Ward’s body was found at her home and Ahmed Abdirahman was arrested in Dublin
A man has appeared in a Dublin court charged with the murder of Mary Ward in Belfast.
The 22-year-old was found dead at her home on 1 October with neck wounds. Her body was found after police officers went to her house, but she was last seen alive on 25 September, according to police.
Continue reading...Comment follows claim Kremlin recruited member of parliament to damage UK-Irish relations during Brexit talks
Ireland is a “playground” for Russian intelligence, a former deputy chief of an Irish army unit has said following claims that a member of parliament was recruited by the Kremlin to undermine Anglo-Irish relations during Brexit talks.
Cathal Berry, now a Teachta Dála (TD, member of the Irish parliament), said he had not been surprised by a report at the weekend that the unnamed politician had been recruited “as an agent of influence” in a honeytrap operation.
Continue reading...Study uncovers vivid and poignant accounts of reefs as high as houses off countries including UK, France and Ireland
Only a handful of natural oyster reefs measuring at most a few square metres cling on precariously along European coasts after being wiped out by overfishing, dredging and pollution.
A study led by British scientists has discovered how extensive they once were, with reefs as high as a house covering at least 1.7m hectares (4.2m acres) from Norway to the Mediterranean, an area larger than Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Jack Chambers says money will be used on infrastructure, not giveaways, as he reveals government budget
The Irish finance minister has hailed the €14bn tax windfall from Apple as “transformational” just weeks after the government lost a case in the European court of justice arguing the tech company should keep its money.
Unveiling the country’s budget on Tuesday, Jack Chambers said the money would be used on infrastructure and not splurged on giveaways before the general election, which is expected in November.
Continue reading...Policy devised under Conservatives will be reviewed after warnings of chaos for producers and suppliers
Government plans to force food manufacturers to put “not for EU” labels on all meat and dairy products sold across Britain next month have been indefinitely postponed after warnings that the scheme could cause “chaos” for producers and suppliers.
The government will instead review the policy, which was devised under the Conservative administration. Legislation to implement the changes has yet to be brought in.
Continue reading...Irish building materials firm was identified by Grenfell inquiry as behaving with ‘persistent dishonesty’
A second professional golfer, Leona Maguire, is under pressure to end her sponsorship deal with the Irish company Kingspan after the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster found it behaved with “persistent dishonesty” in selling combustible foam insulation.
Grenfell United (GU), the bereaved and survivors group, is calling on the 29-year-old to drop the firm and stop wearing its logo on her golf shirts after the Ryder Cup player Shane Lowry announced he was doing so earlier this week.
Continue reading...Starmer to hold talks with Irish counterpart on first official visit of a British PM to country for five years
Keir Starmer has said he believes there can be a “deep” reset of relations with Ireland after arriving in Dublin for his first official visit, with Northern Ireland, Brexit and joint international interests on the agenda.
It is the first official visit of a British prime minister since Boris Johnson visited in 2019 to try to salvage a Brexit deal after years of strained relations.
Continue reading...Ireland’s deputy PM welcomes warmer relations as Keir Starmer arrives for official visit – but cautions UK cannot ‘cherrypick’ issues
The UK cannot have an “à la carte” reset of the Brexit agreement, Ireland’s deputy prime minister has said, just hours before Keir Starmer headed to Dublin for his first official visit to Ireland.
The tánaiste said the EU wanted an improved EU-UK relationship but that the UK could not “cherrypick”.
Continue reading...Inquiry to follow preliminary investigation unearthing 2,400 allegations of historic abuse
The Irish government is to set up a statutory commission of inquiry into sexual abuse at schools run by Catholic religious orders after a preliminary investigation found almost 2,400 allegations of historic abuse.
The investigation, led by a leading barrister, Mary O’Toole, documented 844 alleged abusers in 308 schools run by 42 religious orders across the Republic of Ireland.
Continue reading...Minister requests review of building project for bike shelter at Leinster House in Dublin
Ireland’s prime minister, Simon Harris, has said he is “angry and annoyed” at the “inexcusable” €336,000 cost for a bike shelter at Leinster House in Dublin, the seat of the Irish parliament.
The taoiseach told a news conference that “people can see the benefit of having somewhere to park a bike at a workplace” but what they don’t get is “the extraordinary sum of money” the shelter cost, and neither does he.
Continue reading...With just 5 million people, Ireland ranks sixth globally for foreign direct investment in US, above Italy and Mexico
More than 80 years since helping develop the nuclear bomb, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the mountains of eastern Tennessee remains a critical piece of the US government’s research-and-development infrastructure.
Inside its walls lie the world’s fastest supercomputer; fusion, fission and neutron research projects; and thousands of expert scientists and researchers.
Continue reading...Gardaí believe boy had been radicalised online and bore grudge about Irish peacekeepers in Middle East
Irish police suspect a possible terror motive in a stabbing attack outside an army barracks in Galway that inflicted serious injuries on a military chaplain.
Police have detained a 16-year-old boy who was reportedly radicalised online and had a grievance about Irish peacekeepers in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Dáil members call for investigation after far-right leader gave false country of birth to Canada’s immigration officers
Irish parliamentarians have called on their government to investigate how an Irish passport was obtained by Tommy Robinson, who has been accused of inciting riots from abroad.
The Luton-born far-right leader travels on an Irish passport in his real name – Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and was believed to have qualified for it via his mother, an Irish immigrant to Britain.
Continue reading...Woman named locally as Daena Walsh died shortly after being found with serious injuries in Midleton flat
Irish police are questioning a man in his 30s about the death of a woman in County Cork.
The woman was found with serious injuries at a flat in the town of Midleton at about 4.15pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Misinformation and disinformation played major part in riots after stabbings involving children
Anyone in Ireland sitting in front of their television screen or checking their mobile phone about events unfolding in Southport this week could not help but be struck by the similarities to what happened in Dublin in November last year.
On both occasions young children were repeatedly stabbed.
Continue reading...Police say crash happened at about 3.30pm on farmland near Killucan, County Westmeath
Two men have died after the helicopter they were travelling in crashed into a building near the Irish village of Killucan.
Irish police said the crash happened at approximately 3.30pm on Tuesday on farmland to the east of the village.
Continue reading...Police voice alarm at high numbers as 14-year-old boy on e-scooter and two motorcyclists among latest killed
Ireland’s police force has said it is seriously concerned about the number of deaths on the country’s roads after five fatalities over the weekend.
Those who lost their lives included motorcyclists and a 14-year-old boy on an e-scooter.
Continue reading...Irish singer’s brother speaks of shock at ‘hideous’ figure which ‘looked nothing like her’
Dublin’s wax museum is withdrawing a figure of Sinéad O’Connor amid criticism from her family and members of the public that it looked “nothing like her”.
Many reacted with shock when the waxwork figure was unveiled on Thursday.
Continue reading...Artefacts sent by farmer, who made the ‘absolutely mad’ discovery while cutting silage
When the national museum of Ireland received two 4,000-year-old axe heads, “thoughtfully” wrapped in foam inside a porridge box, from an anonymous source last month, it put out an appeal. The objects were “significant” and “exciting”, it said, but experts needed to know more about where exactly they had been found.
Now they have their answer: a farmer from County Westmeath has come forward as the mysterious sender, saying he made the “absolutely mad” discovery while using a metal detector on his land.
Continue reading...Ex-Crown Paints building in Coolock had been the scene of a large protest
A disused factory in Dublin earmarked to house asylum seekers has been set on fire following a protest at the site.
More than 1,000 people were protesting at the former Crown Paints building in Coolock on Friday night, in the north of the Irish capital, and gardaí were on the scene.
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