Republic of Ireland international Troy Parrott was in goalscoring form again for Real Betis, netting on his Champions League debut as the Spanish club claimed a 3-2 win away to Lille.

Ayasa Ueda put the hosts ahead early with his 12th-minute strike, but Marc Bartra scored his first equaliser of the evening on 33 minutes.

Alexsandro restored Lille’s lead minutes later, but Bartra would again find the net on 49 minutes to pull Manuel Pellegrini’s side back level.

On 53 minutes, Parrott, making his second start in his fourth appearance for his new club, capitalised on some poor defending by Nathan Ngoy to put Betis ahead.

🚨🇪🇺 | GOAL: TROY PARROTT SEALS THE COMEBACK FOR REAL BETIS!

WHAT A GOLAZO! WHAT AGAME! FANTASTIC!

Lille 2-3 Real Betis. https://t.co/fQQj4k08L1

— TheGoalsZone (@TheGoalsZone) September 8, 2026

A red card for Ethan Mbappé soon added to the home side’s woes and Parrott threatened again late on, hitting the woodwork with a long, curling effort in the last play of the game as Betis held on for the win.

It comes after the Dubliner scored his first goal for his new side last time out, netting what proved to be the winner in their La Liga meeting with Real Madrid on Friday.

“I’m very happy for Parrott,” Pellegrini said of the 24-year-old’s effort against Madrid. “He made a mistake against Levante,” he added, referencing their 5-2 defeat on Parrott’s first start for Betis on August 29th, “but [on Friday] he had the instinct to score that goal.

“It’s going to give him a lot of confidence. It was a goal of great effort and power.”

Next up for Betis in the Champions League is a home tie on October 14th against Portuguese side Porto, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday night.

US Central Command (Centcom) said the warship evaded both attempted attacks, and no American personnel were injured.

US forces struck the tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Iran’s Kharg Island, Centcom said in a statement, adding that American forces “directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck”.

Centcom said the targeted tankers were “part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies”, though the military did not provide further details.

Remarking on the latest strikes, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said the US would not let Iran’s attacks to go unanswered.

Iran threatens US with new ‘economic warfare’ and missiles as Houthis attack Saudi Arabia

“Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships. And for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers. And I think you’ll see that again today,” Rubio said, responding to reporters’ questions about the attack while on a trip to Colombia.

The strikes followed an earlier dispute over a US underwater drone in the strait of Hormuz, which the IRGC claimed its naval forces had seized as part of a “complex intelligence and operational action at dawn”, according to Iranian state TV. In a statement provided to Iranian state media, the IRGC said images of the vessel would be released shortly.

However, the US military said the unmanned submarine had “malfunctioned” more than a day earlier.

In a statement, US Navy Capt Tim Hawkins, a United States Central Command spokesperson, said the submersible was “defective” and an older model “that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment”. Operations in waters in the area continue, he said.

Iran has maintained a blockade of the strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about one fifth of the global oil and gas shipments, since the outbreak of the war more than six months ago, while the US has imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.

After a month of relative calm in August, Iran and the US have resumed exchanges of fire, sending ‌global oil prices back up to levels last seen in July.

US president Donald Trump has struggled to end the unpopular war, which has claimed the lives of 18 US service members.

Iranian authorities have previously put the overall death toll from US and Israeli strikes in the thousands, figures that outside observers, including US-based monitoring groups, have broadly corroborated. – Guardian

The filing - a ‌rare window into the league’s financial state - estimates assets between $100 million and $500 million, with liabilities between $500 million and $1 billion.

Most notably, ​the filing listed several star golfers as creditors still owed millions in unsecured claims. Spaniard Jon Rahm has the largest claim among players at $7.5 million, followed by Bryson DeChambeau ($5.7 million), Dustin Johnson ($5.5 million), Cameron Smith of Australia ($4.8 ​million), Tyrrell Hatton of England ($3.4 million) and Brooks Koepka ($1.7 million). Koepka left the league at the start of 2026.

LIV Golf ⁠was bankrolled by the Saudi Public Investment Fund from its inception in 2022 until this ‌year, ‌when ​the sovereign wealth fund decided to step away. LIV’s decision to file for bankruptcy is not a sign that it is dissolving, ⁠but rather a step toward restructuring and ​continuing the PGA Tour competitor under a new ​business plan.

CEO Scott O’Neil published a letter to fans addressing the filing.

“Now it is time ‌to enter the next phase of ​LIV Golf,” O’Neil wrote. “Today, we took an important step forward to get there. LIV Golf ⁠has entered a court-supervised restructuring process ⁠that provides us ​with the time and framework to address previous financial obligations and complete a transaction that will make the League’s next phase a reality. Put simply, this process is designed to build a stronger and more sustainable future for LIV Golf.”

O’Neil went on to say LIV intends to continue staging events in some of its more popular international destinations - Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Hong Kong and England among them. The league ‌also will seek to ⁠continue playing in the United States.

“The next phase of LIV Golf will be built around a sustainable business model and deeper alignment between players and the ‌League, with team golf at its core,” O’Neil wrote. “Players will have the opportunity to share directly in the value they ​help create, while teams will be positioned to grow into enduring ​global sports businesses. And fans will remain at the center of everything we do.”

LIV has an agreement in place with BC Partners Advisors for restructuring support.

A further eight in 10 firms reported this lack of skilled workers is “increasing regulatory and operational risks” across the industry, the institute found in a survey of 125 senior compliance experts in the State’s financial services sector.

Institute chief executive Michael Kavanagh described it as “concerning” that “the overwhelming majority” of compliance experts believe this qualification shortfall is increasing risk.

“Financial crime is increasingly digital in nature, faster to execute and more complex to detect”, he said, adding that artificial intelligence (AI) “has made the task of tackling financial crime even more challenging.”

The Central Bank of Ireland released on Friday its annual payment fraud statistics, revealing that almost €180 million was reported in fraudulent transactions in 2025, a 27.2 per cent increase in the amount of money stolen compared to the previous year, with a notable rise in the average value of fraudulent transactions conducted through e-money institutions.

The bank’s deputy governor for consumer and investor protection, Colm Kincaid, said: “All actors in the system from financial firms to technology companies need to continue to improve their systems and controls to reduce the likelihood of these frauds occurring.”

But 56 per cent of respondents to the institute’s survey said they do not believe the Irish financial services sector is developing enough compliance and financial crime talent to meet future demand.

Only 8 per cent “fully” believe the sector has enough properly qualified compliance professionals to deal with the issues at hand, while 41 per cent believe so “to some extent”.

Meanwhile, a further 41 per cent believe moderate shortages exist and 10 per cent say these are significant.

“The results of our survey suggest that skills gaps in the Irish financial services sector mean that many organisations may be already finding it hard to find people with the right skills to combat financial crime,” Kavanagh said.

He continued: “The overwhelming volume and pace of regulatory changes often puts significant pressure on compliance teams in the sector. The sheer breadth of regulations demands a significant allocation of time, expertise, and operational focus, often stretching teams to their limits.

“Firms of course need to take steps themselves to ensure their staff are adequately trained and have the know-how to combat the regulatory and operational risks faced by the Irish financial services sector.

“But there also needs to be a concerted effort by the Government and industry to invest more in talent so that the Irish financial services sector can truly prosper and navigate all the challenges that come its way.”

The pilot of the Aer Lingus plane reported the sighting to Dublin Air Traffic Control at around 5.20pm on Tuesday.

The report came at a time widespread flight disruptions in the UK and Ireland due to air traffic control issues in London. Around 50 flights operating in and out of Dublin were cancelled, as were around 600 others in the UK.

According to a record of air traffic control transmissions, the Aer Lingus pilot reported the drone was operating at 6,000ft and was about 3km to the aircraft’s left side at it flew into Dublin from Cornwall.

The pilot reported the drone was about “10 miles” from LAPMO, a navigation point near Howth in north Co Dublin. That would put it somewhere off the Co Wicklow coast.

Asked by air traffic control if he spotted any identifying marks on the drone, the pilot replied that it was large and black.

The air traffic controller said he would pass the information on to Dublin Airport.

An Irish Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched to the general area of the reported drone sighting a short time later. It spent a number of hours flying over the Dublin Bay area.

AirNav Ireland, which provides air traffic management services in Irish airspace, said an aircraft “arriving into Dublin this evening reported a possible drone sighting”.

“In line with our normal safety procedures, a safety report was filed and the sighting was reported to An Garda Síochána. As this matter is now with the relevant authorities, we have no further comment at this time,” it added.

Air traffic controllers asked various aircraft in the general area if they caught sight of the object. None reported that they did, according to recordings reviewed by The Irish Times.

“We’ve no radar return down there and nothing that we’re aware of in the area,” an air traffic controller told one aircraft. “So, just keep your eyes out there, would you mind?”

The purported sighting occurred shortly after the conclusion of meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Dublin Castle. It is not known if it caused any disruption to air traffic over Dublin.

Gardaí said they were aware of an alleged sighting of an unconfirmed object over the Irish Sea, off the east coast.

“An Garda Síochána continue to investigate the reports in conjunction with the relevant authorities.”

Aer Lingus and the Irish Aviation Authority were contacted for comment.

She charged the GAA’s management committee with being “less than impressive” and “lacking in vision”, adding that the decision to resign has left her “devastated”.

McAleese had remained steadfast in her belief the integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association could be complete by the 2027 deadline, but scepticism around that time frame from some of the parties involved had caused friction.

‘Let’s just slow down’: plan to integrate Gaelic codes raises concerns

“I’m absolutely devastated,” McAleese said on RTÉ Radio 1’s Inside Sport programme on Tuesday evening, just hours after her resignation.

“The (GAA management committee) was quite frankly less than impressive, and very disappointing to me as a long-term GAA supporter to meet a body that was so lacking in vision for the future of the GAA.

“I hate to say this but I suspect that there are people who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision-making at the top level of Gaelic sports.”

She added that, in her opinion, there was a lack of leadership at the top level of the GAA.

“Yesterday, I was shocked to hear the current president of the GAA say [in correspondence] that in fact he didn’t really support the idea, having supported it up to now.”

“I didn’t see leadership at the GAA management committee ... I had to remind them that integration was passed by Congress of the GAA and that they came to me to be the independent chair of their idea.

“The leadership is not evident and the commitment to integration has evaporated.

“I’m broken-hearted for the parents of young girls.”

In statements released on Tuesday night following the news, the Camogie Association and LGFA both thanked McAleese for her contribution.

Camogie Association president Brian Molloy said McAleese was “a huge asset to the integration process and her exit is a huge loss”, adding the Camogie Association “remains committed to the integration project and hopes that the three associations can realign on the path to delivering that vision”.

The LGFA said McAleese’s decision to step down “comes somewhat unexpectedly, given what we understood to be constructive discussions at the latest meeting of the Steering Group on Monday evening regarding the integration process”, but thanked her for her “dedication and leadership” in the role, adding they too remain fully committed to the integration process.

The GAA stated: “The GAA acknowledges that, after four years, Dr. Mary McAleese has stepped away from her role as Chairperson of the group.

“We wish to express our appreciation and thank Dr McAleese for her leadership, commitment and contribution to the work of the group. Dr McAleese has played an invaluable part in advancing the future of Gaelic games and delivering the integration project to this significant juncture. She departs her role with the sincere gratitude and good wishes of the entire Gaelic games family.

“The next phase of the project will be to distil the substantial and constructive feedback received from a wide range of stakeholders into a refined set of key principles and structures, and to derive a detailed and sequential workplan, all of which will be advanced in 2027.

“The GAA remains firmly committed to building a single Association that honours the identity, heritage and contribution of each of our sports while creating a stronger and more inclusive future for the entire Gaelic games family.”

Dozens of flights in and out of Dublin Airport were affected, with airport operator DAA saying airlines had cancelled 43 outbound and 30 inbound flights on Tuesday.

Nats, which provides air traffic control services to 15 UK airports, said its recovery from the technical issue, which forced the cancellation of more than 400 flights, had “taken longer than we had hoped” but is “resolved”.

“We are operating normally and working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of flights,” it said in a statement at 7.30pm. “We are truly sorry for the ongoing flight disruption. We know this is hugely frustrating and apologise unreservedly. Passengers should continue to check with their airline.”

Passenger Update - 17.00

Due to air traffic control issues in the UK, some flights in and out of Dublin Airport are subject to delays this evening.

As of 5pm, airlines have cancelled 23 outbound and 21 inbound flights. Further disruption is possible as the evening goes on.… pic.twitter.com/G6OCMOWRXg

— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) September 8, 2026

Tens of thousands of passengers faced disruption as a result of the outage, which had led to about 425 flights to and from UK airports being cancelled as of 5pm. Airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Stansted were impacted.

Ryanair said more than 65,000 of its passengers had been disrupted and it had cancelled more than 50 scheduled flights.

British Airways said it was forced to cancel or divert more than 100 flights on Tuesday which had impacted “tens of thousands of customers”.

ℹ️ Technical issue

We have identified that the issue was in our flight processing system. Our engineers are on site and working urgently to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. We recognise the ongoing disruption to travel, for which we sincerely apologise. (1/3) https://t.co/T9tF7j31e1

— NATS (@NATS) September 8, 2026

Budget airline EasyJet said some of its flights were “unable to operate” following the issue which was causing delays to flights across Europe.

Ryanair cuts winter capacity as unhedged jet fuel costs bite

In a post on X, UK transport secretary Heidi Alexander said she was “seeking assurances that lessons will be learned and systems that support aviation are up to the job” following the disruption. She said she gave her “huge thanks” for those working to “get people moving”.

Nats chief executive officer Martin Rolfe, who was asked on Sky News whether he accepted responsibility for the incident which caused chaos for so many passengers, said: “I always accept full responsibility.”

He said: “I am the CEO of a piece of critical infrastructure, so it is my job to take responsibility for that. What I absolutely take responsibility for is keeping people safe and delivering the best service we possibly can on a day like today.

“You will understand my focus is entirely about how we actually resolve this issue, get things back to normal, help our airlines, our airport customers and the travelling public.”

Neal McMahon, Ryanair chief operating officer, called on Rolfe to resign, saying: “How many more failures do passengers have to suffer before overpaid failure Nats CEO Martin Rolfe accepts responsibility for his repeated mismanagement and resigns?

“Over three years after Nats’ catastrophic 2023 system meltdown, it’s clear that nothing has changed, with UK passengers once again suffering avoidable ATC (air traffic control) delays of up to eight hours today due a critical Nats ATC system failing.”

Travel journalist Simon Calder said the knock-on effects on Wednesday are “going to be horrible”.

He told Sky News: “There are going to be dozens of cancellations in the morning of flights coming into Heathrow because, basically, the flights didn’t go out tonight.”

Heathrow suspended arrivals from 8pm for the rest of the day on Tuesday “to ensure the safety of our passengers and colleagues”. Additional reporting: PA

Guy Campanile, who worked at CBS News for 34 years, said in a private Facebook post obtained by the Guardian on Tuesday that he had held off on commenting about his dismissal right away, having decided it was “wise to remain quiet when emotions are raw”.

But “after some time and deep reflection, I am now comfortable and prepared to talk about it”, he wrote in the post.

Campanile said he, Tanya Simon, Draggan Mihailovich, Matthew Polevoy, Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega “refused to be accomplices in the destruction of the most prestigious news programme on American television”.

The firings took place after the new management of CBS News booted them as part of its overhaul of the venerated show.

Anderson Cooper to leave 60 Minutes amid turmoil at CBS News

Of himself and his former colleagues who departed, Campanile wrote: “We would not compromise our principles or reputations by jamming unverifiable notions or White House talking points into our reporting. We objected when told to conduct interviews arranged by the administration.

“We insisted on asking the most challenging questions to business and political leaders without fear or favour. We did what reporters worth their salt do – we questioned authority… including our own bosses. That’s how the best newsrooms work.”

Anderson Cooper to leave 60 Minutes amid turmoil at CBS News

He continued: “To be clear: we were told to leave because we insisted on doing our jobs. What has happened recently at 60 Minutes – where I believe editorial independence has become a casualty of corporate priorities and ideological intrusion – was tragic. But it was part of an inevitable progression in the cascade of afflictions that have devalued our most trusted sources of news.”

Campanile said “information has become commoditised in the attention economy” and that “facts are increasingly treated as items in a buffet, chosen depending on specific appetite and ideological tastes”.

He wrote: “Journalism, especially on television, is now largely an exercise in presentation rather than examination: lead with weather because policy can be complicated. Hype everything to a point where it’s hard to tell what is really important. Protect yourself and keep the public distracted by focusing on the ‘what’ rather than the ‘why’. Showcase anchors with shallow experience but blessed with exceptional haircuts. Broadcast sweeping deductions from sealed studios rather than speaking directly to the people making history or pummeled by events.

“Making matters worse is the cadre of self-described influencers and online opinionists who market themselves as ‘journalists’. Some have been given control of our most precious reporting institutions – including CBS News. Many of these newsroom managers have never been exposed to the depths of poverty, the ravages of war or the heartbreak of disaster. Yet these dilettantes and their enablers make critical programming decisions based on what might trend online over the next few hours.”

‘We were lucky’: Stephen Colbert marks end of The Late Show with emotional finale

CBS News also fired longtime journalist Scott Pelley, telling him he was being let go for “cause” due to his behaviour in a meeting with the show’s executive producer and network’s managing editor.

In this meeting, Pelley criticised Bari Weiss, the former opinion writer who is now CBS News editor-in-chief. Her appointment has spurred backlash from numerous network staffers who have voiced concerns about her impartiality.

“She’s murdering 60 Minutes,” Pelley remarked of Weiss. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that.”

CBS was contacted for comment. – Guardian

Over her past five arduous months, Sabalenka has reliably unravelled under pressure. However, at the final grand slam tournament of the year, with her US Open title and No 1 ranking on the line, this was her very last chance to salvage her season. Somehow, the top-seeded Sabalenka finally had a response as she recovered to win an astonishing match and reach the semi-finals with a 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (7) win over Noskova, the sixth seed.

Before the tournament, it was clear that the intense depth at the top of the women’s game, where each of the top 11 players currently hold a big title, meant there are so many worthy title candidates. The quarter-finals line-up reflects this embarrassment of riches. Each of the top six seeds reached the last eight, with five of them being grand slam champions along with the perennial top-five player Jessica Pegula and the Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen.

A meeting between the defending US Open champion and the new Wimbledon champion was top of the list of the highly anticipated tussles and it developed into one of the best matches of the year. This was a spectacular exhibition of unfiltered first-strike tennis. The quality of serving from both sides of the net was supreme, with Noskova firing down 18 aces and Sabalenka finishing with 46 per cent unreturned serves, including a statement second-serve ace to close out a tight tie-break set. Both players fearlessly forced themselves inside the baseline, Sabalenka’s searing power contrasted with Noskova’s sweet timing and precise changes of direction.

After trailing 2-4, 0-15, Sabalenka followed up a commanding service game with a flawless return game, pulling herself level with a break to love. Even under intense pressure, Sabalenka continued to think clearly as she kept testing the hitchy Noskova forehand, which despite being strong for much of the match, buckled in the decisive moments deep in the final set and marked the difference between them. “What a battle,” said Sabalenka. “What an incredible player she is. I’m speechless right now because I was pushing myself to the limit in this match, especially in the third set. I honestly thought that that’s it, the match is over. Probably that’s what helped me to feel loose and go after my shots. Super happy to get this win.”

Sabalenka’s victory leaves the pressure on Elena Rybakina’s shoulders as she tries to usurp Sabalenka in the rankings. Should Rybakina defeat Zheng Qinwen in their quarter-final match on Wednesday, the Kazakhstani will become world No 1 for the first time. If she loses, Sabalenka, Coco Gauff or Jessica Pegula would finish the tournament ranked No 1 if they win the title. While the ranking is out of her hands, Sabalenka’s resilience means she is still in the running for a third consecutive US Open title. She will face the winner of the all-American night battle between the third seed Pegula and Emma Navarro, the 26th seed.

Although Noskova did not depart Arthur Ashe Stadium with a victory, after struggling with motivation after her life-changing Wimbledon triumph, reaching the quarter-finals of her next grand slam tournament and performing at such a high level against the world No 1 is a statement of intent. As she adjusts to her new status at the top of the game, the 21-year-old will only continue to improve and to make life hell for the established elite. – Guardian

In her first competitive outing since sustaining a hamstring tear in the 200m final at the National Championships in Santry in July, Mawdsley finished strongly in 50.58 seconds to run down Britain’s Charlotte Henrich, who finished second in 50.70. American Paris Peoples finished third, clocking 51.09.

It was also a timely return for Mawdsley as she will next race in the 400m at this weekend’s newly minted World Athletics Ultimate Championship. The meet in Budapest carries a record prize pot of $10 million.

Starting in lane four, the Tipperary athlete displayed no lingering effects from the injury which forced her to withdraw from last month’s European Championships in Birmingham.

The last stop on the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting circuit, the race in Rovereto afforded Mawdsley a test run ahead of Budapest, where the inaugural Ultimate Championship will be staged over three evening sessions from Friday to Sunday.

Each event winner at the meet will pocket $150,000, the largest winner’s prize in track and field history. The runner-up will earn $75,000, with third gets $40,000. Each athlete will receive some prize money, down to the last-place finisher in each event, who will receive $2,000.

Mawdsley is ranked 13th of the 16 women invited to take part in the women’s 400m, with Mark English and Rhasidat Adeleke also set to race in Budapest. English is ranked seventh of the 16 athletes invited for the men’s 800m, while Adeleke is ranked 16th in the women’s 200m.

Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan were also in action in Rovereto, both racing in the women’s 1,500m. Healy finished fourth in 4:02.72, while O’Sullivan clocked 4:06.80 to finish 11th in a closely-fought tactical race.

In the men’s 100m, Bori Akinola finished sixth in the 100m, clocking 10.40 seconds, while Darragh McElhinney and Brian Fay finished 16th and 19th respectively in the men’s 3,000m, while Eric Favors threw 19.67m to finish eighth in the shot put.

It is impossible to comprehend 9/11 without recalling the founder of modern jihadism, Sayyid Qutb. The two greatest intellectual influences on Osama bin Laden – the Palestinian preacher Abdallah Azzam and the militant Saudi cleric Safar al-Hawali – were steeped in Qutb’s writings.

Qutb is both the Karl Marx and the Patrick Pearse of violent Islamism, at once its theorist and its exemplary martyr. His punchy book Ma‘alim (Milestones) – written in an Egyptian prison in 1964, before he was hanged in 1966 – is The Communist Manifesto of the movement. Its call for a male vanguard dedicated to the use of violence to establish a universal Islamic State was the blueprint for al-Qaeda.

Qutb was a literary critic, Koranic scholar and official in the Department of Education in Cairo. In 1948, when he began to criticise the Egyptian monarchy, it sent him on a study trip to the United States to get him out of the way. He spent nearly two years in New York, Washington, Colorado and California.

He was disturbed and disgusted by the sexuality of young American women: “The American girl is well acquainted with her body’s seductive capacity,” he wrote. “She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs and she shows all this and does not hide it.” “Hungry passions and treacherous eyes flicker about her body”. The hungry eyes were obviously his own.

In 1949, Qutb experienced a kind of epiphany. Greeley, Colorado, was a conservative, religious town where alcohol was banned, far from the fleshpots of New York or California. Nevertheless, Qutb witnessed a horror show – a dance in the church hall run by the local pastor: “The arena was swaying with feet and legs. Arms went round the waists and the lips and bosoms met ... All the atmosphere was that of love ... Then [the pastor] came to ‘the gramophone’ to choose a disc for the dancing which suits that atmosphere and to encourage those who were sitting from both sexes to participate in dancing. And he chose a very famous American song called But, Baby it is Cold Outside!” .

25 years later: ‘A couple of days before every 9/11 you get that sick feeling in your stomach’

Qutb’s revulsion was deepened by his racist loathing of jazz: “this music that the savage bushmen created to satisfy their primitive desires.” That a religious pastor was encouraging lascivious dancing to these savage beats was, for him, the ultimate proof that America and thus all of western modernity was leading humanity to its doom. Only a global jihad, led by the pure vanguard, could save the world.

There is nothing uniquely Islamic about the fanatical desire to control women’s bodies. Little versions of Qutb could have been found in 1950s Ireland too, foaming at the mouth about dirty dancing and Jews and “Negro” music and young women flaunting themselves. Seán South (of Garryowen), also a 1950s political and religious martyr, would have got on very well with Qutb if only they could have agreed on which One True Faith everyone must follow on pain of death.

The main difference is that Qutb’s vision was truly global. The jihadist movements that answered his call may have demanded a return to the 7^th century but they were also pioneers of globalisation. They fought modernity with hypermodernity, forming transnational networks and mastering new technologies – from cassettes to the internet – to spread their message. It was not accidental that the 9/11 terrorists used the most global of machines – long-distance aircraft – to create appallingly photogenic spectacles.

What they found repugnant about modernity, then, was not its technical innovations. It was – and is – the “round breasts, the full buttocks, and ... the shapely thighs” of women. Or rather, those features being on display outside of their own complete control. Women’s bodies must be their private property, for their own use and delectation.

Why? Because, in distorted forms of masculinity, sexuality can only be understood as power. Qutb wrote of his dread of “sexual enjoyment in which the soul suffocates ... while instincts and senses become intoxicated.” If young women have that intoxicating potency, they can use it to drive men mad with desire and then humiliate them by withholding what is most desired. The only true safeguard against sexual humiliation is enforced submission and the erasure of the female body from the public realm.

The terrible irony of the anniversary of the 9/11 crimes is that it will be marked under a US president who fought the most openly misogynistic presidential campaign in the country’s history. Standing beside him will be an avowed Christian jihadist, Pete Hegseth. Both appeal to men who share the most fundamental impulse of the jihadis: the desire to create a society in which women are under male control.

It is perfectly logical that much of the anglophone manosphere has migrated towards reactionary Islamism. Tommy Robinson now says that “Islam has become an attraction for so many, because people are looking for something strong in principle that can stand its ground.” Andrew Tate announced his conversion to Islam in 2022, adding that he was already collecting bricks to stone his partner if she ever cheated on him. Conversely, Islamist preachers in the Middle East tell their followers that Tate is being persecuted for his Muslim faith.

It is not, of course, Islam itself with which Tate and the manosphere really identify – it’s the sanction given by its most twisted forms to misogyny as the primary organising principle of society.

But we won’t hear much of this in the official commemorations of the 9/11 atrocities. Some things are too close for comfort. Trump’s lines, delivered in the Pentagon just before he flies over to Ireland, will be all about “hatred of America”. Shared hatred of women will be, as always, unspeakable.

Donald Trump breaks the law so fast that the law is left in his orange dust

The base – where Bolger trained almost 3,000 winners, including the 2007 Epsom Derby hero New Approach – was put on the market earlier this year with a guide price of €4 million.

With up to 150 stables available, the move opens up a range of possibilities for Mullins (36), a nephew of champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins and who famously landed the Aintree Grand National with Noble Yeats in 2022.

It sealed his reputation as one of the most talented, and shrewdest, of the new generation of trainers. In alliance with owner Paul Byrne, his latest big race success came with Solider In Milan in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse.

Mullins confirmed to the Racing Post on Tuesday night that he plans to dramatically extend his interests in flat racing once he moves into the historic stables.

“Once I saw it go up for sale, I didn’t really say it openly to anybody but inside I was thinking about it and wondering who would get it. I think I jokingly said it to Paul (Byrne), and Paul is a bigger dreamer than I am, thankfully, so hopefully it will all work out.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people who have been and know about Cooclullen, and they have always said it is one of the best gallops in the world, so it is hugely exciting for me to be gaining access to it,” he told the Racing Post.

“We will definitely be looking out for yearlings now with the view of hitting the ground early with two-year-olds. We’re going to be more flat oriented from now on,” Mullins added, anticipating he will move his operation to Coolcullen in the new year.

He will continue to focus on jumps from his current base over the winter.

“I wish Emmet all the best and I’ve always wanted to see a young trainer get the place,” said Bolger (84), who plans to continue his training career next season.

At the Dublin Children’s Court on Tuesday, the 17-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of endangerment of life and motor theft arising from an unconnected joyriding incident on the night of May 18th.

Defence counsel Noah Rossiter said the deaths of the five youths – who had been involved in a fatal collision after driving on the wrong side of the M9 in Kildare – prompted a turnaround in the boy’s behaviour. He cannot be named because he is a juvenile.

Three women and a seven-year-old boy were seriously injured in that collision in the early hours of August 16th.

Rossiter told Judge Paul Kelly that as a result of the August 16th incident, the teenager realised he would end up “behind bars or in a grave” if he did not change his ways.

The boy had led gardaí on a 33-minute car chase that started in Tallaght and included two periods on the M50 motorway. He entered the M50 both times via slip roads in the wrong direction and travelling against the flow of traffic.

Garda Jason Curran said the teenager failed to stop for blockade attempts and the use of stinger devices. He was tracked by the Garda Airport Support Unit’s helicopter on the motorway and came to a stop after sustaining burst tyres.

The teenager had another youth as a passenger, in a stolen Toyota Aqua.

The court heard there was heavy traffic on the motorway, the weather was poor, the road was wet and it was dark at the time.

The second youth avoided prosecution due to inclusion in the Garda Youth Diversion Programme.

The State argued that the case should be sent forward to the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers.

However, after submissions from Rossiter, who argued that the Children’s Court had appropriate sentencing powers of up to 24 months, Kelly accepted jurisdiction.

Rossiter told the court that the boy, who has no prior criminal record, had experienced a tumultuous period in recent times and had a compromised mental state.

Accepting jurisdiction in the case, Kelly described the driving as incredibly dangerous, stating there was “no excuse” for his actions. However, in accepting jurisdiction, he noted from the footage that the teenager had driven on the hard shoulder and flashed lights to warn oncoming motorists.

The boy, who remains on bail, still has to enter pleas to 10 connected dangerous driving charges for incidents immediately before, during and after he first turned onto the M50.

The case resumes in October.

The State’s health services watchdog inspected the child and family agency’s national out-of-hours service earlier this year, finding that some children were still housed in hotel rooms because Tusla had “very limited access to emergency residential care placements”.

When children are housed in hotel rooms – referred to as Immediate Places of Safety (IPOS) by Tusla – they are supervised by agency social care staff.

“The potential negative impact on the wellbeing of children and additional safeguarding risks for children when placed in unregulated IPOS arrangements was a significant concern,” Hiqa said in a report published on Tuesday.

Staff working in the service “expressed significant concern” about the arrangement, the report added.

Tusla’s out-of-hours service provides an emergency child protection and welfare service when the agency’s local services are closed at night and over weekends.

Hiqa inspected the service between March 24th and April 2nd. Of the nine national standards assessed, the service was found to be not compliant with six standards and substantially compliant with three standards.

The watchdog said the service did not “have a clear purpose and function” and lacked defined governance and management structures.

Hiqa’s report noted that in the 12 months prior to the inspection, a number of audits into service provision were carried out by Tusla. Between July and September 2025, an internal review of eight cases related to IPOS accommodation took place.

“A significant risk was identified in that in all eight cases reviewed [service] staff were unable to cross-check agency staff assigned for care of young people within the IPOS, against Tusla’s central compliance list of approved staff, as they did not have access to this service out of hours,” Hiqa said.

At the time of the inspections in March and April, Hiqa said staff in the out-of-hours service “had not received the necessary access to the compliance register for these basic safeguarding checks on staff”.

Hiqa also said a “risk escalation procedure” had “yet to be approved” for the service, despite this issue being raised at a previous inspection two years ago.

“In addition, risks relating to poor governance systems, identified during the August 2024 inspection, had not been fully addressed,” the report said.

Hiqa said the level of out-of-hours care received by children varied depending on where they lived, stating that an equitable service was not provided to young people living outside Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow.

“The majority of children living outside these areas had limited in-person contact with a social worker when referred [to the service]. These children also faced delays in receiving a service.”

The report said a review undertaken in 2023 “recommended a significant restructuring of the service” to ensure a consistent service was available to all children nationally, but “this had not been progressed”.

The report also highlighted some of the progress made by the service, saying staff “were committed to keeping children safe” and “inspectors saw examples of good quality out-of-hours safeguarding work with children”.

“In the 12 months prior to this inspection, the service had taken positive action relating to the screening of referrals, communication with children, establishment of a system for auditing casework on referrals and the recognition and escalation of risk,” Hiqa said.

“Following the inspection, management submitted a satisfactory compliance plan to Hiqa, which outlined plans to address the issues identified during the inspection.”

Tusla acknowledged the publication of the report, which it said highlighted “a number of positive findings” but also areas where “improvement is required”.

“Tusla accepts these findings and acknowledges that the service has not consistently met the standard expected in all areas,” the agency said in a statement.

“In 2025 we experienced the largest ever demand for our services, receiving over 106,000 referrals to our child protection service, up 10 per cent compared to 2024 (96,666), and almost 800 referrals to our Separated Children Seeking International Protections (SCSIP) Service.”

Following the inspection, Tusla submitted a comprehensive compliance plan to Hiqa and has already implemented a number of measures to strengthen governance, oversight and service delivery, the statement added.

Tusla said it recognised the broader challenges highlighted by Hiqa regarding the limited availability of emergency residential and foster care placements. The agency said addressing placement capacity remained a “priority”.

Commenting on the report, Gerry Hone, interim director of services and integration at Tusla, said he welcomed Hiqa’s inspection and the role it played in supporting accountability.

“Our focus remains on ensuring that every child who requires an emergency out-of-hours intervention receives a safe, timely and effective response, regardless of where they live,” he added.

Opposition to the huge, windowless facilities that provide the computing power required by artificial intelligence has now become one of the rare issues uniting voters across the partisan divide.

The frustrations feeding the backlash are varied but clear. Households blame the giant server farms for soaring electricity bills. Communities resent the water use, the noise, the land taken and the generous tax breaks handed to some of the wealthiest corporations on earth in return for remarkably few permanent jobs. Beneath it all runs a deeper unease about a technology many people regard with suspicion or fear, and a sense that ordinary citizens are being asked to carry the costs of a boom whose rewards are unlikely to benefit them.

In Europe the same pressures are mounting, but the response so far has been quieter and more technocratic. State and regulatory bodies have tried to manage the rollout through grid rules and planning conditions. That approach is now becoming fraught, and nowhere more so than in Ireland. The Republic leads the world in the share of its metered electricity consumed by data centres, almost a quarter last year and forecast to reach a third by the end of the decade.

The Department of Enterprise’s recently commissioned report, which sought to inflate the benefits and play down the costs, only drew attention to the flimsiness of the case and to its real driver, namely Ireland’s deep dependence on American tech companies and its consequent eagerness to do their bidding.

Every factor stoking American anger is present here, save one: an imminent election. A report this week from the energy regulator, offering new data centres cut-price gas in return for accepting interruptions to their supply during severe weather, showed how far the State will still bend to accommodate them. But Sinn Féin’s call for a moratorium is significant. Only months ago such demands in the US were confined to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrats. Now they are heard right across the spectrum.

The combustible elements here are unmistakable, with high consumer energy prices, a grid already short of what security of supply demands, missed renewable targets, and a headlong rush to expand consumption for a technology people distrust. If the Government parties wish to avoid a painful reckoning at the polls, a radical rethink of both policy and message is required.

Finn McGrath, from Dunaree, Laragh, Castleblayney, was airlifted to hospital after the crash, but died at Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street, Dublin, on August 3rd, 2024.

Garda Kevin Jones, a trained mechanic who examines vehicles involved in collisions, appeared at Dublin District Coroner’s Court to describe the condition of the quad bike, a Kawasaki Mule.

He said neither of the boys on the quad were wearing seat belts at the time and that the front brakes were not functioning.

A new handbrake had been installed in the previous six months, which could operate the back brakes, but Jones said stopping the vehicle in that manner was also dangerous. After test driving the vehicle, he said he noted the overall braking performance was poor and that there was a “serious defect” with the steering.

While the maximum speed of the quad bike would have been 16-24km/h, Jones said it was seriously unstable.

When asked by coroner Clare Keane what the biggest issue with the quad bike was, Jones said it was the steering defect.

In conclusion, he said the wheels appeared safe, but the vehicle was “dangerously defective” and unstable, particularly when turning corners.

Garda Phillip Smith, of Carrickmacross Garda station, told the inquest he saw Finn McGrath lying on the ground after being trapped and pushed into a gate when the quad overturned.

He said CPR was being performed on the boy when he arrived at the scene and that he was airlifted to hospital at 6.52pm.

A medical report noted how Finn McGrath sustained fatal crush injuries in the incident. He suffered from cardiac arrest and was initially stabilised, with an MRI scan scheduled. However, the inquest heard he died due to a lack of oxygen to the brain.

The coroner noted that four children had been helped by the donation of the boy’s heart, kidneys and liver. She recorded a verdict of misadventure.

But on Tuesday, Najidi Storm forever brought ignominy and shame to his blue-blooded family when he became the shortest-priced loser in the history of British racing, beaten into second in the glamorously titled Cleansing Service Group Novice Stakes at Goodwood at odds of 1-33.

The aptly named Wreck It Ronnie won the contest at what now look like generous odds of 10-1 in a field of just three. The winner had been beaten a combined 22 and a half lengths in his only two previous outings, but made virtually all the running in the hands of Kieren Fox and no matter how hard jockey Lewis Edmunds tried he could not reel him in on the Harry Charlton-trained favourite.

😮

1/33F Najidi Storm is beaten by 10/1 chance Wreck It Ronnie in a remarkable opener at Goodwood pic.twitter.com/LX1RmqQWNn

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 8, 2026

The other runner in the 10-furlong event, Dream Of Albion, was a well tailed off 76 lengths back in arrears. The previous record was jointly held by Doom (2023) and Royal Forest (1948), who were both beaten at a starting price of 1-25.

Of course the bookmakers were still moaning, claiming they failed to make money after the shock outcome. Brian O’Keeffe of Boyle Sports, said: “We’ve witnessed the shortest-priced loser in British racing history, but that doesn’t mean it was a good result for the layers.

“Najidi Storm might have been an ‘acca’ buster for a number of punters, but when one is put in that short, they’re often keen to look elsewhere. This time, their eye was drawn to the winner, Wreck It Ronnie, who was unfortunately the biggest liability in the race in our book.”

Paddy Power spokesman Paul Binfield said: “Wreck It Ronnie sure lived up to his name with favourite-backers and the winner was actually a loser in the book with punters taking a chance against the very short-priced ‘jolly’.” – Guardian

This trend of decline, particularly in reading, is seen across almost 100 countries.

Researchers described the findings as a “sobering” new data set.

Students are less able to read carefully and with sustained attention than ever before, according to the latest report of the Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) rankings. The programme is run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report notes the impacts of “increased digitalisation” and “longer screen time” on participants.

The survey, which is carried out every three years, saw about 750,000 15-year-old students across 91 countries undertake standardised tests to assess their ability in the areas of science, reading, maths and digital learning.

Just over 6,000 students in Ireland, across 172 schools, were assessed between March and April of last year. In the Irish student assessments, average reading scores fell from 521 in 2015 to 500 last year, while maths scores fell from 504 to 480 in the same period. In science, scores remained relatively stable, falling from 503 to 500 over the decade.

This decline in reading and maths scores was also seen globally, with average reading scores across all OECD countries dropping by 28 points. For maths, the average drop was 22 points.

The OECD said it was “particularly concerning” that the sharpest decline was recorded in reading. It based its concerns on an assertion that “reading skills underpin learning across the curriculum and are essential for finding, evaluating, interpreting and reflecting on information in an increasingly digital world”.

The OECD said these developments are “part of a longer-term trend”.

“The weakening of performance predates the Covid-19 pandemic in many countries, pointing to deeper and more persistent challenges within education systems,” it said.

“In reading, increased digitalisation, longer screen time and falling rates of reading for enjoyment have coincided with weaker literacy outcomes. Countries with the largest declines in reading also tended to record the largest drops in mathematics and science.”

Despite this, students in Ireland still scored higher than the OECD average in mathematics, reading and science. Ireland placed seventh across the OECD countries on reading skills, 14th for maths and 15th for science.

In a European context, Irish students are first for reading, third for science and fourth for maths out of 27 EU countries.

The data also shows boys in Ireland outperformed girls on average in science, mathematics, and computational problem solving, while girls outperformed boys in reading.

Both boys and girls attending single-sex schools had higher scores in all subjects compared to those in mixed schools.

Students in Deis schools performed worse, on average, than their peers in non-Deis schools.

The Deis scheme is a Government funding stream aimed at reducing educational disadvantage by providing extra support to schools in poorer socio-economic areas.

Similarly, students attending ETB or community/comprehensive schools performed worse than those in voluntary secondary schools.

Across all subjects, Ireland had lower proportions of low performers compared to the OECD and EU averages. However, the proportion of top performers in maths was lower than the OECD average, while reading was higher than the OECD average.

Commenting on the findings, Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton said the results show Ireland “continues to perform strongly on the international stage” and that “reading performance remains a significant success story.

“However, we cannot ignore the fact that reading achievement has declined internationally. We must continue to promote literacy, foster a love of reading and support strong reading habits both in our schools and in our homes,” the Minister said.

A hitman was needed to carry out a murder somewhere in the European Union, wrote the user on August 10th.

A gun and knife would be provided, as well as a motorbike, said Sponge Jobb. The pay was 650,000 Swedish Krona (€58,578).

Danish police had been monitoring this Signal group as part of efforts to combat the rising trend of what Europol calls “violence as a service” (VAAS).

Organised criminals are increasingly using social media and encrypted apps to outsource violent activity, including assault, murder and arson, to third parties, frequently teenagers, in exchange for relatively small sums of money.

The tactic is particularly favoured by the organised crime gangs that have emerged in Scandinavian countries in recent years.

A Danish undercover police officer responded to Sponge Jobb’s message. Posing as a hitman-for hire, he accepted the job.

Sponge Jobb, whose profile picture was the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, claimed to be part of a group that operated all over Europe. The user began working out the logistics with the undercover agent.

The hit would take place in Cyprus and involve not one target but two. He was to kill a pair of British twins who would be holidaying on the island that month.

If they were successfully assassinated, there may be a third job on the island for the hitman, he was later told.

The motivation for murdering the twins remains unclear, but Irish security sources said they were confident the hits were ultimately commissioned by veteran criminals with close links to the Kinahan cartel, the Irish organised crime group considered to be one of Europe’s largest cocaine importers.

The Kinahan group remains a formidable force but, due to the efforts of law enforcement, its reach has been curtailed in recent years. Many of its European contacts are either in jail or on the run.

To compensate, the gang has entered a relationship with other lower-tier criminal groups, including the Foxtrot network based in Sweden and members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Ireland.

The Kinahan group occasionally uses these criminals as foot soldiers to carry out dangerous work on the Continent, according to gardaí and a Scandinavian criminal justice source, thereby insulating its own members from potential arrest.

The logistics worked out, a flight was booked for the would-be hitman. The Danish police alerted their counterparts in Cyprus, who placed the undercover agent under discreet surveillance as soon as he touched town on the Mediterranean island on August 24th.

The Irish Times, in co-operation with European outlets including the Cyprus Investigative Reporting Network (CIRN), the Norwegian newspaper VG and Swedish public broadcaster SVT, has reconstructed the events leading up to the planned murder and the attempts by the criminal networks to complete the task, even after the arrest of the alleged conspirators.

By the time the Danish undercover officer touched down, his alleged handlers were already on the island. Two Norwegian men, with links to organised crime, arrived from Oslo on August 11th and 15th.

On August 17th, a 33-year-old man from Co Limerick arrived in Cyprus, having flown from the UK. Unlike his alleged co-conspirators, his criminal record is relatively minor, amounting to a handful of road traffic convictions in Ireland. This includes an arrest for drink driving during which he became aggressive with gardaí.

However, members of the man’s family are linked to the McCarthy-Dundon gang, which is involved in drug trafficking and extortion in Limerick city.

Prosecutors in Cyprus allege the Irish suspect was responsible for liaising with the hitman and passing money to him during his stay.

On August 25th, the Danish agent was directed over Signal to a self-service laundromat in the city to collect some money. Photographs and videos were sent to help him locate the drop. One captured a man, wearing short black trousers and black slippers, placing a white envelope on the wheel of a parked car.

Another photo showed a hand, with a distinctive tattoo, pointing to where the money was placed.

