New data reveals serious problems with ambulance response times in some areas of the country. Photograph: Alan Betson Ambulances missing HSE response time targets

Crews in some areas reach fewer than half of life-threatening cases within target times

Labour expected to back moves for new Garda authority For Fine Gael, a Garda authority or board has never been on its agenda, and it would be likely to resist such a move, even if it was pressed by Labour. Photograph: Frank Miller

Letter by Labour Party TDs and Senators calling for new oversight arrangements for Garda is understood to have backing of party leadership

AIB writes off €170,000 in mortgage debt AIB’s latest write off was from the mortgage of a couple with three children living in Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

Deal may be largest example of debt forgiveness for borrower in negative equity

Radar shows sharp change in altitude and course of jet An Indonesian search and rescuemember looks through binoculars during a search operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft. Photograph: EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak

Data could provide critical new clues as investigators try to determine what happened to missing jet

Taoiseach uses St Patrick’s Day events to urge action on US immigration reform US President Barack Obama with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday, March 14th, 2014. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

Obama expresses disappointment at deadlock in Northern Ireland peace talks

I’m no saint (Saint) Patrick Freyne queues for a bus on O’Connell Street in Dublin. Photograph; Dara Mac Dónaill

Patrick or Patricia, Paddy or Patsey, Pádraig or Pat. When you share your name with Ireland’s national saint, there’s a certain degree of flexibility required. Here, a parade of Patricks and Patricias reveal how they put their own stamp on their name

Hopes rise that Gaelic rather Gallic flair triumphs in Paris Irish fans Niall Ennis, Patrick Berkery and Niall Martin from Dublin in Paris ahead of the Ireland-France Six Nations match. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

Irish rugby fans bask in smoggy haze of French capital

Have U2 still not found what they’re looking for in a new album? U2’s Larry Mullen Jr, The Edge, Bono and Adam Clayton attend the Oscars earlier in the month

U2’s album delay has led to speculationthe band are unhappy with the material

Haughey was suing helicopter makers over alleged faults The wreckage of the helicopter in Gillingham, Norfolk, England, which crashed yesterday, killing all four occupants, including Northern Ireland businessman Edward Haughey. Photograph: Jason Bye/EPA

Businessman claimed Agusta Westland had suffered series of defects and reliability problems

St Patrick's Week 2014 Full coverage of all the events from around Ireland and beyond
 

Latest News

01:01 Great white shark turns tail and heads towards Greenland
01:01 Have U2 still not found what they’re looking for in a new album?
01:01 Tánaiste brings Franco-Irish relations to 'new register'
01:01 Radar shows sharp change in altitude and course of jet
01:01 Poll finds most feel proud to be Irish on national holiday
01:01 Director of the Golden Eagle Trust concerned for the long term

Most Read

1 Missing Malaysia plane ‘deliberately diverted’
2 Ireland to stand and deliver in Paris
3 Radar shows sharp change in altitude and course of jet
4 Morgan Kelly warns our real economic crisis will begin if ECB credit stops
5 38 reasons we should hate the French (or at least dislike them mildly)
The Daily Wire Catch up on the day's rolling news as it happened with Conor Pope.
 
‘Everyone is focused on the bad debts of SMEs as a threat to bank solvency (they are a small one, at least compared with mortgages) but the real issue is the threat to employment.’ Photograph: Don MacMonagle
Morgan Kelly Opinion: Ireland's real crisis may be yet to come?
 
‘Christine Buckley was an implacable fighter, not because she wanted to be, but because she was forced to be. Once you become a whistleblower or an inconvenient truthteller, once you utter a profound truth and they isolate you and call you a liar, what else do you do?’ Photograph: Arthur Carron/Collins
Kathy Sheridan Christine Buckley: great whistleblower of our time
 
Kian Egan on The Voice
Boybands 'The old chair in the corner no one wants to get rid of'
 
Trish Deseine in Paris. Photograph: Deirdre Rooney
Food file Marie Claire Digby with the weekly food news round-up
 

Business

ESB has released its annual report for 2013 which show the State-owned energy group boosted its after-tax profits by €80 million to €415 million Profits and revenues grow strongly at ESB

Pay freeze for staff expires this month, with unions considering request for a rise

Judging by its financial performance in 2013, the group will not be able to plead poverty if faced with a new pay claim – this puts Pat Rabbitte in a bind ESB’s growing financial strength could be the cause of its next problem
Largo Foods managing director Ray Coyle and Mr Tayto 140 jobs to go at Largo Foods in Donegal

