy bar and licence and ‘everybody brought something to the table’

A century ago, the County Limerick village of Kilteely had seven pubs but one by one they shut. This year, it braced to lose the last.

The economic and social trends that have shuttered family-run pubs across Ireland appear remorseless, leaving many communities with nowhere to meet, have a drink and share stories.

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‘It’s nearly come full circle’: Charlestown proud of Gallagher connection as Oasis come to Ireland

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Liam and Noel used to be taken for summer holidays with relatives in Mayo and kept returning after finding fame

Emigration ripped the heart out of Charlestown: generations of young people took the boat to England and left behind derelict homes and shuttered shops, a hollowing chronicled in a landmark 1968 book, The Death of an Irish Town.

Some returned to this corner of County Mayo for summer holidays – with children who were growing up with English accents and city ways – before vanishing back across the Irish Sea and leaving Charlestown to its decay.

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‘Why is this happening?’: violent attacks terrify Ireland’s immigrant community

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Spate of physical incidents includes attack on a six-year-old girl at a County Waterford housing estate

In the west Dublin suburb of Tallaght, a group of teenagers accosted, beat and partially stripped an Indian man, who was then filmed staggering and bleeding. Days later a gang attacked another Indian man in the nearby suburb of Clondalkin, hitting him in the face, chest, back and legs, leaving him with a fracture, gashes and multiple bruises.

Days later again, two male passengers turned on an Indian taxi driver in the north Dublin suburb of Ballymun, striking him across the face with a bottle and shouting: “Go back to your country.”

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Anniversary of birth of Irish hero Daniel O’Connell rekindles mystery of missing heart

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250th celebrations renew interest in searching for organ that disappeared from college in Rome

On his deathbed Daniel O’Connell, the man known in his time as “the Liberator” of Ireland, made a request: “My body to Ireland, my heart to Rome and my soul to heaven.”

On Wednesday Ireland marked the 250th anniversary of his birth with speeches and pomp and a nagging question: where is the heart?

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Ireland calls on Haiti to secure release of group kidnapped from local orphanage

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An Irish missionary and three-year-old child are among eight people taken by gunmen who stormed the place

Ireland’s foreign ministry has called on Haitian authorities to ensure “everything is done” to secure the release of a group of people, including an Irish missionary and a three-year-old child, taken by gunmen who stormed a local orphanage.

Simon Harris, the Irish foreign minister, spoke with his Haitian counterpart overnight, the government said in a statement, during which they agreed to stay in touch on their work to ensure the group is released, including missionary Gena Heraty who oversees the orphanage.

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Irish court rejects Conor McGregor’s appeal in sexual assault case

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Martial arts fighter loses attempt to overturn jury’s order that he compensates Nikita Hand

Conor McGregor has lost an appeal in Ireland over a civil court ruling last year awarding damages to a woman who accused him of rape.

Three judges at the court of appeal in Dublin dismissed all the grounds for appeal raised by McGregor, 36.

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Riverdance star Michael Flatley to seek Irish presidency nomination

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Plans for retired dancer to return from Monaco for run at post revealed during mansion dispute in court

After finding fame and fortune in Riverdance and other stage shows, Michael Flatley is to seek a new role: president of Ireland.

The Irish American dancer and impresario planned to move back from Monaco to Ireland and would seek nomination in the upcoming election, a Dublin court heard on Friday.

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Fiddle-laden fake trailer reignites debate about Hollywood’s Irish stereotypes

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Clip turned out to be a stunt, but strength of reaction speaks to genuine affront at Ireland’s portrayal on big screen

A man in a bar with a flat cap, bloodied knuckles and a dreamy look lays down his whiskey and writes a letter. “Dear Erin,” he begins, and a soundtrack of fiddles swells as he yearns for his lost love in the distant land of America.

The trailer for the upcoming film – tagline: “she was the Irish goodbye he never forgot” – ran in recent weeks in cinemas and online and was accompanied by a poster showing green mountains, shamrocks and a rainbow.

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Dig begins at site in Ireland believed to hold remains of nearly 800 infants

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Archaeologists, anthropologists and forensic experts aim to identify infants buried at former mother and baby home in Tuam

A century after Irish nuns first began to bury hundreds of infants in what would become a mass, unmarked grave, archaeologists and other specialists will start excavating the site in Tuam, County Galway.

A mechanical digger is to slowly start scraping earth on Monday at the 5,000-sq-metre (53,820 sq ft) site where the Bon Secours order is believed have interred 796 infants who died at the St Mary’s mother and baby home between 1925 and 1961.

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