The undercover officer arrived shortly after and messaged the criminals to say that he could not find the money. Investigators allege the Irish man then arrived and began searching the area before leaving.

Local police, acting on instructions from the surveillance team, stopped the Irish man a short distance away. They noticed he was wearing black trousers and slippers and had the same tattoo on his hand as the one in the photograph, prosecutors say.

The officers let the man go but he was placed under close surveillance. In the meantime, the Danish agent received a photograph of the twins he was supposed to assassinate.

Police then observed the Irish man meeting with the two Norwegian suspects before the three men spent some time at a premises on the Marina in Aya Napa, a tourist resort and party town on the islands east coast.

During this period, the Danish agent received instructions about collecting the gun to be used in the murders.

The next day, August 28th, police arrested all three suspects. Searches of their apartments uncovered six mobile phones, two expandable batons and more than €2,600 in cash.

The Norwegian men refused to answer questions from police. A lawyer for the younger Norwegian told VG, the Norwegian publishers, that he denies involvement and is confident he will be acquitted.

The Irish suspect was more forthcoming in police interviews. He denied any wrongdoing and said he was in Cyprus on holiday with two women when he met one of the Norwegian men. He said he dropped the money at the laundromat as a favour to this man, who claimed he owed it to a friend.

Police say that a search of the Irish suspect’s mobile phone revealed a video showing a pistol and magazine inside a briefcase as well as footage of a person processing material resembling cannabis, according to information obtained by CIRN.

On the younger Norwegian’s phone, police found a video of a man being tortured by a masked assailant. Another man can be seen in the footage, strapped to a chair with duct tape on his mouth.

The younger Norwegian man has several serious convictions in Norway relating to firearms, assault, drugs and fraud. The older Norwegian suspect has convictions relating to weapons, and drugs.

Cypriot police continue to liaise with gardaí on the Irish suspect’s background.

“Cypriot Authorities have been in contact with An Garda Síochána regarding an Irish citizen in Cyprus through the Europol communications channel,” a Garda spokesman told The Irish Times.

The Irish man and the two Norwegians remain in custody but have not been charged. Police say they are being investigated on suspicion of organised crime offences, including conspiracy to murder and participation in a criminal group.

With their arrest, the murder plot came to an abrupt halt, police say. But those behind the conspiracy were not ready to give up on their plan.

Last Friday, Cypriot police received a warning from authorities in Sweden that a suspected hitman had arrived on the island from Stockholm the previous day. Swedish police said they believed the criminal had been sent to complete the hit on the British twins.

Police placed him under surveillance along with another man, who had recently arrived from Sweden and who had previously been arrested on suspicion of commissioning a murder in Stockholm.

That evening, police arrested the two new arrivals along with three other Swedish suspects. Follow-up searches uncovered a pistol, medical masks and disposable gloves.

In interviews, all five Swedes denied wrongdoing and said they were in Cyprus for a holiday.

The Cyprus plot “is a fairly typical violence-as-a-service set-up”, Swedish police superintendent Teodor Smedius told SVT. “They have taken on this assignment, but this time they are not the typical child soldiers – they are a bit older.

“We see that when assignments are carried out abroad, slightly older individuals tend to be recruited. It makes travelling easier and attracts less attention.”

He would not comment on the role of members of the Kinahan cartel in the plot but said it is “absolutely clear that our domestic criminal networks co-operate with other organised criminal networks across Europe”.

This view is borne out by an incident in Limerick last June, when Swedish man Axel Erick Wolfgang Liebsch Morales was killed in a car crash shortly after arriving in Ireland. A loaded gun was found at his feet. Gardaí believe he had been hired by a Limerick-based gang to murder a member of a rival faction in the county.

Meanwhile, the location of the two British twins remains a mystery. Police have established they were in Cyprus but left recently. The men’s family members have told police they have not been seen in two months.

At a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday, Kushner said that on their much-awaited first visit to the Ukrainian capital, they had put forward “new ideas” on how to end the four-year-old conflict, without elaborating. Kyiv and Moscow, where the pair met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, both claimed the talks were “substantive”.

In truth, the weekend’s significance lay in the fact of resumed US engagement. There is no sign of movement and red lines on both sides remain firmly in place. Further talks were discussed, but Russia remains reluctant. Putin is still adamantly opposed to a ceasefire as a prelude to talks and continues to insist on Ukrainian disarmament and western disengagement. His opposition to foreign peacekeeping troops remains.

Moscow’s territorial demands for control over the whole of the Donbas region, including swathes under Ukraine’s control, are a non-starter for Kyiv . It would reportedly accept a freeze on current Russian battle lines as a temporary recognition of reality, without conceding sovereignty.

The impasse remains, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy telling journalists that it looks likely the war will continue through the winter, while observers predict major offensives from both sides in the spring.

Importantly, however, the US and Ukrainian teams were joined for the final hour of talks in Kyiv by the national security advisers of Germany, France and Britain, an acknowledgment that European powers have an important role to play.

Under repeated hybrid attack as Moscow tests Nato’s defences, European countries are key suppliers of arms and economic aid to Ukraine, enforcers of sanctions against Russia, provide shelter to millions of Ukrainians, and have promised post-ceasefire peacekeeping troops. No deal will be possible without them at the table.

The 34-year-old, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, appeared at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday.

Prosecuting barrister Samuel Magee told the court of the “important context of events” leading to the fatal incident on July 27th, 2021.

He said the woman contacted the PSNI to report a domestic incident on July 24th, 2021. She alleged her partner had pushed her and said she felt unsafe. The man was later arrested and removed from the family home.

Three days later, the woman wrote a series of diary entries. She said her partner had left to be with another woman, did not care for her or the children, and that she had chosen to take their lives so no one would mock them any more. The entries also included expressions of love for her partner and a reference to waiting in heaven for him.

On the evening of the incident, Magee said the woman called her partner – who was in England – to say she loved him and that she had killed their son. She also said their daughter was “lying slowly bleeding” and she planned to take her own life.

The man contacted English police, who alerted the PSNI. The woman had called the PSNI and said she had killed her children.

When police arrived at 8.15pm, they found the woman, who was bleeding, cradling her wounded daughter, who was screaming. The baby, who appeared lifeless, was lying on a bed in the room, and when officers attempted CPR, the woman stated: “I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s dead. I stabbed him.”

The court heard both children were rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children. Magee said the boy had sustained two wounds to his chest, one of which penetrated his heart, and was pronounced dead at 9pm. Counsel said the girl sustained “grave injuries” and was “fortunate to survive”.

Following her arrest, the woman was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries. She was brought into custody two days later after being discharged and stated: “I killed my children... I’m really sorry for what I have done.”

The court heard a consultant forensic psychiatrist examined the accused and concluded she was suffering from an abnormality arising from a depressive episode. The expert said giving birth and postnatal effects were additional and significant stressors.

The woman pleaded guilty to her daughter’s attempted murder and admitted causing the death of a child aged under 12 months by a wilful act, stabbing, but at a time when the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of the fact she had not fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child.

The court heard the woman’s daughter is in foster care and intensive work has been carried out to explain why she had not seen her baby brother and mother.

Magee said aggravating factors in the case included the breach of trust and the vulnerability of the children. He said it was accepted that their mother was “suffering from depression” and was in a “coercively controlling relationship” at the time.

Defence barrister Charles MacCreanor said his client “has never stopped punishing herself for what she did” and this is likely to remain the case for the rest of her life.

He said there was no evidence she had been “anything other than a loving, caring mother” until July 27th, 2021, and that she felt “remorse, shame and confusion” over what she did.

Counsel said the woman has spent more than five years in prison since the incident and has not received any visits aside from her solicitor and a representative of Woman’s Aid.

MacCreanor said the woman was a victim of physical, financial and sexual abuse at the hands of her partner, who has since died. He added that she “was scared” of the man, who had a lengthy criminal record and a history of domestic incidents.

The judge said he would pass sentence next Tuesday.

If you are affected by any issue in this article, please contact Pieta House on 1800-247247 or Samaritans can be contacted 24/7 on freephone 116 123 and email at jo@samaritans.ie

Speaking outside the Dáil at a protest intended to raise awareness of the case, Mimi Tatlow-Golden said “the Government keeps saying that they can’t interfere, I don’t expect them to interfere, but observation is not interference”.

Tatlow-Devally was arrested along with four other Palestinian activists, after they broke into the Elbit Systems Deutschland facility in Ulm.

The five have been charged with trespassing, property damage, membership of a criminal organisation and using symbols of an unconstitutional organisation, Tatlow-Golden said.

The trial, taking place in Stuttgart, began in April. Tatlow-Golden said initially it was expected to last around three and a half months but has been extended to eight and a half months.

Tatlow-Devally’s family, along with supporters, are asking for an observer to be sent as they say there is no transcript or official record of the trial.

“The judge determines what gets recorded,” she said, adding that they want an observer there “so that when it comes to appeals, as it certainly will, we’ve got something to rely on”.

“We would really like our government to show up for us,” she said.

She said the way Tatlow-Devally and their four co-accused are being treated is “completely disproportionately to what they did”.

“No matter who you are, you deserve a fair trial and what we’re watching in Stuttgart is not a fair trial. I can say that with confidence.”

She said Tatlow-Devally, who uses they/them pronouns and is a Berlin resident, is being kept in a cell on their own for 23 hours a day.

She said when the five activists are brought into court they are kept behind bulletproof glass, “gripped by security” and handcuffed.

“In Germany, if you’re a neo-Nazi and you’ve murdered 11 people, you sit at a table with your lawyer. If you’re a member of a terrorist group, chances are you’ll be sitting at a table with a lawyer. If you support Palestine and carried out some property damage, it seems that you’re considered more of a threat to others than any of those people.”

“That says to me that this is political. It’s not about proportionality, about what they did. It’s about Germany wanting to send out a statement.”

She said they are only allowed two 30-minute visits each month and cannot speak about the case.

Tatlow-Devally is “strong” she said, however, and “managing to keep their mood up”.

In a statement, the Department of Affairs said on Tuesday it was “aware of this case and has provided extensive consular assistance through its Consulate General in Munich and staff at headquarters, including through multiple prison visits by consular officials”.

“The Department continues to follow developments closely,” it said.

Eoin Doyle, who was travelling in the car, was pronounced dead last Thursday after the crash on a railway level-crossing at Kiltybo near Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.

The boy’s father, Declan, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mourners at Eoin’s funeral on Tuesday at St Patrick’s Church, Cloonfad, heard how he was deeply loved by his family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and most especially by his twin sister, Saoirse.

His mother, Elaine Doyle, spoke movingly and lovingly of her “kindhearted, friendly, sports-loving” son.

“Rest in peace, our fallen, handsome boy, until we meet again,” she said.

“The loss of our beautiful boy has no positives at all, albeit that it highlights the importance of kindness to others in our daily lives.

“Eoin was kindhearted to family, friends and the family pets. He hated to see anyone upset or in trouble.

“It is very difficult to know how we go on from here. Our home has changed forever.”

Elaine Doyle said her son, who played underage football with local soccer club Cloonfad United, dreamt of one day of playing for Manchester United.

The Archbishop of Tuam, Francis Duffy, was among the concelebrants at the funeral, which was packed with mourners.

Eoin’s father, Declan, the driver of the car involved in crash, sat in a front pew.

On Eoin’s coffin there was a photograph of the Doyle family with the Sam Maguire trophy in Ballyhaunis following Mayo’s win in the All-Ireland SFC final in July.

His mother told mourners how, as a baby, Eoin had spent most of his time on someone’s shoulder and never slept in a cot.

“He always loved having someone to lie in with him to fall asleep every night and that continued until some time last year,” she said.

“I thought it would never end, but I would give anything now to another night to lie in with Eoin.”

She said her son had many loves in his life and sport was one of these. His dream was to play with Manchester United.

“And we never know, really whether that could have happened or not,” she said.

“He had his first training session the other night with the under-13 football team in Ballyhaunis.

“He was a bit reluctant and nervous to go.

“I didn’t want [him] to go and, really, he was pretty anxious about going, but when he was on his way home, Declan told me afterwards he was really excited about how well it had actually gone.”

Fr Stephen Farragher, the main celebrant, spoke of his deepest sympathy with Eoin’s parents Declan and Elaine, Eoin’s twin Saoirse, stepbrother Conor and both sets of grandparents, Pat and Marguerite Doyle and Ger and Mary Corcoran.

“This is a tragedy that touched the heart of a nation,” Fr Farragher said.

“We celebrate Eoin’s life, the joy he brought to those around him, the friendships he made ... the love that surrounded him every day.

“Today is a day of tears, but it is also a day of thanksgiving for the precious gift of Eoin’s life.”

Following the Mass, burial took place in Ballyhaunis Cemetery. – Additional reporting by Press Association

New figures from the Health Insurance Authority (HIA) point to a decrease of 1,663 people insured in the three months to the end of June, compared with the previous quarter.

While it represents a percentage decline of just 0.1 per cent, any sign of the market going into reverse is troubling, particularly when it is accompanied by a seemingly relentless series of price hikes from all the main providers.

“Health insurance continues to be important to almost half of the population,” HIA chief executive Brian Lee says.

“While the number of people with health insurance fell slightly during the quarter, it remains higher than a year ago,” he says, suggesting that the latest figures could indicate the market is entering a period of slower growth.

Dermot Goode of healthinsuranceireland.ie is more concerned, and suggests that if the latest figures do represent a slowdown it will be “a real concern” to individuals and to the broader market, as well as the health sector.

“The real concern now for the market is that we could be at a tipping point,” he says, pointing out that the fresh figures don’t include the “big increases coming everybody’s way from October”.

All told, half of the 2.5 million people currently with health insurance are set to renew their cover between December and the end of February, and virtually all of them will be facing price hikes of between 7 per cent and 15 per cent, with some outliers likely to be hit with price increases of close to 20 per cent early next year.

Dip in numbers of consumers with health insurance, watchdog data reveals

One of the reasons why price increases of nearly 20 per cent have not made headlines is the manner in which the providers have started managing their announcements.

Rather than rolling out one increase a year, they have been drip-feeding the bad news to consumers over 12 months, with some of the price increases announced averaging 3 per cent or less.

Taken in isolation, consumers might consider them manageable.

But then their renewal date arrives, and all the announced increases kick in at once for individual policyholders.

Companies also focus their announcements on averages, but averages only tell part of the story.

Goode says the increases coming down the tracks could be “anything from 7 per cent up to maybe 15 per cent, and I have even seen some plans going up by as much as 18 or 19 per cent”.

“We’re already seeing older members reducing their benefits to keep their cover affordable, and I think there’s a real risk now that we might see younger people either postpone their joining decisions or those that have done everything they can to bring their premiums down forced to start exiting the market.”

Irish Life urges redesign of health levy amid ‘unfair’ burden on less affluent

We have been here before.

In the wake of the economic crash in 2008, the number of people who could afford private cover between 2011 and 2015 fell.

The danger is not just for individuals. A decline in the number of people paying for health insurance hits the sector hard and could see prices climb even higher, forcing more people to relinquish their cover and putting more pressure on the public health sector.

“There is that risk at the moment. It’s only a risk and hopefully won’t be a reality, but there is a risk that the market has reached that tipping point and therefore it could start to contract, and that’s not in anybody’s interest,” says Goode.

The jet overran the runway while landing on Sunday.

It slammed into the van which was on airport property, careened through a fence, and then smashed into a vehicle on a city street.

Five other people were injured.

The pilot and co-pilot have been released from hospital, Miami-Dade county sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said on Tuesday.

Two people remained in a critical condition and a third was in stable condition.

Cordero-Stutz said the deceased ranged in age from 47 to 75.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash. One focus will be on the lack of a particular system to slow and stop speeding jets. Miami is not one of the 120 airports in the US with lightweight, crushable material at the end of runways that the Federal Aviation Administration says has saved about 500 lives.

Experts said even without a runway excursion system, Miami’s airport appears to be compliant with federal rules because it has a 1,000ft (305m) safety buffer at the end of its runways.

NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said on Monday her agency’s goal was to prevent tragedies, but runway excursions continued to happen even after the board had suggested installing the systems in the past.

“Our recommendations must be implemented or we’re going to be here again,” she said at a news conference.

Investigators recovered the flight data recorder and the information is being reviewed. Interviews with the pilot, co-pilot, air traffic controllers and others are being scheduled, Homendy said.

Amazon said in a statement that it is co-operating with the investigation and the company’s deepest sympathies go to the people killed and injured, and their families.

The five people killed were all in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp, a company that cleans aircraft.

The company said it would not comment on the crash out of respect for the families who had lost loved ones.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved. Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Amazon jet was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms gathered around the Miami airport.

The NTSB said the plane barrelled roughly 1,300ft (396m) past the end of the runway.

The flight had been operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.

Two of the four runways at the Miami airport remained closed on Tuesday, and Homendy said they will not be reopened until NTSB investigators gather all the information they need from the crash scene.

More than 225 flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday, and hundreds more were delayed, officials said. – AP

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis attacked energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, in a major expansion of the ongoing conflict, sending Brent crude ​to near $99 (€85.24) a barrel earlier in the day.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.05 per cent at 649.60.

Dublin

The Iseq All-Share index rose 1.1 per cent to 14,536.90, with nutrition-related companies standing out as strong spots. Kerry Group was in demand, rising 2.4 per cent to €88.70. Glanbia gained 2 per cent to €22.

Irish Continental Group (ICG) inched 0.5 per cent higher to €7.42 as investors eyed an all-important extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday on a management buyout bid. Still, the stock continues to trade below the €8-a-share offer on the table from management.

Healthcare services group Uniphar lost 1.2 per cent to close at €4.13 as a solid set of interim results, in line with what was flagged in a trading statement in July, provided little to excite investors.

Davy analysts, who have upgraded their full-year earnings forecasts for the company five times since the start of last year, said they were leaving their forecasts unchanged for now.

London

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 ended the session 0.1 per cent lower, with gains in commodity-linked shares helping offset broader market weakness, as a week packed ‌with economic data worldwide got under way.

Energy stocks in London rose, with BP and ⁠Shell up 0.68 per cent and 0.52 per cent, respectively.

Miners Antofagasta and Glencore gained 4.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent ‌as ‌copper ​prices hit a record high.

Pharma stocks were the biggest drags, with medical products maker ⁠Smith+Nephew down 3.6 per cent and ​index heavyweight AstraZeneca sliding 1.4 per cent as the Novartis setback weighed on sentiment.

Dunelm tumbled 14.3 per cent after the homeware retailer issued a profit warning ‌for 2027, citing hot summer weather.

Europe

Novartis plunged 10.9 per cent after it said ⁠late-stage testing of a drug for myotonic dystrophy failed to meet its primary endpoint. The disappointment follows ‌another ‌closely watched ​setback announced on Monday, when its experimental cholesterol drug pelacarsen failed in a late-stage trial.

However, Swiss generic drugs company Sandoz added 4.5 per cent saying it aims to more than double net sales from ​2025 to 2035.

Poste Italiane sweetened its takeover offer for Telecom Italia as the ​state-controlled company seeks to secure control of Italy’s former phone monopoly. Shares of Poste edged 0.5 per cent higher, while Telecom Italia jumped 2.9 per cent.

Investors widely expect the European Central Bank to ‌raise interest rates by 25 basis ⁠points on Thursday, while attention is also turning to US inflation data due later this week. The inflation report follows a stronger-than-expected US jobs reading that reinforced bets on another Federal Reserve ‌rate hike this month.

Among ​other movers, Kion Group rose 6.8 per cent after Citigroup upgraded the German forklift maker to a buy, citing a potential turning point in the industrial-truck ​cycle.

New York

The major US stock indexes were lower in early afternoon trading as fresh hostilities in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher, while markets await inflation data due later this week.

The declines follow a rollercoaster stretch that saw investors ​rushing to readjust rate-hike expectations after commentary from Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller and a stronger-than-expected jobs report.

Nvidia and Microsoft were lower, as was Apple, a day before an event ​at which the iPhone market is expected to unveil its latest products under new chief executive John Ternus.

Chipmakers rose, helped by optimism around artificial intelligence (AI). Qualcomm was further helped as it struck a deal with Amazon ​to develop custom AI chips. – Additional reporting, Reuters

In an unusual scene, Hull, who is crucial to Europe’s quest to reclaim the Solheim Cup from the United States this week, drove off alone at Bernardus Golf and caught up with her team-mates after arriving on the 1st tee minutes behind them. In a clip that gained traction, Hull appeared to jokingly blame “drinks” from the night before. The English golfer did, however, seem to point towards her caddie at the time.

When asked about Hull’s delayed arrival, the European vice-captain Mel Reid slightly strangely focused firstly on the online speculation. “It is a completely false story,” said Reid. “Charley Hull was the first one to bed last night at eight o’clock, and the first one on the bus this morning. She doesn’t even drink. So that is a completely false story that has been misquoted.

“She was late to the tee because I was responsible for her, so I will take a little bit of responsibility for that. She just thought her tee time was a little bit later, and trying to drag Charley Hull off the range is a feat in any tournament, especially a Solheim Cup.”

When it was pointed out to Reid that many observers were unaware of the “false story” anyway, she added: “I kind of want to shut this down before people start talking about it. She was late because one, I couldn’t drag her off the range and two, she thought her tee time was five minutes later.”

There is rarely a dull moment around Hull. Her participation in the recent Women’s Open was overshadowed by a prank she played out on her caddie. Alongside Lottie Woad, she is one of two members of the world’s top 10 in the European side.

Hull’s individualism is one of her most endearing qualities. Anna Nordqvist, the European captain, denied that was in any way a problem but did concede Hull was given permission to arrive in the Netherlands later than her team-mates.

“It has been really nice to see how much Charley has started to embrace the whole Solheim Cup atmosphere,” said Nordqvist. “It is nice to see how excited she is. I flew in on Saturday, some of the girls flew in on Sunday. For Charley, we decided she was going to be better off preparing at home in England so she flew in last night.

“I was on the 1st tee this morning, I told the other three girls to go. It takes a good five or 10 minutes to get out there so I told them Charley would just catch up because we knew she was on her way.” – Guardian

“Jesus, my intentions were good with the staff,” the businessman told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on Tuesday.

Darren Feehan said he suffered “horrific” financial losses after taking over a public house in Celbridge when its former operator was about to shut down the business in April 2025.

The worker, Mary O’Brien, said she “never received any holiday pay” and was “let go with three days’ notice” in August 2025, after 11 months work at the pub.

She told the WRC she was seeking 199.2 hours’ accrued holiday pay, as that was the limit of the WRC’s jurisdiction in the case.

However, she said she ought to have received 620 hours’ holiday pay over the course of her employment under two different employers at the pub, first the Mucky Duck Ltd, and then with Feehan’s company, following a transfer of undertakings.

Feehan’s firm, Darren Feehan Bars Ltd, held the pub licence under the trading name “Feehan’s of Celbridge”, according to official records.

He told the WRC his firm took over in April last year, but then shut down the establishment four months later at the end of August.

“I’ve accrued losses of €192,000 in the space of four months, which is kind of horrific. Jesus, I wish Mary well, nothing personal to Mary, I hope she gets what she’s owed,” Feehan said.

“The company’s about to be struck off. There’s no assets,” he said. “There’s nothing there, there’s nothing there that’s left. Everything was bled out of the company,” the businessman continued.

“I took the whole lot,” he said of the takeover. “All I can say is, the way it was presented to me wasn’t the way it turned out to be, and there was a lot more at play.

“I can’t say too much with the media present. You don’t lose €192,000 in four months in a public house without something being horrendously wrong,” he said.

He said he had “suffered a lot personally” due to what happened in the business. “I’ve suffered enough with it personally. I’ve nothing,” he added.

He said his pub company was “just about to be struck off” as it had not traded for over a year.

“The company owes me €192,000 personally. There’s more chance of an eagle flying in the window,” he said. “The banking’s wound up, the Revenue’s wound up, there’s only me in it waiting for the strike-off,” he said.

He went on to say he had been through “absolute hell”, and expressed concern about the WRC’s decision on O’Brien’s statutory complaint being registered as a judgment against the company.

“If that’s the case, Jesus Christ, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Feehan said.

Adjudication officer Andrew Heavey said the company might owe O’Brien money in relation to her statutory complaints, “but I imagine the entity has other creditors”.

“Yes, which obviously can’t be fulfilled,” Feehan said.

“Basically, Ms O’Brien will just become one of those creditors,” Heavey said.

O’Brien said she was “sorry” for Feehan. Heavey then closed the hearing.

Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, about 15km west of Nice, said the pair appeared to have been “well equipped and well informed” about the museum, which houses works by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in his former home.

The theft early on Tuesday is the latest in a string of recent museum heists in France and across Europe, including the brazen break-in at the Louvre in Paris last October, when thieves stole crown jewellery worth €88 million including tiaras, a brooch, necklaces and earrings.

Masson told the local broadcaster Ici Azur that the two thieves sliced through the museum garden fence with an electric knife or metal saw, entered the building through the ground floor, and then cut the clips securing the artwork frames.

Police arrived about five minutes after the museum’s alarm system went off at 5.48am, Masson said, which “forced the burglars to flee in haste and helped limit the scale of the theft”.

Two of the four works taken were abandoned in the museum gardens during the getaway, the mayor, a member of the far-right National Rally (RN), said. His office estimated the value of the stolen works at €9 million.

The two stolen paintings were Young Woman ‌at the Well and Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano. Both were on loan from the Musée d’Orsay, in Paris. “They’re Renoirs ... you cannot sell them like that,” Masson said.

The paintings the thieves abandoned were both portraits: Portrait of Madame Pichon, and Coco Reading, a portrayal of Renoir’s young son Claude.

The Renoir Museum was established in 1960 in the mansion where the painter ‌died aged 78 in 1919. It houses about a dozen of his paintings and about 40 sculptures, as well as photos, furniture and objects including his easel and wheelchair.

Masson called for greater security for museums around France. “This incident should serve as a warning about the protection of our museums, which now face a new form of organised crime targeting works of art,” the mayor said.

An art theft expert, James Ratcliffe of the Art Loss Register, said thieves were increasingly targeting valuable artefacts. “Sadly, without further funding to improve museum security, we are likely to see an increase in the number of museum thefts,” he said.

“Each time thefts occur, it draws yet more attention to the perception of these museums as relatively easy targets. That can only encourage some criminals to consider them as straightforward places to steal from,” he told the Associated Press.

Europol, the pan-European police organisation, said last month robberies at European museums were becoming increasingly violent, with some thieves brandishing guns, assaulting staff and using sledgehammers, axes and even explosives.

The Europol report suggested specialist property crime or art theft gangs, who usually avoid violence, were being replaced by “individuals who often have histories of involvement in other types of crime”, who were recruited through social media.

The four suspected Louvre robbers have been arrested, but the jewels they allegedly grabbed in the seven-minute heist have not been found. Two of the suspects have reportedly told police the mastermind behind the heist was disappointed by the haul and thought “they could have taken more”.

Italian police recently recovered paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth more than €10 million stolen from a museum in March. However, last month four of the most important works by the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in the Sicilian port city of Messina. – Guardian

Miliband accused “settler terrorists” of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” and the government of Binyamin Netanyahu of attempting to undermine the possibility of a two-state solution by authorising a new settlement project.

The decision is the clearest shift in British foreign policy since Andy Burnham became prime minister.

It was co-ordinated with Canada and France, whose foreign ministers issued a joint statement with the UK promising “national measures” to ban trade in settlement goods, and supporting other nations that have done so, too.

“Today marks the beginning of a new approach,” Miliband told the House of Commons, adding that the British government agreed that there has been ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank. “All too often the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this and worse,” he said.

Milliband said he made the announcement as a “proud British Jew” who was “unwavering” in his support for the state of Israel. He added, however, that the UK had concluded that the occupation was unlawful in line with a ruling of the International Court of Justice.

The development sparked a furious response from Israel which announced a series of countermeasures include closing the British consulate in Jerusalem; ending British activity to train Palestinian security forces; and barring entry to British lawmakers and citizens who reject Israel’s existence, including MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Hannah Spencer.

Calling the accusations made by Miliband “outrageous and false”, foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar described the UK’s sanctions on settlements as “blatant interference” in Israel’s upcoming election.

He accused Britain of ignoring “Palestinian terrorism” and said the sanctions would also directly harm Palestinians, including tens of thousands who work in Israeli settlements.

Sa’ar said the British government’s measures against Israel over the past two years – including sanctions on ministers and barring Israel from participating in a defence exhibition – had contributed to rising anti-Semitism in the UK.

Why Andy Burnham is taking on Israel over the West Bank

Israel had been bracing itself for the British foreign policy reset but was taken by surprise when the foreign ministers of Ireland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden joined Britain on Tuesday, issuing a joint statement on the two-state solution.

“The government of Israel must immediately halt the expansion of settlements and civilian administrative powers, ensure accountability for settler violence and investigate allegations against Israeli forces,” the foreign ministers’ statement said.

The countries said they intended to “impose restrictions on trade with settlements considered illegal under international law.”

Sa’ar warned that Israel will respond if other countries follow the British example and introduce sanctions.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the British decision a “serious mistake”, saying it would strengthen extremist voices in Israel in advance of next month’s election and “give encouragement to Hamas and the terrorist organisations”.

But he also criticised the Netanyahu government for being caught by surprise.

Can Netanyahu win back Trump as pressure mounts in advance of election?

“For a week, the government has been preparing us for sanctions from Britain, and then it turns out there are another 10 important countries that have joined it and no one knew. Didn’t they wake him up?” he said, in a reference to Netanyahu’s claim that security officials did not wake him up on the morning of the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Netanyahu to recognise Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands and sanction Britain over its “occupation” while far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the expulsion of Britain’s ambassador to Israel.

The human rights watchdog Peace Now welcomed the British move, saying the settlements endanger Israel’s future.

“It is good that Britain and other countries make the necessary distinction between sovereign Israel and the settlement and outpost enterprise beyond the green line and are acting against annexation and settler terrorism.”

O’Brien is to assist lead coach John Cotter and assistant Mark Connors when Ireland play the USA, the Netherlands and Norway in Malaga, although he is expected to return to senior coaching before the Under-17 World Cup in November.

Ireland have been drawn with Brazil, Costa Rica and Tanzania in Group I of the 48-team tournament that kicks off in Doha on November 21st.

“Joey brings unbelievable experience,” said FAI technical director Shane Robinson, who is currently doing his Uefa pro licence alongside O’Brien.

“I’ve listened to him talk about his journey from Lourdes Celtic all the way to playing for his country, and about the people he has worked with, who help shape you as a player and person. Like how Sam Allardyce was ahead of his time [at Bolton Wanderers]. We want people like Joey in our system to influence the players.”

Unlike some of the FAI’s previous connections with former internationals learning their trade in coaching, O’Brien is on a paid contract.

“Nobody can volunteer any more,” said Robinson. “They all have casual contracts.”

O’Brien will coach teenage talents like St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder Ryan Sheridan and Josh O’Dwyer, who recently joined Austrian club FC Liefering from Shamrock Rovers.

Rory Finneran and Jaden Umeh, who both featured at last year’s Under-17 World Cup, were capped this summer by Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson.

“Underneath Rory and Jaden there are really good players coming up,” said Cotter. “Ryan Sheridan just played 120 minutes in the (FAI) cup against Bohs.

“Rory and Jaden are ready now, others will develop later. It would be dismissive of me to say last year was a stronger group as there are a lot of really good players with potential.

“Cillian Murphy has had an excellent year in the First Division [for Cork City], Richard Ferizaj is another playing first-team minutes [at Bray Wanderers], and Victor Ozhianvuna has been excellent for Shamrock Rovers but unfortunately he is injured at the minute.”

Arsenal-bound Ozhianvuna is a doubt for a second World Cup at under-17 level as he has not featured for Rovers since May.

Robinson and Cotter were speaking to the media in Abbotstown on Tuesday alongside Ireland under-19 women’s coach Chelsea Noonan and under-19 men’s coach Noel Hunt, who returned to Ireland after losing his job as Reading manager last year.

Robinson is striving to enhance access to professional coaching for Ireland’s high-potential footballers, with 195 boys and 138 girls taking part in camps across eight weeks this summer.

The FAI’s new coaching structure is more fluid than its previous iteration as coaches are assessed by Robinson and FAI director of football John Martin before being given a new group or remaining with their current crop up the age grades.

“Previously it was set roles,” Robinson added. “There was no pathway for a coach to be promoted [but there is now].”

Landlords, company directors and PAYE employees also made the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters.

The largest settlement fell on Allen Recruitment Consulting Limited, a recruitment agency in liquidation with an address on Pembroke Street Upper in Dublin 2 that primarily worked with multinational firms, particularly in the tech industry.

It made a settlement of €4.15 million to Revenue as a result of its “under-declaration” of tax and VAT, the document shows. Within this total sum was just under €2.5 million in unpaid tax, €1.1 million of interest and €620,000 in penalties. The entirety of this remains unpaid, Revenue said.

Provisional liquidators were appointed by the High Court in November after the business fell into difficulty. An expansion into seven countries across Europe proved unsuccessful and the money loaned to do so was unrecoverable, the court heard.

Recent filings from the company include a liquidator’s statement from August 17th that shows Allen Recruitment Consulting paid Revenue €50,628 between December 2025 and March 2026 for VAT refunds.

The second-largest settlement – at €1.73 million – was owed by Central Fusion Limited, a Belfast-based company that supplies catering and concession stands for events across Ireland and Britain.

It has an address on the Queen’s Road. The company owed some €820,000 in tax, €400,000 in interest and just over €500,000 in penalties to Revenue. A “compulsory liquidation” petition for the company has been lodged by the British tax authorities in a Belfast court, which is due to be heard next Thursday.

A printing services provider called 3:rock, which specialises in brand signage, owed Revenue €1.27 million for its under-declaration of tax and VAT. Established in 1993, it now has an address in the Clondalkin Industrial Estate.

Michelle Lawlor, a landlord with an address on Glasnevin Avenue in Dublin 11, owed Revenue €1.29 million and €107,000 of this settlement has been paid. The settlement was a result of a Revenue investigation case, the State tax body said, for an under-declaration of income tax.

The remaining 16 parties on the defaulters list owed more than €3 million between them, with settlements in their name ranging from €85,000 to €560,000.

Among them was Brian Harrison, a medical doctor with an address on Claremont Road in Dublin 18, who owed Revenue just over €100,000 for the under-declaration of income tax.

He established HiTech Health, which manufactures cell and gene therapies, more than a decade ago. Company filings for the financial year that ended on December 31st, 2024, show the remuneration shared between the companies two directors, Brian and Paula Harrison, was slightly under €180,000. The company reported €835,000 in profit that year.

David Ho, with an address in Saint Aidan’s Drive in Goatstown, Dublin 14, a retired travel agent who operated the Sino Irish Travel Club, which had an office on Morehampton Road in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, owed Revenue just under €500,000 for under-declaration of income tax. None of this has been repaid, Revenue said.

Landlord and taxi-driver Stephen Preston of Moyclare Park in Baldoyle, Dublin 13, owed €120,00 for non-declaration of VAT and under-declaration of income tax, while farmer Michael Corrigan of Kinnity in Birr, Co Offaly owed €161,000 for non-declaration of capital acquisition tax.

In a statement, Revenue said: “These published settlements reflect only a portion of all Revenue Compliance Interventions. In the three month period to 30 June 2026, a total of 18,648 Revenue Compliance Interventions were settled resulting in a total yield of €129,754,243.”

The 2026 Irish Open will take place from Thursday to Sunday at Trump International Golf Links Ireland in Doonbeg, Co Clare. It is a DP World Tour event.

How can I watch it all?

The Irish Open will be shown on RTÉ 2 on Thursday from 1.30pm to 7pm as well as on Sky Sports Golf. From Friday, coverage will begin at 9.30am, from 2.30pm on Saturday and from 1.30pm on Sunday, although relegated to Sky Sports+ at times during the week due to a clash with the Solheim Cup.

What is Doonbeg like as a course?

Doonbeg is one of the better links courses in Ireland, designed by Greg Norman and opened in 2002. It was bought by Donald Trump in 2014, who rebranded the course in his name. Doonbeg has sweeping dunes and vistas as the course gets remarkably close to the sea at times. It is the first time that the course will host an event the size of the Irish Open.

Which Irish players are playing?

Defending champion Rory McIlroy, chasing his third Irish Open title, leads a 10-strong Irish contingent that includes Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington, Tom McKibbin and Séamus Power. Max Kennedy, Liam Nolan and Mark Power have received invitations, while Cormac Sharvin and Thomas Higgins have received national spots. Higgins is in his first professional event after just missing out on the Walker Cup team for Lahinch.

Who else is coming to play?

Jon Rahm is the star turn. He won the Irish Open the last time he played in 2019 in Lahinch, while Rasmus Hojgaard also returns as a third “defender” of his title after winning in Royal County Down in 2024 but not playing last year. It is a strong field, with Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, five-time Major champion Brooks Koepka and Ryder Cup stars Tyrrell Hatton and Bob MacIntyre among the entrants.

Can you still get tickets?

Tickets for the weekend have sold out, but there are still general admission tickets for Wednesday’s pro-am for €40, for the start of play on Thursday for €50 and for Friday for €60.

Will Donald Trump show up?

Yes, that is the plan. The US president is to arrive in Ireland on Saturday for a series of political and diplomatic engagements in Dublin, before travelling on Saturday night to stay overnight at the hotel and watch the Irish Open tournament on Sunday.

Donald Trump’s golf empire: From gold-plated statues to ‘Mona Lisa’ courses

Originally it was speculated that Trump would play in the pro-am, but it was necessary he stayed in the US for events to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Trump’s arrival will greatly increase the security presence at the weekend, with a security entourage of as many as 1,000 people, including up to 200 Secret Service officers as part of the operation.

What is the Irish Open winner’s prize?

The winner’s prize is €880,000 with a total purse of €5.17 million.

What is the weather forecast?

Scattered showers, with temperatures from 13 to 16 degrees, with winds of up to 27km/h during the week to challenge some of the world’s best players.

What are the tee times?

First round/second round – All off the 1st

7.15am (11.20am): Jason Scrivener (Aus), Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Dylan Naidoo (RSA)

7.25am (11.30am): Niklas Lemke (Swe), Antoine Rozner (Fr), Ivan Cantero (Esp)

7.35am (11.40am): Francesco Laporta (It), Sean Crocker (USA), Joost Luiten (Neth)

7.45am (11.50am): Adrian Otaegui (UAE), Connor Syme (Scot), Gregorio De Leo (It)

7.55am (12pm): Tom Vaillant (Fr), Jack Senior (Eng), Mark Power (IRE)

8.05am (12.10pm): Matteo Manassero (It), Todd Clements (Eng), Sam Bairstow (Eng)

8.15am (12.20pm): Cormac Sharvin (NI), Jeong-weon KO (Fr), KH Lee (Kor)

8.25am (12.30pm):Niklas Norgaard (Den), Thorbjørn Olesen (Den), Daniel Rodrigues (Port)

8.40am (12.45pm): Alejandro Del Rey (Esp), Jacques Kruyswijk (RSA), Brandon Robinson Thompson (Eng)

8.50am (12.55pm): Jorge Campillo (Esp), Joel Girrbach (Swit), Brandon Stone (RSA)

9am (1.05pm): Bernd Wiesberger (Aut), Angel Hidalgo (Esp), Stefano Mazzoli (It)

9.10am (1.15pm): Casey Jarvis (RSA), David Puig (Esp), Daniel Hillier (NZ)

9.20am (1.25pm): Jeff Winther (Den), Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Erik Van Rooyen (RSA)

9.30am (1.35pm): Séamus Power (IRE), Sepp Straka (Aut), Joaquin Niemann (Chil)

9.40am (1.45pm): Pádraig Harrington (IRE), Eugenio Chacarra (Esp), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)

9.50am (1.55pm) Jayden Schaper (RSA), Scott Jamieson (Scot), Mikael Lindberg (Swe)

10.05am (2.10pm) Shaun Norris (RSA), Thomas Higgins (IRE), Kota KANEKO (Jp)

10.15am (2.20pm) Ryggs Johnston (USA), Manuel Elvira (Esp), David Michechluzzi (Aus)

10.25am (2.30pm): Grant Forrest (Scot), Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Richard Sterne (RSA)

10.35am (2.40pm): Jens Dantorp (Swe), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Th), Frederic Lacroix (Fr)

10.45am (2.50pm): Marcel Schneider (Ger), Ugo Coussaud (Fr), Eddie Pepperell (Eng)

10.55am (3pm): Ashun Wu (Ch), Guido Migliozzi (It), Yurav Premlall (RSA)

11.05am (3.10pm): JC Ritchie (RSA), Marcus Helligkilde (Den), Frankie Capan III (USA)

11.20am (7.15am): Julien Guerroer (Fr), Yuto Katsuragawa (Jp), Darius Van Driel (Neth)

11.30am (7.25am): Marcus Armitage (Eng), David Ravetoo (Fr), Ewen Ferguson (Scot)

11.40am (7.35am): Ricardo Gouveia (Port), Ben Schmidt (Eng), Nathan Kimsey (Eng)

11.50am (7.45am): Max Kennedy (IRE), Richard MANSELL (Eng), Kazuma Kobori (NZ)

12pm (7.55am): Rikuya Hoshino (Jp), Wenyi Ding (Chn), Freddy Schott (Ger)

12.10pm (8.05am): Calum Hill (Scot), Rafa Cabrera Bello (Esp), Martin Couvra (Fr)

12.20pm (8.15am): Yanhan Zhou (Chn), Davis Bryant (USA), Hennie Du Plessis (RSA)

12.35pm (8.30am): Matthew Jordan (Eng), Nacho Elvira (Esp), Oliver Lindell (Fin)

12.45pm (8.40am): Danny Willett (Eng), Paul Waring (Eng), Andy Sullivan (Eng)

12.55pm (8.50am): Angel Ayora (Esp), Harry Hall (Eng), Joe Dean (Eng)

1.05pm (9am): Jordan Smith (Eng), Laurie Canter (Eng), Michael Hollick (RSA)

1.15pm (9.10am): Luke Donald (Eng), Tom McKibbin (NI), Alex Fitzpatrick (Eng)

1.25pm (9.20am): Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Sergio Garcia (Esp), Thriston Lawrence (RSA)

1.35pm (9.30am): Rory McIlroy (NI), Robert MacIntyre (Scot), Brooks Koepka

1.45pm (9.40am): Shane Lowry (IRE), Patrick Reed (USA), Jon Rahm (Esp)

2pm (9.55am): Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) Haotong Li (Chn) Thomas Detry (Bel)

2.10pm (10.05am): Matt Wallace (Eng), Jacob Skov Olesen (Den), Francesco Molinari (It)

2.20pm (10.15am): Romain Langasque (Fr), Nicolai Von Dellinghausen (Ger), Dylan Frittelli (RSA)

2.30pm (10.25am): Adrian Meronk (Pol), Ross Fisher (Eng), John Catlin (USA)

2.40pm (10.35am): Dan Bradbury (Eng), Pablo Larrazabal (Esp), Jordan Gumberg (USA)

2.50pm (10.45am): Oihan Guillamoundeguy (Fr), Daniel Gavins (Eng), Junghwan Lee (Kor)

3pm (10.55am): Maximilian Steinlecher (Aut), Johannes Veerman (USA), Zander Lombard (RSA)

3.10pm (11.05am): Liam Nolan (IRE), David Law (Scot), Renato Parator (It)

Dublin City Council assistant chief executive Mick Mulhern, who heads the local authority’s housing division, said only half of apartment schemes granted permission in the city are proceeding to the development phase.

“In the city centre, 97 per cent of permitted schemes are apartments, and they’re hard to make work. Around 50 per cent of schemes aren’t starting,” Mulhern told the Beauchamps annual housing conference on Tuesday.

Minster for Housing James Browne has made a number of policy changes since he was appointed last year in a bid to stimulate apartment development. Rent controls have been reformed, a lower VAT rate has been put in place for new apartments, and new apartment design standards are being devised.

Each policy was enacted to address industry concerns that apartment construction was economically unviable.

Data gives optimistic view of Irish housing sector that few want to hear

Deloitte chief economist Kate English told the Beauchamps event the number of houses being commenced has risen, but levels of new apartment construction have not risen at the same rate.

In the first seven months of this year, more than 9,262 new houses were started nationwide – more than the 7,000 to 8,000 started annually in the same periods of 2021, 2022 and 2023.