Sport

Jonathon Sexton practices his kicking in the Stade de France yesterday in preparation for the crucial Six Nations decider in Paris. Photo: Billy Stickland/Inpho Ireland to stand and deliver in Paris

It won’t be easy but Joe Schmidt’s side have the ability to secure the title with a famous victory in paris

Owner Michael O’Leary congratulates jockey Paul Carberry after Very Well won the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham yesterday. Gigginstown four-timer among six Irish winners on the last day
Brendan Rodgers: “When you’re not in the Champions League we found it difficult because the best players want to play in the best competitions.” Photograph: Chris Ison/PA Rodgers warns United on failure to qualify for European top tier

Columnists

Frank McNally Frank McNally -

The last supper of a man who tried to stop the war

Shane Hegarty Shane Hegarty -

What ‘True Detective’ might have learned from ‘Breaking Bad’

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Róisín Ingle Róisín Ingle -

Róisín Ingle on . . . the coping class

Life & Style

(Saint) Patrick Freyne queues for a bus on O’Connell Street in Dublin. Photograph; Dara Mac Dónaill I’m no saint

Patrick or Patricia, Paddy or Patsey, Pádraig or Pat. When you share your name with Ireland’s national saint, there’s a certain degree of flexibility required. Here, a parade of Patricks and Patricias reveal how they put their own stamp on their name

Readership patterns: irishtimes.com imprinted on the Arctic snow by Charlie Bird There’s a worrying sound coming from the refrigerator of the world
Photograph: Alan Betson 999: ambulance emergency

Culture

Light brigade: Austin during SXSWi. Photograph: Michael Buckner/Getty Austin powers: 10 trends for 2014 from SXSWi

South By Southwest Interactive is now much more than a technology festival. The thousands of delegates who come to the heart of Texas are searching for new ideas and perspectives

Author Emma Donoghue in Dublin. Photograph: Eric Luke In love with life’s losers
Circa 1600, English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) ponders his next work. (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images) What kind of God did Shakespeare believe in?

Sponsored

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Exam Times Exam Times

The essential study guides for Leaving Cert and Junior Cert students

Do you love what you do or are you just happy to have a job? Do you love what you do or are you just happy to have a job?

If you love what you do, chances are you are brilliant at it

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If you want to send money to family and friends overseas, make sure that more of your hard-earned cash reaches them

Video

Patients of Temple Streeet Children's Hospital have made a video tribute for Brian O' Driscoll on the eve of the big game in Paris. Video: Temple Street Children's Hospital
For the love of BOD - Temple Street kids make tribute video
James and Bernadette McQuillan from Drogheda, Co. Louth talk about their son Wayne who died on January 1st this year, and express concerns about the waiting time for an ambulance on that night which had to come from Ardee. Video : Bryan O'Brien
Ambulance shambles: vehicle came too late for Wayne McQuillan
Amy and Sadie at the game, Sean Penn in town and Trinity students making a Holi show of themselves. All captured this week by Irish Times photographers. Video: Niamh Guckian
In The Frame: The week in Irish Times photos
The extraordinary life of Agnes Bernelle, and her bitter-sweet songs about life and its trials, are celebrated in CoisCéim’s new dance show 'Agnes' at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Video: Bryan O'Brien
Agnes Bernelle: dancer, director, singer, spy
'A Year In Dublin' is a film made by Ciaran Neilan and Leo Hynes of zookocreative.com. The pair say they filmed the city for a year hoping to capture its well known magic.
Magic of 'A Year in Dublin' captured on film

Podcasts

Postgrad options From business to digital: the postgrad survival pack 2014
 

Galleries

Davy Russell celebrates winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Lord Windermere. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho Cheltenham: Gold Cup day
London Bank open toe shoe, €330, Kurt Geiger at brownthomas.com and in store Ankle strap detailed heel, €40, Marks and Spencer What we like: Spring shoes
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Our Bloggers

My space voyage through Europe

A career with the European Space Agency has been an experience out of this world for Laurence O'Rourke

Popularity of Canada continues to rise

Crosscare publishes survey of emigrants in Canada as Irish snap up visa quota in record time

Emigrants organise ‘social media parade for all’

#misefreisin aims to showcase a 'more authentic image of Ireland' this St Patrick's Day

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