By the end of July 2026, construction had begun on 6,987 apartments in Ireland, which was marginally more than the 6,638 started in the same period during 2022, but lower than the 7,591 and 7,697 commenced in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

“House commencements are back to where, and higher than, the levels that were commenced, but apartments aren’t,” English said.

She said this was due in part to the lack of investment in new stock by private rental sector investors as viability issues persisted.

Mulhern said there are close to 15,000 apartments under construction in central Dublin at present, which represents a fraction of the units the council has granted permission for.

“Definitely on the private rented side, we’re not seeing the scale of supply. That’s a sector that’s definitely underperforming relative to social housing and affordable purchase in the city.

“We see about a 50 per cent conversion rate of permitted schemes. So from those 30,000 apartments, we’ve got about 15,000 active schemes on site across the city at the moment.”

Mandy Johnston, head of Irish Institutional Property, a lobby group for the private rental sector, said while the Government has enacted a lot of positive changes to help apartment development, it still needs to “sell that message” to property investors.

Housing developer Glenveagh says land hoarding penalties must be stricter

“We might take the infrastructural changes or the Housing Activation Unit and fully understand the purpose, but does everybody? So maybe there’s a job to sell that message a little bit better.”

In the past 18 months, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Browne have urged local authorities to zone more land for housing development in a bid to scale up residential development to meet the Government target of delivering 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.

Mulhern said Dublin City Council’s area now has enough land zoned for the construction of 74,000 homes.

Land Development Agency chief executive John Coleman told the Beauchamps conference that, based on recent engagements with developers, there is a concern among developers of a lack of zoned land beyond 2030.

“If you talk to a lot of developers, particularly the bigger ones, they are not so much worried about the zero- to five-year [pipeline] of land, but five- to 10-year pipeline. We’re all saying to ourselves, ‘Where are these sites going to be?’

“In our own land portfolio, we have Lissenhall, which is about 6,000 homes, and Clongriffin, of about 5,000 homes. We need 10 more of those.”

At the outset of that season, McGuinness had earmarked the Tribesmen as his dark horse to lift Sam Maguire.

“There is almost two phases to the team (under Joyce) – pre-Covid Galway and post-Covid Galway,” wrote McGuinness. “Pre-Covid Galway really shook the game up for a short period, there was a return to a very traditional, dynamic, attacking style.

“Then Covid hit and the Tribesmen struggled initially when games returned. During that period, I think an element of pragmatism came through the door for the Galway management and they seemed to fall in line with the game’s dominant trends.”

Galway didn’t win the All-Ireland that year. Or the year after. Then, somewhat surprisingly, Joyce last week announced he was stepping down as manager. Sam had proved unattainable.

A couple of months after his analysis of Galway, McGuinness hopped off the critics’ couch and took to the sideline again as Donegal manager.

In the three years since, he has led the team to two Ulster titles, adding to the three Donegal claimed in his first term. There was also an All-Ireland final appearance in 2025.

Donegal have won a total of 12 Ulster titles. They have only ever appeared in four All-Ireland senior football finals. All things considered, the last three years have hardly been a barren land of desolation.

And yet, if you spent any time in the hills this summer, there was no avoiding conversations with locals expressing the opinion their footballers had underdelivered over the past 12 months.

You could be forgiven for judging such convictions as having notions, but in reality it’s simply the McGuinness factor. With McGuinness at the helm, expectation levels are different. The bar is higher, because he pushed it there during his first stint.

But that devotion has been tested recently because of several high-profile vapid performances – most notably the All-Ireland final against Kerry in 2025 and defeats to Down and Cork in this year’s championship.

They were all, well, so un-McGuinness like.

And yet, in the middle of all those, Donegal delivered a quite exceptional display to dismantle Kerry by 13 points in the National League final. It felt for all the world like a statement performance. They had cracked the Kerry code.

And then Donegal’s season kind of fell off a cliff.

The Down non-performance was explained away by some as a canny ruse, with Donegal intentionally choosing to plot a course that would see them avoid the claustrophobic cauldron of the Ulster SFC and instead allow them focus totally on the All-Ireland.

But if that was the plan, and by all accounts it was not, then it came undone pretty quickly. A trip to Killarney in May was a game neither county wanted. And the fallout from that ill-tempered contest certainly didn’t help Donegal.

A few weeks later, Cork travelled to Ballybofey for what would prove to be a dog of a game. It was all lateral football and low energy – the spectacle of a league game playing out bang in the middle of the championship. And for the second time in seven weeks, Donegal hadn’t turned up. Fool me once, and all that.

Dublin were no world beaters this season, but Donegal couldn’t deal with Ger Brennan’s side either.

The most basic explanation, but perhaps also the truest, is that Donegal simply timed their run wrong this year. They might have laid down a marker against Kerry twice – but the Kingdom were still playing football a month after Donegal had packed up their tent for the season. Somewhere along the way, there had been a systems malfunction.

Such a rudimentary assessment might not hold much truck with the Donegal management, but it remains the case that their best performance of the year was produced on March 29th in the league final.

Confirmation late on Monday night that McGuinness was returning for 2027 came as little surprise. Nobody in Donegal was looking for a change.

But the make-up of his backroom team for next year will be interesting. Antóin McFadden, his brother-in-law, has stepped down as head of performance.

It indicates they will have a new specialist on the strength and conditioning side of the house. And will McGuinness freshen up his management team in terms of introducing a new selector or coach?

In the aftermath of Donegal’s opening game of the league this year, McGuinness was questioned about the previous summer’s All-Ireland final and, in particular, the freedom Paudie Clifford was afforded.

“I only take counsel from people that have been there and done that,” replied McGuinness. “If it’s an All-Ireland winning manager or a top coach, I’ll listen to them and listen to what they have to say but I don’t listen to anyone outside of that because it doesn’t make sense.”

Given next season will be his fourth of this spell, there probably would be something to gain from adding a fresh voice to the management team.

Will Michael Murphy, Ryan McHugh and Hugh McFadden all go back to the well again next year? A lot of miles in the legs, no doubt. But important leaders, all.

Shaun Patton’s season was wrecked by injury so the All-Star nominated goalkeeper should be back next year to contest the number one spot with Gavin Mulreany.

Shea Malone had an impressive breakout season in 2026 and he has been lighting it up with Naomh Conaill in the club championship. Max Campbell also looks like a real prospect while there are high hopes for Seanán and Turlough Carr to make the step up.

And ultimately McGuinness would not be returning if he didn’t see the potential for a big year in 2027.

Joyce had publicly declared his goal as Galway manager was to win Sam Maguire.

McGuinness doesn’t need to say it. Second time around, it has always been about the All-Ireland – but Joyce’s exit highlights that wanting something and achieving it reside in very different postcodes.

McGuinness was both a dreamer and a pragmatist in the manner he delivered Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland triumph. None of that has changed. Lessons will have been learned.

Perhaps we shouldn’t expect them to be pulling up many trees in next year’s National League.

The former Republic of Ireland captain left Everton at the end of last season after 17 years with the Merseyside club.

Appearing on the Stick to Football podcast, Coleman said he spent the summer at home with his family in Ireland, “keeping fit and training, not stressing too much about what’s next”.

But looking ahead, the 37-year-old added: “I probably was done 100 per cent at the end of the season, until I spoke to the Ireland manager.

“I’d done quite well in the Ireland games over the last year and we got quite close to the World Cup, but got knocked out. But he [Hallgrímsson] mentioned to me about staying on, to be part of it for the Euros in a couple of years.

“I know that’s a long way away, [but] that kind of planted a seed in my mind [that] maybe I could carry on and see what it’s like.”

Ireland will co-host the 2028 European Championships, alongside England, Scotland and Wales. The Aviva Stadium will host seven fixtures, although the Republic of Ireland are not guaranteed a place at the tournament.

On the club front, the Donegal man said he spoke to Championship side Sheffield United about a post-Everton move, but it “didn’t feel right”.

“I met the manager [Chris Wilder] and I went down there, [but] it just felt a bit soon after leaving Everton. It all happened too soon. I didn’t want to keep them hanging because I didn’t want to mess them around, you know, they’re trying to get their players in, so I just went back to Ireland.”

Coleman added: “The manager was great. I went down and met him, he was really, really good – a little bit old school, and the club was a good set-up as well. But I didn’t want to keep them hanging on, and decided it just wasn’t right, [so] went home and just switched off.

“I’m not stressing either way about it, to be honest. I’m kind of laid back. I had a good run, it was more so just the Irish stuff for me really that has put a bit of doubt in my mind.”

Coleman said while he hasn’t been training with a club over the summer, he has been “trying to stay as fit as I can”.

“I’ve not been training with a team, I’d find it strange going into a team. When I was back home for the six weeks, I was doing a little bit of Gaelic football with the lads back home, training with the soccer team back home. Just to stay fit, keep your movements going. But in terms of training with a team, I’ve not.”

However, now the transfer window has closed, he said “things might open up a little bit”.

“I’ll be making a decision very very soon. Again, if it wasn’t for the Ireland stuff, my decision would have been made.”

On what he can offer a club, Coleman said his main impact may come off the pitch. “At my age, even in the last two/three years at Everton, I’ve not played consistently or regularly, some injuries and then just not getting picked as well, but I always felt like I probably wasn’t hanging around there like a bad smell, because I could influence dressingrooms and players.

“I felt, at Everton, I was around for long enough that I could have an impact on the dressingroom, so even something like that going forward ... I know I can help players, I know I can help improve players, I know I can talk to players. I’m not going to play 30-40 games there, but I know I can come in and help.”

As for a potential switch into management, he added: “Not yet, but it is something that I’d like to do.

“In a bit of a mad way I think maybe the last three or four years at Everton I’ve nearly been like a mini manager, not in terms of how we play or how we pick a team, but in terms of managing people and trying to keep people on side when things are tough. I like that side of things.”

Concerns had been raised about X’s compliance with rules on ensuring users were of a certain age and parental controls, said media regulator Coimisiún na Meán.

The commission’s investigation, announced on Tuesday, is the first under its online safety code. Any social media platform found to be in violation of the code faces fines of up to the higher of 10 per cent of relevant annual turnover or €20 million.

Under the regulator’s online safety code, X, which is owned by Elon Musk, is required to carry out age assurance to make sure children do not see videos depicting pornography or extreme/gross and gratuitous violence or acts of cruelty on the platform.

“Following reviews by An Coimisiún’s platform supervision team, concerns arose in relation to the potential ineffective implementation of age assurance mechanisms by X,” said the regulator.

“Separately, as the X platform allows adult-only content and also allows children under the age of 16 to use its service, it is required by the online safety code to provide parental control systems to ensure that parents and guardians have control over what type of content their children encounter.”

The commission said there were concerns that the parental controls put in place by X may not be effective. It said the controls might not have minimum requirements, are hard to locate and are not brought to the attention of new users at the sign-up stage, as required by the code.

The investigation will now examine X’s age assurance processes. It warned that age assurance based solely on self-declaration by the user is not considered effective under the online safety code.

It will also look at whether the parental controls provided are actually in the control of parents, meet minimum requirements on functionality and that parents are actively alerted to them.

“Children have a fundamental right to participate in society, which includes the digital world, and to be protected from harm, abuse and exploitation online,” said John Evans, digital services commissioner.

“When developing Ireland’s Online Safety Code, our primary focus in Coimisiún na Meán was on protecting children from illegal and harmful content online and ensuring that parents and guardians had stronger methods to shape their children’s online experiences.

“Platforms which allow users under the age of 16 must have parental controls which are under the control of parents and guardians; they must ensure that these parental controls are effective and easy to locate, and they must draw users’ attention to these parental controls at account sign-up stage, for any parent or guardian who wishes to use them.

The commission is already conducting five other investigations into X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn under the EU Digital Services Act. It is also involved in four joint investigations opened by the European Commission into X, TikTok (two) and Shein.

The news that Carrigaline has the lowest rate of commercial rental vacancies in Ireland for the third consecutive year may not have been celebrated with champagne and canapés in the Co Cork town, but it is a measure of success that many towns might well envy.

Property database GeoDirectory found that although the national commercial vacancy rate stood at 14.5 per cent, Carrigaline came in top – or rather bottom – of the list at a healthy 5.1 per cent for the third year in a row to beat Greystones, Co Wicklow, on 7.3 per cent.

But the commercial rental vacancy rating is just one measure that suggests that the once-small village of Carrigaline, founded by the Normans when they built a castle at Carrig Ui Laighin, is now among the fastest growing and most prosperous towns in Ireland.

A village of just a few hundred people in the 1960s, Carrigaline, located 14km south of Cork city, underwent its first real growth in the 1970s and there have been waves of expansion with new housing estates springing up with near constancy since about 1990.

The CSO found that between 1996 and 2002, Carrigaline’s population grew by 2,320 and that growth has continued with the 2022 census recording a population of 18,239 in Carrigaline, making it the largest town in Co Cork after Ballincollig’s incorporation into Cork city in 2019.

Not only is Carrigaline the largest town in Co Cork, it is also the most prosperous with the CSO in 2016 reporting it as having the highest median income in Munster at €59,353. Although it didn’t top Munster in 2022, it still was recording a median income of €74,781.

Auctioneer Roy Dennehy, whose family business on Main Street will next year celebrate its 50th anniversary, believes that, with at least 100 new houses being built every year in Carrigaline since 2022, the population of the town is now well north of 20,000.

“There’s always been a good supply of housing in Carrigaline. Even in the worst of the slump from 2011 to 2014, there were houses being built and there’s been huge expansion in recent years. A three bedroom semi-D in the newest estate, Janeville, is about €484,000 at the moment.”

Asked about Carrigaline’s low level of commercial rental vacancy, Dennehy says: “Grocery is competitive to a degree with SuperValu, Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi, but our proximity to Cork and the shopping centres in Douglas and Mahon means retail here hasn’t expanded hugely – we have one men’s clothes shop, one woman’s clothes shop and one shoe shop.

“The number of coffee shops has expanded here hugely even though we have fewer pubs than we used to, but much of the commercial life of the town now is service-based: physiotherapists, doctors, dentists, barbers, hairdressers, beauty salons, solicitors and auctioneers.”

Although Carrigaline is experiencing most of the challenges facing dormitory towns that undergo rapid growth such as pressure on crèches, schools and medical practices as well as demands for more gardaí, Dennehy’s observation on the town’s economy points to another issue.

Cork County Council, in its impressive Carrigaline Transport and Public Realm Enhancement Plan (TPREP) published in 2022, identified the glaring problem that anyone living or visiting Carrigaline will be well aware of: huge traffic volumes and congestion.

“There are limited employment opportunities within Carrigaline, thus requiring a significant majority of residents in Carrigaline to travel outside [generally by car] to employment centres in Cork city, Ringaskiddy and Little Island,” it said in the plan, which is a blueprint for development in the town until 2040.

“During pre-Covid times, this resulted in more than 5,000 cars leaving Carrigaline in the morning and returning in the evening, creating substantial demands on the existing transportation network.”

Cork South-Central Fianna Fáil TD Séamus McGrath acknowledges the challenge the town faces with so many residents working in Cork city, for the big pharma companies at Ringaskiddy or across Cork harbour in Little Island, or in IT companies at Cork Airport Business Park.

McGrath says construction work on the €456 million upgrade of the N28 from Cork to Ringaskiddy to the M28 motorway, which connects to the Cork road in Carrigaline at Shannonpark roundabout, is adding to delays.

“Traffic is an issue 100 per cent and traditionally has been for Carrigaline,” he says. “The work on the M28, which is scheduled for completion in summer 2028, is causing additional congestion, but when it is completed it will be able to cater for greater traffic volumes to and from Carrigaline.”

Carrigaline was served between 1903 and 1932 by the Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which ran to Crosshaven, but there are no plans to reopen the line. Although some of it is already converted to a greenway, there are plans to convert all 26 kilometres to a greenway for active travel.

“We are not going to get light rail in the near future as the Luas isn’t coming out to Douglas or to Passage West or to Carrigaline, so in terms of public transport Bus Connects is the only show in town and there are plans to upgrade the frequency of service,” McGrath says.

He points also to council plans for a major park-and-ride to help reduce cars on the M28 with an area earmarked near the Shannonpark roundabout outside the town. although consideration is also being given to a site at Carr’s Hill, nearer Cork city, which could also serve Douglas.

“As well as that, the active travel is very strong here because when the greenway is completed it will bring you from Carrigaline, via Monkstown and Passage West, into the city and it will provide a link, too, to Ringaskiddy, which is a major employment base in the area.”

Cllr Jack White, Fine Gael member of Cork County Council, agrees with McGrath about the importance of buses. The current Bus Éireann service – which runs every 15 minutes – leaves much to be desired in terms of reliability as buses are often delayed at pinch points elsewhere on the route, he says.

“Carrigaline is served by the 220, which comes from Ovens all the way to Fountainstown. It’s a 44km route and less than 2 per cent of that is a dedicated bus lane, so very often buses are getting caught at pinch points on their way into the western part of the city and in the city itself,” he says.

White also points to another issue – one recognised by the council in its Carrigaline transport plan – that as well as the 5,000 daily car trips by people leaving Carrigaline daily for work, locals also make 3,000 journeys daily into town for school, sport and other community matters.

“The biggest challenge Carrigaline faces is a historic deficit in infrastructure planning that has led to a massive growth in housing estates at both the northern and southern ends of the without a decent road network within the town itself,” he says.

“That network should have been planned for 30 years ago, so what we have now is ... a massive amount of traffic [is] being funnelled through a main street that hasn’t changed much in 100 years. We’ve been promised an outer relief road and we badly need it.”

Cork County Council and Bus Éireann were contacted for comment on plans for Carrigaline.

New figures show that 54 employees were eligible for payments of €7.96 million, an average cost of about €147,000 per employee.

The highest cost was just over €4 million in ex-gratia redundancy payments, which was shared among 47 departing staff.

A further €1.53 million was paid in salary to those 47 employees while they were on gardening leave, according to records released under Freedom of Information legislation.

Retention payments of €1.13 million were also payable to 49 employees as the asset management agency shut its doors.

Seven staff were subsequently transferred to the Resolution Unit of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). That unit will oversee the management and disposal of Nama’s remaining assets.

A detailed breakdown of €6.43 million in payments shows that €681,000 was paid out in statutory redundancy. A further €4.1 million was paid in “ex-gratia redundancy” with additional payments of €172,000 and €249,000 respectively for employer PRSI and employer pension.

There were retention payments of €1.1 million, and €127,000 in employer PRSI on those lump sums.

Nama said “only contractual remuneration” was paid during gardening leave. Just under €270,000 was paid out for untaken annual leave, the records also showed.

Asked about the payments for untaken holidays, an NTMA spokesperson said this was additional to the €7.9 million in termination benefits.

Nama’s 2024 annual report had estimated that the cost of payouts for staff leaving would be in the region of €12.4 million. However, the spokesperson said overall costs so far included payments made last year and this year, with further payments scheduled for 2027.

They said: “The difference between this figure and the €12.4 million figure in the 2024 Nama annual report is primarily attributable to payments made in 2025 and payments that are scheduled to be made after certain staff members’ fixed-term contracts come to an end in 2027.”

Nama was officially dissolved during the summer, 17 years after it was set up to manage toxic loans from the financial crisis.

When it finished its work, it still held residential assets of about €22 million. It also had €50 million in cash that was handed over to the NTMA, while property assets worth €425 million were transferred to the Land Development Agency in 2025.

Paul McSweeney (65), from Dún Laoghaire, south Dublin, went swimming between the Dun Lún Laoghaire Baths and Sandycove Beach on September 14th, 2025, but was later discovered unconscious on Sandycove seafront.

His wife Gemma Walsh told Dublin District Coroner’s Court that her husband swam almost daily and “would not have been fazed” by the bad weather.

She said he would often swim at Dún Laoghaire Baths, sometimes called Casement Pier, or Howth Beach, but that he may have chosen Sandycove Beach instead as conditions were rough.

She said she would sometimes join her husband to watch him swim, but decided the weather was too rough on the day in question. Lifeguards were alerted at 12.15pm, the inquest heard.

Sean Dunne, a former lifeguard who was on the beach with three working lifeguards, ran to assist Paul McSweeney along with a former colleague. He found McSweeney face down in the water, flipped him around and applied rescue breaths to assist him.

Once he was on shore, they realised McSweeney was experiencing cardiac arrest. Dunne noted there was a lot of water in McSweeney’s airway and that defibrillator (AED) pads were not sticking to him as his chest was too wet.

An off-duty nurse who was nearby assisted and eventually they shocked McSweeney twice with AEDs. Members of the emergency services then arrived to treat him.

Dunne noted that red flags were posted on the borders of the beach due to the weather conditions. However, he explained that this was to protect the weakest swimmers. He said it was not unusual for people who swim regularly to be in the water on such days.

Coroner Clare Keane asked if it was possible to know how long McSweeney had been in the water. Dunne said it was not, but his best estimate would be around 20 minutes.

Dunne said the strong current may have moved McSweeney a considerable way down the beach. He estimated the time between notification and getting McSweeney to shore was around seven minutes.

When he arrived at St Vincent’s University Hospital, the medical report noted that McSweeney was suffering with ventricular fibrillation. This is a chaotic, quivering heart rhythm that stops blood flow and is the most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest.

He was also hypothermic at the time of admission. CPR ceased at 2.38pm, 2½ hours after he was found.

Walsh thanked Dunne and the other lifeguards, saying the family got “some comfort” from hearing that “anything that could have been done was done”. She said “the right people were there at the right time, it was just a little bit too late”.

In conclusion, the coroner agreed with the medical cause of death as drowning, but she recorded an open verdict due to uncertainty around where McSweeney got in the water and how long he was there before being discovered.

And so, the mood was sunny at the Tullamore Court Hotel as TDs, Senators and MEPs gathered for the annual beano in advance of the new Dáil term next week.

They are leading the Government. The party has been celebrating its 100th anniversary. The money is there to throw at every problem. Sinn Féin is stuck in Opposition, and although Fianna Fáil is sharing power on a nearly-equal basis with their old frenemies in Fine Gael, they believe their edge in Dáil seats makes them the top dogs. And they’re away for the night with a strong chance of a few pints. These are all things that make Fianna Fáilers smile.

In addition to all that, the party seems to have reached an agreeable, if temporary, conclusion to the perennial question about Micheál Martin’s leadership. It is this: “We’ll think about all that next year.”

The Taoiseach, his Ministers and senior officials throughout every department have Council of the European Union presidency business to be getting on with. Trying to assassinate the dear leader while he is engaged with the future of Europe would not be a good look for a party which likes to think of itself as the most strongly pro-EU party in the Republic.

Also, it is beginning to dawn on people that they haven’t yet evinced a public-facing reason to get rid of Martin after more than 15 years as leader. “We don’t like him and he has been there for ages” does not constitute one.

Nonetheless, the expectation that he will not fight the next general election and will depart next year is general throughout the parliamentary party. But so is the conviction that all that can wait for a few months.

The absence of leadership manoeuvring meant the focus on policymaking in Tullamore was strong, which Martin loves, of course.

But the need to focus on policy reveals just how many fronts the Government is struggling to deliver on: housing, childcare, the cost of living, to name but a few.

On the last two of these, there were clunky hints that Budget 2027 will mark significant resources allocated to them, with Minister for Children Norma Foley speaking about a “breakthrough budget” for childcare costs.

On housing, the defining challenge for the Government, there is hope that progress is being made, but not yet irrefutable evidence of a step change in supply and a manifest difference on the ground.

But as Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers was keen to make clear, the budget will not be as generous as many would like. There are already reports of tensions between Chambers and Ministers looking for bigger increases in their spending allocation than he is inclined to give. If this is making him unpopular, that is an unavoidable consequence of doing his job.

In a pointed intervention, Chambers also warned people that the personal income tax cuts that have been touted so enthusiastically by his budget-making colleague and Minister for Finance Simon Harris would only amount to a few hundred euros for people. What was that about?

Vapes ‘the revenge of big tobacco’: Taoiseach raises prospect of ban

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan continued to highlight his efforts to tighten immigration policy, with promised changes to the rules on citizenship and a requirement that applicants should be required to undergo a test to ensure they can speak English (or Irish, but how likely is that?) at a reasonable level of proficiency. The Government has previously said it wants to reduce immigration. These moves are more about being seen to cut immigration levels.

Overall, Fianna Fáil is in a better place now than it has been at any of its recent think-ins. But it is facing some big and politically tricky decisions. Some of those will come in the next few weeks, when choices will have to be made between desirable outcomes that are not all possible.

Others will come next year, when the leadership question will inevitably return.

Detectives believe the driver of the car knew the 17-year-old and had followed and then deliberately rammed him off his electric-powered bike near Clonlara village.

However, whether the intent was to kill him or to intimidate and injure him has not yet been established.

Gardaí suspect Bryan Lowe sent messages to at least one person last Friday night expressing concerns for his safety before the fatal incident.

The deceased’s phone records form part of the Garda inquiry, with the investigation team seeking to study messages sent to see if he wrote anything about who might be following him and why.

At this stage, gardaí are working on the hypothesis that the ramming of Bryan Lowe off his e-bike was deliberate and that it was not a conventional crash.

In a post on Facebook, his mother, Crystal Lowe, said she was “heartbroken and traumatised” that her son had died alone. She said she believed Bryan was “followed” from the Corbally area to Clonlara before his death.

Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe said at a time when the teenager should have been going back to school at St Munchin’s College in Limerick, his “distraught family” were instead making arrangements for a funeral.

Crowe urged anyone with information about the incident to contact An Garda Síochána and said he believed this was not “an unfortunate accident”.

The car believed to have been involved in the incident had not been reported stolen. It was later found after efforts had been made to destroy it by fire. It is believed the registered owner of the vehicle was not driving it on the night in question.

There had been an interaction between the occupants of the silver/gold Skoda Octavia, registration 05-C-5982, and Bryan Lowe earlier on Friday.

Gardaí believe the teenager was later followed by the driver and rammed off his bike before being dragged under the vehicle for a time at Cottage Cross, near Clonlara village, at 11pm.

Bryan Lowe, from Westbury, Corbally, and Clonlara, was treated by paramedics after the incident, but was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gardaí investigating possibility that teenager deliberately knocked off e-bike in Co Clare

The partially burnt-out Skoda was found in the Castleconnell area on Saturday morning. Though it was damaged by fire, gardaí are hopeful it may still yield some forensic evidence.

St Munchin’s College offered its sympathies to the teenager’s family and schoolfriends.

“Bryan should be looking ahead to his Leaving Certificate, to his future and to all the possibilities that lay before him. Instead, we are coming together to mourn one of our students whose life has been taken far too soon,” said deputy principal Lorraine Shiels.

“Bryan was an absolute gentleman to meet on the corridor. He would do anything asked of him without complaint ... There was a lovely kindness to him and a big heart. He will be sorely missed by everyone in our community.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Henry Street Garda station in Limerick on 061-212400, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666111 or any garda station.

‘Heartbroken and traumatised’: Family of boy (16) killed in Cloonlara hit-and-run speak out

A press briefing was called hastily, and the department led with the positive news that Ireland is still among the top players in Europe – in fact, in reading, Ireland has the highest score in the EU.

The Minister was out to congratulate students and thank teachers, parents and school communities for their “dedication and commitment”.

The Educational Research Centre, the research arm of the department, led with the line that Irish students outperformed their counterparts in most other participating countries, and that any declines seen here were also observed at Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and EU level.

This is true, and there certainly is good news in this report showing Ireland has one of the most successful education systems in the world.

But focusing on that would be to ignore one key fact.

Teenagers, in Ireland and globally, are much worse at reading and maths than they were 10 years ago.

Irish teenagers getting weaker at maths and reading, new international research shows

The OECD itself was far more dreary in its analysis of the global findings than the department was here, particularly regarding falling reading scores.

It variously described this decline as “gloomy”, “troubling”, “sobering” and “pervasive”.

It found the reduced capacity of students to read carefully and with sustained attention was playing a leading role in this decline.

Students were more likely to read in haste, rushing through blocks of text to give quick but incorrect answers.

They struggled more than ever before with reading longer texts, which required higher-order cognitive skills and more focus over longer periods.

“We cannot say for sure, but skimming social media feeds and rapidly processing information may be contributing to worsening ability and motivation to engage with complex texts and data,” the OECD said.

It also pointed to school closures over the Covid-19 period as another possible explanation for the reduced reading abilities, though because the decline started before the pandemic, this cannot be the only reason.

Summing it up, the OECD said the declining trends in reading were “pervasive” and “primarily reflect a decline in focus and attention”.

Irish teenagers getting weaker at maths and reading, new international research shows

It called on education systems globally to re-engage young people with reading – because it is more important now than ever.

“In an era of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence, the ability to read critically, assess the credibility of information, understand nuance and make informed judgments is likely to become even more valuable,” the OECD said.

But what do the Pisa results tell us about the preparedness of students in Ireland for an AI-dominated future?

We know that reading scores have fallen here, as they have in most other OECD countries – but still Ireland remains high on the leader boards.

It is also clear that the Irish system has been trying to limit the use of digital devices in schools for purely leisure activities.

The data shows 78 per cent of Irish students attended a school with some sort of smartphone ban – that is up from 56 per cent in 2022 and is significantly higher than the OECD average of 46 per cent in 2025.

Students in Ireland are also using AI for schoolwork a lot less than their peers in other countries.

In Ireland, some 26 per cent of students reported using AI chatbots to help them learn at least once a week, while the OECD average was 46 per cent.

None of this should encourage complacency on behalf of policymakers here, though.

Students must be guided through the responsible use of AI in a classroom setting to use it comfortably later in life.

We must also foster a love of reading for leisure in them in early years to combat the reduced capacity for focus on longer-form comprehension.

The Pisa results confirm we have a world-class education system – but the drop-off in reading and maths scores are not a blip in the data and should not be ignored.

The temporary grant of permission for five years by Fingal County Council for the courts at the shopping centre on the Malahide Road, Swords, reverses a refusal imposed by the council only five months ago.

In its March refusal , the council said the proposed development, if permitted, would be prejudicial to the construction phase of the MetroLink project at the location.

However, in the new application, the applicants enclosed a submission from MetroLink that the lands will not be required for it and that it supported the padel application.

The council granted permission after concluding the proposal would regenerate a vacant space within a town centre location while contributing to the available sports and recreational facilities in the wider area.

The council said the applicant has provided sufficient information to demonstrate the proposed layout would not conflict with or prejudice the construction phase of the MetroLink project.

Planning consultant for Hammerson, Stephen Little & Associates, told the council that “the refusal arose from a misunderstanding regarding the extent of lands required for the delivery of MetroLink works to the north-east of the site”.

Little said that clarification has been provided as part of the current application “to demonstrate that the proposed development would not prejudice the delivery of the MetroLink project”.

The applicant liaised with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) before the making of the new application, who is satisfied that the proposed padel court facility will not prejudice the neighbouring MetroLink construction works, he said.

Sherry FitzGerald owner eyes 52% profit from sale of Dublin retail park to German fund

The new plan includes a 10m landscape buffer so the courts are set back an appropriate distance from the adjacent lands required for the MetroLink R132 footbridge removal works.

The padel courts were subject to a single objection from Michelle Hickey, of The Fairways, Donabate.

Hickey told the council that “we do need more sports facilities, but not ones that are not thought out and make everyone else’s life more difficult”.

“There are major traffic issues at this shopping centre already, and it’s very difficult to get in and out to do basic shopping or to access Swords Main Street,” she said.

Fianna Fáil TD Seamus McGrath said such a move would help hard-pressed first-time buyers get on the property market.

He points out that they already have to come up with a 10 per cent deposit, solicitors’ fees, surveyors’ fees and furnishings. The 1 per cent stamp duty tax is another financial burden on top of that, he argues.

But experts are not convinced it will help cool matters at all.

What are the current rates of stamp duty?

Currently all property buyers, except those buying multiple properties, pay stamp duty at 1 per cent on house purchases up to €1 million. It rises to 2 per cent between €1 million and €1.5 million and to 6 per cent for purchases of more than €1.5 million.

How much would the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers cost?

According to the Revenue Commissioners, the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers would cost €83.6 million. It is pocket change in the context of an estimated €125.5 billion budget.

Why abolish stamp duty for first-time buyers?

Stamp duty is regarded as an unfair imposition on first-time buyers. They are often competing with investors or those moving up the property ladder who have greater equity behind them and can afford the stamp duty.

“It’s a very positive move,” said the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers chief executive Genevieve McGuirk of the proposed abolition.

“Affordability remains a challenge for first-time buyers. This would shave off some of the time that they need to save. That money could be better used towards the deposit or for renovations or furniture.”

Are there any reasons why stamp duty for first-time buyers should not be abolished?

Yes, says Lorcan Sirr, a senior lecturer in housing at the Technological University Dublin. Putting money back into the pockets of first-time buyers will only add to housing prices.

“The quickest way to moderate house price inflation is to give people less money,” he said.

“Every time there is a wage increase, there is an increase in house prices. A 1 per cent rise in wages leads to a 3 per cent rise in house prices.”

If a bank is able to discount the cost of stamp duty when lending to first-time buyers, the amount it can lend goes up substantially, he argues.

For example, if a couple want to buy a €400,000 house, they will have to save at least €44,000 (excluding solicitor’s fees) for a 10 per cent deposit and 1 per cent stamp duty.

That is €40,000 for the deposit and €4,000 for stamp duty.

Without having to set money aside for stamp duty, they will now be able to borrow up to €440,000 if a 10 per cent deposit is required.

“It won’t be a huge inflationary effect, but it will be inflationary,” Sirr believes.

What is the likelihood that it will happen?

McGrath’s constituency colleague, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, has said he is “favourably disposed” towards the measure and the Minister for Housing James Browne said it should be something that is considered in the forthcoming budget.

But Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has also publicly sceptical about abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers. He believes that any announcement before the budget would have a detrimental impact on the housing market as many purchases would not go through before the new regime comes into place.

What happens now?

The potential abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers is part of the budgetary back and forth between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The Government parties will be mindful of the law of unintended consequences in relation to housing where legislation brought forward to ease the burden on first-time buyers ends up having the opposite effect by contributing to house inflation.

The shed was delivered as two separate consignments – or at least that was supposed to happen.

Instead, the first box, the one with the actual shed in it, landed on her doorstep. The second box, which contained all the bits needed to make the shed an actual shed, never showed up.

“It was subsequently reported to me as lost,” Eve writes.

Her sorry story starts here.

She says Homebase told her they could only process her refund once the first of the two boxes arrived back with them, which is probably fair enough.

“The problem is that, despite Homebase arranging multiple collections, nobody has actually collected the box,” she says.

“I have now spent two full days waiting at home for couriers who did not turn up. I am still sitting with a very large and extremely heavy box in my hallway, and I am now over €300 out of pocket in additional storage costs."

We couldn’t help but think that what Eve really needs is a shed to put her half-shed in.

“I also tried to find a straightforward solution,” she says. “The shed I originally purchased was subsequently out of stock, so I offered to accept the same shed in a different colour.”

She tells us this alternative was “slightly more expensive”, adding: “I suggested that Homebase could absorb the difference as a gesture of goodwill given the circumstances. This was declined.”

Eve says she has repeatedly asked Homebase to escalate the matter and for someone senior to contact her. Despite making this request numerous times, she has only been contacted by members of the customer service team.

Eve says she has also taken matters into her own hands and contacted the two courier companies involved in the process. “I was advised that the companies didn’t have any record of my address being booked for collection, which has left me even more confused about how the collection is actually being managed.”

To the credit of Homebase, Eve says: “The individual customer service advisers have generally been professional and helpful, and I have tried to be extremely patient. However, almost two months later, I am still without the shed, still without my money and facing significant additional costs through no fault of my own.”

We contacted Homebase to see what could be done for poor Eve.

“We’re sorry that the collection of the item has not yet been completed. The customer has received a full refund and we are continuing to work closely with the supplier and relevant teams to arrange collection and resolve this matter. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the customer,” they said.

Measuring child poverty is not straightforward and the report contains some criticism that the Government’s approach, which recently reported a small fall in the rate to just below 8 per cent last year, is too narrow. But whatever measure is used, the Coalition is not showing any sustained progress in addressing this vital issue.

The ESRI report finds that the number of children in households below the poverty line, defined as having less than 60 per cent of median household income, rose to 200,000, or 17.4 per cent, in 2024, an annual increase of almost 30,000. Many of the children in these homes would not be counted in the Government’s definition , which also requires there to be evidence of material deprivation, defined as an inability to afford two or more essential goods and services.

While the figures are from a couple of years ago, they do suggest that a reduction in income inequality which had occurred from the period after the financial crash up to 2019 has now stalled or even reversed. The gains of recent years have accrued more significantly to the better off.

The Government has made efforts to direct funds to lower-income families with children, but these have been piecemeal in nature. The ESRI’s case that a second level of child benefit would be the most efficient way to address the issue appears to have been written off, in favour of increasing welfare payments to families with children and improving the Working Family Payment. Welcome as these measures have been, many families continue to struggle.

Helping them – and setting out a pathway for the years ahead – should be a priority of next month’s budget, and not just an afterthought in an attempt to woo the middle classes.

Speaking outside Leinster House as part of a photocall ahead of an Affordable Ireland Campaign protest planned for Saturday, September 19th, in Dublin city centre, Murphy said the financial supports for measures such as retrofitting, solar panels and public transport should be prioritised to “simultaneously tackle the cost-of-living crisis and the climate crisis”.

“The Government is making decisions, in one of the richest countries in the world, with a massive budget surplus, that are making life harder for the majority of people.

“We all need to come together, we need to be on the streets in big numbers to demand a budget that is going to protect people from the cost-of-living crisis instead of making it worse for them.”

The Affordable Ireland Campaign is calling for a number of changes such as supports to help with energy costs, price controls on food and energy, free public transport and a living wage.

He said the increases to public transport fares needed to be stopped “immediately”.

He also said, “all the evidence is clear, disabled people need a cost of disability payment”.

“Instead of those measures that put money into the pockets of the rich, we think we need measures that put money into the pockets of ordinary people.”

Stamp duty cut: Would it really help first-time buyers or drive up house prices yet again?

He said these measure could include an “energy credit for ordinary people”, “giving public sector workers a decent pay rise as opposed to below inflation”, “an increase in the minimum wage to make the minimum wage a living wage as opposed to a wage that people can’t survive on” and “investing to bring public transport fares down instead of up”.

“For a long time, we’ve been calling for free public transport to get people out of cars.”

Daniel Walsh, president of Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (Amlé), previously the Union of Students in Ireland, said “it is devastating for so many students across the country who simply cannot find accommodation because accommodation isn’t there”.

“The shortfall in student specific accommodation in Ireland is anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 beds each year, and that’s a gap that won’t be made up by private market interventions.”

He said there needed to be “significant state intervention into the student accommodation market with investment into purpose-built student accommodation, which is safe, which is secure, which is affordable for students”.

He said that after last year’s budget, “a lot of students actually found themselves worse off”.

This year Amlé is urging “meaningful action on the cost of college crisis” to include investment in purpose-built student accommodation, the abolition of the student contribution charge and the drawing up of a “multiannual funding plan”.

Rory Hearne, a Social Democrats TD, said “the cost-of-living crisis is completely out of control”.

“People are really struggling with the basics,” he said, mentioning increases to the cost of electricity and gas, public transport and food.

“What we want to see is a budget that really actually acts properly to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and so we want people to come out on the 19th and really show that they want real action on this.”

In Budget 2027, he said, “basic costs of living” should be reduced through investment in public services.

He said public childcare should be introduced to “significantly reduce the cost of childcare”, a reduction in public transport costs, the introduction of a “targeted energy credit,” a reduction in GP costs particularly for those aged under 18 and a second tier child benefit.

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,” Noel posted online a few hours later. “People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.”

The brothers’ falling-out and unexpected return for their reunion tour of 2025, which included a sold-out (and, controversially, dynamically priced) gig at Croke Park in Dublin, is the starting point for this noisy rockumentary.

Archive footage recalls the implosion before we enter the rehearsal room for six weeks of preparation for Oasis’s 41-show Live ’25 tour. But we never do get the lowdown on the big strop.

What actually happened? According to what Noel told the media in 2011, the Gallaghers had been rowing because Liam wanted to promote his clothing range in the band’s tour programmes.

“I didn’t think it was right for him to be flogging his gear to our fans,” the older brother said, proposing that Liam pay full rate for the adverts. “He couldn’t get his head around that. He hit the roof. Things really went downhill from there.”

It all culminated, according to Noel, with Liam throwing a plum at him in the dressingroom that night in France, then trying to hit him with a guitar. “He nearly took my face off with it,” the older brother said in the 2015 interview. “It was a really unnecessary, violent act.”

That account doesn’t materialise in the film. Instead, Noel and Liam appear together as an older, guarded and PR-wiser Oasis, still swearing and boasting about how their kids – who were kept apart by the famous feud – get “spangled” together every night.

The earlier band were a product of the hedonistic dance-rock mash-up that was Madchester, with wild psychedelic retreads such as Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets.

But Noel, a sometime roadie for the Carpets, had ambitions beyond the cultish Haçienda hootenanny. Right from Supersonic, Oasis’s first single, it was clear we were heading for stadiums to repeat the shuddering antics of classic rock acts such as The Rolling Stones and the popular Oasis soundalikes The Beatles.

Later records borrowed from 1960s flower power, stomping 1970s glam and, featured on the cover of their first LP, Burt Bacharach.

They proved, at the world’s raviest moment, that rock could still sell. Along the way they contributed to the odd collective meltdown that was Britpop.

At the height of it all, Liam and Patsy Kensit, his then wife, appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, lying on a Union Jack-themed bed above the headline “London Swings Again!” (Carnaby Street is a bit of a hike from any Manchester housing estate, but never mind.)

It was a retro moment, just as the 2025 concerts were, yet it also satisfied a newly emerging swagger in the United Kingdom. This was working-class culture writ large and proud.

It was also a moment for the Irish. Noel sees himself as an Irishman who just happens to have been born in Manchester.

George Cragg’s editing is the star as the film swerves between peak-1990s clips, rousing choruses and big cities. The concerts themselves are thunderous, and the crowd bawl, booze and belt out every song.

“It’s more of a football crowd,” says the police officer co-ordinating security before the tour’s opening concert, in Cardiff. He’s right, but only in the impossible instance whereby both teams win. The visible outpouring of joy moves Noel to tears more than once.

Oldies are present and correct. But the huge Gen Z contingent is more surprising. (The documentary’s premiere at Venice film festival brought in a swarm of teenagers hoping to get their vinyls signed on the red carpet.)

The film’s inconsistent use of fan testimony often feels like an attempt to manufacture profundity. There’s a lovely moment with an Ulster mum and her non-verbal son listening to Talk Tonight. Elsewhere, the personal stories are often slight.

There are few outrageous, swaggering claims, save for a hypothesis that the world “went to shit” after Oasis split up. Perhaps that is the film’s strongest argument: Oasis offer escape, communal release and a version of belonging that feels vanishingly rare.

Mother from Mayo, father from Meath: How Irish are Oasis?

Yes, they know how much you paid for your ticket. When Liam calls out to the “cheap seats”, he follows up with, “Oh, wait: there are no cheap seats. Sorry about that.”

The rendition of The Auld Triangle by 80,000 Irish fans at Croke Park is special. But for all its noise, the film could do with more of what we most want to see: the Gallaghers being Gallaghers.

In cinemas from Wednesday, September 9th

Heydon on Tuesday said horticulture farms which did not have irrigation systems were very constrained during crucial growth periods this summer.

“Only 20 per cent of our potato crop had irrigation, and it performed much better than that which didn’t,” he said.

Heydon said he and Minister of State Niall Collins had changed the requirements of a capital investment scheme for horticulture to make it easier to apply for support for irrigation systems.

“The horticulture sector is an area that we need to protect. It is vulnerable and under pressure.”

He said all sectors in agriculture needed to build up resilience so farming could be future-proofed against extreme weather events, which he predicted would be less rare in the years ahead.

Heydon was speaking at a press conference following an informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Dublin Castle held as part of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. He was accompanied by Christophe Hansen, EU commissioner for agriculture.

Hansen described the drought across Europe this summer as a catastrophe. Record temperatures were recorded in some countries as the Continent experienced many weeks of high heat and no precipitation.

He said he had been meeting farmers and representatives from across the EU to get a better understanding of the impact on the sector.

“The economic losses will be significant for sure. Although we don’t know yet the entire dimension of the catastrophe, there is also a human side and a dimension that we should not forget.”

Hansen, who is from Luxembourg, said a farmer in France told him he had to cope with temperatures of 48 degrees inside his greenhouses. He said the farmer had to work under those conditions to save his crop.

He said such extremes had put huge mental and physical pressures on farmers.

“In other places we had different situations where water needed to be brought to mountain regions. They usually always have access to fresh waters, but the rivers were just going dry.”

The commissioner said the Common Agricultural Policy had flexibility and that some payments could be made earlier to provide liquidity to farmers. He said there were also some derogations available to address what he called a natural disaster.

Regarding methane emissions in the livestock sector, Heydon told the conference the change from monoculture ryegrass to a multi-species sward in Irish grasslands had helped lock nitrogen into the soil and reduce emissions, as well as lessened farmers’ dependency on artificial fertilisers.

He also said that the use of better genetics in livestock had seen animals emitting 23 per cent less methane, while having a 4 per cent greater carcass weight.

Zelenskiy added that he hoped to meet US president Donald Trump within two weeks.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow is determined to accomplish its goals in Ukraine and indicated that Russia believes it is close to winning the war, more than four years after it invaded its neighbour.

Ukrainian and western observers say this is not true.

Washington envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff visited Moscow and then Kyiv for separate talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy at the weekend.

The meetings appeared to produce no significant breakthrough that might soon end the fighting, and both countries have resumed their deadly air war after a brief truce in their capitals for the American visitors.

The latest aerial attacks killed at least three civilians and wounded 16 others in Kyiv, officials said, while Russian officials reported three people killed and 13 wounded in Moscow-governed areas.

Zelenskiy said he is counting on meeting Trump around September 20th, close to the time when the UN General Assembly is scheduled to be held in New York.

The Ukrainian leader indicated he will press Trump to provide Ukraine with more Patriot air defence systems that Kyiv needs to counter Russia’s ballistic missiles.

He thanked Washington officials for their efforts to unblock negotiations with Russia, which have been stuck since early this year with little progress.

CIA director gives bleak assessment of Russia’s war in Ukraine during Moscow visit

“As for the peace package that Kushner spoke about and the new ideas, I’ll tell you frankly, there were indeed a couple of very good, worthwhile ideas,” Zelensky said in audio messages answering reporters’ questions.

The proposals will remain under wraps for now, he said, but he expressed hope that trilateral talks between delegations from Ukraine, Russia and the US can take place in the autumn.

He noted that Ukraine is “ready to find a compromise” on the issue of grain exports and energy.

Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other’s grain ships in the Black Sea, raising concerns that two of the world’s major suppliers will not be able to get their produce to market.

Ukraine has also battered Russian oil facilities, while Russia has pounded Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter.

The Kremlin spokesman struck a cooler note on recent developments in negotiations, however.

“We’re convinced the victory is very close. We’re very confident in our military potential,” Peskov told reporters, while insisting Russia wants to find a peaceful solution and welcomes Trump’s diplomatic efforts.

Putin has sought to portray Russia as negotiating from a position of strength in the war. But European officials and western analysts say its bigger army is unable to make significant progress on the 800-mile (1,250km) front line, where it is pushing to capture the eastern Donetsk region, part of Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

“Russian forces will not seize Donetsk… until 2032 at their current rate of advance – if they can seize it at all,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said on Sunday.

“The Russian rate of advance has slowed significantly across the theatre since 2025, when Russia’s rate of advance had already begun to slow.”

With troops bogged down on the battlefield, both countries have intensified their aerial campaign of drones and missiles.

Russia’s main targets in its overnight attack were Kyiv and the southern Odesa region. At least 16 people were wounded in Kyiv, Ukraine’s interior minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. There was no immediate tally of casualties in Odesa.

Russian ambassador not in position to ‘lecture’ Ireland over Ukraine war stance, says Taoiseach

Explosions were heard in Kyiv for nearly five hours, according to Vyhivskyi. More than 50 sites were damaged in Kyiv during the Russian overnight attack on Tuesday, including residential buildings, dormitories, schools, shops, petrol stations and a flour production plant, he said.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called it “a horrific attack” and accused Putin of undermining US peace efforts.

“His ballistic missiles speak louder than his words on diplomacy,” Sybiha said on X, referring to Putin.

“Strike after strike on residential buildings brings him no closer to winning this war — it is nothing but senseless terror.”

The Russian defence ministry said its forces launched a massive strike on Ukrainian military industry facilities overnight.

It provided a detailed list of its targets, including locations where Ukrainian drones and cruise missiles were stored, as well as transport, logistics and distribution centres for military cargo in Kyiv and the surrounding region, the ministry said.

Infrastructure in the port of Chornomorsk in the Odesa region used for “unloading military cargo” was also struck. – AP

Micheál Martin was speaking on Tuesday in Tullamore, Co Offaly, at the conclusion of the Fianna Fáil think-in.

Party TDs had earlier suggested planning restrictions on the number of vape shops that could open in any particular area.

Speaking about the dangers of vapes, Martin said: “To me, it’s almost been the revenge of big tobacco. It has all the same hallmarks as big tobacco – go after the young, get the young addicted.

“Vapes are nearly worse than cigarettes. We don’t know what’s in them; they’re damaging to the lungs,” he told reporters.

Martin said he would have a similar view of nicotine pouches.

Asked if he would favour an outright ban on vapes, the Taoiseach said: “Well, I’m not the Minister [for Health] but ... yeah, in my view products like that that are damaging to health, we should deal with in as strong a manner as possible.”

Earlier, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary warned that the increase in his budget allocation this year would be smaller than last year. He suggested he would seek to make “targeted interventions” rather than across-the-board increases.

He declined to say if pensioners and other welfare recipients could expect a repeat of the significant increases in payments they have seen in recent years.

“We have to make tough calls,” he said.

Echoing comments made by the Taoiseach earlier Tuesday morning, he said changes made in the budget last year, including a €300 million package to target child poverty, were not accounted for in figures on child poverty published on Tuesday by the Economic and Social Research Institute.

It found that the number of children in households below the poverty line grew by almost a fifth in 2024. Being below the poverty line is defined as having less than 60 per cent of the median household income.

The Dublin-born architect is in the passenger seat and in the company of Craig Doyle to record a new vodcast series, Detours, produced by The Irish Times Content Studio in partnership with Volvo. They are touring the capital in the Volvo ES90, a fully electric sedan conceived to offer freedom to move, and supported by fast charging, a long range and safety by design.

Themes of freedom and movement carry through their conversation, starting with the beginning, when, at age seven, Bannon experienced the most dramatic detour of his young life when his family relocated to Cairo. The Egyptian capital was unlike anything he had ever known, and the memory of that first drive from the airport is etched in his mind, in sensory aspects from the climate to the people. “I remember the traffic slowing to a crawl and watching women sitting along the curbs and people eating on the street,” he says. “I’d never seen that before; unlike in Ireland at that time, everything happened outside because of the climate, so for the next two years I walked around with my eyes wide open, just watching people.”

Unable to speak the local language, Bannon became more attuned to his environment. “All I could do was look at people,” he explains. “I began noticing how they behaved, how they moved through the city, where they gathered, and how they occupied public spaces.” Although the unfamiliarity of it all made him retreat inward, he says, it also sparked a surge of creativity and imagination.

Bannon admits he would have returned to Ireland in a heartbeat if given the opportunity, but he believes it was on the streets of Cairo that he developed his passion for architecture and became captivated by the relationship between people and places. He credits this early detour in life with leading him to the profession he’s now famous for.

Dermot Bannon’s next significant detour was his later move into television presenting, something he had never planned for. “I was working at a large architectural practice, steadily moving up the ladder and really enjoying it,” he explains. “The principals of the firm felt more like friends than employers and I genuinely thought I would spend the rest of my career there.”

But an opportunity to fill in for fellow architect Róisín Murphy on the property series House Hunters in 2006 sparked an unexpected passion for broadcasting. “I realised I loved television,” he says. “I loved it as a creative medium and I loved communicating.” The producers of the show saw potential and pitched the concept for Room To Improve to RTÉ. “We filmed a mini pilot episode of the show in somebody’s house and RTÉ rubber-stamped it.”

Seventeen seasons in, the role of presenting one of RTÉ’s flagship shows might have seemed like an easy decision to make, but Bannon reveals that he was strongly advised against the career swerve. “All of my colleagues and friends thought it was a risky move, that I’d be exposing myself and the profession,” he says. “This was 2008 and there were no behind-the-scenes TV programmes other than maybe Big Brother. Everything has changed so much since then, especially with social media, but in the mid-noughties nobody was doing it.”

His wife was not convinced either, and with a young baby at home, the consequences of making the wrong decision were very real. “My head was telling me it was wrong,” says Bannon, “but my heart was telling me it was right.” To make the decision even more difficult, his employer offered to make him an associate director at the practice. “I remember saying to myself, ‘I’m just going to do this. I’m going to make the leap. I’m going to jump because if I don’t do it now, I never will.’”

His decision was fortuitous because, within months, the property market had collapsed and architectural practices began laying off staff en masse as projects and commissions dried up. “As it turned out, I was lucky because I had a television contract guaranteed for at least a year, so I knew I had a steady income for the next 12 months. It also gave me the time and space to establish my own practice. Starting out at the very bottom of the market when there was no comfort or certainty meant I had no illusions about what it really took to run a practice.”

As his profile grew so did his business. “The jobs were small to begin with and it was hard to make a living, but I kept going,” he says. “That was the first big detour of my adult life and it wasn’t a comfortable one. It was agonising and it was a lot of graft, and it could have gone either way.”

Given that this detour really was a step into the unknown, it’s surprising to hear Bannon describe himself as “risk averse and so cautious”. “I overthink everything,” he says. “If I’m eating out with my family, I have to research every restaurant and check out menus, to the point that sometimes we wind up going nowhere at all.” This desire for control may dull the spontaneity of a family outing, but in his profession it’s essential. “When you think about it, as an architect, you’re messing with people’s homes, their life savings, their mortgages. They could be saving for years to afford the work you design. I take that incredibly seriously. But the nice part is that you’re fulfilling a dream. The satisfaction that comes from having a positive impact on people’s day-to-day lives is truly meaningful.”

A successful private practice and a flourishing television career, along with all of his extracurricular activities – from public appearances to speaking engagements – have given Bannon a degree of financial security, which, he says, is his definition of safety. “Being able to pay the mortgage and provide a safe life for my kids, that’s what gives me peace of mind.”

Bannon says he’s more open to detours in life now than ever before. “I understand the excitement that comes with a detour and from doing different things,” he explains. “My passion right now is around shaping our cities. We are falling out of love with our cities and because of that, we don’t take care of them.” Confronting the complexities of urban regeneration in Ireland would unsettle even the most confident of individuals, but for Bannon, “growth comes through fear; it’s then we evolve and develop”.

Craig Doyle and Dermot Bannon explored Dublin in the Volvo ES90, a fully electric sedan, with range to take you further and bring you home again. Freedom to move. Electric. Learn more at volvocars.ie, watch the full episode on YouTube and listen to Detours on Spotify

Habib Shah Shamel (29) appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday.

However, defence counsel Niall Hunt told Judge Stephen Fowler that he had an application to have Shamel rearraigned on the single charge left on the bill of indictment which he had previously denied.

The charge stated that on April 6th, 2023, he “possessed a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely files within USB, exhibit UD13″.

When the charge was put to Afghan national Shamel by the court clerk, he replied through a Farsi interpreter: “guilty”.

Senior prosecutor David McDowell told Fowler: “That disposes of the indictment. There has already been a guilty plea to count one (charge of murder) which was on May 2nd, 2025.”

Hunt said he didn’t believe he would be relying on any other reports apart from a pre-sentence report compiled on the defendant by the Probation Board.

Fowler listed the tariff hearing for the murder charge for November 6th, 2026, when he will also hand down a sentence for possessing documents likely to be of use to terrorists.

In May last year, following Shamel’s guilty plea to murder, a senior judge told him: “Shamel, since you have pleaded guilty to the murder of Geila Ibram in April 2023, I must now impose on you a sentence of life imprisonment.

Belfast man charged with stalking Stephen Nolan and breaching Jamie Bryson harassment order

“There will be a subsequent hearing to set the number of years which you must serve before your release can be considered.

“However number of years that will be, you will serve a very long period of time in prison before consideration of your release ever comes around.”

Geila Ibram (27), who was originally from Romania, was stabbed at her apartment in Limerick city on April 4th, 2023.

She had been stabbed five times – twice in the face, once in the chest, once in the abdomen and once in the forearm, which appeared to be a defensive injury.

McDowell told the hearing in May last year that Shamel had arranged by text to meet Geila Ibram for sex.

“He arrived at the flat and paid her €100. She gave the money to a colleague,” McDowell said. “Several seconds later this colleague heard screams and it was apparent Shamel had stabbed Ms Ibram.

Judge dismisses woman’s assault charge, saying alleged victim was not ‘innocent as driven snow’

“The fatal injury was to the chest, which went through her lungs and entered her heart. Death was a result of blood loss due to multiple stab wounds.”

Shamel fled the scene and went to Dublin before heading by bus to Belfast. The PSNI stopped him in a car on the Malone Road in south Belfast just before 3.30pm on April 6th, 2023.

During interviews with police, he said he had gone to the escort to “satisfy his sexual needs” because of something he had viewed online.

When Shamel was arrested, the PSNI seized a rucksack and found a notebook that contained a handwritten letter to his mother in which he expressed a desire to “sacrifice his life to Allah”. The court heard the bag also contained a USB stick that contained alleged terrorist-related videos of executions, dismemberment, encouragement to support Jihad, and instructions on how to construct and detonate an improvised explosive device.

McDowell said there were also videos of suicide bombers.

The healthcare services provider said gross profit rose 7.7 per cent over the period, with almost 7 per cent of that organic growth.

Revenue was more than €370 million during the six months ended June 30th, a rise of 7.4 per cent.

Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) was 6.2 per cent higher, as the company implemented new strategies in its divisions. Uniphar said that would accelerate in the second half of the year as trading momentum continued.

Adjusted earnings per share grew 11.2 per cent to 10.9 cent.

The board declared an interim dividend of €0.0074 per ordinary share, up 4.2 per cent year on year.

Among the main business units, Uniphar Pharma showed a 7 per cent increase in organic gross profit growth, and remained on track for double-digit growth for the year as the business continued to make progress in global sourcing and pharma services.

Uniphar Medtech, meanwhile, showed a 9 per cent rise in organic gross profit growth, while Uniphar Supply Chain & Retail recorded 5.6 per cent organic gross profit growth.

“Uniphar has delivered a strong first half, with continued organic gross profit growth across the Group. Trading continues to be robust, and the business is developing in line with our expectations,” said Ger Rabbette, Uniphar group chief executive.

“We expect to sustain this progress into the second half and remain on track to meet our growth objectives for each of our three divisions for the full year.”

The group said it was confident of meeting its target of €200 million in ebidta by 2028, with at least 80 per cent of that growth expected to be organic.

It said it was continuing to evaluate potential acquisition opportunities with an active pipeline of opportunities to expand its reach.

Uniphar is facing a full phase-two investigation into its acquisition of TouchStore, which was announced earlier this year, by competition authorities.

Glasson Lakehouse, a four-star hotel located 13km from Athlone, closed on August 26th following advice from the HSE.

Four couples due to celebrate their weddings at the hotel in the last two weeks had to find alternative venues, including a couple from Galway who managed to rearrange their plans in just a few hours.

A spokeswoman for Glasson Lakehouse said the hotel would reopen on Thursday, with weddings due to take place there this weekend.

Norovirus, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, is one of the most common stomach bugs. It is understood that a significant number of guests and staff at the hotel were impacted by the virus last month.

The spokeswoman previously said hotel management “deeply” regretted the inconvenience caused by the outbreak and thanked guests for their patience.

From devastation to pure love: Couple finds venue after hotel closes two days before wedding

The HSE last week said it had “provided comprehensive public health and environmental health advice, information and support to assist the premises in developing and reviewing its reopening plans”.

“While the HSE can provide expert guidance on risk management measures, the decision to reopen is a matter for the premises management team following its own assessment of the risks and operational considerations,” it said in a statement.

Careful food handling and hand hygiene help prevent the spread of norovirus, the HSE said.

People who are unwell with norovirus should stay off work or school until they have been symptom free for 48 hours.

The fine – which was widely reported last week – is a result of an inquiry the DPC began in May 2024, following two personal data breaches. The breaches were notified to the DPC in October and November 2023 after people gained unauthorised access to two derelict former psychiatric hospitals and found boxes of patient files in appalling condition, damaged by water, mould and animal droppings.

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The commissioner ordered the HSE to audit the current conditions containing the records and “safely destroy any records containing personal data that are no longer needed”.

But though the personal data may no longer be needed, these records have value medically, legally and historically. And the imposition of a fine only removes further resources from the HSE, which already struggles with a lack of finances and expertise to properly take care of historic records under its care. What the HSE needs is not fines, but support and expert help in preserving historical records.

The issue goes back to the National Archives Act (1986), when the records of the health boards (and later the HSE) were not included. There is no legal requirement that it retains and transfers those records to the National Archives. It is not surprising these records became homeless once the institutions that generated them closed.

The records include the experiences of generations of patients treated in psychiatric hospitals, once the largest institutions of confinement in the State. In the 1950s, there were upwards of 20,000 patients confined on an annual basis. The rate of admission to psychiatric hospitals was the highest in the world, with 710 beds per 100,000 of the population. Without preserving institutional records, it is not possible to write a comprehensive history of the collective experience of mental healthcare in this country.

The recent Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Related Matters, which published its report in 2021, was built on the records preserved by religious orders and the State, as well as those generated by the Commission itself. The words of the women and children, who had been in the care of the religious orders and the State in these institutions, provided crucial oral testimonies on their experiences. When a decision was made to destroy those oral histories, there was outcry and a recovery process successfully implemented.

Yet once again, the answer to the question of what to do with sensitive historic records is to destroy them.

TikTok video revealing access to medical records spurs inquiry into HSE data breaches

Unlike Mother and Baby Homes or Magdalene laundries, the State is solely responsible for the management of public psychiatric hospitals. The two hospitals at the heart of the recent fine – St Conal’s (formerly Letterkenny District Lunatic Asylum) and St Loman’s (formerly Mullingar District Lunatic Asylum) – were built in the 19th century during a period of massive State investment in healthcare and welfare. From the outset, they were charged with keeping safe the records of those admitted to their care, as well as the records of the institutions’ administration.

The history of inquiries into institutional care in this country in the past three decades reveals the extent to which confined populations were vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The McAleese Report into Magdalene laundries found women were forced to work in return for housing and healthcare that was minimal at best. All that Remains, a recent RTÉ documentary with Niall Breslin, revealed that the psychiatric hospitals could also be subject to similar concerns. From a legal point of view, the only way the psychiatric hospitals can be fully understood is if the records are preserved.

HSE fined €645,000 after rotting medical records found amid animal droppings and rubble

Communities, former hospital staff, historians and archivists have worked to preserve similar records in Killarney, Monaghan and Grangegorman and these records are now housed in local and the National Archives. Those records, and the wealth of creative and historic projects that have emerged from them, offer an insight into what will be lost to the communities in Donegal and Westmeath, and to Ireland, if the recommendation of the Data Commissioner is followed.

Recently, the State has invested large sums recreating the lost archive of the Four Courts via the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland Project. It has preserved the testimonies of all those who fought for the creation of an independent Irish State through the Military Service Pensions Collection. Those records reveal the cost of that conflict for many individuals, and the cost, in archival loss, for the long history of the country.

Psychiatric records offer something unique. Rather than tales of guerrilla warfare and the creation of the State, each one is a story of some of its more vulnerable citizens, and their individual losses and heartbreaks. Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s recent stunning novel, Said the Dead, explores records of Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital in Cork and demonstrates the immeasurable value of those records – both in facilitating creativity and fostering empathy. Those who were locked away deserve the respect they were often denied in life by having their personal histories protected. The destruction of those histories would be a further insult.

This is not simply about preserving more records for privileged historians – it is about whose histories we value and whose stories matter. It is about resourcing organisations whose histories are crucial in the lives of the ordinary citizens of the state.

What does it say about us that we invest millions in the history of the political nation while shredding patient files of those who lived and died behind the high walls of psychiatric institutions?

Dr Georgina Laragy is assistant professor in Public History and Cultural Heritage and Trinity College Dublin and Dr Aoife Bhreatnach is a writer and independent researcher

In a post on X earlier on Tuesday, Luas said Green Line services were not operating between Dominick and St Stephen’s Green.

Services were operating between Broombridge and Dominick only and between St Stephen’s Green and Brides Glen only.

“This is due to a non Luas related incident,” it said.

A Luas spokesperson said services were now resuming, but with knock-on delays.

Gardaí and several units of Dublin Fire Brigade attended the scene on Tuesday morning after the fire started at about 6.30am.

It is understood that the blaze was caused by a fire near the Seasons Of Ireland giftshop and fashion outlet Mango at the bottom of the city’s main shopping street.

Smoke could still be seen coming from the area shortly after 8.15am.

The road, along which both directions of the Luas travel, was cordoned off by gardaí.

Fire fighters were beginning to leave the scene at 8.30am.

No injuries have been reported.

Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) said in a statement that five units, including a turntable ladder, went to the scene.

“The fire is under control and we have requested the assistance of ESB Networks, Gas Networks Ireland to the incident.

“Dublin City Council Environmental services are also on scene to remove debris from ground level.

“DFB remain on scene cooling hotspots and extinguishing any remaining pockets of fire.”

All EU countries are mandated by the International Energy Agency to maintain 90 days’ worth of national oil use in anticipation of a crisis.

Now, more than 90 days after the US-Israel war on Iran began, almost 200,000 tonnes of oil are being released from Ireland’s public reserves. That is the equivalent of 10 days of oil.

Five days worth of oil has already been released, with five more due to be released in the next six weeks. As a ceasefire hangs in the balance, how stable is Ireland’s long-term oil supply?

National oil reserves are considered a critical part of the national security infrastructure, with oil stored by governments to offer their countries a buffer in the event of a crisis.

In total, there are 26 oil-storage facilities in the Republic of Ireland, including a mix of public and industry-held oil across the country.

More than a third of the public reserve is stored on Whiddy Island, a small island off the coast of Bantry in Co Cork.

The island is surrounded by historic gun batteries from the 1800s, a first World War US airbase and, since the 1960s, one of the island’s largest oil terminals. It is still home to the wreckage of the Betelgeuse Incident, when a French oil tanker explosion killed 51 people in 1979.

Some of the country’s strategic reserves are also stored elsewhere in Europe in storage facilities in Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

This is partly in preparation for a national crisis and partly because storage overseas is simply cheaper than building huge oil-storage tanks domestically.

Satellite analysts and traders often monitor oil reserves from above to assess how much they are holding by examining their shadows.

Most modern oil-storage sites have floating roofs that rise and fall as they empty and fill. A tank that is partially empty will form a crescent moon shadow inside the rim as the roof falls.

This can indicate a decrease in supply. However, it can also simply reflect the constant ebb and flow of commercial oil being consumed and replenished. Even oil in reserve, which has a lifespan of five to 10 years, needs to be regularly refreshed.

For example, at another oil-storage facility on Corkbeg Island near Cork Harbour, five of eight reservoir roofs were well below the top of the walls as of April 29th.

However, 11 days later, with the arrival of a new tanker on May 10th, the roofs rose as new oil flowed into the country.

By all metrics, oil is still flowing into Ireland.

Arrivals of oil tankers into Irish ports since the war began has continued at a similar pattern to the same period last year, an analysis of data from ship-tracking website Marine Traffic shows.

Corkbeg Island serves as both a dock point for crude oil tankers travelling from all over the world, as well as essential storage for the Whitegate refinery across the bay – Ireland’s only refinery.

Since the war began, Whitegate has received 54 oil tankers (including crude oil, oil product and oil/chemical tankers) as of May 28th. This compares to 56 in the same period last year, according to Marine Traffic data.

Dublin Port, the country’s largest port and home to multiple commercial storage facilities, received 101 oil tankers, up from 94 last year.

Foynes on the Shannon Estuary, Co Limerick, received 16 – the same as in 2025. Galway Port received nine, compared with eight last year.

Ireland does not receive oil direct from the Strait of Hormuz.

Some 93 per cent of oil tankers arriving in Ireland in the 90 days since the war began were last docked elsewhere in Europe, with 65 coming from the UK and 45 from the Netherlands, a major port destination.

Six per cent originated from North America and just one came from further afield in Tanzania.

According to the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA), fuel consumption has not declined either, a key indicator of steady supply.

So why release the reserve?

The global supply is constrained by the blockade in the strait, where 25 per cent of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes through – 80 per cent of it bound for Asia.

The trickle-down effect of this traffic jam in the strait is pushing prices up worldwide.

As a result, the International Energy Agency (IEA), a global organisation that works with government and industry to ensure secure energy supply, has instructed its member countries to release part of their reserves.

The goal of the “largest ever oil stock release” is to help stabilise prices.

“On March 11th, the 32 member countries of the IEA unanimously agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market to address disruptions in oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East,” a spokesperson for NORA told The Irish Times.

“NORA was instructed by the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to release 1.61 million barrels of oil in support of the IEA’s action – this equates to circa 10 days of reserves.”

Five days’ worth of oil have now been released with another five to be released in the coming weeks.

The oil will be released back into the European market.

“Price will be the biggest longer-term concern,” said Aidan Meagher, co-head of geopolitical strategy at consultants EY Ireland.

“We think it will take 12 months for oil reserves to fill back up in terms of full supply,” Meagher said.

“LNG [liquefied natural gas] could be anywhere from one to five years.”

The longer the war goes on, the more prices will potentially rise.

Clionadh Raleigh, executive director of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a global conflict database, said there were no clear signs the war would end before September.

“If I thought this was going to finish before the end of the summer, I would see Israel taking a bigger step back from Lebanon. I would see steps toward normalisation on the Gulf side toward Israel and the US starting to remove threats from the region,” she said.

“None of those things are happening.”

With the war at a stalemate, the Strait of Hormuz could be opened, even if there is no wider peace plan, but there will be longer-term impacts beyond the blockade – with potential refinery damage from strikes and breakdown of Iran’s ability to produce oil.

“I’d be more worried that the longer the blockade goes on, Iran will have to shut down production so it can neither store or produce oil,” said Raleigh.

“Starting that back up again is no small feat.”

“They thought I was a foreigner. They said I was a Paki bastard but I’m from here, I grew up here,” says the 23-year-old in a thick Belfast accent, not wanting to give his name.

Bullied for years because of the “colour of his skin”, the father of one shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m well used to it,” he says.

The man stood outside his terraced home in Lendrick Street off the Newtownards Road in east Belfast on Wednesday morning where workmen boarded up multiple houses set alight during a night of disorder.

Television camera crews lined the area, which resembled a war zone by dawn, capturing pictures that evoked the worst years of Northern Ireland’s Troubles.

Images of this street engulfed in flames made international headlines in a week when anti-immigrant protests erupted into violence across the North.

Masked demonstrators blocked streets from 7pm on Tuesday following a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday.

Graphic video footage of the stabbing incident went viral on social media. Elon Musk, the provocative US-based trillionaire owner of social media network X, and anti-immigration and far-right activist Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – were among high-profile figures sharing lists of locations directing demonstrators to where protests could take place.

Musk retweeted a post by Rupert Lowe, the leader of the nationalist Restore Britain party, saying “millions must go”, with a screengrab of the Belfast knife attack, in which the victim was left with serious life-changing injuries, including the loss of an eye.

Footage showed several people, including a man wielding a hurl, confronting the attacker on Kinnaird Avenue off the Antrim Road, a nationalist area of the city, until police arrived at 10.30pm.

Within hours of Sudanese national Hadi Alodid (30) being charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, rioters had burned out cars and torched migrant homes and businesses.

Police confirmed in a press conference how Alodid had come to Northern Ireland; he made his way from Sudan to Paris before flying to Dublin and then travelled by bus to Belfast in February 2023.

“Foreigners out! Foreigners out!” was shouted by a crowd of balaclava-clad men in a north Belfast street as they petrol-bombed houses before 11pm on Tuesday.

Children and pensioners locked themselves into bathrooms for protection.

Journalists and photographers were told to “get the f**k out” by rioters as we approached the burning Glider bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast earlier that evening; one photographer had his shins kicked and mobile phone stamped on by a mob.

The violence spilt into a second day.

Belfast shut down by teatime on Wednesday in advance of another night of violent clashes.

Schools closed before noon, businesses sent workers home and public transport was suspended.

The attacks had a more disruptive impact on a smaller group.

Twenty-seven people – the youngest a two-month-old baby – were left homeless by the vandalism. A photograph of a migrant child being placed in the back of a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Land Rover with their family was discussed at Westminster, where British prime minister Keir Starmer condemned the “intolerable, sickening actions of racists”.

On Wednesday evening, masked men chased a nurse and intimidated her on her way to work in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald to the east of Belfast, where she stayed on and finished her shift.

Overseas staff at Whiteabbey hospital in Co Antrim received threats. Workers living close to Belfast City Hospital – where the North’s regional cancer centre is based – had threatening letters put through their letterboxes.

“Racist, mindless, vile thugs” were blamed for the attacks by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher who said the unrest reached levels not seen since “the worst possible days of the Troubles”.

Rioting was confined to loyalist areas but police said there was “no evidence” that loyalist paramilitaries had orchestrated the violence “at this stage”.

Police were in little doubt, however, about the role of social media in driving the unrest. There was “significant co-ordination” from “online social media activity” from within the North and “outside the island of Ireland”, said the police.

“That momentum, that drive, that toxicity, is what’s bringing people out on to the streets [and] needs to stop,” said PSNI assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson on Thursday.

It is the third summer in a row of anti-migrant violence in the North.

Race-related riots in Ballymena last summer were triggered by an alleged rape of a girl by two Romanian teenagers. Charges against the two boys were dropped last November.

Riots in South Belfast following the Southport stabbings in June 2024 were linked to far-right agitators spreading misinformation online the previous year.

“What we’ve seen in the North, in the Republic, in the UK and really across Europe and in the US too over the last few years is this gradual mainstreaming of anti-migrant sentiment, anti-migrant hostility, and the increased spillover of it offline,” says Ciarán O’Connor of counterextremism organisation The Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

“There is the use or misuse of the most popular platforms we use for news and information for the promotion and production of false, misleading, usually sensationalist claims about migrants, depicting them as criminals or sexual predators.”

Monitoring online hate, extremism and disinformation since 2018, O’Connor described the surge in anti-migrant hostility as “a post-Covid phenomenon” which has become “normalised” online.

Prominent influencers such as Musk or Robinson can “amplify” calls for protest, “especially in the wake of tragic situations such as what happened on Monday evening” in Belfast, says O’Connor.

“These kinds of figures who have these enormous followings online help absorb local incidents into broader transnational narratives and absorb shared grievances in different groups across the Border and across countries,” adds O’Connor, a senior analyst at the institute.

Online posts circulated ordering “all businesses to close” with “no exceptions” by 11am on Wednesday.

The family of Stephen Ogilvie, the victim of the stabbing incident, released a statement saying they were “devastated by the horrific attack” but pleaded for calm.

On Wednesday evening, a water cannon was deployed by police in Newtownabbey when more than 200 protesters attacked riot police, as officers attempted to prevent them from entering a hotel that was previously used to house asylum seekers.

Twelve police officers were injured and 16 people arrested, while violent protests also took place in Portadown.

“The way we’ve seen this play out is that there will be local protests, then there will be the content or clips of call to action or call to violence that emerge locally, but are then amplified by international accounts and channels of influencers,” says O’Connor.

Younger people, in particular, are being “swayed” by social media, the institute has found.

“In many ways, people are increasingly prone to being mobilised through very explicitly hateful extremist content on social media,” says O’Connor.

During the week it emerged a so-called hit list of addresses had been circulating online among far-right groups since August 2025 and was sent to the PSNI in January 2026.

People living in streets under threat came out of their homes to “show they were white”, says one east Belfast resident.

“These are communities where violence is a legitimate response. It is celebrated, not just tolerated in many ways,” according to Colm Walsh, a lecturer in criminology at Queen’s University Belfast.

Walsh has just completed a study of four nights of unrest in Ballymena last June.

“There’s an observation that emerges out of the research, the kinds of conditions that facilitate this type of widespread violence over multiple nights are very similar to what has happened this week,” says Walsh.

Housing conditions and people feeling “increasingly frustrated, disconnected” and mistrustful of public services are among the findings of the research.

People did not feel “their voices are being heard”.

“So you put all those conditions together and with a spark, no matter what it is, the crisis could be something different, next week, next month, next year, those conditions are really the context that allows and facilitates this serious violence to take place,” adds Walsh.

Two notable “shifts” have occurred since Brexit-related “No Irish Sea Border” riots in Belfast in 2021 – which Walsh has also analysed – that predominantly involved young loyalist male protesters.

“In Ballymena, there was much less evidence of paramilitary involvement, at least in the escalation of the violence,” he says.

The criminologist warns about social media becoming more “co-ordinated” in organising violent protests.

“At the minute, it’s their ability to bring people out on to the street via social media – but I’m not sure if it’s very well co-orindated. It feels like there’s a bit of disorganisation,” he says.

He expresses concerns about the increasing levels of race-related violence in the North.

“As you see trends in sectarianism go down, you see trends in hate crime go up,” adds Walsh.

“It’s almost like we have an issue with violence and it’s just being displaced and redirected elsewhere.”

Racial violence now outpaces sectarian attacks in Northern Ireland, rising by almost a third in the last year.

Racist incidents first surpassed sectarian incidents in 2017, with 1,044 race hate-motivated incidents recorded compared to 995 sectarian incidents that year.

Since then, reports of racist violence have remained high, but rose sharply the past year.

Between 2025 and 2026 racial hate incidents rose 31 per cent, from 1,807 in the year ending March 2025 to 2,367 in the year ending March 2026.

There was little disorder on Thursday night. By Friday morning, police confirmed there had been 19 arrests this week, “with people already charged to court”.

Photographs of some alleged rioters were quickly released by the PSNI to track down offenders, similar to what happened in Ballymena last year, following an initial delay to release the images.

“These few nights will pass, we’ll then be in summer season, and it will be a long few months ahead for people living in these communities,” says Walsh.

Back on Lendrick Street, the man subjected to racist taunts is making plans to move his family.

“No child should be exposed to this,” he says.

* Additional reporting by Andrew McNair

He had told a friend it felt as if he was being followed. He said his car had been broken into outside the €7 million Dublin home he had purchased when he relocated with his family, but nothing of value was stolen.

Ireland was supposed to be a safe haven for Chambers, once an heir to one of the largest family fortunes in the US, but more recently a prodigal son.

By the age of 41, he had transformed from a New York private school kid, who was relatively unaware of the scale his family’s wealth, to a self-described “professional revolutionary” tattooed with portraits of Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong. He claimed he wanted to see the fall of America.

But it was his pro-Palestinian activism that was making him paranoid on that summer night in Dublin.

Chambers had left the US three years earlier after a series of Palestine Action protests. The factories of an Israeli weapons supplier were vandalised and four young women, Chambers’s comrades from a commune he funded in rural Massachusetts, had been jailed.

He used some of his fortune to cover the legal fees of protesters from Palestine Action, which was declared a terrorist group in the UK after similar targeted demonstrations at a weapons factory there. He also funded some Palestinian humanitarian organisations.

Chambers also spent time in Tunisia, a country without an extradition treaty with the US, and funded the Tunis-based football team Club Africain, which won the top division title last May.

Sally Rooney: I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it

When he left Ireland in June for a holiday in Spain, another strongly pro-Palestinian country, he figured he would be safe. But on July 10th, while driving in Ibiza, several unmarked vehicles surrounded his car and he was arrested and taken to Aranjuez prison near Madrid.

A day earlier, US secretary of state Marco Rubio had announced the Trump administration was going to target “transnational far-left terrorism” – an international crackdown on what the American right calls “antifa”.

US authorities have issued an international arrest warrant requesting that Chambers be extradited to face a series of charges. Ultimately, his partner Stella Schnabel says, he is accused of providing Hamas with $7.5 million in funding.

Chambers’s case raises many questions: how did a member of one of America’s richest families become a centrepiece of the Trump administration’s moves against “antifa”?

At what point when he was living in Ireland on and off over the past three years is he alleged to have become embroiled in a global terror plot? And how might his case impact US relations with Spain, and perhaps even Ireland, over Palestine?

Fergie Chambers is otherwise known as James or Jim Cox Chambers jnr He largely dropped the Cox name after becoming estranged from his family in recent years. The Cox family were, according to Forbes, America’s 10th richest as of last June, with a combined worth of $38 billion.

This wealth is largely attributed to Cox Enterprises, a company founded in 1898 when Chambers’s great-grandfather, James M. Cox, an enterprising young journalist, purchased the Dayton Evening News in Ohio. It has evolved and expanded into a global conglomerate, with interests spanning the telecommunications, media and automotive sectors, including news outlet Axios and motors marketplace AutoTrader.

Success fed status, and the Cox family rose through the ranks into elite US society. James M Cox became governor of Ohio shortly before the first World War, and contested the US presidential election on the Democratic ticket in 1920, with Franklin D Roosevelt as his running mate. He lost to another Ohio man, Republican Warren G Harding.

Millionaire US pro-Palestinian donor arrested over Hamas funding allegations lived in Ireland

Chambers’s grandmother, Anne, later became US ambassador to Belgium under Jimmy Carter, and the family remains aligned with the Democratic Party to this day.

“It’s good business to be good citizens,” the company’s website states.

Fergie Chambers was a troubled teen. He experienced mental-health difficulties and addiction issues, and was kicked out of Bard College in New York for cooking crack cocaine in his dorm room. Yet, after becoming smitten with a Russian woman he met on campus, he committed to a life of sobriety and Catholicism. They had a large wedding on his grandmother’s estate in the south of France and he became a father to three children, all while in his early 20s.

During this time, Chambers also became a keen Russofile, living part-time in Russia in the 2000s. But after separating from his wife, he moved back to Atlanta to set up a gym company and began to develop a passion for mixed martial arts and increasingly radical left-wing politics.

Chambers donated to Occupy Wall Street in 2011, protested over the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, and supported protests against oil pipelines on indigenous land at Standing Rock in 2016.

It was around 2020 when he began an on-off relationship with his childhood friend, Schnabel, which brought him a fourth child. The daughter of Julian Schnabel, a famous Jewish artist and film-maker, Stella was a glamorous New York actress and producer, and part of a certain class of Brooklyn bohemia.

A portrait by Julian of Stella was used on the front of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2002 album By the Way, with Stella having been engaged to the band’s guitarist, John Frusciante. She modelled for Vivienne Westwood, and counted actresses of a similar ilk, Jemima Kirke and Natasha Lyonne, among her friends.

As Chambers’s anti-American and anti-capitalist beliefs grew, he sought to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He travelled to the newly annexed Donbas region during a stint as a “citizen journalist”, stating at the time: “The only thing anyone’s angry at Putin about there is that he didn’t intervene sooner.”

On his return, the Cox family reportedly demanded that he would dissociate his holdings as an heir should he ever return to Russia. Another dispute over the family business providing funding for a police training facility in Atlanta, known as Cop City, further pushed him away, leading to Chambers describing his relatives as “enemies of the people” and the “Cox Klux Klan”.

After lengthy negotiations, he was permitted to sell his shares in the family company for an estimated $250 million in 2023. Chambers promised to dedicate his fortune to communist revolution and established a philanthropic foundation – the Babochki Collective (babochki meaning butterflies in Russian). He set up a number of communes in rural parts of the US, funding the housing and salaries of small groups of people who shared his radical beliefs.

After the October 7th, 2023 attacks by Hamas on Israel, and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza, he became increasingly involved in supporting the Palestinian cause.

With people from his commune, Chambers was involved in pro-Palestine protests at a manufacturing site of Elbit Systems in November 2023.

“We’re a direct action network targeting Elbit Systems, the US chapter specifically; they are Israel’s largest weapons supplier,” he told a TV team that reported on the protests.

A series of incidents, where protesters blockaded offices, damaged property and poured red paint on factory buildings, resulted in arrests. Four young women from the commune served short prison sentences for misdemeanour charges. Chambers, who was not arrested, paid their legal fees.

He left the US shortly after.

Next up was Tunisia, where Chambers converted to Islam and helped fund the popular Tunis football team, Club Africain. For a brief period he separated from Schnabel, marrying a Tunisian volleyball player last year, before moving to Dublin and reconciling their romance.

By this year, the couple had decided to settle, buying a south Dublin home, and focusing on funding Palestinian causes through The Babochki Collective, which claims to have donated a further $1 million to humanitarian aid organisations last February.

This included $300,000 to the Sameer Project, an initiative supplying emergency shelter and aid to displaced families in Gaza; $400,000 to Meca for Peace, which works for the “rights and wellbeing of children in the Middle East”, and $300,000 to PHM global, a campaign to rebuild destroyed health infrastructure in Gaza and the West Bank.

British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta, well known for his field work in Gaza over the past three years, has described Chambers as a “vital supporter for the provision of care for children wounded in the genocide”.

Yet, despite attempting to clean up his act, Chambers was no poster boy. His thirst for a revolutionary iconoclasm led him to post increasingly radical rhetoric online, often including incendiary comments in response to political events.

Shortly after the October 7th, 2023 attacks on Israel, he posted on X: “No faction of the Palestinian resistance, Hamas or other, has done *anything* wrong”.

On July 4th last, as the US marked 250 years of independence, he posted a photo on his Instagram account of a burning stars and stripes with the caption “250 years of unmitigated horror ... Death to Amerikkka, to hell with any of those celebrating.”

A July 8th post on his X account read: “Who gives a shit what’s a terrorist organization or not? ... If Pal Action is terrorism, terrorism is awesome.”

Whether or not his extreme beliefs are genuine, or just a cause he dabbles in, the playthings of a rebellious rich kid, is hard to decipher.

Chambers became the subject of a documentary by Irish director Sinéad O’Shea that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and was screened at last month’s Galway Film Fleadh. Titled All About the Money, it portrays Chambers during his time moving between the US, Tunisia and Ireland and offers insight into his radical, and often contradictory, views.

Chambers initially offered O’Shea a substantial sum not to publish the documentary. She refused the money but after she made some changes, he consented to it being screened. As it turned out, the documentary was the least of his worries. The US authorities would allege that during the period O’Shea captured on camera he had engaged in terrorist financing activity.

US authorities want Chambers extradited to face charges of money laundering with the intent of supporting terror organisations; riot; and conspiracy to riot, The Irish Times understands.

The Spanish Audiencia Nacional high court said: “The United States ... is seeking [Chambers] for financing the terrorist organisation Hamas.”

The US department of justice declined to comment on the case when contacted.

Chambers’s legal team is still waiting for the full details of the indictment to be provided by the US authorities before an extradition deadline at the end of this month.

Riot and conspiracy to riot, they say, appear to be in connection with the 2023 Palestine Action protests in New Hampshire, for which the US is seeking a five-year sentence. Chambers denies being present and his legal team argue that even if he were charged over this, the sentence would be disproportionate given that other protesters served one month.

The more significant charge of money laundering relates to his time in Tunisia.

“The part of the indictment I have seen appears to rely only on the fact that he transferred $7.5 million of his own funds from the US to Tunisia,” Stella Schnabel told The Irish Times. “The reality is that this money was transferred to Tunisia because we were living there and for philanthropic activities, including supporting Club Africain.

“The money sponsored the club, helped to pay its debts and overdue salaries, rebuild its training centre and develop football fields for young people.”

Chambers has hired a prominent former Spanish judge to lead his defence, Baltasar Garzón of the firm Ilocad, who has previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. A spokeswoman for Ilocad said: “If we analyse the text of the arrest warrant, it refers to a money transfer that we know was used to provide financial aid to the Tunisian Club Africain, which is, in and of itself, a philanthropic act.

“However, it is alleged that this transfer of funds abroad was made with the intent to support terrorist groups.”

The legal team believes this suggests that US authorities have been “unable to readily identify issues” with Chambers’s philanthropic support for Palestine and “are instead relying on his routine business investments as a basis for a flimsy money laundering charge”. They insist no crime has been committed and the proceedings are “politically motivated”.

Schnabel is more blunt, arguing that this is a case of political persecution.

“Fergie is being targeted because he has stood with Palestine people facing genocide as one of the largest donors to humanitarian projects in Gaza,” she said.

“The US government is now seeking to extradite him on extraordinary allegations, including that he has somehow funded the Palestinian resistance, without providing a shred of evidence for this trumped up charge.”

The case comes at a time of complicated political relations between Washington and Madrid over support for Palestine and Middle East issues more broadly. Left-leaning prime minister Pedro Sánchez has come under pressure from the US of late, with Donald Trump threatening to cut off all trade with Spain over its refusal to increase defence spending through Nato. Earlier this year, Sánchez drew Trump’s ire after refusing to allow the US use joint military bases in southern Spain for the offensive against Iran.

The arrest of Chambers is one of the first high-profile moves under the Trump administration’s international “antifa” crackdown.

The Washington Post reported that some US officials see the drive as an “effort to use powerful counterterrorism tools to crack down on US activists they view as left-wing extremists”.

Spain’s Audiencia Nacional said Chambers had appeared before a National Court judge at the request of the prosecutor’s office, with the US having a 40-day period to present the formal extradition paperwork, which ends on August 26th.

“If the person requested authorises the extradition, he is sent to the United States quickly. If he does not agree, a hearing is held to decide whether he will be extradited or not.”

Should the court rule that he should be extradited, the final decision falls to Sánchez and his council of ministers, who could again become a thorn in the Trump administration’s side.

A dossier from the US in support of the extradition request is being awaited by the Spanish side. Once received, officials will review whether it meets the legal requirements for extradition. Spanish courts will not try the facts of the case, but can seek to determine whether the extradition request is legally permissible. Such a request could be refused on a number of grounds: for technical reasons, such as a breach of deadlines or insufficient documentation, or on legal grounds, such as it being deemed “politically motivated”.

A number of Spanish politicians are putting pressure on Sánchez to reject the extradition request. Irene Montero, an MEP for the left-wing Podemos party, this week posted on X: “Spain cannot collaborate with Trump in the persecution of solidarity with Palestine. The Government must protect [Chambers] and not hand him over to [Israeli prime minister Binyamin] Netanyahu’s friends.”

How Spain’s Pedro Sánchez became Trump’s fiercest critic in Europe

The case has also become a focus for some in the wider European left movement.

“This sets a terrifying precedent for repression of the wider movement for a free Palestine,” Schnabel said, “including precedent for the Trump administration exporting its repression far beyond the US’ borders to target people in Europe.”

Amid the many developments in his case, a new and surprising one emerged in recent weeks – Chambers has reconciled with his family. But for the moment, the rebel rich kid turned bad boy of the American left, and now alleged international criminal, remains in a Spanish prison, waiting to hear the evidence against him.

– Additional reporting: Naomi O’Leary

But which schools saw the highest demand for change? And where does your school rank?

An analysis by The Irish Times shows the primary schools with a religious ethos where demand is highest for changing patron are located in Dublin and Cork.

The Primary School Survey was conducted across more than 3,000 primary schools. However, partaking in the survey was optional, meaning results at some schools have a high margin of error, depending on how many parents responded.

There were at least 101 religious primary schools across Ireland with a response rate of 50 per cent-plus where a raw majority of parents voiced support for a change in patron to non-religious or multi-denominational.

Some 24 of these are large schools, where more than 100 households currently send pupils.

Ten of these large schools are in Dublin and four in Cork, while the rest are spread around the country.

A support rate of more than 50 per cent of respondents does not necessarily amount to a majority in statistical terms, given the margin of error is plus or minus at least 5 per cent depending on the survey response rate for each school. In six of the 24 schools, the raw majority (50 per cent or more) who supported change translates into a clear majority in statistical terms when accounting for the margin of error.

The highest expressions of support for change among schools with more than 100 households were in Church of Ireland settings, with 85 per cent seeking change at Springdale National School in Raheny, north Dublin.

Among Catholic schools, the highest vote in favour of change was at St Vincent de Paul Junior National School, Griffith Avenue, north Dublin (61 per cent). This was followed by Scoil Neasáin in Harmonstown, Artane, north Dublin, with 60 per cent support for change, and Scoil Naisiunta Bun An Tsabhairne, Crosshaven, Co Cork (59 per cent).

A county-by-county breakdown indicates a slight cultural difference across the country, with parents in the southeast more likely to want change than those in the more rural midlands and northwest.

On average, 58 per cent of Church of Ireland school parents who responded to the survey indicated a desire for change.

However, schools under the patronage of minority faith patrons (mainly Church of Ireland) account for just 6.2 per cent of Irish primary schools.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “The school-specific results of the Primary School Survey are a starting point for conversations about the future, led by the people who know their schools best: parents, students, staff and local communities.

“The survey results are intended to support meaningful local engagement and empower communities to help shape the future direction of their schools.”

The department says that if survey findings indicate demand for change, a school’s boards of management may apply to be included in the first group of schools that wish to “act on the outcomes of the survey process”.

However, schools have been asked to undertake a period of consultation and engagement with their school community, including parents, parents’ associations, student councils, school staff and the wider local community, before making any decisions.

Schools wishing to be included in the first phase of implementation have been asked to notify the department and their patron by October 31st.

Methodology:

To analyse the results of the Primary School Survey, The Irish Times took school-level data and filtered it to households with children currently in religious schools who responded to the question: “Would you prefer your primary school to operate under a denominational (religious) patron or to operate under a multi-denominational (non-religious) patron?” You can see this data in the “Search your local primary school tool”.

On average, 39 per cent of respondents with children currently in a religious primary school wanted to see a change. When publishing the survey last April, the department reported 40.7 per cent of households wanting change – this figure included households linked to denominational schools but not currently sending children there.

To account for the margin of error, the top two charts feature T-lines, which show the lower bound and upper bound results by taking the overall percentage responding positively in favour of change in the survey and deducting and adding the margin of error percentage respectively.

As part of our analysis, we filtered the data to isolate schools where there was a higher than 50 per cent response rate and counted 101 schools to show the raw majorities of parents who responded in favour of change.

The Department of Education’s original school-level data is available here.

Cardiff was arrested on foot of extradition proceedings instigated by the US department of justice, which has charged him with fraud, identity theft and witness tampering.

He is alleged to have defrauded customers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars after they bought homeopathic oral strips to boost male sexual performance, weight loss or smoking cessation in 2018. He could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted. Cardiff denies the charges.

The American businessman has lived in Ireland since 2022 and regularly posts videos on social media from his Dublin 6 base. The posts show him golfing in Ireland, travelling to Austria for ski trips, with his Bentley parked outside his home and showing off a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch that retails from €6,000.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan approved the extradition request for Cardiff from the US embassy on May 1st. High Court judge Sean Gillane approved his arrest warrant on May 11th.

After his arrest at his home on Highfield Road in Rathgar at 8am last Thursday, Cardiff was brought to the High Court where he was granted bail with conditions.

He must reside at his Highfield Road home and cannot travel to other parts of Ireland. He has an 11pm to 8am curfew and was forced to surrender his US passport. He is due to appear in court again on July 10th.

Cardiff was born in the US and gained Irish citizenship 20 years ago due to having a grandfather from Co Roscommon. His Irish passport is held by pretrial services.

He was arrested one day after being interviewed by The Irish Times, which used social media posts to track him down.

In the interview, published two days after his arrest, Cardiff spoke about how he believed the charges against him would soon be dropped by president Donald Trump’s department of justice over allegations that he was being pursued by officials and judges from the Obama and Biden eras.

“The case is almost over,” he said. “We’re very close. Now we have the attention of the right people.”

Court records show a US warrant for Cardiff’s arrest was issued after the “absconder” failed to return from Ireland in January of last year as ordered by a Californian court. Extradition proceedings were initiated last year but were delayed after the Irish authorities raised queries about typos in the American filings.

Two acquaintances who lodged sureties of $530,000 with the court in California so Cardiff could get bail in 2023 after his arrest that year have been ordered to forfeit their money.

Cardiff said he had “taken care of” that debt for those people. He denied being in breach of a court order and said he was unable to fly to the US based on medical advice.

Court records show US authorities have questioned the validity of the advice from Cardiff’s Irish doctors, pointing out that one seemed to specialise in gynaecological medicine.

The 50-year-old has been involved in an eight-year battle with US law enforcement over his running of Redwood Scientific. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2018 froze the assets of Cardiff, his wife Eunjung and the company.

A court later found they had made unsubstantiated claims about the effectiveness of dissolvable oral strips marketed through TV infomercials and social media.

One claim made by Cardiff’s company was that its product “Prolongz” was “clinically proven” to increase ejaculatory control in more than 97 per cent of men. FTC experts showed the pilot study used by Redwood was unreliable due to the small sample size.

While their assets were supposed to be frozen, in 2020 a judge ruled that Cardiff and his wife, who had a senior role in Redwood, had “lied”. They were found to be in contempt of court over “lavish” spending by using a credit card in the name of Cardiff’s then 90-year-old father, Gerald.

The current criminal case filings show the US authorities could seek orders for Cardiff to forfeit property and assets that were derived from his alleged crimes.

US court records show that Cardiff filed papers on June 21st seeking emergency injunctive relief preventing US authorities from advancing his extradition while he challenges the validity of the charges against him.

He wants an order directing the US Department of Justice to suspend the extradition process until his complaint is ruled on.

His application said he does not seek to “direct any Irish court, Irish official, or foreign sovereign to take or refrain from taking any action”.

*This article was amended on June 29th to clarify that it was Jason Cardiff’s US passport that was surrendered. His Irish passport is held by pretrial services.

John Kelly works in a public-salaried role in the Tánaiste’s office where he manages Harris’s Wicklow constituency operation.

In now-deleted comments on X, Kelly wrote a series of sharp responses to posts from other users that criticised Government policies or commented on news stories.

His comments criticised teachers as work-shy, described the public as “racist” and called US president Donald Trump a “moron” and Britain’s Prince Harry a “snowflake”.

On January 25th, 2022, after then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar published draft work-from-home legislation, it was criticised as ineffective by Gregor Kerr, a teacher and activist with the Irish National Teacher Organisation.

Kelly responded to Kerr: “This coming from a teacher, if there was a way not to work, teachers will find it!”

That same month, Kelly tweeted on the issue of people who had not taken a Covid-19 vaccination. He posted: “What about the valuable hospital beds being used by those unvaccinated people?”

He made the comment in response to a user who claimed then minister for health Stephen Donnelly wanted people to “hate anyone unvaccinated”.

That same month, Kelly commented on the release from custody of a man who gardaí had wrongly believed was involved in the killing of Ashling Murphy outside Tullamore. As other users blamed gardaí and lazy reporting for this man’s details being circulated on social media, Kelly wrote, “and a racist public!”

Also in January 2022, as a user complained about the Republic’s Covid restrictions and the high number of cases being detected, Kelly responded: “Misinformed snowflakes!”

In 2020, as broadcaster Andrea Gilligan aired a piece on Newstalk radio describing Leo Varadkar as the “minister for commentary”, Kelly responded, describing Newstalk as the “Fox News” of Ireland and saying it was using “populist sound bites to drive listenership”.

Kelly used his account to make several jibes at US president Donald Trump. In a February 2022 post, he said Trump was a “moron”. He was responding to a Newsweek article where Trump was quoted saying there would be no Nato without him.

In a November 29th, 2020 post, after it became clear that Joe Biden would defeat Trump in the US presidential election, Kelly posted under a Fox News article: “I like winners not losers! Trump, you loser!”

Trump was not the only foreign dignitary to be criticised.

Responding to a Daily Mail report that quoted Prince Harry describing his travel itinerary as “hectic to the point of exhaustion”, Kelly wrote: “Snowflake.”

In another post, Kelly labelled Richard Boyd-Barrett, the People Before Profit-Solidarity TD, a “trust fund kid”.

Many of Kelly’s posts were made in defence of Harris in the face of criticism or attacks from Sinn Féin supporters.

In one, he said: “Your [sic] a SF supporter so you know all about ‘louts’!”

During the Dublin riots in November 2023, when a Garda car was set ablaze, Kelly wrote: “Bet there’s no dole office on fire!”

Despite being contacted on August 5th for comment, there was no response to questions about Kelly’s X account from the Tánaiste’s office. His account was deleted after the questions were received.

On his LinkedIn profile, Kelly said he has been an adviser in the Oireachtas since 2013 “where I use my business skills and knowledge to support and advise legislators on various issues and policies”.

“I also have a background in politics, having served as a campaign manager and strategist for several candidates and causes,” he wrote.

“In addition, I am a Peace Commissioner, a role that allows me to perform civil duties and promote harmony in the community.”

His LinkedIn profile said he moved to the Taoiseach’s office, which includes the Office of the Tánaiste, in April 2024. Harris was Taoiseach between April 2024 and January 2025.

Before working in politics, Kelly listed roles in car sales and car rental businesses.

Ireland is just one of a number of countries used to funnel profits from these websites to their owners.

A one-year investigation – led by journalism consortium Investigate Europe and involving The Irish Times and media outlets across 15 other countries – has found that international gambling company Soft2Bet received hundreds of millions of euro from the profits of unlicensed gambling platforms.

The proceeds came from gamblers – including Stefan – who lost large sums of money on black-market sites operating without the restrictions or safeguards that regulated gambling sites must adhere to in order to prevent problem gambling.

One of those is Rebecca*, who lives in the UK. She lost £145,000 (€169,000) after customer agents ignored her requests to self-exclude from an unlicensed casino linked to Soft2Bet.

“I was so desperate and I felt so full of panic,” the English woman said. “It’s abuse of vulnerable people.”

As early as 2017, several European regulators had added Soft2Bet websites to their blacklists of illegal casinos.

Such websites, including those registered in small offshore jurisdictions such as the Caribbean island of Curaçao, are criticised for not sufficiently preventing money laundering, for failing to pay out winnings and for fuelling gambling addiction.

Although many European states have blacklists to block offshore sites that target their countries, a new Irish regulator has only had these powers since February. Since July 1st, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has taken over licensing of remote betting previously overseen by the Department of Justice and the Revenue Commissioners.

It is illegal for offshore sites to offer bookmaking services in Ireland without a licence to be a remote bookmaking operation (RBO). In 2025 there were 91 RBO licences and 10 remote betting intermediary licences issued by Revenue, up from 21 and four respectively in 2016.

The GRAI warned that providing betting activity in Ireland without a licence was “a serious offence”. It would not comment on individual operators but said it was “cognisant of the risk of black-market operators and is committed to addressing them in a robust and proportionate manner”.

Ireland has granted RBO licences to six companies associated with Soft2Bet since 2022.

The Irish connection

One of those companies granted an RBO licence was Zentoria. According to the RBO register, Zentoria has an address on the upmarket Waterloo Road in Ballsbridge, south Dublin.

This is the location of the office of Cafico International, a company services provider. Two other Soft2Bet-related entities with Irish RBO licences, Salvia and Sky Rain, have their addresses located there too.

Although Zentoria’s licence said its online brand was the website Spinspotamia, that website is not currently accessible in Ireland.

Zentoria’s name has shown up as the recipient of customer payments from non-Irish licensed gambling sites, according to the investigation by The Irish Times, Investigate Europe and other media outlets. This includes OnlySpins, a pornographic gambling site that incentivises users to make more wagers in exchange for AI-generated and real female models taking their clothes off on virtual “dates”.

“It’s two addictions at the same time and it’s the easiest way to reach out to the youth,” said a former customer agent who spoke about their time working for Soft2Bet.

The investigation found no age or identity verification was required to sign up for the website.

OnlySpins appears to hold no gambling licence in Europe. It has a licence in Tobique, a small First-Nation reserve in New Brunswick, Canada. The regulator there did not respond to requests for comment.

The sexualised betting site received more than one million visits from EU countries between February and April 2026, according to online website traffic data.

When paying by card in Belgium, the investigation found that users were asked to send money to Zentoria in Ireland.

OnlySpins says on its website that its payment management services are provided by Morada Horizon Services Ltd (MHS), another Irish company.

The registered address for MHS is based at the same address on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin city centre as Kinore, a well-known accountancy firm. Kinore is the company secretary for MHS.

Larissa Feeney, chief executive of Kinore who won “CEO of the Year” at this year Image PwC Awards, organised by Image magazine and sponsored by the accountancy giant, told The Irish Times her company had no knowledge of MHS being involved in providing payroll services for OnlySpins.

She said MHS engaged with Kinore “solely in respect of company secretarial and registered office services we offer as a service” for a fee of €798, plus VAT.

Feeney said the information provided to Kinore stated that the company’s business was “gambling and betting activities”.

Under anti-money laundering legislation, this required Kinore to perform enhanced due diligence checks. Feeney said it carried out such checks on all clients, but that the checks showed up no issues of concern. She said Kinore had no “visibility” of the company’s commercial activities.

She said the information uncovered by The Irish Times about MHS’s operations were “both surprising and deeply concerning”. Kinore would not have acted for the company if it had been aware of such activities, she said.

Feeney said Kinore would immediately disengage from acting as MHS’s company secretary and registered office provider.

The Irish Times-Investigate Europe investigation is able to link all these Irish companies to Soft2Bet.

Internal leaks from Soft2Bet show company executives planning to set up “Morada Horizon” in Ireland. According to internal company chats, executives discussed how the “finance team is co-ordinating with local providers on tax registration and related support”.

Company records show Lornioco Ltd, a company based on the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, owns MHS and Naale Ltd. Records show it also owns Zentoria.

Naale, which holds an Irish RBO licence, has been used by Soft2Bet for its Rabona and Wazamba betting sites. Neither of those two sites carried out age verification checks when The Irish Times signed up to gamble on them this week.

The ‘Steve Jobs’ of online gaming

Ukrainian-Israeli businessman Uri Poliavich created Soft2Bet in 2016, eager to capitalise on the exploding popularity of online gambling. Over the following years, Soft2Bet established itself as a major supplier of back-end technology to the industry. Today, it claims its software is used by 10 million users globally.

The company owns casino and sports betting brands from Greece and Sweden to Mexico and Canada. Betting sites linked to Soft2Bet have struck several notable sponsorship deals, including with Italian football giants Napoli.

Two of its brands count Diego Simeone, manager of Spanish football giants Atlético Madrid, as an ambassador, while another is partnered with the Canadian Football League. Simeone’s representative said he “has only authorised the use of his image in countries where the company holds the necessary licence”.

Together, these business strands have propelled Soft2Bet into the upper echelons of the online gambling world, with the company making €152 million profit in 2024 and receiving dozens of high-profile awards.

For years, Soft2Bet and its partners discreetly operated unlicensed websites through two shell companies: Araxio Development and Rabidi. Registered in Curaçao, a Caribbean tax haven granting cheap and light-touch gambling licences, the offshore entities laid the foundations for a highly lucrative business.

Months after Soft2Bet launched in 2016, Poliavich set up Araxio and a few years later Rabidi was formed, this time through a Soft2Bet employee.

These vehicles provided Curaçao licences for dozens of websites, away from the prying eyes of western regulators. None of the websites had approval to operate in Europe, where much stricter player protections exist, but all reeled in players from across the Continent.

To process deposits the two subsidiaries of the casinos were set up in Cyprus. The name Soft2Bet did not appear anywhere.

“Players were like... ‘my rent is due. I can’t feed my kid’”

A former customer service agent told The Irish Times-Investigate Europe investigation that players regularly complained about how payouts for their winnings were delayed from Soft2Bet sites.

“I’ve seen instances where players were like, ‘I’ve been trying to withdraw for two weeks, my rent is due, I can’t feed my kid,” said the agent.

Two more former employees described similar patterns.

The Irish Times has seen internal conversations where managers confirmed these practices and said the reopening of accounts of problem gamblers was a commercial decision.

For gamblers such as Stefan*, the 48-year-old Austrian resident, the lack of player protection was life-changing. Stefan, who runs an air-conditioning business, said he stole from his own firm to fund his habit.

“Nobody asked me if I could afford it or where the money was from, even though I was using my company’s bank accounts,” said Stefan, who bankrupted himself and his business after losing €70,000 on two Soft2Bet-linked casinos.

“I was gambling eight hours or more until the morning. I wouldn’t think about work the next day; the only thing that mattered was rolling the slots,” he said.

“Gambling addiction affects your whole life; you become a pathological liar.”

Desperate players such as Stefan took Araxio and Rabidi to court, unaware that Soft2Bet was in fact behind them.

Judges in Austria and Germany sided with the plaintiffs and concluded – as regulators had before them – that the casinos were not allowed to target customers in their countries.

The four shell companies were declared bankrupt in 2023 and 2024. Before the rulings arrived, however, Rabidi transferred its 34 casinos to another Curaçao entity, held by a Soft2Bet proxy, and business continued as usual.

The investigation by The Irish Times, Investigate Europe and its media partners have obtained thousands of pages of account statements from the two Cypriot entities that show direct ties between Soft2Bet and the network of unlicensed casinos.

The documents reveal that between May 2020 and May 2024 the Cypriot firms – Tranello and Tilaros – channelled €600 million to Soft2Bet and its related entities.

Transfers were often labelled as “marketing services” or “licence agreement” with more than €330 million going to companies owned by Poliavich. These included Outono, Soft2Bet’s main holding company at the time, and Brainrocket, the group’s online casino development arm.

Millions more went to marketing and customer service businesses owned by Poliavich’s associates. Tilaros was even used to pay Soft2Bet’s then chief commercial officer and head of compliance, as well as its current chief legal counsel.

Leaked internal files and interviews with former staff carried out by the investigation suggest that the companies were all managed under the Soft2Bet umbrella.

“Soft2Bet has all these entities in the group but we are the same team”

“Soft2Bet has all these entities in the group but we are the same team,” said a former employee from the marketing department.

“Everyone is part of the same Slack [online chat] for internal communications.”

The corporate separation “seems to be decorative”, said Chris Kronow Rasmussen, adjunct professor of investigations at the University of New Haven who researches money laundering in the betting industry.

“The defining feature of these structures is the braiding of legal and illegal activity.”

Duping prospective employees

Soft2Bet’s two main offices are now in Malta and Cyprus where teams work for a number of companies in the Soft2Bet ecosystem creating new gambling websites.

One IT worker explained how he felt he was “duped” into working for Soft2Bet.

On LinkedIn he saw a post for a position in Brainrocket, which he said looked like a software as a service “tech-bro” company online.

“I thought I was joining an IT company,” he said. “And in the interview there was no mention about how it was connected to a gambling company.”

He got the job through a remote interview and decided to relocate to Malta from northern Europe.

“On the first day, there is Soft2Bet branding everywhere,” he said. “And then it was quite apparent what actually the organisation did and what they were all about. They had the actual parent company branding all over the windows, so Soft2Bet was everywhere. And then obviously, I Googled Soft2Bet when I sat down with a cup of tea.”

“It was common practice to reopen the accounts of players who closed them due to addiction”

Former Soft2Bet staff allege some of the online casinos’ practices were “predatory”, saying that customer agents regularly delayed vulnerable users’ attempts to close their accounts and reactivated them after they had been shut.

“It was common practice to reopen the accounts of players who closed them due to addiction and to start sending them SMS, emails, bonuses so they’d gamble again,” said a former marketing employee.

“There were also no age verifications to make sure players were not children. I raised this topic with management several times, but they just don’t care.”

Similarly, players’ winnings were delayed so that they would gamble more, claims a former customer service agent, who would call more than 200 new players a day from Soft2Bet’s Cyprus office.

“Uri Poliavich is a man of contradictions because on the one hand he shows himself like the Steve Jobs of i-gaming [online gaming] and a religious philanthropist, but then on the other, they are putting out brands that blend gambling and porn,” said one former employee.

Blacklisted gambling sites across Europe

Internal messages exchanged between Soft2Bet staff and shared with The Irish Times-Investigate Europe investigation reveal that the company and its partners now operate about 160 casinos.

Analysis of national databases found that 145 are blacklisted in at least one European country, with many registered in offshore jurisdictions such as Anjouan, an island in the southwestern Indian Ocean.

“Every couple of weeks they created a new casino”

Many of the brands are marked as “internal” in the documents, which date from late 2025, implying they belong to Soft2Bet. Others appear to be managed on behalf of customers that use the company’s software. The list denotes which staff members are responsible for each brand.

“Every couple of weeks they create a new casino,” said the former marketing employee.

“Even if a player thinks they’ve been scammed and leaves a Soft2Bet casino, chances are they’ll end up on another Soft2Bet website without realising.”

In response to a series of questions, Soft2Bet said in a statement: “We take compliance, governance and responsible business practices extremely seriously. Information within your request reflects an incorrect and misleading interpretation of our business and corporate structure.

“Our focus is on operating responsibly and in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We maintain robust compliance and governance processes and engage constructively with the relevant authorities where appropriate.”

Targeting vulnerable gamblers

Rebecca, a single mother working for the prison service in the east of England, was another victim. After a period of depression and alcohol abuse, she barred herself from all legal casinos in the UK in 2020, using the national self-exclusion scheme Gamstop that blocks registrants from opening or using online gambling companies licensed in Britain.

In October 2024, while on maternity leave and struggling with mental health issues, she searched again for online casinos. She came across Fatpirate, a website advertised as a “non-Gamstop” option and listed as an “internal” brand in the leaked list of casinos connected to Soft2Bet.

Rebecca says she deposited £11,000 in a single day and quickly reached the highest VIP level, a loyalty programme where high spenders get a personal manager.

“VIP managers would send me emails all the time with rewards and bonuses,” she said. “If I ran out of money, I could ask them and they’d give me more funds.”

“Responsible gamblers don’t make great customers, do they?”

She stopped using Fatpirate over Christmas that year, but soon began gambling on another Soft2Bet-linked site called Magius, unaware they were connected. Over nine months, Rebecca lost £145,000 on the two casinos, wiping out her savings, a loan and her grandmother’s inheritance.

She tried to close her Fatpirate account four times without success: “One time they came back and asked what the issue was. I told them and they ignored it. Another time they didn’t respond at all.”

Minutes after speaking to a reporter working on The Irish Times-Investigate Europe investigation, Rebecca received another promotional email from Fatpirate offering 110 free spins.

Such aggressive marketing techniques were widespread in the company, former Soft2Bet employees claim.

“If a player were to approach me to say that they have gambling problem, I would just tell them to send an email to explain their situation,” said the former customer agent.

“If they still wanted to close their account, I would offer them a bonus. The goal is to try and get them to stay on the platform and not shut down their account. That’s something really predatory.”

The web developer who moved to Malta to work for Brainrocket said he witnessed customer agents being pressured by managers to retain customers who tried to opt out.

“It’s the devil’s business, isn’t it?” he said. “Responsible gamblers don’t make great customers, do they?”

With such a vast network of websites in Soft2Bet’s orbit, the company’s 45-year-old founder has become incredibly wealthy in the process. From 2019 to 2024, Soft2Bet handed its chief executive Uri Poliavich almost €200 million in dividends.

Corporate filings show he moved to an 18-room mansion near New York and placed part of his fortune in several Bahamian trusts, a corporate structure favoured by those looking to protect their assets from legal claims.

Like many wealthy individuals, Poliavich has moved into philanthropy. In 2020, he started the Yael Foundation, an organisation funding religious schools around the world.

“It’s the Yael Foundation that drives the business, not the business that drives the Yael Foundation,” he said in a self-produced documentary about his life last year.

There is no evidence that proceeds from black-market sites are funding the Yael Foundation.

In a recent interview with Israeli media station i24 News, Poliavich explained the aims of the Yael Foundation.

“Build this network of schools that will provide very strong education first and then create good Jews that will support Israel”

“You start from kindergarten and bring them to the point when, by the end of high school, they choose to go to Israel, they choose to become part of Tsahal [Israel Defense Forces], they will become part of Israeli community.”

He said the aim was to “build this network of schools that will provide very strong education first and then create good Jews that will support Israel, that will support the future of Israel. That’s something that will be our legacy.”

The Yael Foundation website lists the Stratford National School in Rathgar, south Dublin, as a recipient of funding. The school said that it directed queries to its patron body, which did not respond to comment.

The school’s logo was removed from the Yael website in recent weeks. Stratford College, the secondary school based on the same grounds, said it had never received any funds from Yael.

In response to queries, the Yael Foundation said it does “not discuss its corporate structure, its finances, its funders or particular details of its activities in the media”.

The foundation said it filed all disclosures required in jurisdictions where it was active.

“The foundation is proud of the strong ties it maintains with Jewish movements and institutions throughout the world, including in the State of Israel and with the Chabad movement, and it will continue its mission of advancing Jewish and general education,” it said.

Poliavich grew up between Ukraine and Israel, where he served three years in the Israeli army. A lawyer by training, he worked for several gambling companies before founding Soft2Bet in 2016 back in Kyiv.

In 2020, Ukraine police stormed Soft2Bet’s headquarters, as part of a national gambling ban. During the raid, officers found the company was operating 20 casinos with 500,000 players.

The case seems to have gone nowhere since. Due to procedural defects with the warrant, judges ordered seized computers to be returned and Soft2Bet left Kyiv for Cyprus.

Poliavich’s public appearances are usually limited to gambling summits or events with the Yael Foundation. He always wears a cap adorned with a lucky shamrock, Soft2Bet’s logo. Previous employees describe him as a discreet boss who trusts only his inner circle.

“He surrounds himself with people who will only say good things to him, people who will never cross the line,” said a website developer who worked at the company.

“It’s based on perception of loyalty and delivery above ethics, above all else.”

Former employees said that in some cases managers asked staff to take a polygraph test when they became concerned about leaks to media. It was also referenced on one recruitment page for Soft2Bet company Brainrocket.

“Management was very paranoid,” said the former web developer whose colleagues underwent polygraph testing.

“People said it was a literal police-style interrogation, hooked up to a machine, with questions about personal habits like alcohol or drug use.”

Regulators playing catch-up

European regulators have so far failed to clamp down on Soft2Bet’s blacklisted casinos. The EU has no common legislation on gambling, leaving member states to regulate and police the sector independently.

Illegal online gambling generated more than €80 billion in revenue in 2024, representing 71 per cent of the EU market, according to marketplace intelligence firm Yield Sec.

In Italy and Greece, Soft2Bet obtained a licence to operate its Elabet brand legally, even though well over 100 other websites connected to Soft2Bet feature on the blacklists of both the Italian and Greek regulators.

In Ireland, the regulator, the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI), said it cannot comment on licences issued by Revenue. It has begun issuing business-to-customer licences to remote betting companies under a new regime that involves applicants having to provide business and legal structures for assessment by the regulator.

“The GRAI licensing regime is substantial and robust,” said the regulator.

“Any licensee that is granted a GRAI licence will have undergone rigorous checks and will be subject to continued oversight and compliance checks in order to retain their licence.”

Three Soft2Bet-related entities, including Zentoria, have applied for GRAI licences.

Applicants are required to disclose details of convictions, criminal proceedings or any regulatory action against the applicant, its relevant officers or beneficial owners.

“Providing a betting activity in Ireland without a licence is a serious offence,” it said.

“In general, this would include the provision of remote betting services in Ireland by an entity based outside of Ireland. It can attract up to eight years’ imprisonment on conviction on indictment.”

The GRAI said it has not begun to regulate online casinos yet, just bookmakers, so operators do not yet need a GRAI licence if they are only offering casino services.

Soft2Bet’s public ascent shows no signs of slowing down. In 2024, the group inaugurated new offices in Malta and threw anniversary parties in Dubai and Budapest.

“You’re dealing with a company that can shut down and reopen entities all around the world at such a pace that by the time regulators open an investigation, Soft2Bet would be three steps ahead,” the former website developer said.

* Names have been changed to protect their identities

Robert Alan Beck appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday where he was charged with, and denied, a total of six offences.

The 63-year old from Bloomfield Crescent confirmed his identity to a court clerk.

He was then charged with two counts of threatening to kill two men on October 16th, 2025.

Beck entered not-guilty pleas to both.

Beck also denied a charge of harassing one of the male on dates between October 15th and 25th, 2025.

The fourth charge levelled at Beck alleges that between October 20th and 26th, 2025, he engaged in a course of conduct that amounted to stalking, which caused Stephen Nolan to suffer fear, alarm or substantial distress.

When he was asked to enter a plea to this charge, Beck replied “not guilty”.

In addition, he denied a charge of possessing an offensive weapon, namely a hammer, at Clarence Street West in Belfast on October 25th, 2025.

The final offence put to Beck was one of breaching a restraining order.

Beck was charged that between October 20th and 26th, 2025 he instructed or encouraged others to harass or pester Jamie Bryson, which he was banned from doing under the order.

Beck again pleaded not guilty to the sixth charge.

After his client was arraigned on all six charges, his barrister Charles MacCreanor KC spoke of “issues of mental health” and said an expert report would be sought.

A trial date of April 2027 was then set by Judge Philip Gilpin, who said he would review the case next month.

Beck was remanded in custody.

At the same time, a series of trades by anonymous international cryptocurrency accounts were being made, betting $150,000 (€129,000) in the space of a week that the veteran criminal turned would-be politician would fail.

This is the world of prediction markets where, before a candidate has even started campaigning, a new online market of “future traders” can place huge sums on the outcome.

By May 15th, more than $1 million had been traded on the Dublin Central byelection on the controversial Polymarket platform. Traders bought shares for and against various candidates’ chances of winning, including Gillian Sherratt and Mary Fitzgerald, names mentioned as potential runners but who never made the ballot paper.

Most of the shares, totalling $500,000, have been traded on Hutch, with the majority betting he will not win. There is no suggestion Hutch or any of the other candidates are involved in the betting.

The bets highlight a new international vested interest in Irish political outcomes, even for relatively globally inconsequential events such as the Dublin Central byelection on May 22nd.

According to an analysis by the Irish Times Investigations Unit in collaboration with the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), they also show signs of illicit activity.

Betting vs Trading

Polymarket, the self-described “world’s largest predictions market”, has turned niche political and pop culture events into a global betters’ market.

On the United States-based website, anonymous international crypto traders could make huge bets on whether the Houthis would strike Israel before a certain date or who would appear alongside Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl.

“Kalshi were the first,” says Karl Whelan, professor of economics at University College Dublin, referring to Polymarket’s main competitor. “It’s an Arabic word for ‘everything’, so basically you can bet on everything.”

These are not officially gambling markets, but present themselves as “futures markets” – a type of financial trading traditionally used to trade on the future price of goods such as oil. As a result, these are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the US and, thus far, have not been licensed by gambling authorities in other countries – including Ireland.

“It’s a gambling operation,” Whelan says. “But as they are not legally licensed anywhere, they don’t have to obey any gambling laws in specific places.”

This is not the first attempt at an online predictions market. Dublin-based Intrade briefly became the world’s leading prediction market between 2008 and 2012, before it ceased trading in 2013, citing possible financial irregularities.

Polymarket has surged in popularity since 2024, when geopolitical predictions became a key focus of its trades.

Yet with unlicensed activity aided by anonymised crypto wallets, Polymarket has also increasingly become embroiled in insider trading allegations.

Most notable was a series of profitable trades on when the US-led strikes on Iran would take place, raising the question of whether some inside the Trump administration or US military had used insider information.

Conflict experts have expressed concern that the profitability of the market may actually shape geopolitical events on the ground.

“What if a few Houthis saw that and placed a bet and were motivated to attack?” Whelan asks.

Polymarket presents a new vested interest in global politics, potentially even motivating international traders to take action to influence the elections they have placed money on or even sabotage opposing candidates in order to win.

Why Hutch?

The surge of interest in the Dublin Central byelection could just be a quirk of the publicity Hutch attracts.

“People bet on what they’re interested in and the Hutch thing is interesting,” Whelan says. “You’ve got this guy who is an international criminal and people are voting globally.”

In the past month, many betting on Dublin Central have spent small amounts – buying less than $500 in yes/no shares on whether various candidates will win.

“Most people on there are just amateurs,” Whelan says. “But there’s a small group of elite traders soaking up all the gains.”

An analysis by the Irish Times Investigations Unit found clusters of larger trades.

For example, the $150,000 worth of shares betting that Hutch would lose were placed in the week before April 22nd.

In many cases, individual crypto wallets were buying multiple shares larger than $500 in a “no” vote for Hutch to win. Within a few hours they were selling those same shares with little to no profit.

In monetary terms, most of the Polymarket trades on the Dublin race were categorised as suspicious, according to the ACDC, a not-for-profit group of analysts that investigates illicit finance.

Bets were classified as suspicious based on three criteria: if the users bought $500 worth of “no” positions, before selling those positions within six hours and making less than 1 per cent profit or loss. These criteria were based on the US Treasury’s Financial Action Task Force list of warning signs of potential illicit financial activity.

As of May 12th, 86 per cent of trades on the byelection met these criteria, accounting for just under $927,000 of the $1,072,776. Out of the almost half million worth of trades on Hutch’s chances as of May 12th, 93 per cent met this criteria ($416,275).

This level of unusual trading contrasts with betting patterns on the Galway West byelection, where less than $44,000 of bets have been placed. None met the criteria for suspicious transactions.

Furthermore, a significant number of the suspicious trades could be traced back to the same wallet from a Cayman Islands-based crypto exchange.

ACDC says various factors including the short time between trades and heavy use of a single crypto exchange could indicate attempts to use the Dublin race to launder money, but there is no way to be certain based on the available data.

Other experts say the bets are likely to have constituted “wash trading”, a form of self-matching betting that is illegal in many securities markets. Wash trading may be done to make it look like there is more money being bet on a certain market.

This could be done for PR purposes “to fake interest” in a given market, hedge fund manager Patrick Boyle says.

It is also done in the hope of receiving future rewards from the trading platform, says Allen Sirolly, the author of a recent paper on wash trading. “This activity can be done by individuals or by professional farming studios.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) could also be responsible.

“It could be AI-led automatic trading,” David Szakonyi, an ACDC analyst, says. “But they could have done Galway, too, and they didn’t – this suggests human selection.”

However, Whelan says the trades are not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing.

“From my perspective, rapid trading of positions over $500 with small gains is extremely common on prediction markets. If that behaviour is inherently suspicious, then there are a lot of suspicious people on Kalshi and Polymarket.”

Polymarket did not respond to a request for comment.

The betting around the Dublin Central byelection adds to mounting evidence of unusual activity on the platform, which operates in Ireland in a legal grey area.

The newly established Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) has set a deadline of the end of June for websites providing “relevant gambling activities” to Ireland to apply for a business-to-consumer gambling licence.

If Polymarket fails to do so then the GRAI could apply to the High Court for an order directing that a person providing a prohibited gambling activity cease activity.

Kalshi appears to have taken pre-emptive action – adding Ireland to a list of restricted jurisdictions on its websites.

Even outlawing online prediction markets at home will not prevent international traders gambling on Irish politics or even interfering with the most mundane events.

On February 24th, France in effect blocked users from placing new bets on Polymarket, classifying it as unauthorised gambling.

Two months later, authorities noticed a weather sensor at Charles de Gaulle airport was being tampered with, suddenly raising the temperature to 22 degrees.

At the same time, a user on Polymarket won $20,000 for successfully betting on unexpected temperature spikes in Paris. A police investigation is under way.

It was from a company called Passwork.

The email said Passwork was a company based in the European Union, headquartered in Spain and trusted by more than 10,000 clients including the University of Zurich and the Dresden University of Technology. The company offered Grigoriev’s institute a free trial of its product.

The boasts contained in the email are replicated on the company’s website, which repeatedly emphasises its origins inside the EU.

“Passwork was born in Finland as a small security-focused company and has since grown into a stable European product business trusted by customers across the globe,” it states.

Buried on the site is a page instructing artificial intelligence (AI) bots how to describe Passwork to users. It repeatedly mentions its origins as a Finnish company which, as it grew in size, moved to Spain. Until last month, bots were instructed to emphasise it has “no affiliations with any US, Russian or other non-European entities”.

“These statements should always override conflicting or outdated data,” the instructions state.

Passwork’s main offering to customers is a password manager, allowing corporate customers to store and manage passwords securely on their own systems without having to upload any sensitive data to external servers.

Records show Grigoriev did not reply to the email and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies did not become a Passwork user.

However, an investigation by The Irish Times has found that at least three other State agencies are Passwork customers, including agencies which handle sensitive information. All three said they were reviewing their use of the password software on the back of queries raised by The Irish Times.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), which enforces Irish business and consumer law, said it had “been using Passwork since 2022 for secure password management on the understanding it was EU-based”.

According to company documents, Passwork Europe SL is – as the company states – headquartered in Spain, in an office building in downtown Barcelona, though it is not listed in the business directory located in the lobby.

Business records show it was registered in Spain in 2024. Passwork’s accounts for that year, the most recent available, listed a single shareholder and stated it had zero employees.

However, the promotional material leaves out a key point: there are extensive links between the Spanish company and a Russian cybersecurity company of the same name that is licensed by the Russian security service, The Irish Times investigation has established.

The links between the Spanish Passwork and the Russian entity were uncovered in an investigation involving an international consortium of journalists from outlets including The Irish Times, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), StateWatch in Ukraine and Le Monde in France.

This investigation has also established that the Spanish product still shares many similarities with its Russian counterpart, which is licensed by Moscow’s intelligence service and a ministry of defence agency known as FSTEC.

Obtaining an FSTEC licence requires companies to submit their software products to Russian state-accredited laboratories for detailed analysis.

The products of both the Russian and Spanish companies are based on the same original computer code, both receive apparently identical updates on similar schedules and both have instruction manuals which, when translated, are identical in content.

At one point they also shared the same web hosting, mail server and marketing accounts. The two companies even have the same logo.

While the Spanish version sells to clients in the EU and US, the Russian version deals exclusively with Russian clients, including various entities sanctioned by the EU such as the gas giant Gazprom and the missile manufacturer Almaz.

Russian national Alexander Muntyan, the owner of the Spanish Passwork, denies any links between his business and the Russian company and states he bought the software rights to Passwork from a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2024.

He also denies that the software’s Russian links and the Russian company’s connections to the security services represents any risk to customers.

However, security experts said the Russian connections – and the apparent efforts by the Spanish company to minimise these links – raise various red flags for users, especially those hosting sensitive information of potential interest to Russian security services.

The Russian state has powers to compel those under its jurisdiction, such as Passwork’s founders, to co-operate with national intelligence agencies under Russian law.

Access to the Russian code, which forms the basis for the Spanish Passwork, could alert security agents to vulnerabilities in the software which could be exploited, experts said.

“Given the broad powers of the Russian security services, if such materials or source code were to become of interest to the FSB, there is a significant risk that state authorities could gain access to them through mechanisms provided for by law or through de-facto mechanisms of state influence,” said Oleksandr Frolov, a sanctions and risk specialist with the Kyiv-based law firm Kinstellar. (The FSB is Russia’s main security service, the successor to the KGB.)

Lukasz Olejnik, a security and privacy technology researcher and a senior visiting research fellow at King’s College London, said the similarities presented a “credible, high-risk fact pattern that warrants a review”.

The differences between Passwork’s European and Russian entities “as of today appears technically shallow”, Olejnik said in an email.

He pointed to 517 lines of code in Passwork’s installer programme which he said was “basically identical” to the Russian version.

Reporters from The Irish Times-OCCRP investigation interviewed cybersecurity experts from across Europe and asked them to review various versions of the Passwork products.

Research by The Irish Times that includes 100 freedom-of-information requests to State agencies revealed that, along with the CCPC, Passwork Europe is also used by the State Laboratory, which provides chemical testing and scientific advice to Government departments, and the Office of Public Works (OPW), which manages Government and Garda buildings.

The CCPC began using the Finnish version of Passwork in 2022 before later moving over to the Spanish company, paying €2,561 for the service.

The commission said it had engaged with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the use of the software on the back of queries from The Irish Times.

“We also consulted with other public-sector bodies in relation to the systems they have in place for management of passwords. CCPC is continuing its research into and consideration of the software and potential alternative solutions,” the CCPC said in a statement.

The OPW has also been using it since 2022, paying a total of €9,712.

A spokeswoman for the OPW said it required “a password manager service that could be run on our local server and managed by the OPW”.

“Consequently, the OPW acquired a licence-based support from Passwork. Based on information published on the Passwork website, and elsewhere, the OPW understood that Passwork is a European Union company registered in Spain,” she said.

The OPW said that “at all times during the contractual relationship the entity was based in the EU, initially Finland and, later, Spain”.

The office said that, following queries from The Irish Times, it had consulted with the NCSC.

“From a security governance perspective, while no security risks have been identified with use of this product, the OPW is exploring what future options best align with our needs,” said the spokeswoman.

The State Laboratory confirmed it began using Passwork Europe in 2024, paying €1,008 for a three-year contract.

“To date, we have not had concerns related to the security of this product and have not been aware of connections with Russia,” a spokeswoman said.

“However, this press request has highlighted a new potential risk that is being treated seriously. As such, we are reviewing the product and any associated risk or concern. Appropriate action will be taken arising from that review,” she added.

A fourth body, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, refused, for security reasons, to confirmwhetherit used Passwork.

According to one of its original founders, Passwork’s success started in 2017 with a chance encounter in a queue for the bathroom.

Passwork had been established three years earlier by Russian nationals Ilya Garakh and Andrey Pyankov, who registered the website passwork.ru in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk, just below the Arctic Circle, some 1,200km from Moscow. Neither Garakh and Pyankov responded to requests for comment from The Irish Times-OCCRP investigation.

Initially, Passwork struggled to convince customers their product could be trusted.

“We were both ‘Putin’s password-stealing project’ and ‘a freelance FSB department’,” an employee later joked in blog post on its website.

In 2017, a start-up competition run by the Skolkovo Foundation, a Russian state-backed non-profit which would later be sanctioned by US authorities, visited Arkhangelsk.

Finnish entrepreneur Pekka Viljakainen, who had recently been awarded the Russian medal of friendship by Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin, was queuing for the bathroom at the event when Garakh approached him and began telling him about Passwork and their difficulties in reaching European customers.

Viljakainen agreed to invest and open a version of Passwork in Finland, known as Passwork Oy, which would allow them sell the product to EU customers.

“Recently, we’ve realised that, no matter how you look at it, people don’t really trust Russian products and to promote Passwork in the West we need an official company in a ‘normal’ country,” a Passwork employee said in a blog post at the time.

Garakh and Pyankov acquired 35 per cent each of the new company with the remainder taken by Viljakainen’s investment firm, Aii Corporation.

Business was good and the company expanded its European customer base, including selling the product to Irish State agencies

However, things changed after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As the war went on, European businesses began to cut their links with Russia, lest they be caught up in sanctions.

Reached for comment, Viljakainen told reporters from The Irish Times-OCCRP investigation he cut all of his Russian business ties. The “war and related sanctions” made business too difficult, he said.

At about the same time, Garakh and Pyankov sold their shares in the Finnish company, which was eventually wound up in 2024.

Later in 2022, two new versions of Passwork appeared. Pyankov and Garakh registered another company in Russia, Passwork LLC, to sell to Russian clients. They also were involved in Passwork FZ, which was established in the UAE, company records show.

It is not clear who owns Passwork FZ but UAE’s business registry lists Pyankov as the manager. Public-domain registry data lists Garakh as both the official owner and contact for the UAE website, passwork.ae.

In August 2024, yet another version of Passwork appeared when Alexander Muntyan, the Russian national, opened his business in Barcelona.

In detailed replies to questions, Muntyan said his company was entirely independent of the Russian enterprise. Citing a non-disclosure agreement, he declined to reveal financial details of the deal to buy the software rights from the UAE company.

Muntyan characterised any similarities to the Russian Passwork as merely administrative holdovers.

However, he acknowledged that Garakh, the co-founder of the Russian Passwork, has been providing “limited product-related knowledge-transfer support” during a two-year transition period which ends next month.

The Irish Times-OCCRP investigation also found Garakh retains access to a public code repository for the European Passwork.

Garakh has no access to sensitive material, Muntyan said.

Evidence of links between the Russian and Spanish version of Passwork persists. In April, the Russian Passwork announced the release of software update version 7.6. The following day, the European company launched its version 7.6 with an identical description of the update’s features.

Muntyan said there was no co-ordination on updates with the Russian company. He said because the two versions shared “a common codebase origin” it was possible that the UAE entity, Passwork FZ, was delivering updates to multiple parties on a similar timeline.

Asked about apparent attempts to minimise the Spanish company’s links to the Russian Passwork, he said the website was never intended to provide “a complete historical account of the product’s origins” and that he had never concealed information about the origins of Passwork software or its original developers.

He also rejected the idea that the Russian links may expose Passwork customers to risk.

“The mere fact that source code may be reviewed by third parties does not, by itself, establish the existence of vulnerabilities, back doors or an increased security risk,” he told The Irish Times-OCCRP investigation.

The software’s “zero-knowledge architecture”, in which all encryption and decryption occur on customers’ servers, means “even if someone were to request data from us we would simply have no data to provide,” he added.

“If both products share the same codebase and are updated in sync, then vulnerabilities may affect both versions,” said Bart van den Berg, a security expert at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch international relations think tank.

Security researcher Donald Ortmann said updates were “the most elegant and hardest-to-detect attack vector”.

“A single prepared update could selectively trigger a [password] vault dump at targets deemed of interest and then disappear completely without a trace,” he said.

He pointed to the 2019 hack of the US company SolarWinds in which Russian operatives used an update to compromise the email systems of the US treasury department and department of justice in what became one of the largest cyberattacks in history.

In response to queries, Muntyan said all updates were vetted by his team before they are applied to the product.

Bert Hubert, a Dutch cybersecurity expert, said trust was the foundation of any password management service, comparing these products to the airbag of a car.

“You can’t test that airbag ... you really have to assume that the manufacturer of those airbags has really investigated whether everything works properly and that they can of course do that job,” he said.

Aside from scenic hiking trails and a museum dedicated to farm machinery, there is little to mark it out from other rural communities in the north of the country, near the German border.

That changed last month with sexual abuse charges that sent shock waves through Switzerland.

The local public prosecutor’s office announced, following a three-year investigation, that a 57-year-old Swiss man had been charged with repeatedly drugging and raping a woman and her teenage daughter.

The man, a Swiss politician named Patrick Frei, had videoed the alleged attacks and the videos form much of the evidence against him, prosecutors said.

The alleged administration of powerful “date rape” drugs to knock out the victims during the incidents led prosecutors to charge him with attempted murder and seek a life sentence against him.

In the media, the case has been widely compared to the Pelicot case in France, in which a man drugged and raped his wife Gisèle Pelicot over a decade while also inviting other men to rape her.

The Swiss case made headlines for other reasons. At the time of his arrest Frei was a member of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the largest party in the country.

He sat on the Grand Council of the canton of Aargau which, under Switzerland’s federal system, has wide powers to create laws, levy taxes and run local services. Frei was known for both his opposition to immigration and for calling for tougher punishments for paedophiles.

According to prosecutors, he raped the victims, Iwona and her daughter, Paula, while they lived with him following their move from Ireland to Switzerland in July 2022.* (The Irish Times is not using the women’s surnames due to Paula’s age at the time of the alleged offences.)

Frei is still awaiting trial so he is presumed innocent until a Swiss court reaches its decision in his prosecution.

The case generated more public attention when it emerged that, a year after Frei was arrested, authorities in Aargau had moved to deport Iwona and Paula, who was then 15 years old, even while the case against Frei was pending.

The Irish Times has established that Paula, as an Irish citizen, appealed to the Department of Foreign Affairs for help with their case. The department replied it was unable to intervene.

The Swiss politician and the visits to Ireland

Iwona and Paula share a small flat in Untersiggenthal, which is less than five minutes’ walk from a larger property previously owned by Frei where the alleged abuse took place.

The Irish Times travelled to Switzerland to speak to mother and daughter about the case.

The apartment swelters in the August sun. It hasn’t rained in the area in almost two weeks.

The heat is made worse by the presence of a Swiss documentary crew who are making a programme, due to air next year, about the women’s search for justice. The only relief is a portable air conditioner.

Paula, now 18, is becoming used to the media attention. She played with her two cats as she and Iwona described how she arrived in this small Swiss town.

Iwona came to Ireland from Poland in early 2007 with her then partner and Paula was born a few months later. The mother supported the family by working various jobs, including as a summons server and a live-in care assistant for an elderly man. They lived in various parts of Ireland, dictated by Iwona’s work. Their first home was in Ennis, Co Clare. They then moved to Galway, later Leitrim and finally, Coolaney in Co Sligo.

Paula fondly recalls chicken fillet rolls, prawn cocktail crisps and other Irish food not available in Switzerland. Most of all she misses swimming off the beaches in Sligo.

Their life changed forever in October 2021 when, during a holiday at a Spanish resort, Iwona first met Frei. (By this time Iwona’s relationship with Paula’s father had ended).

Frei approached Paula first. He told her he had been looking at her mother for the last few days.

“I got weirded out a bit so I went to the arcade,” Paula recalls.

“That’s how it started,” says Iwona.

They struck up a relationship, which continued after she returned home.

“He was pretty often coming to Ireland, like every two [or] three weeks,” she says, explaining how their relationship became closer.

Frei had a high-paying job in Switzerland as an IT specialist; if the relationship was to continue, it made sense for Iwona and Paula to leave Ireland and move in with him in Untersiggenthal.

He arranged a work visa for Iwona and the authorities were told she would work as his live-in housekeeper on a salary of €2,140 a month, court documents show. In later court proceedings, Iwona said she never received any salary from Frei.

Paula, then 14, had mixed feelings about leaving Ireland. “First, I liked the idea because I was getting a lot of bullying. Then I hated the idea and didn’t want to leave at all. But by then it was already decided.”

The ‘lucid dream’ and the GoPro camera

Iwona and Paula arrived in Untersiggenthal in July 2022. The relationship between Paula and Frei was strained from the start, the teenager recalls.

“Like you couldn’t really get along with the person, so that was just very weird for me, and it was just very awkward,” she says.

But it wasn’t until April the next year that she began to suspect something else was going on. She describes having a “lucid dream” about Frei coming into her room and climbing on top of her.

“Other than that, I never had a suspicion. It was just always a weird feeling,” says Paula.

Paula told Iwona about the dream. Iwona by then had formed her own suspicions about Frei. Paula started locking her bedroom door at night and Iwona began checking on Frei whenever she noticed he was not in bed.

This is what she did one night in September 2023, the day before Paula was due to turn 15.

“Very quietly, I went from the bedroom and I spotted him in Paula’s room with the GoPro camera,” she says.

Iwona immediately began peppering a visibly sweaty Frei with questions but he was evasive and initially refused to hand over the camera, she says.

“At this stage it was obvious for me that it wasn’t anything good ... I decided to call the police.”

The police arrived and after viewing the most recent recording on the camera, they immediately arrested Frei.

He remains in custody to this day and has since resigned from his position on the Aargau Grand Council and from the SVP, his political party.

Paula slept through all of this. When she awoke the next morning, Iwona told her she would not be going to school that day.

It took weeks for the full extent of Frei’s alleged offending to emerge. Police found dozens of video files on various devices and hard drives, all of which had to be forensically examined.

Eventually, it became clear they were investigating what they allege to be one of the worst sexual abuse cases in recent Swiss history.

According to prosecutors, the videos showed Frei entering Paula’s room on a regular basis and raping her while she lay unconscious.

In a later statement, the public prosecutor’s office alleged Frei administered “date rape drugs” to put Paula into “a state of deep unconsciousness” before the assaults.

A hair test on Paula confirmed the presence of the date rape drug GHB in her system, she says.

Analysis of Frei’s computers showed he had been searching online for GHB as far back as 2012, prosecutors say. Paula says she believes Frei may have administered the drugs in her food.

The investigation and the hours of alleged abuse

The volume of evidence to be processed meant that it was only in October 2023 that Iwona learned she was also a victim of Frei.

Investigators told her they had found an image of her being assaulted by Frei while she was also seemingly unconscious.

“All the time, the investigation was revealing something extra,” recalls Iwona.

She describes the guilt she feels at bringing Paula to Switzerland.

“You can imagine a mother’s feelings when she brings her daughter to a foreign country. She made the move and then came the pain,” she says.

Investigators advised Iwona not to attend the court proceedings where the videos would be shown to Frei. She insisted on being present.

“I needed to know what actually happened,” she says.

Paula, who did not attend the viewings, says she is still coming to terms with the extent of the alleged abuse.

“I’m only realising now that everything I lived through was basically a lie,” she says.

Prosecutors charged Frei with multiple counts of aggravated rape, aggravated sexual assault, sexual acts with children, aggravated assaults, drug offences, sexual harassment and violation of privacy.

The alleged offending against Paula includes more than 40 incidents of rape, as well as many other incidents of sexual assault.

How AI porn allegations surrounding TV star rocked Germany

The first recorded incident occurred on July 12th, 2022, just 12 days after Paula first arrived with her mother.

Prosecutors estimated the alleged abuse of Paula went on for almost 40 hours across the various recorded incidents.

Due to the alleged administration of knock-out drugs to Paula and Iwona, the prosecutor’s office also took the unusual step of bringing attempted murder charges against Frei.

It said the victims were repeatedly placed in an acutely life-threatening condition by the administration of the substances, “a condition that could have led to death by suffocation at any time”.

The prosecution is seeking a life sentence if Frei is convicted. It said he is presumed innocent “until a legally binding decision is reached.”

During one interrogation session last year, Frei said he did not remember certain details of how the first incident happened. He said he noticed the girl was unresponsive and that he touched her. He also said he took photos of Paula.

Frei’s lawyer, David Zollinger, told The Irish Times his client “disputes substantial parts of the allegations and, in particular, the legal characterisation of several of the charges”.

Specifically, Frei “expressly” denies using date rape drugs on the women, Zollinger said.

“The defence will address the medical, forensic and psychiatric evidence, as well as its proper interpretation, during the trial,” the lawyer said.

“We do not consider it appropriate to comment selectively on individual pieces of evidence or allegations outside the judicial process.”

Frei will stand trial before a panel of judges in February. Three days have been set aside for the case. Depending on the verdict, there is almost certain to be at least two appeals, which will likely take years to resolve.

The deportation order and a plea for help from Irish diplomats

After the extent of the alleged abuse emerged, Paula and her mother began the long process of coming to terms with what happened to them while trying to rebuild their lives in a new country.

In September 2024, they received more difficult news. Swiss immigration authorities revoked Iwona’s residence visa and ordered their deportation, despite the then ongoing investigation against Frei.

The immigration officials argued that Iwona’s visa to work as Frei’s housekeeper was fraudulent as she was in a relationship with him at the time.

Authorities also refused to pay the women the normal rate of social welfare. Instead they received the much lower rate available to asylum seekers. The women were forced to travel across the border to Germany to buy food.

Iwona was also told she was under criminal investigation herself.

Frei had alleged she had stolen items from his house when she moved out after his arrest. Iwona, who denied any theft, recalls police searching her home and car.

The charges were later dropped.

Faced with the prospect of being deported before her alleged abuser’s trial, Iwona began researching Swiss immigration law while also contacting anyone who might help her and her daughter.

In her apartment, Iwona pulls out thick binders of documents as she explains how she contacted the Polish embassy in the Swiss capital of Bern and advised them of their plight. In response, the Polish ambassador sent a diplomatic note to Swiss officials seeking more information.

The assistance was limited but Iwona and Paula were appreciative nonetheless.

They were less impressed with the Irish response.

On March 2nd, 2026, Paula, with the help of her mother, wrote registered letters to the Irish Embassy in Bern and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.

The letters, copies of which have been seen by The Irish Times, asked Irish officials to monitor the various legal cases formally and issue a diplomatic note to Switzerland regarding its obligation under the Lanzarote Convention on child sexual exploitation. Paula also asked for information on available consular assistance for victims of serious crime.

The response from the Bern mission came three weeks later and consisted of three sentences. Paula was told the embassy cannot interfere in legal proceedings or offer legal advice. She was invited to keep the embassy informed of further developments.

Paula responded the next day pointing out they were not seeking legal advice or intervention in their case. They were requesting consular monitoring, which is a “standard function” of embassies under international law.

Iwona says further correspondence followed, including advice from the embassy about potentially submitting a complaint about Switzerland’s alleged breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The mother and daughter remain dismayed with the level of Irish assistance.

“The Polish ambassador cared more than the Irish ambassador. That broke my heart a little bit,” says Paula.

Asked for comment, a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said it was aware of the case and had provided consular assistance but said it cannot comment further.

‘When you are cornered, you have nothing to lose’

These days Iwona channels much of her energy into reading up on Swiss and international law concerning the rights of victims and immigrants.

Paula struggles to reconcile the extent of the alleged abuse she experienced with her almost complete lack of memory of the incidents. She did not have to experience sexual abuse in real time in the same way as other victims, she says. Nevertheless, the after-effects are real.

“My brain was still forming. I was a child, so my brain didn’t form in the right way it should have. That leaves big impacts,” she says.

Neither of the women have any intention of retreating into silence.

“When you are cornered, you have nothing to lose. At this stage I know the authorities can’t take anything more from us,” says Iwona.

Recently, Paula and Iwona have received some good news. Last month, Switzerland’s main German-language newspaper, Tages Anzeiger, published a two-part investigation into the case and subsequent attempts by Swiss authorities to deport the women.

Gisèle Pelicot’s horrifying experience is familiar to some women in Ireland

Within hours of publication, the local canton indicated it would reverse the deportation decision and grant Iwona and Paula full social welfare payments. The canton denied the decision was related to the media coverage.

The decision was confirmed in a judgment on August 12th by the local administrative court, which found the immigration authorities had wrongly revoked Iwona’s residence permit.

The judgment notes comments by Paula’s lawyer that handling of the women’s case by officials was “unacceptable and unworthy of Switzerland”.

In response to queries, a spokeswoman for Aargau’s immigration office stated new information had come to its attention confirming Iwona was not in Switzerland on a false employment contract.

“The women concerned therefore retained their residence permits,” the office said.

On July 27th, a large crowd gathered for a vigil in Untersiggenthal’s village square in support of Iwona and Paula.

“We thought it was going to be 15 people. But there was like 400,” says Paula.

Swiss authorities have now announced an independent investigation of the handling of the deportation case by officials.

For Paula and Iwona, there are still many challenges ahead, including Frei’s trial in February.

The ruling by the administrative court regarding their deportation is not final. It still has to be approved by Switzerland’s federal authorities.

“I would run away from here straight away but I wouldn’t be able to consciously live knowing that he could be released,” says Iwona.

“So that is my duty here to suffer, stay, and be sure that the justice will be served.”

Paula worries about her future. She wants to be a beautician but cannot afford the training.

She also fears Frei may have sold the videos he took on the internet. This has happened in similar cases and authorities found evidence of cryptocurrency accounts on Frei’s computers, she notes.

Eventually, once the various legal issues are dealt with, Paula would like to return to Ireland for education and work.

“I would love to be by the ocean again,” she says.

* This story was edited on August 27th

Over the past few months, Sylvia Thompson has visited several of Ireland’s most interesting boarding schools – focusing on the experiences of students, teachers, staff and families. The series has offered a contemporary picture of education in modern Ireland – and looked at why a parent would send their child to a boarding school in 2026.

The latest instalment, published in The Irish Times today, profiles a boarding school for 11- and 12-year-olds – Scoil na Leanaí in Co Waterford’s Ring Gaeltacht.

Also today, Kate Mellett talks to a woman from Co Offaly who says her son has been unable to attend school for almost three years due to “severe school-related anxiety”.

Education Correspondent Niamh Towey reports on how Irish teenagers are achieving significantly lower scores in reading and maths than they were a decade ago.

In The Irish Times print edition today, you will find an eight-page (complete with map) guide to next week’s Higher Options event. Held every September, 130 universities, colleges, technological universities and further education providers will gather in the RDS, Dublin.

The Higher Options supplement is an essential guide for sixth-year students and their families and, inside and at irishtimes.com/education, you’ll find expert advice on preparing for the year ahead, making sense of college and career choices, navigating the CAO process, and getting the most from next week’s event.

And, if that wasn’t enough, it’s also Grad Week in The Irish Times. Every day this week, we have news, views and advice for those finished, or close to completing, their third level studies. You can read it all at irishtimes.com/graduateoptions. And don’t forget to pick up the Graduate Options magazine with The Irish Times this Friday.

So, whatever stage your (or your child’s) education is at, we’ve got you covered.

Thank you,

Damian Cullen.

She believes would-be buyers of an empty or derelict property should go in with their eyes open, expecting an old house will need to be rewired, replumbed and have its roof replaced. “And then every time that something doesn’t need to be done, take it as a win.”

Uí Bhaoill used to be a corporate banker, but now flips homes and advises clients on renovations through her company Spreag – the Irish verb meaning “to encourage”.

As a new series of the RTÉ show “Cheap Irish Homes” returns to our screens, it has prompted a discussion on the Better with Money podcast as to whether vacant or derelict homes in rural Ireland represent a good opportunity for first-time buyers, who are otherwise locked out of the market.

Yes, the empty properties dotted across our towns, villages and countryside are priced in the low six figures and have potential. But given the extensive work these “fixer-uppers” need, that could involve sinking another six figures into them to bring them up to modern standards.

Uí Bhaoill thinks it’s an easy decision.

“Why would you not look at a little two-bed town house in your Naas or your Trim or your Navan or your Bray and bring it back to life, use the derelict grants, use the SEAI [Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland] grants that are available to you, put a bit of love into it [and] have a small mortgage.”

But, she warns, don’t even think about browsing property websites until you’ve gone to the bank and established your financial situation first.

“I won’t even let my clients look at Pinterest until I know they have the money [to take on the project].”

This is where the SEAI comes in. Programme manager with the organisation, Stephen Farrell, outlines the range of grants available to people in older and colder homes.

Some grants, for works like insulation, adding solar panels or replacing a heating system, require the homeowner to pay contractors for the work in its entirety, recouping the money from the SEAI later.

However, its one-stop-shop approach under the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme means it’s possible to draw down the grant immediately, before works get under way.

 “If you do a whole house retrofit and avail of the one-stop shop approach, you could get grants on average up to 35,000. So if your builder gives you a charge of, say, 70,000 to install this and bring the house back to life and make it energy efficient, that’s deducted upfront,” says Farrell.

There is also scope to apply for additional Government funding if a property built before 2008 has been lying empty for two years or more. The Vacant Property Refurbishment grant is worth €50,000.

It can be topped up by a further €20,000 if the home is deemed derelict by an independent, qualified professional.

If all this sounds overwhelming, Uí Bhaoill is at pains to emphasise it’s worth pursuing nonetheless.

She gives the example of a couple on a joint income of €100,000. Under the Central Bank of Ireland lending guidelines, they could apply for a self-build mortgage worth up to 3½ times their salary.

“If you’re buying a house for ... Let’s say it’s 100 grand, keep the math simple here, right? You’d effectively have scope to borrow another 250 for the work.”

And does she ever think people should raze these “cheap Irish homes” to the ground and start again with that money?

“No, no, no. I love the old builds. I have a real soft spot, a real grá for the old ones.”

You can listen to this conversation on the player above or search for Better with Money wherever you get your podcasts.

• This episode is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

The judgment annuls the most controversial element of a 2024 ruling that said Next had not sufficiently justified its policy of paying shop staff, who are mostly women, lower rates of basic pay than staff in its warehouses, where the gender split is more even.

Next on Monday described the decision as a “landmark victory” that removed a threat to the viability of many of its stores.

The tribunal’s ruling marks the latest stage in an eight-year fight over equal pay that is being closely watched by UK supermarkets, which are fighting similar challenges that could leave them liable for compensation running into billions.

Next said the crucial element of Monday’s ruling was its confirmation “that it was justifiable for Next to rely on market forces . . . where there was a good rationale to pay one group more than another”.

The FTSE 100 retailer had argued that it needed to pay its warehouse staff higher hourly rates in order to recruit and retain them, even though the work they performed had been assessed as being of equal value to that of store staff.

Leigh Day, a law firm representing thousands of current and former Next workers, said the court’s conclusion on basic pay was “disappointing”, while noting that it had upheld previous findings against the retailer’s practice of paying store workers less for night and Sunday shifts, overtime and rest breaks.

Elizabeth George, partner at Leigh Day, said that if an employer needed only to show it paid market rates to justify discrimination, “the very market conditions that give rise to the discrimination then become the legal justification”.

Is the new guy earning more than you? New pay rules will reveal the truth

Next, however, said the judgment affirmed “a principle at the heart of any effective employment market”, adding that had it gone the other way, “it would have created a threat to the viability of many of our stores”.

It plans to seek permission to appeal against the outstanding findings on pay for overtime, night and Sunday shifts and rest breaks.

The Appeal Tribunal said the previous ruling had “erred in finding that the employer did not pursue a legitimate aim when setting different rates of pay”.

It continued: “The aim, taken as a whole, of paying higher rates to warehouse staff included recruitment and retention factors which did not apply to the claimant group. It was not necessary for the employer to justify not increasing the claimants’ pay to the same level.”

The ruling has wider significance because the question of whether “market forces” can justify paying different rates for work of equal value is central to other long-running claims against some of the UK’s biggest retailers, including supermarkets Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and J Sainsbury.

Tesco, whose bill for compensation could approach £4 billion (€4.6 billion) on one Leigh Day estimate, told a tribunal this year that pay differentials were shaped by market conditions and “genuine pressing operational needs”, and that paying store staff the same as warehouse workers would “disregard economic reality”.

The court actions could also be closely watched outside the UK, as European governments grapple with how to implement a new EU directive on pay transparency that will introduce new requirements for employers to report pay gaps and correct them where they identify unjustified inequalities. - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026

Emily Evans (26) with an address in Cluaindearrach, Tullamore, Co Offaly appeared before Judge Andrew Cody at the local District Court accused of assaulting Lindsey Lowbridge in the town on October 17th, 2024.

The court heard there was “ill-will” between Evans and Lowbridge because of a relationship Lowbridge’s daughter was involved in.

Lowbridge said she had just been told Evans had tried to attack her daughter before she arrived in the town centre.

She told Sgt Brendan Kearns, of Tullamore Garda Station, that she had initially pulled up alongside Evans’ car and told her to leave her daughter alone, that the situation had “gone beyond a joke”.

She said Evans then started shouting at her, got out of her car and grabbed her hair in an attempt, it seemed, to pull her out through the window while punching her in the face.

Lowbridge said that a cousin of Evans got into the front passenger side of her car and started pulling her hair in the opposite direction before trying to stab her in the throat with a broken glass that had been in the car’s cup holder.

A male passerby intervened, she said, and she escaped nearby, from where she alerted An Garda Síochána.

She said she was taken to Tullamore hospital with injuries to her neck, eye socket and face as well bald patches where clumps of hair had been pulled out. The injuries, she said, meant she could not be a bridesmaid at her brother’s wedding a couple of days later as her face was “destroyed”.

Evans admitted she took the keys from the ignition of Lowbridge’s car and her mobile phone, which was on the dashboard, and throwing them across the road, “out of anger” but claimed Lowbridge had initially approached her aggressively with a hurley and that Lowbridge, rather than her cousin, had been the aggressor with the broken glass.

She said she had also been injured in the altercation but said the incident should not have happened, telling the court: “I’m embarrassed by it.”

Cody said the State’s case relied entirely on Lowbridge’s evidence which, he said, was contradictory at times.

He said Lowbridge “clearly pulled up beside Emily Evans” and that she was not as “innocent as the driven snow”.

The judge concluded Lowbridge had known there was likely to be trouble when she went to the location and dismissed the assault charge against Evans.

Glenair House has been run as a farm, an equestrian operation and headquarters for a business, but it is first and foremost a gracious family home that the current owners say has been filled with happy memories. Sherry FitzGerald is handling the sale, seeking €3.1 million for the four-bed property on 1½ acres.

Old wrought-iron gates open on to a gravel drive. The garden is studded with some fine old trees and shrubs, copious hydrangeas and voluminous rhododendrons.

Its exterior is deceptive, it looks like a single-storey home from the front aspect, it reveals another level as the hilly site slopes down at the rear of the house. On the left is a small, detached gate lodge that provides an extra 50sq m (538sq ft) of accommodation, with a bedroom, a kitchen/livingroom and a bathroom.

The entrance hall of the main house is impressive, lit by a fan light with warm-hued wooden floors and wallpapered feature walls. The house sits true to the compass, so the double aspect reception rooms on either side of the hall benefit from the sun’s progress from east to west throughout the day.

The room on the left is currently the main bedroom, with a dressingroom and luxurious en suite behind it. On the right of the hall is an elegant drawingroom, decorated in tones of cream and gold, with a marble fireplace and ceiling heights of over 12ft.

Behind the drawingroom is a white-walled study with fantastic views over the landscaped gardens. Completing the accommodation at this level is a guest toilet and an en suite bedroom with a balcony overlooking the back gardens.

On the lower floor there are two more bedrooms, one which has a lovely fireplace, and a livingroom that the family have used as a TV room. There’s a cellar and storage lying under the front steps and to the rear of the floor, a boot/utility room and a bathroom.

The centrepiece of the house is the large, light-filled kitchen, which has French doors opening to an outdoor kitchen sheltered by a canopy. An Aga sits under an old arch at one end of the vast space and a marble-topped island divides the kitchen from the dining area. All appliances come in twin form: double Belfast sinks, double ovens, and two dishwashers. There are also two small appliance pantries: one is a coffee station, the other houses toaster and microwave. Tucked into the centre of the kitchen is its engine, a large pantry with a double Fisher & Paykel fridge.

Beyond the house, at the edge of the garden, is a large, detached games room and behind the house is a patio with an old bed of roses and an outdoor room. The rest of the garden has shaded walks and steep paths, established mature beech trees, and a couple of ponds. It’s an utterly charming, well-divided garden that is sure to beguile potential buyers as much as the Regency villa it surrounds.

Foley, a veteran gangland criminal, has been in a legal dispute with Cab over the sale of his house at Cashel Avenue, Kimmage, after it was granted permission to seize the property to settle an almost €1 million outstanding tax debt.

An 18-month stay was put in place in March 2025 as his wife and then nine-year-old daughter lived in the property.

On Tuesday, Foley was given a short extension of the stay on the sale until Friday to allow him to seek legal representation, as well as an extension of time for him to apply for a longer stay until his appeal of the sale order can be heard.

Last week, a High Court judge refused to grant Foley an ex parte stay against Cab’s existing court authority to execute a repossession order on his house but allowed him to serve short notice of stay proceedings.

Foley, who was accompanied by his wife in court on Tuesday, represented himself and told Judge Cian Ferriter that his solicitor had died “the other day”.

Shaula Connaughton Deeny, for Cab, told the court that Foley had submitted the court filings himself. She said the bureau had not been given a copy of Foley’s application to the court.

The judge told Foley to take the time between hearings to seek new legal representation and to provide Cab with the application and affidavit.

In the affidavit, Foley said that the home due to be repossessed is his family home where he lives with his wife and daughter.

He said an application for an appeal of the order allowing Cab to sell the home had been listed for hearing in December, but that this was “outside the period of the existing stay”.

This meant that there was a “serious risk” that his home could be seized by Cab prior to the appeal being heard which could “cause serious prejudice” to Foley and his family, and could make the decision “impossible to reverse”.

“I am not seeking this stay for the purpose of delaying the proceedings indefinitely,” he said in an affidavit read onto the court record, instead he was seeking to be given time for his appeal to be heard.

The stay on the sale of his family home was due to expire on Thursday, September 10th, but the judge ordered an extension of the stay until Friday and adjourned the hearing until that date.

The case has been going on for more than 10 years when judgment was recorded against the house which is registered in the names of Foley and his deceased wife, Pauline, but his current wife, Sonya, is arguing that she owns at least half of it and it should not be sold. She claimed she and her daughter will be made homeless.

Time-lapse photography is a beloved technique on TV nature shows. The still camera patiently captures imperceptible changes in a plant or a seed or a skyline and accelerates it dramatically for the screen. Doonbeg has lived that process.

Almost every difference is seen through the lens of Trump International Golf Links. David Tubridy was chatting with some customers in his family’s bar the other night about how many young people from the GAA club were working in the golf club or its sister hotel and they reckoned the number was close to 50.

Down the street, two young entrepreneurs returned home from an overseas adventure and opened a coffee dock. Once upon a time, and not that long ago, nobody would have taken such a chance. The footfall wouldn’t have existed to sustain the business. Doonbeg was not a destination, it was a small village on the west Clare coast, on the road to somewhere else. The coffee dock is thriving.

This is the other side of the story. The outrage about Donald Trump’s ownership of the golf club didn’t materialise until his first presidential campaign 10 years ago, but it has grown in proportion to his repulsive behaviour ever since. When Doonbeg was awarded the Irish Open (September 10th-13th), the condemnation reached another crescendo and it has held that note for the guts of a year.

For the local community none of this is new. For a decade they have lived with the collateral damage to their reputation. In the popular imagination, Doonbeg was characterised as a place that had somehow sold its soul.

“I honestly think we’ve gotten used to it,” says Tubridy. “We had four years of it the first time [that Trump was President] and I think that was pretty tough on everybody in the village. We were just being labelled everything under the sun for the first four years.

“We just had to get used to it. You’re always going to have people that are going to disagree with the Trumps owning the building up there. Even locally, you’re always going to get a few. You’re not going to get 100 per cent of people backing the place. The majority of the village is behind it. They can all see what it’s doing for the village – not even just the village, west Clare.

“It’s kind of a different world up there, with the buildings and everything inside. You’d hear people saying: ‘How did he get planning for that place?’ But you’re telling people that it was built before the Trumps even got it.”

In the miasma of hostility towards the current owners, the origins of the enterprise are usually forgotten. The golf course was conceived by local people. Doonbeg Community Development Ltd was established in 1982 as an umbrella organisation for a variety of local community groups. Energising the local economy was part of their brief.

In the 1990s it alighted on a plan to establish a resort golf course and convinced Shannon Development of its viability. Nearly 400 acres of land was acquired from four local farmers before the project attracted the interest of American developers, Kiawah Partners, owners of Kiawah Island, one of most famous golf courses in the United States.

On a wall in the members’ bar, there is a photograph of the four farmers alongside a bell that is rung in their honour at six o’clock every evening. From the beginning, the golf course was rooted in the community.

“It’s very important that we’re not seen as the castle on the hill type thing,” says Doonbeg chief executive Joe Russell, who joined the business in 2003. “We never wanted to be that.”

A club was established for locals, with affordable membership fees – pitched at a much different scale to the overseas members that would underpin the business model. Access was guaranteed to Doughmore Beach, which runs parallel to the golf course, and the first owners made a commitment to build a local workforce.

“I wouldn’t say the village was struggling [when the course was built],” says Tubridy. “There was always something. Moneypoint [power station in Killimer] was going well back in the day. You had camp sites and we had a caravan park out the back [of the pub]. There would have been people in the village, but not to the extreme that there is now.

“A lot of my friends who went up and down the country have moved back into the village and bought houses or built houses. You wouldn’t have seen that 10 years ago. It’s very hard to purchase a house in Doonbeg now. To rent one is nearly impossible because people just want to come into the village. You see a lot of houses being renovated around the place as well, which is great.

Ireland’s soaring green fees: Some golf courses doubled prices since 2022

“When the accommodation [hotel and lodges] started [on the golf site] it was just massive. More people were staying overnight, and they started the shuttle buses up and down from the golf club to the village. They’ve a good shot of weddings up there this year and the businesses around do well out of that. If they’re looking for a ‘day two’, they come down around the village.”

In its first 11 years of trading, though, the resort failed to turn a profit. The original owners, Charles “Buddy” Darby and his cousin Leonard Long of Kiawah Partners, had a toxic falling out that ended in court in 2013 and ultimately resulted in the sale of their business to a private equity firm.

By the time Trump entered the picture early in 2014, Doonbeg was in receivership and was reeling from a storm that had caused about €1 million worth of damage. The golf club never closed but, locally, that was the fear. Trump picked up the property for €15 million, a basement price, adding it to the 15 other golf resorts in his portfolio at the time. By any measure it was a terrific piece of business.

For the people of Doonbeg, the arrival of a new owner was a huge relief. At the time almost 250 people worked on site at the height of the summer season, a large proportion of whom were from Doonbeg and the surrounding areas.

Long before then the resort was embedded in the local economy. Its kitchens were stocked by local suppliers, its guests enjoyed the hospitality of bars and restaurants in the village, its visiting golfers were caddied by young lads from the area. If anything needed to be built or fixed, local tradespeople were called.

Nobody agonised about the new name over the door. The comfort was in his riches. Trump’s fortune at the time was estimated at $3.5 billion. The new owners promised to invest money in the course, and they were true to their word.

Under Trump’s ownership the business has grown consistently over the last 12 years. Accounts for 2024, published in January of this year, showed an operating profit of €2.3 million, a jump of 9 per cent on the previous year. According to an annual disclosure required by US law and released by the US Office of Government Ethics, Trump’s income from the golf course and hotel reached almost $20 million (€17.1 million) last year. In April, a suite at the resort sold for €940,000, the highest ever sale for a property at Doonbeg. By every metric, business is booming.

“We would have about 340 full or part-time jobs here now,” says Russell. “We estimate that between direct payroll, suppliers and services, [the resort] is worth about €11 million to the local economy, annually. And that has grown steadily over the years.”

From many miles away it is easy for any of us to have a fiercely principled objection. In 2014, it was unforeseeable that the owner of Doonbeg golf club would soon be the most powerful man in the world, but once that happened nothing could ever be the same.

Trump’s son Eric is the family member with an operational interest in the resort, and he makes at least three or four site visits every year. But it is his father’s reputation and behaviour in the White House that hangs over the business.

Twice in the last 18 months the course has been vandalised by pro-Palestine protesters, the first time more grievously than the second.

“It’s very disappointing that somebody would try to make their statement in that fashion,” says Russell. “This particular event [the Irish Open] is intended to showcase Ireland, Irish golf, the coastline, the heritage.

“I appreciate everybody’s right to have a difference of opinion, I absolutely do. But they’re spoiling the party for the 80,000 people [the crowd expected at the tournament] who are not part of the situation in Palestine or politically or whatever it is.

“And they’re embarrassing the nation. I don’t know if that’s part of their thinking, but they are. They are taking away from Ireland.”

Two months ago, Sean Corcoran, an environmental artist, and two of his friends carved the words “Free Palestine” in a 106m-wide installation on the beach next to the golf course. Drone shots of their work flew around cyberspace, backdropped by one of the holes.

“I couldn’t just stand by while atrocities are being carried out in Gaza,” said Corcoran.

In so many ways, and maybe in every way, it is impossible to separate the golf course from its owner. But in the community, the golf course has been a consistent source of stuff that makes a difference, even before it changed hands.

Trump is expected to spend two nights at the presidential suite in Doonbeg on the weekend of the tournament after conducting some affairs of state on Saturday. Street protests will greet his arrival in Dublin and protests near the golf course have not been ruled out.

When he visited Doonbeg in 2019, during his first term in office, Garda overtime cost €11.3 million; this time, the figure is expected to be closer to €20 million. Inevitably, his presence at the tournament will result in heightened security at the entrances and long queues for punters, just as it did when he turned up at the World Cup and the NBA play-offs earlier in the summer.

“It is a logistical challenge on an unbelievable scale,” says Brian Shaw, who has been the club professional at Doonbeg since the course opened. “The gardaí have dealt with presidential visits here before but obviously you’re throwing in 20,000 spectators this time [the expected crowd for a full house on the final day of the tournament].

“That will be an unbelievable feat of organisation. That takes an awful lot of work from an awful lot of people – US Embassy, the gardaí, the county council, the local community, the club, the DP World Tour. But I’m not worried in the slightest that we won’t pull it off.”

The DP World Tour have been on site since the beginning of July, erecting what Shaw says is the biggest “build-out” in the history of the Irish Open. The course will be closed to members from Monday as the countdown edges closer to midnight. The approach roads to Doonbeg are in the throes of resurfacing and the main street in the village is closed for works; stuff that might not have happened in a hurry unless the Irish Open was coming to town.

In Shaw’s sumptuous pro-shop there is a display of 42 different baseball hats; 18 of them carry Trump’s name. There is no evidence that his behaviour in office has hurt the business. So far this year, Doonbeg has attracted more than 40 new members, bringing the total closer to 1,300, about half of whom don’t live in Ireland. The joining fee for overseas members, according to Russell, is $30,000.

The local membership is capped at 150 players and at the moment there are more than 130. Like in all resort courses, they don’t have unlimited access to the time sheet but all of that was ironed out a long time ago. Just like everything else between the course and the village, an accommodation was reached.

Hanging on a wall outside the pro shop is a framed jersey presented by the local GAA club to mark 20 years of their annual golf classic. Tubridy, one of the greatest footballers ever to play for Clare, is a single figure golfer too and he has been involved in the golf classic from the beginning.

In the early years they struggled to get 20 teams, but this year they had 70, spread over two days. The magnetism of the links drives those numbers. “I don’t even have to ring people any more,” he says, “they’re texting me wanting to know what the date is for next year.” To enter a four-person team costs €800 and this year the club raised a staggering €35,000. For a small club, in a small place, it is a small fortune.

“Every year they give us a great deal,” says Tubridy. “You couldn’t ask for any more. ‘Whatever you want David’ – that’s the relationship we have with them up there.”

That was the original covenant between the golf club and the village: mutual benefit. The tournament and the president and the protests and the furious condemnation will all pass through. The deal they struck remains.

The Solheim Cup – contested by the top women’s golfers from Europe and the US – takes place in the Netherlands. Leona Maguire is part of Anna Nordqvist’s team at Bernardus Golf Course. - Friday-Sunday, Sky Sports

Athletics

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be held this week in Budapest. It is a very limited field, consisting of Olympic, World and Diamond League champions, along with a few chosen from world rankings. - Friday-Sunday, BBC

American Football

The opening match of the upcoming NFL season is a cracker. Defending champions Seattle Seahawks begin at home to the New England Patriots – a rematch of last February’s Super Bowl LX. – Thursday morning, Sky Sports

MONDAY (September 7th)

• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 10am-noon, 1pm-5pm, 7pm-11pm English Open
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 3.30pm-5.30am US Open
• GAA - TG4, 7.30pm-8.30pm Club highlights
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - League 1 - 8pm Bromley v AFC Wimbledon

TUESDAY (September 8th)

• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 10am-noon, 1pm-5pm, 7pm-11pm English Open
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 1.30pm-5pm - Stage 16 Vuelta a España
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 4pm-5.30am US Open
• SOCCER – TNT Sports 2 – Champions League - 5.45pm Club Brugge v Aston Villa
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Plus – Championship - 7.45pm Blackburn v Sheffield Utd, 7.45pm Cardiff v Stoke, 7.45pm Southampton v Swansea, 7.45pm Watford v Preston, 7.45pm Wrexham v Burnley
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 8pm Bolton v West Ham
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Main Event - League Cup - 8pm Millwall v Newcastle
• SOCCER – TNT Sports 2 – Champions League - 8pm Borussia Dortmund v Villarreal
• SOCCER – Virgin Media Two – Champions League - 8pm Real Madrid v Inter Milan
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 & Amazon Prime - Champions League - 8pm Porto v Man City

WEDNESDAY (September 9th)

• CRICKET - Sky Sports Cricket from 10am - Men’s 3rd Test, D1 England v Pakistan
• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 10am-noon, 1pm-5pm, 7pm-11pm English Open
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 1.30pm-5pm - Stage 17 Vuelta a España
• CRICKET - TNT Sports 2 from 1.45pm - T20 Dublin Guardians v Belfast Wolves
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 4pm-5am US Open
• SOCCER – Virgin Media Two & TNT Sports 3 - Champions League - 5.45pm Barcelona v Feyenoord
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Plus – Championship - 7.45pm Derby v West Brom, 7.45pm Norwich v Birmingham, 8pm Charlton v QPR
• SOCCER - RTÉ 2 & Premier Sports 1 & TNT Sports 1 - Champions League - 8pm Liverpool v Atletico Madrid
• SOCCER – Virgin Media Two & TNT Sports 2 - Champions League - 8pm Napoli v Arsenal
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Main Event - League Cup - 8pm Chelsea v Leeds
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - League Cup - 8pm St Johnstone v Celtic

THURSDAY (September 10th)

• NFL - Sky Sports Action - 1.20am Patriots @ Seahawks
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am - Men’s 3rd Test, D2 England v Pakistan
• RACING - UTV, 1pm-4pm St Leger Festival
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 1.30pm-5pm - Stage 18 Vuelta a España
• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 1.30pm-7pm Irish Open
• CRICKET - TNT Sports 2 from 1.45pm - T20 Belfast Wolves v Amsterdam Flames
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 5pm-4am US Open
• SOCCER – Virgin Media Two & TNT Sports 2 - Champions League - 5.45pm Fenerbahçe v Roma, 8pm Bayern Munich v Bodø / Glimt
• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 7pm-11pm English Open
• SOCCER - RTÉ 2, Premier Sports 1 & TNT Sports 1 - Champions League - 8pm Man Utd v Sabah
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - League 1 - 8pm Stevenage v Luton

FRIDAY (September 11th)

• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 6am-6pm Solheim Cup
• GOLF - Sky Sports Plus, 9.30am-3pm, 5pm-7pm Irish Open
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am - Men’s 3rd Test, D3 England v Pakistan
• F1 - Sky Sports F1 from noon - Practice Spanish Grand Prix
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, noon-5pm - Stage 19 Vuelta a España
• RACING - UTV, 1pm-4pm St Leger Festival
• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 1pm-4.30pm, 7pm-10.30pm English Open
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 2, 3.45pm-9.30pm Grand Prix Quebec
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 5pm-3.30am US Open
• ATHLETICS - BBC 2, 6pm-9pm World Ultimate Championship
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 - Scottish League Cup - 7.45pm Stenhousemuir v Hearts
• SOCCER - Virgin Media Two - League of Ireland - 8pm St Pat’s Ath v Shamrock Rovers
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 8pm West Ham v Wrexham
• RUGBY LEAGUE - Sky Sports Plus - Super League - 8pm Leeds v Hull FC, 8pm Leigh v Wakefield, 8pm St Helens v Hull KR, 8pm Warrington v Toulouse, 8pm Wigan v Catalans Dragons

SATURDAY (September 12th)

• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 6am-6pm Solheim Cup
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am - Men’s 3rd Test, D4 England v Pakistan
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 11am-5pm - Stage 20 Vuelta a España
• F1 - Sky Sports F1 from 11am - Practice & Qualifying Spanish Grand Prix
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 12.30pm Derby v Birmingham
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Plus – Championship - 12.30pm Bolton v Cardiff, 12.30pm West Brom v QPR
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Premier League - Women’s Super League - 12.45pm West Ham v London City
• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 4, 1pm-4.30pm, 7pm-10.30pm English Open
• RACING - UTV, 1.15pm-4.30pm St Leger Festival
• RACING - RTÉ 2, 2pm-5.30pm - Leopardstown Irish Champions Festival
• GOLF - Sky Sports Plus, 2.30pm-7.30pm Irish Open
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 - Premier League - 3pm Liverpool v Fulham
• RUGBY - Premier Sports 2 - Top 14 - 3.35pm Clermont v Stade Francais
• RUGBY - TNT Sports 2 - Premiership Cup - 4.45pm Harlequins v Northampton
• ATHLETICS - BBC 2, 5pm-5.55pm; BBC 1, 5.55pm-8.15pm World Ultimate Championship
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 5pm-11pm US Open
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Premier League - 5.30pm Tottenham v Everton
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Bundesliga - 5.30pm Cologne v Werder Bremen
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 – Scottish League Cup - 5.45pm Kilmarnock v Aberdeen
• SOCCER - TG4 - Women’s Premier Division - 7.35pm Sligo Rovers v Shelbourne
• SOCCER - TNT Sports 1 - Premier League - 8pm Sunderland v Arsenal
• SOCCER - Disney Plus - La Liga - 8pm Real Madrid v Rayo Vallecano
• RUGBY - Premier Sports 2 - Top 14 - 8pm Toulon v La Rochelle
• GREYHOUND RACING - Virgin Media Two, 9pm-10pm - Shelbourne Park Derby Final
• SOCCER - ITV4, 9pm-10.30pm English League highlights
• RUGBY - Sky Sports Action - Men’s 4th Test - 10pm South Africa v New Zealand
• UFC - TNT Sports 2 from 10pm - Arizona Yair Rodriguez v Jean Silva
• SOCCER - BBC 1, 11pm-0.25am Match of the Day

SUNDAY (September 13th)

• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 9am-5pm Solheim Cup
• ATHLETICS - BBC 1, 10am-2pm Great North Run
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am - Men’s 3rd Test, D5 England v Pakistan
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 - Scottish League Cup - Noon Rangers v Celtic
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Mix - Women’s Super League - Noon Man Utd v Chelsea
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - Noon Sheffield Utd v Wolves
• MOTOGP - TNT Sports 2 from 12.15pm Grand Prix of San Marino
• F1 - Sky Sports F1 from 12.30pm Spanish Grand Prix
• SNOOKER - TNT Sports 1, 1pm-4pm; TNT Sports 4, 7pm-10pm English Open
• RACING - UTV, 1.15pm-4pm St Leger Festival
• GOLF - Sky Sports Plus, 2pm-6pm Irish Open
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Plus - Women’s Super League - 2pm Birmingham v Brighton, 2pm Everton v Charlton, 2pm Liverpool v Tottenham
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Premier League - 2pm Coventry v Brighton, 4.30pm Man Utd v Man City
• RACING - RTÉ 1, 2.30pm-5.30pm - The Curragh Irish Champions Festival
• GAA - TG4 - 2.45pm Down SFC: Kilcoo v Loughinisland; 4.45pm Clare SHC: Kilmaley v Clonlara
• SOCCER - BBC 2 - Women’s Super League - 2.45pm Arsenal v Crystal Palace
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 3pm-8pm - Final stage Vuelta a España
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 - La Liga - 3.15pm Levante v Barcelona, 5.30pm Getafe v Deportivo de A Coruña, 8pm Real Sociedad v Atletico Madrid
• ATHLETICS - BBC 1, 5pm-8pm; BBC Three, 9pm-10pm World Ultimate Championship
• NFL - Sky Sports Action - 6pm Bills @ Texans, 9.25pm Commanders @ Eagles
• NFL - Sky Sports Plus - 6pm Buccaneers @ Bengals, 9.25pm Packers @ Vikings, 9.25pm Dolphins @ Raiders
• TENNIS - Sky Sports Tennis, 6pm-10pm US Open
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - Women’s Super League - 6.30pm Aston Villa v Man City
• SOCCER - TNT Sports 1 - Serie A - 7.45pm Sassuolo v Juventus
• CYCLING - TNT Sports 3, 8pm-9.30pm Grand Prix Montreal
• RUGBY - Premier Sports 2 - Top 14 - 8.05pm Toulouse v Bordeaux
• SOCCER - BBC 1, 10.30pm-11.20pm Match of the Day
• NFL - Sky Sports Action - 1.20am Cowboys @ Giants

Gealladh an Straitéis den chéad uair i gComhaontú Chill Rímhinn (2006) agus tháinig ann dó mar dhualgas reachtúil sa dlí in 2007, mar alt 28D d’Acht Thuaisceart Éireann (1998) (leasaithe). Mar thoradh ar an tríú hathbhreithniú breithiúnach atá tógtha ag Conradh na Gaeilge ar an ábhar, tá sé dearbhaithe ag an Bhreitheamh McAlinden san Ard-Chúirt “go bhfuil an dualgas reachtúil fós gan chomhlíonadh agus mar sin go bhfuil Coiste an Fheidhmeannais ag sárú ceanglas dleathach atá leagtha amach go soiléir in alt 28D d’Acht Thuaisceart Éireann 1998.”

Gealladh Straitéis Ghaeilge arís eile mar chuid den Chomhaontú ‘Ré Nua, Cur Chuige Nua’ i mí Eanáir 2020, le spriocdháta sé mhí lena cur i bhfeidhm. Mar sin féin, cuireadh bac ar 26 iarracht í a phlé ag an Fheidhmeannas idir Samhain 2020 agus Meitheamh 2021.

Bhunaigh an tAire Pobal sa tréimhse sin, Deirdre Hargey, Grúpa Saineolaithe in 2021 agus Grúpa Comh-dheartha ina dhiaidh sin. Chríochnaigh an Grúpa Comh-dheartha dréachtphlean gníomhaíochta i mí na Samhna 2023. Cé gur tháinig an Feidhmeannas agus an Tionól ar ais i mí Feabhra 2024, níl aon Straitéis tugtha chun tosaigh ag an Aire Pobal reatha, Gordon Lyons CTR, agus chuige sin, níl aon Straitéis ceadaithe ag an Fheidhmeannas.

Thug Conradh na Gaeilge dhá athbhreithniú bhreithiúnacha i gcoinne an Fheidhmeannais in 2017 agus 2022. Sa dá chás, chinn na Breithiúna gur theip ar an Fheidhmeannas a dhualgas dleathach a chomhlíonadh agus go raibh an teip sin mídhleathach.

In 2022, dúirt an Breitheamh Scoffield go raibh gá le gníomhú go práinneach agus nach raibh moill 12 mhí réasúnta. Sa chás is déanaí, áfach, bhí breis agus dhá bhliain go leith caite gan dul chun cinn. Go dtí seo, níl aon Straitéis curtha os comhair an Fheidhmeannais, agus ghlac an tAire leis nach nglacfar le Straitéis le linn an tsainordaithe reatha.

Dúirt Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin: “Leagfaí amach sa Straitéis Ghaeilge seo plean an Fheidhmeannais chun an Ghaeilge a chur chun cinn agus a fhorbairt sa 20 bliain atá romhainn. Anois, tá trí rialú shuntasacha Ard-Chúirte againn a éilíonn go soiléir ar an Fheidhmeannas gníomhú ar an cheist seo go práinneach gan mhoill. Beagnach 20 bliain ar aghaidh, ba cheart go mbeimis ag ullmhú ár ndara Straitéis 20 Bliain, in áit a bheith ag troid le dréacht a fheiceáil don chéad cheann.

“Tá an-imní go deo orainn nach bhfuil agus nach mbeidh aon dréacht réidh ag an Roinn Pobal laistigh den mhandáid seo. Tá obair na gcapall déanta ag réimse d’eagraíochtaí teanga le beagnach cúig bliana anuas chun moltaí suntasach a dhéanamh don Straitéis seo, moltaí a dhéanfadh difear mór do thuismitheoirí, do theaghlaigh, do scoileanna, do phobail agus don stát féin mar gheall ar chur chun cinn na teanga.

“Tá Conradh na Gaeilge fós i mbun machnaimh ar na roghanna atá ar fáil dúinn agus an breithiúnas seo anois foilsithe agus, más gá, triailfidh muid gach bealach dleathach atá ar fáil dúinn lena chinntiú go gcomhlíonfar an dualgas reachtúil agus go nglacfar le Straitéis don Ghaeilge ó thuaidh sna míonna atá romhainn.”

Higher Options 2026: an t-aonach oideachais is mó in Éirinn

Tá ceann de na hócáidí is mó i bhféilire an Irish Times ag tarraingt orainn agus beidh Higher Options 2026 ar ais san RDS an 16-18 Meán Fómhair.

Mar chuid den aonach oideachais seo, tugtar deis do na mílte daltaí sa chúigiú agus sa séú bliain ó cheann ceann na tíre eolas sárluachmhar a fháil le cuidiú leo teacht ar an ghairm is fearr dóibh féin.

Áis thar a bheith fiúntach agus tairbheach is ea an Cheathrú Ghaeltachta ag Higher Options do dhaltaí a bhfuil suim acu a bheith ag obair leis an Ghaeilge amach anseo. Beidh seastáin ag cuid de na comhlachtaí agus na heagraíochtaí Gaeilge is mó sa tír – TG4, Conradh na Gaeilge, COGG, Lárionad na Gaeilge, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe agus Foras na Gaeilge ina measc – agus beidh deis ar leith ag daltaí tuilleadh eolais a fháil faoi chúrsaí Gaeilge ar an ollscoil, faoi chúrsaí oiliúna agus scéimeanna taithí oibre do dhaoine óga, agus faoin phróiseas iarratais CAO agus UCAS.

Téigh chuig higheroptions.irishtimes.com le teacht ar thuilleadh eolais faoi Higher Options na bliana seo.

Iarratais ar na Comórtais Taibhealaíon ag Oireachtas na Samhna 2026

Beidh scaifte mór Gael ag pilleadh ar Chill Airne ag deireadh na míosa seo chugainn agus na hullmhúcháin faoi lán seoil d’Oireachtas na Samhna 2026.

Tá coiste an Oireachtais ag glacadh anois le hiarratais ar na Comórtais Taibhealaíon go dtí Dé Céadaoin, 16 Meán Fómhair 2026. I measc na bpríomhchomórtas tá Corn Uí Riada, Sean-Nós na bhFear agus na mBan, Damhsa ar an Sean-Nós, Agallamh Beirte agus Lúibíní. Táthar ag glacadh le hiarratais ar chomórtais na ndaoine óga fosta agus is féidir teacht ar chlár iomlán na gcomórtas agus iontráil a dhéanamh ar líne ar shuíomh gréasáin an Oireachtais.

Má theastaíonn cóip chrua den fhoirm iontrála uait nó má tá tú ag iarraidh tuilleadh eolais a fháil, déan teagmháil le eolas@antoireachtas.ie nó cuir scairt ar 091 572 545.

“I never imagined that getting my child an education could become such a battle,” the woman says, in response to an Irish Times call-out regarding children’s school attendance.

She has a 13-year old son who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of 10.

She says his difficulties with attending school began in second class. In third class, he would cry the “whole way to school”.

“It became increasingly clear that the staff did not have the training, resources or specialist support needed to understand or help him.

“Instead of receiving the support he needed to remain in education, his attendance deteriorated until he was barely able to attend at all.”

She feels the system was “failing him”.

“Over time, school became associated with fear and panic rather than learning and friendships.”

For starting secondary school, he received a place in an autism unit but, she says, “he couldn’t do it”.

“After three years away, even walking through the school gates was simply too much. When the first day came, he was terrified ... he completely shut down.”

“Over the past six months, he has barely left the house. His confidence has disappeared. He worries constantly about how he looks and what other people think of him. He is terrified of being bullied or being seen as different.”

“He isn’t choosing not to have an education. He isn’t lazy. He isn’t badly behaved. He is a frightened child who has spent years becoming more and more afraid of something that other children take for granted.”

She says he needs proper specialist support, understanding and a gradual pathway back into education.

School refusal: Parents and experts call for compassionate approach to classroom anxiety

“Every child deserves that chance,” she says. “My son shouldn’t have had to become this unwell before anyone listened.”

Another woman, from Co Tipperary, has two children who were diagnosed with autism aged three. She believes they also have pathological demand avoidance.

Her son is 14 and in secondary school and her daughter, aged 12, is in sixth class.

Both children have places in autism special classes in mainstream schools but she says neither can attend because “the school environment and everyday demands have resulted in severe autistic burnout and significant regression”.

She says her son wants to go to school but can’t. “Everything in his body, his nervous system, is shocked.”

Similarly, her daughter “loved” school but found it “too overwhelming”. She says there have been incidents of her daughter trying to jump out of the car on her way to school.

She says her daughter went to school for 20 days last year, which was grounds for “celebration” for the family.

“I am now facing the possibility of prosecution because of their school absences, despite spending years trying to get them to attend and repeatedly asking professionals and services for help.”

“My concern is that Ireland’s answer to the autism education crisis cannot simply be to open more autism classes.

“Six children with six completely different profiles in one classroom does not automatically mean they are receiving an appropriate education.”

A mother from Co Cork, who wants to remain anonymous, says she spent four years supporting her son back into school, which required her to wait outside the school each day and led to her giving up her job.

She says it was “horrendous” financially, emotionally and mentally.

Her son, aged 12, was diagnosed with autism 3½ years ago.

She says he is only now attending school independently again as he received a place in an autism unit.

She says he is doing “amazing” and she has since been able to return to her job, supporting other children in similar situations.

She says the country is in a “crisis situation” and “parents and children are suffering in silence”.

Another mother, from Co Louth, says her daughter, now aged 13, “desperately wanted to go to school” and “tried so many times”.

She says she never fully settled after the Covid-19 pandemic and the issue grew while she was in fourth, fifth and sixth class of primary school, missing 43 days of sixth class.

“She’s only four days into secondary school and already it’s been tough. By the time she gets home, she’s completely overwhelmed.”

She has started to monitor her heart rate and on one day at school, it reached 153 beats per minute.

Another mother, from Co Cork, says her daughter doesn’t refuse school but, rather, can’t attend.

She says she has frequently vomited due to anxiety on the way to school.

Her daughter, aged 14, attended a secondary school of more than 1,300 pupils for eight weeks of first year but, after that, she could no longer attend.

She says there are “stringent and inflexible systems and rules in place to try to manage the numbers”.

She says it is “traumatising” for her daughter, who has started to receive counselling.

She has since moved to a smaller school but it is not in her community – nonetheless, she is doing “better” as “supports and structures” are in place.

“We have been struggling trying to get my nine-year old son to school for the past three years and it has got increasingly worse,” says one mother from Co Clare.

Last year, her son, who was recently diagnosed with autism, missed 11 weeks, and in the first week of returning to school this year, he has missed two days.

She says the “root of his behavioural issues” is school because during the summer he had no anxiety, meltdowns or threatening and violent behaviour.

“The school system is broken,” the mother says. “The structure of the children’s day hasn’t changed in 100 years but our children cannot be compared to children 100 years ago.”

She says her son is unable to eat or use the toilet at school as he is so “tense” and is masking his autism.

The family are considering homeschooling him.

One mother from Galway has made the decision to home-educate her daughter, who is 14 and in her second year of secondary school.

Her daughter, who has been diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, struggled after December of first year in secondary school.

By June, she was “completely burned out” and felt anxious over the summer about returning to school.

The mother says the decision to home-educate “feels like a weight lifted off her and me”.

* The Irish Times has removed the names of some of the parents.

The imminent arrival spurred them on to complete the work against the backdrop of Covid uncertainty, which affected the price and availability of building supplies. They knew the home would need a full renovation when they bought it – for €450,000 in 2021, according to the Property Price Register – and they enlisted RMA Architects to bring their expertise to the couple’s considered vision.

The makeover has resulted in a bright, modern home that manages to imbue a feeling of airiness within its 63sq m (678sq ft) footprint. Stepping inside from the cul-de-sac, your line of sight is drawn right through to the bright kitchen to the rear of the house. It’s all about getting light into these period homes, the owner says, and they have certainly achieved that.

The livingroom at the end of the hall welcomes you with a wow-factor vaulted ceiling punctuated by two large roof lights. One of the owners is a furniture dealer who specialises in mid-century modern pieces, and for this room he has chosen a floating sideboard below a picture-frame TV and a high wall of floating shelves, adorned by books on designers such as Eileen Gray and Charles and Ray Eames. A large window behind the sofa looks out to the rear courtyard.

Through a glazed Crittall-style door is the kitchen, which forms the stem of the L-shaped living areas around the rear courtyard. The opaque door between it and the living area allows it to feel cohesive, while also giving the option to separate them when you prefer. A deep-set roof light adds further natural light.

The Scandi feel is most apparent in the Colm Maher-designed kitchen, where rich oak forms the cupboards, alongside stark white units. The rear slatted oak wall is particularly impressive as it conceals a walk-in utility space – with ventilation for drying clothes, a cupboard for the fridge freezer and a walk-in pantry.

Large, black-framed French doors open to the courtyard, which is a nice area in which to relax, with dark porcelain tiles, an outdoor corner sofa and a shed for storage.

The main bathroom, accessed off the livingroom, is a good size; it features bright orange grouting, adding a pop of colour to a simple design, and a bath with a shower attachment. There is also floor-to-ceiling coat storage outside the bathroom.

Two double bedrooms sit on either side of the hallway to the front of the house, with wooden shutters and electric blackout blinds on the handsome sash windows. One of the rooms features a neat built-in desk, while the other has a wall of floor-to ceiling wardrobes.

Throughout the home there is underfloor heating beneath brushed concrete, eliminating the need for radiators. The home is B3 Ber rated.

Oakfield Place is a surprisingly quiet cul-de-sac, given that it’s just a street over from Clanbrassil Street. It is a short walk from Bibi’s and Alma cafes in Portobello, and the Harcourt Street Green Line Luas stop is a 15-minute walk away, while you can reach St Stephen’s Green in less than 20 minutes on foot.

Now hoping to move to a home with a bit more space as their child grows, the owners are placing their well-designed Dublin 8 home on the market with Felicity Fox, seeking €695,000.

Gary Hyland (24), with an address at Bridge St, Kilcormac, Co Offaly, appeared at Tullamore District Court before Judge Andrew Cody on Monday accused of drug-driving and dangerous driving at Ballinacarrig, Kilcormac, Co Offaly, on March 30th.

Garda Diarmuid Loughnane told Cody he was conducting a speeding checkpoint at Kinnitty, Co Offaly, just before 4pm when he observed a red Opel Astra driving at 80km/h in a 50km/h zone.

He said Hyland, who had a passenger in the vehicle, failed to stop and drove at speeds of 140km/h in an 80km/h zone.

Loughnane said Hyland performed a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre, causing another car to rear-end a tractor.

Hyland eventually brought the car to a stop outside a private residence, the court heard, where both he and the other occupant tried to make their escape but were apprehended.

Loughnane said that concentrated levels of cocaine and cannabis appeared in Hyland’s blood. He said there was a reading of 432.8 “benzo direct line” in Hyland’s blood. Cody said this was nine times over the legal limit. Benzoylecgonine is the primary metabolite formed by the liver after the body processes cocaine.

The court also heard that Hyland was a number of times over the legal limit for cannabis.

The court heard he had 21 previous convictions, including 14 for the misuse of drugs, three for public order, two for criminal damage, one for drug-driving and one related to the restrictions on movement during the Covid pandemic.

Man and woman arrested following prison drug smuggling investigation

Sgt Brendan Kearns said Hyland’s most recent offence was a Section 6 public order offence on June 15th, 2024, for which he received a two-month suspended sentence.

He said Hyland’s most recent drug-driving case was on October 22nd, 2021, at Portlaoise District Court, where he was disqualified for two years and received a fine.

When the solicitor representing Hyland on Monday informed Cody that the case was subject to the withdrawal of services, the judge replied: “Let me make it clear to solicitors present, this court will operate as normal.”

Another solicitor present rose and said the judge should address his comments to Jim O’Callaghan, the Minister for Justice, at which point Cody asked that this solicitor resume his seat.

The case then resumed regarding Hyland’s previous convictions, with Loughnane saying that on April 30th, 2023, Hyland appeared at Tullamore District Court regarding section 16 Misuse of Drugs Act and section 3 Community Service Order offences.

Hyland is also alleged to have had no insurance on March 30th, 2026, with this charge being withdrawn.

Cody adjourned the case to October 14th.

The Government reaffirmed its roadmap on the new tax-efficient investment account last week, just days after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published revised numbers for household savings.

CSO figures showed that Irish households are a European savings outperformer, with a savings rate of 19.1 per cent for the first quarter of this year. Almost one in every €5 of disposable income is now being saved. This puts us on a par with those renowned German savers.

It’s a significant increase on the previously published rate – of just 12.5 per cent – and also a far cry from the heady days of the Celtic Tiger in 2007 when the savings rate sank below 2 per cent.

So why did the CSO make the revision? Why are Irish people saving so much? And what might it tell us coming into budget season?

Revision

Going from a savings rate of 12.5 per cent to 19.1 per cent is a significant revision.

“It’s very sizeable, and it’s surprising the extent to which it was revised upwards,” says Dermot O’Leary, chief economist with Goodbody. “This new data is pointing towards Irish households having amongst the highest saving ratio in the euro area.”

The change has arisen due to a separate revision in the national accounts for the first quarter of 2026. In those accounts, income was revised upwards while expenditure was revised downwards.

“The combination of these two revisions going back several years, with both moving in opposite directions, has led to the change in the level of household saving,” the CSO says.

Personal investment accounts likely to engage 85 per cent of Irish adults – survey

The finding means the ratio has been revised all the way back to 2020. The average since the start of 2023 has now been considerably altered; it was previously recorded as 12.7 per cent, but has now been revised upwards to 18.5 per cent.

The savings rate measures how much households are saving, expressed as a percentage of total disposable income. It’s calculated as household disposable income minus household consumption expenditure.

So if disposable income in a period was €10 billion, and spending was €9 billion, the amount deemed to be savings would be €1 billion, or a savings rate of 10 per cent.

Of course, each household will have their own individual savings rate; some may save significantly more, and many significantly less.

Should we be worried at such a scale of the latest revision?

A spokesman for the CSO says such changes “are a routine feature of national accounts” and arise because estimates, especially for the most recent year, “are based on incomplete data”.

New Government investment scheme: Here’s what we know – and don’t know

They also arise because of changes in methodology. For example, the household income figures include new data, such as the most recent Revenue Commissioners microdata files for wages and mixed income, as well as updated data from Ireland’s Pensions Authority.

And on the spending side, one source for the revision was the inclusion of updated household travel survey data, which led to downward revisions to estimates of household spending outside the State.

European rates

One of the biggest impact of the revisions is how we stack up when compared with our European counterparts.

Until the update, Ireland was a nation – apart from a brief blip during the pandemic – of solid, but unremarkable, savers.

In 2024, for example, under the old figures, Ireland had a savings rate of 13.49 per cent (down from the pandemic high of 25.8 per cent in 2020). This put it firmly mid-table, and below the overall euro zone average of 14.9 per cent.

By comparison, the Germans were saving 20 per cent of their income at the time.

Key decisions on new Government investment account scheme deferred until Budget 2027

Taking the revised numbers into account, however, we can see that the Irish are among the most assiduous savers in the euro zone, on a par with the Germans, and about a third above the euro zone average of 14.3 per cent.

We’re substantially ahead of the French (13.5 per cent), the Spanish (11.3 per cent) and the Greeks, who actually have a negative rate. We are also saving at more than double the rate of our neighbours in the UK, where the first-quarter savings rate was 8.9 per cent.

The revised rate may explain why we have €175 billion sitting in household deposits – an increase of 58 per cent over the last six years.

But why are households saving so much?

High savings

O’Leary says such a high savings rate does point, to some degree, to a relatively low level of consumer confidence. Households are choosing to put away higher amounts as a precaution at a time of global and political uncertainty.

Ongoing hostilities in Ukraine and Iran, the perceived threat to jobs and otherwise from artificial intelligence, political uncertainty in the US – all these are conspiring to make households hold on to more of their incomes.

“Consumers can dip into their savings if they come across more difficult times,” says, adding that such a high rate will provide “a buffer for household spending going forward”.

And it’s not just that; our recent financial past is another factor.

“A lot of it does come back to the impact of the financial crisis on households’ attitude to risk – 17 years ago at this stage,” says O’Leary.

But could we be saving too much?

“Not at the moment,” O’Leary says, adding that it could be seen as more of a personal financial risk for households in that they may not be getting enough of a return on their money by keeping it in low-paying overnight type accounts.

Plenty of money then, perhaps, to fund the Government’s new retail investment accounts, which are due to be launched after the budget.

Budget impact

The bigger question, however, is whether or not this revised savings ratio should feed into this October’s budget. If we have such a strong savings rate, indicating the financial strength and stability of households, is there any need, for example, for cost of living measures?

Well, yes and no.

As O’Leary notes, the aggregate savings ratio doesn’t tell us anything about what is happening within income deciles; who is actually saving what. Perhaps it’s the richest households that are saving the most?

Possibly, although figures in the Central Bank’s latest household wealth statistics show that savings are not concentrated at the very, very high end, but rather, as O’Leary points out, spread out across the population.

In any case, O’Leary suggests that any cost-of-living measures need to go to those who are most in need, rather than broadly based incentives as has been the case until now.

“You need to make sure that they are targeted,” he says.

Recipients of maternity benefit and children’s allowance are unlikely to be barred from applying for Irish citizenship under proposed reforms that will take certain welfare payments into account.

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is due to brief Cabinet on proposals to reforms the system for approving new citizenships. This is part of a broader overhaul of immigration.

They will include increasing the residency duration requirement before application from five years to eight as well as introducing self-sufficiency criteria such as an income requirement and barring those who have been in receipt of some social welfare payments.

However, two Coalition sources said it was likely that measure would apply to unemployment benefits and some housing supports rather than the likes of maternity benefit or children’s allowance.

Reforms will also introduce language requirements with applicants required to have proficiency in Irish or English. The Irish language and its use in society will also form part of a new obligation to show an understanding of civic life here.

New rules for Irish citizenship: How will they work?

Minister of State for migration Colm Brophy told The Irish Times the Coalition believed the changes were reflective of what most people felt should be in place for someone seeking citizenship.

“It gives people an opportunity to fully integrate,” he said, also saying the reforms put in place “things that help with integration”.

O’Callaghan told reporters at the Fianna Fáil think-in in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on Monday his intention was to restrain the growth in the number of people granted citizenship.

“I do need to take into account the very significant increase in the numbers of people who have applied for citizenship,” he said.

“For example, last year there were 25,000 people who were granted citizenship. It’s a wonderful occasion. I’ve been to the ceremonies. They’re very emotional. They’re great occasions.

“But I do also need to reflect on what the rules are in other countries, because it’s only going to go in one direction. I want to see more citizens but I’m trying to restrain the level of growth in that number.”

He also confirmed that time spent in Ireland by Ukrainian refugees would not qualify as part of the required eight years.

A joint statement from seven groups working with migrants and refugees called on the Coalition to scrap the proposals, saying these were “simply aimed at making Ireland a hostile place for migrants who contribute so much to our society”.

“Citizenship supports integration, belonging and participation. These proposals, if implemented, do the opposite,” the statement said.

The groups said it was likely that refugees and migrant labourers would remain in Ireland and contribute to communities for many years. “Keeping people in an extended and uncertain status does not help integration – it delays it,” they said

Labour Party justice spokesman Alan Kelly dismissed the proposed reforms as “performative politics” that would do little to improve Ireland’s immigration system.

He called on O’Callaghan to “explain what problem an eight-year residency requirement is actually designed to solve”, saying people who had lived in Ireland for years and paid taxes while raising families and contributing to their communities should have a “reasonable pathway” to citizenship.

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said the Government was following his party’s manifesto and enacting changes “months after Aontú called for them”.

Representatives from the CAO, universities, colleges, further education institutions, Solas and educational bodies from all over the world will be available to discuss career choices with second-level school students at this year’s Higher Options and WorldSkills Ireland 2026.

The conference is the starting point for many students as they begin to plan the next phase of their educational journey. It brings together representatives of institutions and organisations offering students information on almost every conceivable educational progression opportunity available in Ireland and abroad.

Representatives will be available at their stands in the exhibition hall to speak with the students individually.

Identify the talks you want to attend

Talks will also be delivered by specialist speakers in three auditoriums over the course of the three hours of each morning and afternoon session. Students are encouraged to consult the timetable in advance. Each student will have their own interests and can attend a wide range of talks accordingly.

Some students who have already identified specific vocational pathways as possible options for themselves should attend the talks in those disciplines.

Those who still have an open mind on what pathway they might select following the completion of their second-level education should definitely attend two specific talks which I will be hosting in the Concert Hall.

The first talk, titled “The World of Work”, will explore the options that we all face as we navigate through a lifetime of education, training and upskilling in an ever-changing working environment.

The second talk, involving four separate application options, will outline the various progression routes students can apply for following their Leaving Cert.

While most Leaving Cert students will submit a CAO application, many will also add options in Northern Ireland and the UK through UCAS, Post Leaving Cert (PLC) courses or Tertiary degrees initially through their local Further Education college with the option of progressing on to university, and university options through English in Continental Europe.

Students who widen their range of options put themselves in the strongest position to select the most appropriate one in late August 2027, when they have to decide on their post second-level progression route.

Preparation

The benefit to school-leavers of this unique event depends entirely on each student’s level of preparation beforehand. This preparation will have been ongoing over the previous two years through career exploration activities in transition year and fifth year. School guidance counsellors provide students attending the event with a comprehensive preparation document to help them plan their engagements throughout the day. By working through this document, students maximise the benefits of attending the expo.

Careful planning and an understanding of what they need to accomplish at Higher Options will hugely enhance the long-term value of attending. Guidance counsellors will provide students with details of various talks at the event, covering every conceivable topic relevant to progression to higher or further education, both in Ireland and abroad.

The WorldSkills Expo is taking place simultaneously in the RDS alongside the Higher Options exhibition. This event will provide extensive coverage of opportunities on offer through apprenticeships both in the traditional construction trades, where there are huge deficits of qualified tradespeople, and in the many 80-plus apprenticeships co-ordinated by Solas.

Know what you want to discover

Any student attending either event should also compose a series of written questions they wish to tease out with the representatives on the stands. Each college will, of course, present the most positive picture possible of the various options their organisation offers.

Students should engage systematically with each one and after the event sift the information received to enable them to move their career-planning process on to the next stage.

Stand-holders will not expect students to make a final decision concerning their future career options based only on attending a talk or following a visit to the stand and a conversation with a representative at Higher Options and WorldSkills. But, for those who plan their activities in advance, these interactions will help set the agenda for each student as they consider their first step beyond second-level education in the months and years ahead.

Other options

If they have done their homework, many students will have developed very clear course preferences by the time they attend the Higher Options event in the coming days.

Some might learn they are not likely to secure the high points required for their preferred course or are not taking the subjects necessary to meet the minimum requirements for entry.

This is where the Higher Options event can be of real value. Rather than feeling downcast and abandoning dreams of their preferred career, they will have the opportunity to interact with other stand-holders, where they will learn about other options that might enable them to achieve their dream course by another route.

There are hundreds of high-points CAO programmes across all disciplines that are now accessible through further education (FE) one-year level five programmes.

Many students do not realise that CAO colleges reserve up to 20 per cent of courses, creating thousands of places each year for graduates of such programmes, where your Leaving Cert points results are not relevant.

At the beginning of August each year, more than 6,500 offers are made, based mainly on students’ performances in their FE programme. Many of these FE colleges will be present at Higher Options this year, so seek them out and find out which courses in the CAO link to their FE courses.

Alternatively, while CAO points requirements are very high for many programmes in Ireland, European universities have a different admissions system. They often simply require two H5s and four passes to gain entry to many courses that require more than 500 points in Ireland. Again, these colleges from all over Europe, where lectures are delivered through English, will be present at Higher Options.

In eastern European universities, fees for programmes in medical and paramedical programmes can range from €10,000 upwards. In many western European universities, fees can be modest to non-existent.

Open days

Once a student’s interest has been heightened by an interaction at Higher Options – consolidated and strengthened perhaps by a close reading of the literature published by the college – the next step should be to find out when the college is planning its 2026-2027 on-campus open days.

Many colleges will take your email details at their stand to notify you when such events are occurring. No Leaving Cert student should seriously consider deciding at this stage which college to attend without engaging with the institution in question and soaking in the atmosphere of the place at some stage before course choices are finalised next June. Remember, choosing a course commits you to far more than just a set of lectures and exams over several years.

A parent’s guide to helping your children start college life

Choosing a course or college is like committing to a long-term relationship and it commits you to a lifestyle and a range of social and extracurricular activities offered by the institution in question.

Every student is different in both personality and interests. Some will revel in the cut-and-thrust of very large colleges, while others may prefer smaller institutions where everyone gets to know each other very quickly.

Students who select their course choices based solely on the details of the course itself without considering the context within which it is delivered can often find very quickly that they have made a bad choice.

How not to do it

Having attended the Higher Options event for more than 20 years, it has become clear to me that a proportion of students attend each year without having given any serious thought to why they are there.

They drift around the RDS complex for a few hours, become bored and wander up Anglesea Road with a plastic bag full of prospectuses, which is regularly dumped as it becomes too heavy to carry. Don’t sell yourself short and pass up this opportunity to inform yourself.

As a fifth- or final-year second-level student you will never get so many education/training providers in one place ready to support your career journey. This experience has the potential to be the most productive three hours of career exploration you will spend this year, in clarifying your future options.

Use it wisely and build on it in the weeks and months ahead.

And enjoy yourself.

“In order to negotiate a boundary, you have to know what your boundary actually is,” says Brady. Some boundaries are “straightforward and clear”, others less so.

Once you know what your boundaries are, it’s easier to keep to them, although “it’s not 100 per cent or nothing”, she adds. “You have to look at it and go ‘okay, there’s going to be a bit of give and take here’.”

It’s a message echoed by Simon Morris, manager of the financial services recruitment team at Morgan McKinley in Dublin.

Flexibility is a must, he says. “One of the biggest pieces of advice for any grad joining a new role is that you do need to be flexible. And flexible means working through the occasional lunchtime, having to stay late the odd night and doing things outside of the day-to-day norm. By doing those things you show you’re flexible; you build credibility.

“And what you would hope by doing that is that the business and your manager would pay you back the same respect, by letting you leave a bit early for that gym class or letting you have the morning off for that dentist appointment without question.”

However, it’s important that occasional flexibility doesn’t become a constant demand, Morris adds. “What I wouldn’t do is confuse being flexible with having a constant expectation on you. And that means a manager who expects you to stay late every night, work through every lunch.”

If this constant pushing of boundaries is becoming an issue, it is important to communicate it, Brady says. “But not in a ‘demand’ sense”; rather, by explaining that these are very important things to you.

“Course correct early rather than late,” says Brady. Before missing lunch and working late become normal, it’s hard to see the boundaries being crossed.

For graduates entering the employment market, a still relatively new concept is that of hybrid working. And it can pose a different challenge to younger workers.

Having the option to work from home can be considered a significant bonus, but Morris says graduates should think about trying to be on site when they can. “I would strongly recommend and encourage every graduate to get themselves into the office as much as possible” he says. “I hear it from employers time and time again, simply that graduates who spend more time at home just don’t develop as quickly as those who come into the office on a regular basis.

“And in fact the ones that are coming into the office on a regular basis are actually getting rewarded as well, with bonuses, quicker promotions. Because I think what people miss is that a lot of early career development doesn’t even necessarily even happen from sitting at your desk. It happens from chatting with colleagues over lunch, over the water cooler.

“Just picking up tips from hearing your manager on the phone speaking to a client [can be of benefit]. I think that’s what you really miss out on when you’re working from home.”

“Having an office presence, making yourself known, builds towards your credibility,” says Morris.

But it’s not solely about career development, as he explains: “It does make work just a lot more fun. It’s not just about sitting behind the desk all day. It’s about sitting with colleagues for a bit of lunch. It’s about going for that pint after work. Making friends and networking internally. Learning a bit more about the culture of the business.”

What if remote working, not AI, is to blame for weak junior hiring?

It can be hard to judge exactly what the hybrid culture of an organisation is from the outset, so the best thing to do is ask, says Brady. “Say it to your colleagues, say it to your team leader, say it to whoever it is – that you need to understand how they like hybrid to work.”

She suggests letting colleagues know you want to find out how the flow of the day works and asking clear questions such as: “How would you like me to check in with you? How would you like me to communicate with you about what I’m doing? And if I’ve got an issue or a problem, what’s the best way to get that information to you?”

Because, she says, “there’s going to be loads of different channels and ways of communicating”.

Presenteeism has little purpose in hybrid situation, Morris says. And if Friday, for example, is a day that very few colleagues are in the office, there’s not much point in recent graduate recruits going in unless there is an expectation to do so.

“There’s no point in a long commute just to sit in the office by yourself all day. It won’t take long to establish what days your team is in there.”

Just “make sure you’re in the same days as your colleagues and as your manager”.

Learning how to make connections quickly is a necessity that has arisen to some extent from the hybrid situation, says Brady. “That comes from conversation. And those conversations can be a 15-minute chat. Ask for somebody’s time – but be very focused as to why you want their time.

“For example, it might be that you have a particular interest in a particular area and your ask might be ‘I’m really interested in the area of diversity and inclusion [or] I’m really interested in the social end of work: are there clubs that I can meet people in?’ So it’s not necessarily about being in the office on a particular day. It’s about how you use that time really effectively. And it’s also not about the quantity of people who are there. It’s about who is there.

“So figure out who’s there, how you might connect with them and how you might become involved in their world in some way.”

Mixing and taking advantage of social opportunities can help graduates to make the most of the time they spend with their colleagues, Morris says. “There’s a really good social side to work. It’s not just about the nine to five, the grind. You’ll make really good friends that you’ll have for life.

“And when you are in the office and everyone is present, just take every opportunity that you can to learn.”

He agrees with Brady about asking people for their time. “You can ask them questions about how they progressed, or how they handled a tricky client.”

When with your colleagues, it’s just about being “really genuine and connected to what you’re doing and where you’re going”, Brady says.

“You can learn in loads of different ways. It might be from having conversations with people. It might be from attending events. It might be from connecting with people on other teams.”

Many employers help graduates to find a mentor or sponsor, she says. “Use those. They are totally underused, but they are extremely important. And they build your capital and your connection within an organisation in a way that just doesn’t happen easily otherwise.”

Higher Options 2026 takes place in the RDS in Dublin from September 16th to 18th, with up to 30,000 students expected to attend. The event brings together institutions from Ireland, the UK, Europe and further afield, along with exhibitors focused on further education, training and careers.

There is only a limited amount of time to explore everything. The key is to do some preparation beforehand, while still leaving room to discover something unexpected.

A lucky minority of students may already know what they want to study and where, but Higher Options might open up related courses or colleges they have not previously considered.

A second cohort knows the general subject area, but is uncertain about the course or institution.

The third group is unsure about what they want to do but has identifiable strengths or interests – being good at or enjoying maths, English, languages, practical work or creative subjects can provide a starting point for exploring possible courses and careers.

Janet Stafford, marketing partnerships manager at The Irish Times and organiser of Higher Options, says this year’s event is expected to feature over 135 exhibitors. “There will be representation from all the Irish universities, and UCC has returned to Higher Options this year,” she says. “A lot of students missed them when they were not there.”

The event will also highlight options outside the Republic of Ireland. Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast are promoting opportunities for students from the Republic, with Ulster University also highlighting a guarantee of first-year accommodation for eligible students for its next intake.

The British Council will again be involved, encouraging Irish students to consider courses in the UK. Around 30 UK universities will attend, including Imperial College, London, the University of Aberdeen, Coventry University, the University of Liverpool and the University of Strathclyde.

European options will also be well represented, including universities from the Netherlands, Spain and France. Hanze University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands is among the institutions attending, while University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest and Study in Poland will be available to students interested in medicine, veterinary medicine and pharmacy. EducationUSA and New York University provide information on options for study further afield.

“By visiting one stand, students can often find out much more about the country and the wider education system,” Stafford says. “It may not mean that they end up studying at that particular university, but it could introduce them to a course, country or subject area they had not considered.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs will provide information on careers in Europe and the European Union, while the Higher Education Authority will highlight Erasmus and international study opportunities.

Higher Options is not only about traditional university degrees. The event will include information from the HSE (the largest employer in Ireland), the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, the Office of Public Works and the Defence Forces. The latter will have a larger presence than last year and will contribute to careers talks on areas including cybersecurity, engineering and paramedicine.

Students can also find out about careers in which education and professional training are combined. “There are opportunities to study in particular disciplines through the Defence Forces,” Stafford says. “Students may be interested in the training and the careers available, as well as the qualifications.”

A creative arts area will bring together institutions including IADT, NCAD, Pulse College, BIMM and the Gaiety School of Acting. The area is being supported by Creative and Cultural Industries, Skillnet.

The further education and training section will include the 16 Education and Training Boards, Dunboyne College, Bray Institute, Dublin College of Further Education and Training and other PLC providers. The event is also partnering with SOLAS, Ireland’s further education and training agency, to provide information on further education, apprenticeships, traineeships and other routes into education and employment.

WorldSkills Ireland will run concurrently at the same venue. While Higher Options focuses primarily on higher and further education and training, WorldSkills is centred on apprenticeships, skills and training.

Ideally, students should visit both areas, to figure out if a third-level degree is the right route for them, whether they should consider further education and training (FET), or whether a year of FET followed by third-level is the ideal route. If your Higher Options session is in the morning, try making time for World Skills in the afternoon, or vice versa.

Competitions will be taking place at WorldSkills, alongside information sessions and opportunities to speak to people working in skilled professions.

But back to Higher Options for now, where traditionally popular courses include engineering, science, business, law, media, arts, sport, nursing and medicine. Technology and artificial intelligence will also feature, although Stafford says AI should not be viewed as relevant only to computing students. “AI is across all disciplines now, and everyone is using it to some extent,” she says.

Sustainability will similarly be addressed across a range of discussions rather than being confined to one subject area. Students should ask exhibitors how sustainability is influencing their courses, research and future careers.

The event will also feature Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS), giving students an opportunity to ask about grants, budgeting and managing the financial realities of college life. Current students and recent graduates will be available at many stands to explain what day-to-day college life is actually like.

“Exhibitors tell us that Irish students arrive well-prepared,” Stafford says. “They ask intelligent questions and often have a clear idea of what they want. Come, enjoy the day and appreciate the effort you have put into preparing.”

Make a plan

The three-hour sessions are designed to help students make focused choices without preventing them from wandering around and discovering something new.

On Wednesday and Thursday, sessions run from 9am to noon and from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. On Friday, the session runs from 10am to 1pm, with a quieter hour from 9am to 10am. Students who wish to attend the quiet hour or certain supports, including a session on facilitating neurodivergent students, will need to pre-register.

Stafford advises students to study the event information and timetable before arriving. “Use the Irish Times Higher Options supplement, or our articles online, and prepare in advance,” she says. “Think about what you want to find out, timetable some talks and identify the stands you want to visit.”

There will be two talks on Wednesday, two on Thursday and one on Friday. Topics include careers in further education, business and media studies, alongside talks featuring speakers at different stages of their careers.

The talks are deliberately designed to offer a range of perspectives, from recent graduates to people with more established careers. Students should also prepare questions for panellists, as many of the speakers will have experience of the event and of the transition from school to further or higher education.

However, Stafford advises students not to try to fill every minute of the day. “Leave at least an hour to wander and absorb what is there,” Stafford says. “When we look at student feedback, we find that many students saw options they had not thought about before.”

Questions worth asking

Instead of asking only about points, ask questions that will help you decide whether a course and college suit you.

• What is the weekly workload like?
• How much maths, writing, laboratory work or practical work is involved?
• What are the entry requirements, including portfolios, interviews or subject requirements?
• How difficult is it to find accommodation?
• What financial supports are available?
• What is the library and study space like?
• Is it easy to make friends?
• What clubs, societies or sports are available?
• What are the best and worst things about studying here?
• What types of jobs or further study do graduates move into?
• Are there opportunities to study abroad or take part in Erasmus?
• What supports are available for disabled, neurodivergent or otherwise underrepresented students?

Before, during and after Higher Options

Before: You may already have an idea of what interests you, and what sort of courses or colleges you are leaning towards. Or you may not have much of a clue.

Trish Harrington, guidance counsellor at St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School in Dublin 8, advises students to look at their strengths and weaknesses, what subjects they like or dislike in school, and what sports or extracurricular activities they enjoy. Between this and the work they have done with their guidance counsellor, this can be a useful starting point for their research.

Go to HigherOptions.IrishTimes.com to download the floor plan, so you won’t have to spend too much time looking for the stalls you want to attend.

Using a notebook, make a list of which stalls you want to attend and prioritise those that are most important to you. If you’re attending on Friday and would benefit from a calmer environment, note the 9am-10am quiet hour and pre-register ahead of time.

During: Keep an eye on your timetable and try to make it to the talks and stalls that you’re most interested in. Then tick them off in your notebook.

At the stalls, try to focus on the information you couldn’t get online. Write down what you learn in your notebook.

Be open to opportunities you may never have considered by speaking to representatives of colleges and career areas that catch your eye – organisers say students consistently come away having discovered courses, colleges or countries they hadn’t thought about before.

After: Take a minute to reflect on your overall impressions of the day. What did you find most interesting?

Look through any prospectus, brochures, literature or college contacts you have gathered. Talk to parents, friends, teachers and guidance counsellors.

Go online and find out more, including when open days are happening. Make a plan to attend the open days of the colleges that interest you. If you have a particular UK or EU college in mind, it is worth visiting if you can, but otherwise you can get information online and perhaps attend a virtual talk.

What talks did you miss? You’ll find them at HigherOptions.IrishTimes.com

“Quite a wake-up,” recalls Vseviov, the secretary general of Estonia’s foreign ministry.

The drones were not launched by Russia, but by Ukrainian forces, and likely part of Kyiv’s new strategy to use the cheap, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) to hit oil refineries, retail warehouses and other logistically important targets deep inside Russian territory.

Russia has been doing what it can to disrupt those efforts by using jamming technology to knock Ukrainian drones off course, which has been offered up as one of the reasons why they end up crossing into friendly states in the Baltics.

“The Russians do their best obviously to defend themselves against these attacks, attempting to shoot down the drones, attempting to jam them. Sometimes as a result some of these drones end up in our airspace. We’re not blaming the Ukrainians,” says Vseviov.

The incidents, if anything, bring home just how close the deadly war being fought between Russia and Ukraine feels to countries on the EU’s eastern flank. “We’re really staring the bear in the face, the teeth and all,” Vseviov says.

CIA director John Ratcliffe’s recent flying visit to Moscow kicked off a bout of frantic speculation. Was something big afoot?

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported details of a new US intelligence assessment that reckoned Vladimir Putin could try something in the Baltics to test Nato’s mutual defence clause in the next number of years.

The Estonian city that fears it’s next on Putin’s list

“I’m not going to downplay the gravity of the situation or the challenge that the Russians pose. Having said that, I can assure you that there is no acute military danger on our borders, and nothing in that regard has changed over the past few months,” Vseviov says.

In an interview with The Irish Times, the top Estonian diplomat says Russia remains focused on its war in Ukraine.

However, officials in the Baltics and beyond are concerned about Moscow’s escalating “hybrid” campaign, which has been traced to rogue drone incursions, cyberattacks, sabotage, and most recently a foiled attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane in Leipzig airport in Germany.

Russia likes to operate in this “grey zone” where definitively attributing blame to the Kremlin could be tricky, Vseviov says, adding that Russia “is likely to use confusion as one of the tools in its statecraft”.

“We don’t ever downplay the threat that Russia poses and Russia continues to pose the most significant strategic threat to European security, to our way of life,” the senior Estonian official says.

“I would much rather have a Europe that has the might of Ukraine as part of it than a Europe that is facing a resurgent [Russian] empire on the Polish border.”

That has meant the European Union having to throw significant financial and military aid and support behind Ukraine, while at the same time spending more on its own defence and security to deter Moscow.

Irish fretting about the triple lock seems faintly ridiculous in light of Russia threat

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was supposed to be a war that lasted “a few weeks at best” in Putin’s plans, Vseviov says.

“Now, years later, his hope of Ukraine being handed to him on a silver platter at a negotiating table has collapsed and he’s yet to come up with a new narrative.”

The stakes are high. “This war is about whether or not there is a Ukraine,” he says. “If we allow those concepts, territorial integrity and sovereignty, to be thrown out of the window, then, yes, the Ukrainians might be the first ones to pay the price, but we’re going to be right next ...

“Putin has grown more desperate because he’s not succeeding in Ukraine. He’s running out of options.”

No matter what the United States has done, over the past months “Europe has proven that we will stay the course, and that has robbed Putin of his narrative”, says Vseviov, who served as Estonia’s ambassador to the US from 2018 to 2021.

European governments were much more united behind Ukraine today than they had been in the uncertain days and weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion, he says.

The threat posed by Moscow was keenly appreciated by EU states neighbouring Russia or Ukraine.

“When one defends Ukraine’s territorial integrity or sovereignty, we’re not really defending Ukraine’s borders or Ukraine’s freedom, but ours.”

The EU needs to prepare to help rebuild Ukraine after the war, a project that would be on a similar scale to Washington’s Marshall Plan that followed the second World War, says Vseviov.

“The reconstruction of Ukraine is not just about rebuilding Ukraine’s cities; it is going to be the most significant economic project in Europe during this century. Now, Ukraine is going to be rebuilt. The question is: who is going to do the rebuilding and according to whose rules?”

The global benchmark is less than $3 shy of triple figures after rallying last week on a flare-up in Middle East hostilities. Iran said the accord is imminent and will include a temporary safe route, raising questions about how the US would respond after striking Iranian tankers over the weekend. Tehran also warned that ships face the risk of attack near Oman.

Oil futures are pushing higher on fears about deeper disruptions to energy flows through the waterway after renewed fighting between the US and Iran ended a period of relative calm. Chinese refiners have also stepped up crude purchases, boosting prices for grades from Africa, Canada and Latin America, though the increase doesn’t necessarily signal a sustained recovery in demand.

“Markets are increasingly pricing a prolonged Mideast conflict,” Goldman Sachs Group analysts including Daan Struyven wrote in a note, modestly raising their oil-price estimates on the assumption that shipping disruptions will persist into 2027. “Risks to our price forecast remain significantly tilted to the upside.”

Brent has surged more than 30 per cent since the US and Israel attacked Iran more than six months ago, although the benchmark is well below the high above $126 a barrel reached in late April. Refined fuels such as diesel have rallied even further as the Russia-Ukraine war added to tightness.

Iran and Oman have been seeking to formalize control of the strait, and could eventually charge transit fees. The US, which is blockading Iranian ports to curb exports from the Islamic Republic, wants Hormuz to return to its pre-war status as a freely navigable waterway.

Despite risks to shipping, oil shipments continue to exit the Persian Gulf. Daily flows through Hormuz remain at roughly 10 million barrels, mostly made up of crude, Vitol Group chief executive Russell Hardy said at the Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference by S&P Global Energy in Singapore on Tuesday. Still, he warned that oil-product markets are flashing signs of tightness.

Chinese crude imports strengthened in August, as cargoes from the Persian Gulf crept higher and refiners increased purchases from other sources, according to customs data on Tuesday. Higher purchases has allowed the nation to export more oil products, offering some relief to global markets.

Following the recent flare-up in hostilities, Iranian official Mohsen Rezaee said the “operational posture toward US warships and bases has been fundamentally recalibrated.” The US has been given “clear warning” about Iran’s missiles in recent days, the senior security official said in a post on X.

“We’ve seen so many twists and turns since late February, and every time we thought we were going to get somewhere, it has been ripped apart,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd. “We’re back to almost square one.” - Bloomberg

Britain’s new foreign secretary Ed Miliband is due to give details to the House of Commons on Tuesday of a UK ban on goods and services from the settlements, in response to Israel pushing ahead with controversial plans to build in the sensitive E1 zone of the West Bank.

Critics of the Israeli move say it would cut the territory in two, making a Palestinian state there unviable. Rather than an unfortunate side effect of the settlement expansion, this may well be Israel’s aim, judging by the belligerent statements of some of the most senior members of Binyamin Netanyahu’s government.

Miliband, who when he was Labour leader pushed for British recognition of a Palestinian state a decade before it happened, says the issue is a “red line” that Israel has crossed.

He has promised a “reset” of relations with the Jewish state, which has reacted with fury and is threatening to recognise Argentina’s claim over the Falklands Islands in retaliation.

The diplomatic risk is obvious, as Britain announces the move just weeks before Burnham is expected to meet the volatile US president and Israel ally Donald Trump for the first time, on the margins of a United Nations gathering in New York.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has already accused Britain of “Jew hate” – an interesting accusation to fire at Miliband, whose family heritage is Jewish.

There is also clear economic risk, given the fact that several US states have on their statute books laws that prevent US companies trading with countries that boycott Israel. Huckabee also claimed that a quarter of the pharmaceuticals used in Britain originate in Israel, saying: “Are they willing to give those up?”

Israel’s government has said it will respond. “If Britain acts against Israel, Israel will act against Britain,” said Gideon Saar, the Jewish state’s foreign minister.

Labour sources also suggested the sanctions move by Miliband, fully backed by Burnham, would face pushback in Britain from those associated with the defence, security and healthcare sectors.

“And that’s before you get to the foreign policy ramifications, such as the US attitude to the Falklands,” said one senior party figure.

Apart from the depth of the proposed sanctions, which would go further than anything proposed by the Irish Government, the timing of Burnham and Miliband’s move is interesting, so close to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool starting on September 27th and shortly before the Holborn and St Pancras byelection in Keir Starmer’s old constituency. Labour will battle the Green Party, which has taken votes from Labour’s left flank for years, especially among Muslims, over Starmer’s perceived softness on Israel in the past.

“It’s more about the message than the substance,” said one senior party figure. “It will be popular with the party [grassroots] and the public, and not unhelpful ahead of the byelection.”

Another insider said the timing so close to Labour’s conference was “deliberate” to excite the left-wing activists that Starmer’s ill-fated reign had alienated.

“They really need to get that flank back,” said one MP.

UK facing backlash over trade ban with Israeli West Bank settlements

Burnham can credibly argue he has Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK on the run, given Labour has overtaken it in polls. Now he has his sights set on reclaiming ground from the Greens to the left.

Rather than risking a divide in Labour – some of its MPs are critical of what they see as gesture politics – Burnham’s big gamble is that he can galvanise his party at Labour’s big conference in Liverpool. A survivable row with Trump won’t do him any harm within his own party, either.

Meanwhile, many in Britain’s Jewish community, shaken by recent attacks, watch on in fear and despair.

Here are some of the speakers that attendees won’t want to miss.

Kelli O’Keeffe is the managing director of Teneo Sports Advisory.

She did a BSc in sports management at UCD, and then did an internship with a major sports management group in London, before returning home to do a master’s in marketing.

It’s a different path to the one O’Keeffe had originally hoped to take, but this route has allowed her to pursue a career within the sports industry from a different angle.

“I always loved sport and I knew I wanted to do something in sport,” she says. “I really wanted to do physio[therapy] but I didn’t get the points. But I did get the points for the sports management course, which nobody really knew anything about because it was new. And it turned out to give a really brilliant foundation.

“The people I met on that course are still throughout the sports industry today, in loads of different roles.”

O’Keeffe is hoping to show students that if they are certain they want to work in particular career that they can figure out and find a way to do it. “You’ve got to see the opportunity in those knock-backs,” she says. “Sport in Ireland has advanced so much as an industry and become far more professional. There are so many more opportunities nowadays.”

• To hear more from Kelli O’Keeffe, come along to the Careers in Sports talk at Higher Options.

Barrister Joy-Tendai Kangere feels it’s important that students get a realistic insight into what it’s like to pursue a career as a barrister.

Alongside legal practice, Kangere is passionate about mentoring young people and encouraging students from diverse backgrounds to consider careers in law and other career opportunities.

Coming from a migrant background, Kangere wants to speak openly about the many challenges involved with pursuing a career at the bar. “I really want to speak truthfully about it. In as much as it’s glorious, in as much as you can see barristers dressed in suits and everything, there is [the] quite long hours, the sacrifices, not being able to take summer break, the financial outlay to be able to support yourself in the first few years at the bar”, she says.

“There’s intersectionality involved, being a woman; there’s a difference in how women and men are treated conventionally. And then the additional layer of being a woman from a non-traditional legal background.”

Kangere is keen to paint a clear picture of what students should expect, while at the same time explaining what a wonderful and fulfilling career the law is. And to discuss the importance of using legal skills in service of others.

• To hear Joy-Tendai Kangere speak at Higher Options, keep an eye out for the Careers with a Law Degree talk.

Enda O’Dowd is a lecturer in product design and joint course coordinator of MSc Medical Device Design at the National College of Art and Design. He has taught product design for 22 years.

His is the side of engineering suited to people who are creative and also have analytical skills, he explains. “People who like design and communication graphics, woodwork, metalwork, or technology would be all very suitable.”

While engineering is a career often associated with having a strong aptitude for maths, that’s not necessarily a requirement for a product design engineer, O’Dowd says.

Those designing medical devices need to be not only designers but also empathetic people who can focus on the user experience, for example.

“Industrial designers traditionally have always been the kind of person who makes it usable for the person who has to use it. They call it ‘putting lipstick on the pig’. But it’s not just aesthetics. It’s very much around user experience,” he says.

O’Dowd is keen to make students aware that putting a prompt into an AI platform will not generate a design that will meet user-experience requirements.

“We have so many things to consider in product design ... AI doesn’t think about the context,” he says.

That’s a factor that may well future-proof this branch of engineering, something prospective students might not have considered.

• To hear more from Enda O’Dowd on careers and possibilities, join us at the Careers in Engineering talk at Higher Options.

Is léiriú ar fhírinne shaol an ealaíontóra í EFÉ. De réir a chéile a thógtar na caisleáin. Tá bóthar fada curtha di aici cheana. Chonaic mise ar dtús í ag casadh le Paolo Nutini san Olympia in 2023.

“Bhí an slua an-éagsúil ón ngnáthshlua, mar sin, le bheith ionraic, bhí an ceann sin deacair a dhéanamh,” ar sí ag cuimhneamh siar. Tá ciall leis seo. Tagann deiseanna áirithe aniar aduaidh sa lá atá inniu ann, go háirithe nuair is féidir spéis thobann teacht i do threo a bhuí le ‘viral moment’.

Is sampla den fheiniméan seo í. Thart ar an am céanna, chuir Zane Lowe a singil 2000Seven chun cinn - ardán nach beag agus nach mbíonn ag roinnt mhaith ceoltóirí go dtí i bhfad níos déanaí ina ngairmeacha. B’éasca a cheapadh go mbeadh sí ina rith ag an bpointe sin ach maratón atá sa ngairm seo.

“Tá an oiread gnéithe éagsúla ag baint leis. Is earnáil an-daonna é, tá gá le foireann - le daoine - le go dtarlóidh aon rud. Ceann de na dúshláin is mó ná a chinntiú go dtagann gach rud le chéile ag an am ceart, leis na daoine cearta, an t-infreastruchtúr ceart.

“Rud atá ag éirí níos deacra do cheoltóirí ná gné na meán sóisialta, agus an leanúnachas a theastaíonn uaidh sin. Anuraidh, bhí deis agam físeán a chruthú don amhrán You Say That I’m Crazy. D’éirigh thar cionn leis, ach níor leor é, ní raibh ceol nua eile réidh ag an am céanna, mar sin cailleadh an móiminteam.”

D’eascair gairm EFÉ as ceol neamhspleách a chruthú. Scaití, cuirtear brú breise ar an ngairm a bhfuil tús nádúrtha curtha léi. Samhlaítear barántúlacht leis an meon DIY a theastaíonn chuige, ach bíonn coimhlint in amanna idir sin agus struchtúr agus srianta na lipéad ceoil - struchtúr a theastaíonn ó ghairm inbhuanaithe.

“Tá buntáistí agus míbhuntáistí ag baint le lipéid, cinnte,” arsa EFÉ. “Tá an t-ádh liom go dtugtar saoirse chruthaitheach dom. Tá a fhios agam nach mbíonn sé sin ag go leor daoine. Bíonn amlínte agus srianta ann, rud is féidir cur isteach ort, ach den chuid is mó, tugann sé spás agus buiséad do na smaointe móra seo atá agam.”

Tá an t-ádh liom go dtugtar saoirse chruthaitheach dom. Tá a fhios agam nach mbíonn sé sin ag go leor daoine.

Is breá liom a chloisteáil go mbronntar saoirse uirthi. Cuireann a hildánacht i réimse na físealaíne go mór lena luach mar ealaíontóir.

“100%. Ceann de na príomhchúiseanna a gcruthaím ceol ná gur mhaith liom físeáin cheoil a chruthú. Is breá liom ceol mar go dtugann sé deis dom rudaí éagsúla a dhéanamh - cineálacha éagsúla ealaíne a chruthú. Na físeáin, ar ndóigh, ach an stiúradh cruthaitheach ar na fótaisheisiúin agus rudaí eile freisin. Tá an cur i láthair an-tábhachtach dom, ligeann sé dom mé féin a chur in iúl agus mo chuid tionchar ar fad a léiriú.”

Is ar fhísghlaoch atáimid ag labhairt, ós rud é go bhfuil EFÉ ag taifeadadh i Londain faoi láthair. Lasann a gruaig gheal bhándearg an scáileán agus í ag caint. Tá an íomhá shainiúil ildathach atá aici faoi anáil chumha na 90idí, indie rac na 00idí agus cultúr na Seapáine, áit ar chaith sí seal meánscoile. D’imigh an ceol agus an faisean i bhfeidhm uirthi. Tagraíonn sí do Shibuya-kei, seánra na 90idí agus na luath-00idí: “meascann sé fuaimeanna nádúrtha ar nós giotáir nó pianó le fuaimeanna leictreonacha, rud atá cool dar liom!”

Ag 6 Tracks in Hen’s Teeth, beidh amhráin shuntasacha dá saol á roinnt ag EFÉ leis an slua. Fiafraím faoin gceol a mhúnlaigh a taithí: “níl a fhios agam fós an gcasfaidh mé an ceann seo, ach táim ag smaoineamh faoi amhrán le Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl. Ceapaim go bhfuil sé cool, agus is maith liom go bhfuil na giotáir agus dordghiotáir sách nádúrtha, ach ansin tá léiriúchán leictreonach ar an nguth - nach mór ar nós teileafóin. Táim ag breathnú ar go leor dá seónna beo ag iarraidh a oibriú amach ‘wow, conas mar a dhéanann sí é sin lena glór!?’ Ceapaim go dtugann sé léargas ormsa, is amhrán an-tábhachtach dom é.”

Fiafraím di conas atá ag éirí lena cuid oibre féin i Londain.

“Go maith. Ach ag glacadh níos mó ama ná mar a cheap mé! Cnuastéip atá ann ach… it’s giving albam! B’fhéidir gur chóir dom albam a thabhairt air toisc go bhfuil comhréir chomh láidir sin ann. Faoi láthair tá ‘togra’ á rá agam, mar uaireanta nuair is ‘togra’ atá ann fós, tá na féidearthachtaí agus deiseanna claochlaithe seo ann go fóill… agus tá siad á bhfiosrú agam fós!”

Beidh EFÉ ag casadh agus faoi agallamh in Hen’s Teeth ar an 24 Meán Fómhair. Ticéid: 6 Tracks with Efé — Hen’s Teeth

Foclóir:

ionraic = honest

bóthar fada = long road

slua = crowd

barántúlacht = authenticity

ildathach = multicoloured

dordghiotár = bass guitar

The five-year deal will generate more than £300m for Liverpool when it comes into effect from the start of the 2027-28 season. Turkish Airlines will replace Standard Chartered, Liverpool’s main club partner since 2010, on the front of the men’s, women’s and academy match shirts.

Standard Chartered have been Liverpool’s main partner for 17 years and their current deal is understood to be worth around £50m per season. The company will become a global partner of Liverpool from 2027-28.

Liverpool believe the deal with Turkish Airlines is the most lucrative shirt deal in Premier League history, although Manchester United claimed their arrangement with Snapdragon is also worth more than £60m a year.

Either way, Liverpool’s new shirt deal underlines the huge commercial pull of a club that posted record revenues of £703m in the financial year ending May 31st, 2025. The club’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, is also set to make £2bn from selling a 38% stake to 1892 Holdings, a consortium led by Amit Bhatia and including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

“This is a milestone announcement for us and we are delighted to welcome Turkish Airlines as our main club partner from June 2027,” said Liverpool’s chief commercial officer, Ben Latty. “The front of the Liverpool shirt holds a special place in the history of our club. Turkish Airlines is a globally recognised organisation with an extensive international network, and we look forward to beginning our partnership and building a strong relationship together, with already strong foundations built from those special memories back in 2005 [in Istanbul].”

Standard Chartered had a window of exclusivity to renew that expired last year. Liverpool’s sleeve sponsorship deal, currently with Expedia for between £9m and £12m a season, is also up for renewal. — Guardian

John Callinan, the Department of the Taoiseach secretary general, told senior colleagues it was “disappointing” to see Ireland’s record on European legislation had started to slip just as the Government assumed the high-profile Council of the European Union presidency.

The Civil Service-wide warning told departments to stop putting off work on EU legislation. Member states are usually given two years to “transpose” new EU rules and directives negotiated in Brussels into national law.

In a July 31st letter seen by The Irish Times, Callinan said there had been a “slight deterioration” in progress passing directives through the Oireachtas on time.

“On foot of [a] discussion at Cabinet, I have been asked to write to each of you urging that you give this the highest attention,” he told his counterparts across Government.

“The overall amount of work involved on each transposition is unlikely to be reduced by delaying it,” he wrote.

A sizeable amount of legislation originates from negotiations in Brussels between the union’s 27 governments and the European Parliament. It can be common for officials, either within or between Government departments, to argue over exactly who is responsible for drafting Irish legislation to give effect to new EU directives.

In his letter, Callinan told senior colleagues there was no excuse for Ireland missing deadlines to legislate for EU policy changes. Legal advice from the Attorney General’s office was often being sought too late in the day, “thus jeopardising the possibility of meeting deadlines, and ultimately running the risk of infringement proceedings being launched”, he said.

Ireland facing €2.8m penalty plus daily fines for failing to adopt EU cybersecurity rules

Callinan said he appreciated officials were juggling many competing demands and were under pressure to follow through on commitments made in the Programme for Government.

The letter, released to The Irish Times in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, asked departments to allocate “necessary resources” to civil servants or units drafting legislation “at the earliest possible opportunity”.

Directives the Government is obliged to transpose this year include regulations governing the energy performance of buildings, standards in reception accommodation for asylum seekers, money laundering, and toy safety.

Ireland has 22 “overdue” directives on hand that it is late passing into law.

The European Commission can take countries to the European Court of Justice for failing to push through changes and reforms in time, which can result in recurring fines imposed by the courts.

The commission has 54 infringement cases open against Ireland for failing to write EU directives into law in time, or where the Brussels-based body has taken issue with how national legislation was drafted.

The longest-running case dates to 2007 and concerns an EU directive setting standards for water quality in rivers and lakes. A dispute between the State and the commission ended up in the European Court of Justice, which ruled against Ireland last year. In response, Minister for Housing James Browne, who is responsible for water services, said steps would be taken to belatedly bring Ireland into full compliance with EU water quality rules.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said delays transposing EU directives were not unique to Ireland. New rules hammered out in Brussels were becoming “increasingly cross-cutting and legislatively complex”, she said.

“Delays can be attributed to a number of factors and are ultimately specific to each individual directive, and to the relevant department responsible for transposing into Irish law.”

Victor Spaggiari, originally from Italy, was well known for spending time around the city’s landmarks, particularly in the area around O’Brien’s Bridge.

Spaggiari was fondly remembered in messages of condolence posted on RIP.ie after his death in the Fairgreen Hostel on Foster Street in May 2024. One person described him as “an absolute gentle giant”.

“Rest in peace. Always often remember seeing you about Galway. You had kind eyes and a kind presence. Hoping you are now at peace. Will miss not seeing you around any more. Gentle giant. Farewell,” wrote another.

The staff at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop noted how much Spaggiari would be missed from the fabric of daily life in the city.

Following his death, a public funeral service was held for Spaggiari at Conneely’s Funeral Home. He was buried in Rahoon Cemetery.

Spaggiari was supported by the homeless and housing charity Cope Galway, which runs the Fairgreen Hostel. The charity provides essential social services to families, men, women and children across Galway city and county.

According to the Probate Office, Spaggiari, who was single, died without making a will. The grant of probate, which allows his estate administrators to distribute his assets, was granted to his cousin, Alberto Tota, of Lombardy, Italy.

In another grant of probate, Ronald “Ronnie” McCormick, of Plattenstown House, Arklow, Co Wicklow, left an estate valued at €5.45 million when he died last November.

McCormick was the long-time principal at Gorey Vocational School, known locally as “the tech”.

Condolences posted online showed he was highly regarded professionally, with former students and peers remembering him as the key driving force behind the school.

He was also active in the world of music, serving as a choir director for 44 years.

After his retirement as principal of Gorey Vocational School, he maintained a strong relationship with education and the arts in the area. He sponsored and presented the student of the year award and bursaries at local school art exhibitions.

Along with his wife Margaret he operated Plattenstown House, a Victorian property that served as a country retreat and bed and breakfast.

But in the here and now he is focused on a quest to win a third Amgen Irish Open.

Rahm and Rory McIlroy are the only multiple winners of the Irish Open in this week’s field. And while McIlroy’s two were both achieved at The K Club, Rahm’s came on links terrain - at Portstewart in 2017 and up the coast at Lahinch in 2019.

He had a wry grin as he reflected on his initial attempts to get acquainted with the Doonbeg links on Monday, which were thwarted by sudden, intense downpours. After three holes, he’d had enough, and ditched the familiarity mission for a day in hooking up with Tom McKibbin, Liam Nolan and Thomas Higgins, who is making his professional debut.

Rahm’s work at LIV is done for the season, and most likely forever given the uncertainty over its financial viability; and the world number 14’s return to regular European Tour events here marks the first time since the Genesis Scottish Open in July that he has played in one other than a LIV event or a Major.

The appeal of playing golf in Ireland is a strong one for the man from the Basque region of north-western Spain, those two wins cementing that connection – that first at Portstewart providing his breakthrough win on the DP World Tour before he claimed his two Major championships, the US Open in 2021 and the Masters in 2023.

“As a professional golfer, when you come [to Ireland] and you feel that appreciation, it’s really special. It’s unique. I don’t know why, but Ireland’s always been a very special place to me in my heart. And as golf destinations go, if anybody everybody ever asks me, I always say, ‘if you can go to Ireland for 10 days, you are not going to get better than that!”

Of his upcoming schedule post-Irish Open and the BMW PGA, Rahm confirmed: “It hasn’t changed from what I want to do. I’m playing here, I’m playing next week. I’m planning on playing Abu Dhabi and Dubai depending what goes on in that part of the world. Spanish Open? It all depends on when the little one decides to arrive. I hope I can be there, but we will see. It’s one of those things where family always comes first, and as much as I love the Spanish Open, if I have to choose, obviously it’s an easy choice.”

The 2026 Solheim Cup, a biennial tournament between teams made up of the best women golfers from the United States and Europe will take place from this Friday, September 11th to Sunday, September 13th at the Bernadus Golf Course in North Brabant in the Netherlands.

How can I watch it all?

The tournament is live on Sky Sports throughout the week, on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf. On Friday and Saturday, coverage is from 6.30am, on Sunday it is from 9am until the conclusion.

What is the format?

There are 12 players on each team playing team golf for the first two days (fourballs and foursomes) and then singles on the final day, where winning a match is worth one point and a halved match is worth half a point. Fourball is two players on each team playing their own ball and the best score wins the hole. Foursomes is an alternate shot format, where players take in turns to play the same ball and the best score wins the hole.

There are two sessions on Friday and Saturday, where eight players from each team participate. On Sunday, there are 12 singles matches where every player competes one-on-one against a player of the opposing team.

With a total of 28 points available, 14½ points are required to win the Solheim Cup, and 14 points are required for the defending champion, in this case the United States, to retain it.

Golf Leona Maguire: ‘Which do you rather more, you love to win, or you hate to lose?’

Tell me about the venue?

Bernadus is a relatively new course, designed by American architect Kyle Phillips, with the course owned PSV Eindhoven chairman Robert van der Wallen developed in 2016. It has hosted the men’s Dutch Open three times, and the course has a heathland feel with water in play on several holes. This is the first time the Netherlands has hosted the Solheim Cup.

Is Leona Maguire playing?

Yes, she is after receiving a wildcard pick from Anna Nordqvist last month. She will be making her fourth Solheim Cup appearance after making her debut in 2021 and has a brilliant record in the competition, winning eight, halving one and losing just three of her 12 matches.

The Cavan woman’s form on the LPGA Tour has been patchy this season, hence the need for a wildcard, but she showed some life in the Women’s Irish Open at The K Club two weeks ago, firing a 63 on Saturday as she finished tied fourth.

What are the teams?

The European team is as follows: Charley Hull, Esther Henseleit, Lottie Woad, Maja Stark, Céline Boutier, Carlotta Ciganda, Linn Grant, Nanna Hoerstz Madsen, Leona Maguire, Julia López Ramírez, Nastasia Nadaud, Mimi Rhodes

The team is captained by Anna Nordqvist.

The United States team is as follows: Nelly Korda, Angel Yin, Jennifer Kupcho, Yealimi Noh, Auston Kim, Lauren Coughlin, Allisen Corpuz, Andrea Lee, Alison Lee, Lindy Duncan, Rose Zhang, Megan Khang.

The team is captained by Angela Stanford.

How are the teams looking?

The US team is reliant on world number one Nelly Korda as their only player in the top 15 of the world, but she is a formidable player and Stanford has relied on experience with her captain picks. Europe will be led by the English duo Lottie Woad and Charley Hull.

What is the history of the event?

Europe are looking to get the cup back after falling to defeat in Gainesville last time, previously Europe had drawn and therefore retained the cup in 2023 and they won the two previous times. Unlike the Ryder Cup which has had a few comprehensive wins in recent times, the Solheim Cup tends to be very close, four of the last six times there has been two points of fewer between the teams.

What are the tee times and pairings?

The tee times will be updated here when made available after the opening ceremony on Thursday.

On the beautiful day when we visit (at the end of the last academic term), the girls are playing games on the AstroTurf pitches while the boys are playing a form of golf on the undulating green space behind the school.

Activities, including squash, camogie, Gaelic football, hurling, rounders and volleyball, are led by cinnirí who also double up as house masters/mistresses in what is Ireland’s only Irish-language boarding school for primary-school-age children.

There are no day pupils.

Like all boarding schools, the day is filled with routines for meals, class, sports, study and free time before bed. But, what is most striking here is this small group of pupils haven’t got the company of younger pupils they would have in a regular primary school or older students if they were in the preparatory year of a secondary school.

Classes in Scoil na Leanaí – a typical 1960s-style Irish primary school building on the Coláiste na Rinn 10-hectare campus – end at 3.30pm. The pupils then change into sports gear for games until their evening meal is served at 6pm.

Later their daily routine continues with supervised study, supper and more activities before bedtime at 9.30pm. At weekends they go to traditional Irish music concerts or take trips to local beaches or other places of interest. They return home every third weekend.

Following the Department of Education primary school curriculum for fifth and sixth class through the medium of Irish, Scoil na Leanaí is run by Coláiste na Rinn as part of its wider promotion of the Irish language with short residential courses throughout the academic year and the summer months.

Olive Croke, the principal of Scoil na Leanaí, explains that the majority of pupils come from English language primary schools. “In September, most of them have very little Irish so, in the first month, we don’t do English, history or geography,” she says. “We focus on oral language by singing songs, doing poetry and getting their tongues around the syllables of the language.”

Inside the only girls’ boarding school taught entirely through Irish

Most of the teachers and the school’s language assistant are native Irish speakers, and this year’s cohort of pupils includes seven who previously attended a Gaelscoil. Most come from Dublin schools, with a sprinkling from Waterford, Kildare, Kilkenny and Galway.

Fees are €16,000 for the year.

Muireann Ní Dhomhnaill, chairwoman of the school board, and a former teacher and pupil at Scoil na Leanaí, says the children first need to learn the everyday phrases to communicate with the cinnirí, the nurse and diningroom staff. “It’s about building friendships, going for walks. It’s a graded approach. We start with junior-infants-level Gaeilge,” she says.

Croke says the school accommodates different levels of Irish with a lot of emphasis on speaking, listening to and understanding Irish. “It’s about seeing Irish as a living language,” she says.

“Anyone with an ability is pushed, yet we take care of those with additional needs. We don’t put the same pressure on grammar or spellings for anyone with a learning difficulty,” she adds.

The pupils don’t have access to mobile phones, but they can receive phone calls from their parents at three different times during the day on one of nine landlines in the corridor next to the school office.

“It’s a screen-free year for them – no television, no iPads and no internet. They have no access to mobile phones. If they own one, it is kept in the office until their bus journey home,” says Croke. She adds that since she started in the school in 1993, she has never heard any child say they miss not being able to watch television.

Ní Dhomhnaill says one advantage she sees with these young boarders is the conflict resolution skills they learn at an early age. “If there is an issue in a [day] primary school, they bring it home and the parents often get involved and it [can] escalate,” she says. “But here, the onus is on the child to resolve it with the guidance or a teacher, a cinnire or the nurse. That makes them more resilient in preparation for secondary school.

“You can read on a child’s face if something is upsetting them. You learn to read their emotions and find out if someone has taken their toothpaste, if they are feeling excluded, or if the family cat died.”

Seán Mac Gearailt, one of the three Scoil na Leanaí teachers, says that for some students, being at the school is their first exposure to a coeducational school environment. “Initially we are mindful that the girls sit with the girls and the boys with the boys, but we encourage them to mix,” he says.

The children sleep in separate girls and boys dormitory-style two-bed cubicles in the main building overlooking Dungarvan Bay. Collages of photos of family members and pets and cards adorn the walls of these shared spaces.

The boarding house supervisor sleeps in a room at the end of the corridor, and the nurse’s room is just around the corner.

Life at Ireland’s biggest boarding school: ‘I have so much more independence’

Nurse Catherine O’Brien says it is great to see how the children mature over the year. However, she gets to see them when they at their most vulnerable. “Sometimes friendships can be overwhelming for them or they are homesick. Often, when they come to me, all they need is a good cry, a one-to-one chat or an extra phone call home,” she says.

The school is governed by the Department of Education and the Catholic Church. “It has a Catholic ethos, but we accept all faiths. That said, 38 out of the 41 attend Mass,” says Croke. Two year ago Scoil na Leanaí got official recognition as a Scoil Gaeltachta. “Since then, we have links with the local Scoil Náisúnta, the Níonra and Meanscoil St Nioclás, attending cake sales, table quizzes and concerts.”

The school holds annual open days to encourage new pupils. They also promote the school at an event in south Dublin every year. However, even with these events, numbers are a quarter of what they were in the 1990s, which Croke attributes to pressure on secondary school places. “If they leave their feeder school to come here, they will lose their place in the secondary school,” she says.

Back on the campus, cinnirí Vivienne Uniacke and Clara Coughlan explain the pupil’s daily routines include putting out their washing to following the rota for their 10 minutes’ shower time and tidying their rooms before classes begin.

“They cry when they arrive because they have left their parents and are homesick. But then they cry again when they are leaving because they are sad because they are leaving the good friends they made,” says Uniacke.

Pupils’ experiences at Scoil na Leanaí

Olivia Kelly from Naas, Co Kildare

“I found it exciting to come here. You can get lonely sometimes, but we have so many friends. It makes you more independent and I like meeting people from different counties in Ireland.”

Gráinne Phelan from Co Waterford

“I love the sports – camogie and basketball are my favourites – and having fun with new people. I think we will make friends for life here as we are all so much closer.”

Lelia McKavanagh, Kinvara, Co Galway

“Irish was never my favourite subject and I wasn’t very good at it. I wanted to improve. Being here has made me more confident about going places by myself. The nurses are very kind and you can speak to them in private through English if you are upset.”

Oscar Boyle from Mount Merrion in Dublin

“I came here to learn Irish and become more independent before I go to boarding school. You get used to being so far from home, and we can speak to our parents once a day in the morning time, at lunchtime or in the evening.”

Luca Cullen, Rathmines, Dublin

“I was in an Irish school before, but this is a good opportunity to improve my Irish. I like the idea of living in a boarding school. We go home every two or three weeks, so I don’t miss living at home.”

Cúán Ó Muirí, Monkstown, Co Dublin

“I speak Irish at home so I was already fluent in Irish, but my teacher gives me extra work. I’m the youngest of six boys, and four out of five of my brothers came here. They said it was the best year of their life.”

Project Arts Centre – Cube

★★☆☆☆

In a playground somewhere in Dublin, a group of mothers familiar with neglect and shame worry about the future. What if they transmit their distress to their children?

“We’re damaged goods,” says one of them with sad acceptance. Louise Lewis’s play Thérèse feels like something that’s been overlooked: a portrait of fortysomethings with memories of living in Dublin’s declining estates during the 1980s. It also feels busily indebted to Greek drama, with reports of war and defied gods’ laws, in ways that risk rerouting and slackening its telling.

In the version of 1980s Dublin remembered by the play’s women, the establishment’s response to violent unrest by impoverished inhabitants is to send in the Army. It’s a disturbance that gives Lewis’s character Thérèse her worldview: the fighting residents are “animals”; the soldiers are “saviours”. Other mothers have an alternative perspective, suspecting an oppressively classist establishment (“‘antisocial behaviour’ is a war, isn’t it?”).

Much of Lewis’s drama relies on Thérèse being nudged by these other playground mothers (Amy Conroy, Orla Fitzgerald and Aoibhe Beaumont-Walsh), a chorus who communicate in synchronised speech, prompting easy recollections from her past, while offering a therapy-like perspective on the effects of shame and trauma. It’s mostly rather frictionless, like a conversation where no one disagrees.

That’s unfortunate because there is something incredibly consoling here, that, in the identity change of becoming a parent, having a child reflecting and changing your sense of self could possibly save you from your past.

In the opening clamour of mothers calling after kids on the playground, I was reminded for an instant of The Family, the play Lewis devised with Theatreclub in 2012. That brought the noise of intergenerational trauma to the stage by having characters eternally talk over each other – the opposite to the overly neat, enlightened speech of Thérèse.

Runs at Project Arts Centre – Cube, as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, until September 12th

Even with such numbers, the party’s path to power in the eastern German state without an overall majority is not straightforward. And yet the direction of travel in Germany politics is clear. Warnings about political extremism and the dangers to democracy posed by the AfD cut no ice with many voters, particularly, post-election analysis showed, with those struggling with the cost of living and fearful of their social status.

With local leader Ulrich Siegmund, a 35-year-old politician who won the social media battle, the AfD put in a barnstorming performance. It reactivated 160,000 non-voters, more than 10 per cent of its total tally and secured 53 per cent support among 35-59-year-olds in the state.

Most AfD voters acknowledge some extreme right politicians in their party’s ranks but, in a post-election poll on Sunday, some 87 per cent of its voters view the party, on the whole, as a centrist political force. For some this is a further normalisation of German politics, bringing it in line with countries from Finland to Austria, where national conservative populists have been political pacemakers for decades. Next Sunday’s general election in Sweden could bring another watershed, if a win for the incumbent centre-right camp sees the far-right Sweden Democrats welcomed into a new ruling coalition.

AfD politicians see themselves as part of a big pan-European political correction. Yet their embrace of patriotic populism, paired with warnings of “culturally alien” people, strikes a different note in Germany for obvious historical reasons.

As the smoke cleared in Saxony-Anhalt on Monday, the real casualty of the state election is German chancellor Friedrich Merz. The 70-year-old took office a year ago promising to “halve” AfD support. Instead he has watched that fate befall his own party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), admitting that Sunday’s result was the worst the party had endured in many years.

The party has yet to take on board, emotionally and politically, its warnings – some would say lectures – to voters about the perils of the AfD, now Germany’s most popular political party in opinion polls with 28 per cent support nationally.

Even after seven lean years, the Merz administration’s efforts to kickstart the German economy lack ambition and urgency. He said that the result is something Germany cannot move past “as if nothing happened”. The question is whether he can construct a response which resonates with German voters.

Growth of employment in the industry “eased to a 10-month low” as companies faced “intensifying” delays throughout their supply chains and “a sharper rise” in input costs.

AIB’s construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) records and analyses the month-on-month changes in the volume of construction undertaken nationally based on findings from a survey of about 150 firms across the State.

A reading above 50 on the index represents growth in the sector from the previous month. August’s figure was recorded at 50.7, a decrease from July’s result of 53.0, “indicating that the pace of growth slowed midway through the third quarter” of the year, according to John Fahy, a senior economist at AIB.

Only one sector within the construction industry monitored by the PMI saw growth last month, with commercial activities recording a 51.4 result on the index. Fahy said it has “retained its position as the top performer” in the industry.

Civil engineering projects, which includes State-sponsored infrastructure works on water supplies, electricity grids, road networks and public housing, dipped slightly below a growth-rating, registering 49.9 on the index.

Housing activity fell far below the no-change benchmark with a result of 46.9. Fahy said “the residential sector was unable to maintain its momentum from July, falling back into contraction territory last month”. Meanwhile, civil engineering activity levels were broadly unchanged in August.

AIB noted that firms’ “optimism hit a six-month high” last month. The new orders index, “viewed as a leading indicator”, according to Fahy, increased for the second month in a row, “with the pace of growth accelerating”.

He added staffing levels across the construction industry continued to increase for a 10th successive month, albeit at “a marginal rate that was the slowest” since November 2025.

AIB credited constructors increasing their employment and purchasing activity last month to rising workloads and the start of new projects.

“Companies registered a further marked rise in input costs,” the bank said, “with oil and metals mentioned in particular as having increased in price during the month”.

“The rate of inflation ticked up from July, but was still much weaker than April’s recent peak,” it continued, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent global oil prices and inflation indices soaring recently.

Fahy concluded that “construction firms’ level of confidence in the prospect of higher activity levels over the coming 12 months strengthened for a fourth consecutive month in August”.

“The improvement in sentiment was underpinned by rising new orders and a healthy pipeline of projects,” he added.