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Youghal left in shock after being visited by tragedy

IT Sunday: This week Kathy Sheridan writes about criticism of Lucy Letby’s parents, while Ken Early reflects on Spain’s soccer prowess

Ironman athletes take part in this year's event in Youghal last weekend. Photograph: John Hennessy

Sun Aug 27 2023 - 09:08

Welcome to this week’s IT Sunday, a selection of the best Irish Times journalism for our subscribers.

The tragic events at the Youghal Ironman last weekend cast a long shadow over this week. Two competitors, Meath native Brendan Wall (45) and Canadian Ivan Chittenden (64), died during the swimming stage of the Youghal Ironman event, with Wall’s funeral on Thursday hearing how he was someone who “lived life with a smile on his face”. Hugh Dooley visited the Co Cork seaside town to determine what exactly happened during the Ironman race, and found a community that is continuing to grieve.

While August is traditionally quiet, there was lots on the news agenda this week. The fallout from the RTÉ payments controversy continued, with one high-profile figure rowing in to criticise the treatment of Ryan Tubridy by the broadcaster’s new director general. Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean both narrowly missed out on medals at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. A plan to deploy additional armed gardaí on the streets of Dublin city centre drew criticism from a Government TD, while new figures showed private school numbers climbing to their highest on record. New York Rose Róisín Wiley was named the 2023 Rose of Tralee, while Ireland survived a decidedly uncomfortable encounter with Samoa in their final World Cup warm-up game.

The Women’s World Cup final last Sunday between Spain and England also continued to generate discussion, as Spanish football president Luis Rubiales faced widespread criticism after kissing midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the trophy and medals presentation after Spain’s victory over England in Sydney. In his column following the final, Ken Early focused on how victory for the Spanish was due to their national coaching system – and not their coach.

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He writes: “It turns out Spain’s talent pool is now so deep and so rich that they can play a World Cup without several of their best players, led by a coach a significant proportion of their squad appears to despise, and still go on to win the whole thing ... In football we always end up talking about the head coach but the people whose work is making the difference in Spain are the thousands of youth coaches.”

On Monday, a court in Britain ruled that the worst mass murderer of children in British history will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Lucy Letby, a former nurse on a neonatal unit in a Chester hospital, received a whole-of-life prison term for each of seven murders and six attempted murders of babies in the unit, for which she was convicted this month. When Letby’s parents failed to appear for her sentencing, it was suggested in some circles that they were in a “state of utter denial”. In response, Kathy Sheridan wrote: “What were her parents to do? ... How does any parent deal with the dawning possibility that they’ve reared a killer? How do they cope with the sudden intense interest in their pedestrian private lives? How do they decide who to believe? Above all how do they cope with the shock of discovering their child may not be who he or she appeared to be?”

In his latest column, David McWilliams argues that demographics, and the State’s approach to them, are key to understanding and addressing many of the challenges the State will face in the near term. He writes: “If you want to understand what is going on in the Irish economy, population increases explain a lot ... Across a whole host of other indicators, the crucial fact to appreciate is that Ireland’s population is surging.” Consequently, he notes: “Thinking like an old society when the country is young is not feasible. That’s where Ireland is now ... Ireland is an outlier with a far younger society that most of our well-off peers. From an economic policy perspective, we need to think like teenagers.” Read his full column here.

In the latest edition of Tell Me About It, a reader writes in to ask for advice about dealing with their partner’s cyber health anxiety. The reader says: “At first, I thought he was having an online affair with someone else as so much of his time was spent on the internet, to the extent that he brought his laptop into the loo with him and spent what felt like hours in there ... We had a big showdown and it emerged that he has been seeing doctors online (in many countries) on almost a weekly basis and has had numerous investigations about health issues.”

The reader says that although he is “getting impatient and has run out of steam”, he doesn’t want to leave his partner in such a mess. Read what our columnist Trish Murphy advises here.

Irish banks have been getting it in the neck recently over the miserly interest rates they are offering savers – and with some justification, given that recent data showed the State’s banks passed on just 7 per cent of the cumulative impact of European Central Bank (ECB) rate increases to those leaving money on deposit with them between the time the ECB started ratcheting up rates last July and May of this year. In the latest On the Money newsletter, Dominic Coyle examines this increasingly contentious issue, and looks at the question: what can you do if you have money sitting in an Irish bank earning little or nothing? Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.

Jim McGuinness’s return as Donegal manager was one of the sports stories of the week. In a wide-ranging interview this weekend, McGuinness talks about why the time was right for his return, the current GAA landscape, and why he may not be done with soccer completely. You can read the full piece here.

For those navigating the world of modern dating, the issue of “ghosting”, in which a potential date or indeed partner suddenly halts all communication without explanation, is one that crops up time and time again. In her column this week, advice columnist Roe McDermott helps a reader in their mid-20s who suspects they have been ghosted by the guy they were dating.

The reader writes: “We had been meeting twice a week on average since May and I was very smitten. I introduced him to some of my friends and told my family about him. Last weekend we went out on a date and he seemed a bit off, then again Sunday morning he seemed a bit off. I haven’t heard from him in days now and have come to the realisation I’ve probably been ghosted. I am so confused ... What is with this culture of ghosting and how do people think it is okay? How has society come to this?” Read what Roe has to say about the “horrible and dehumanising” trend of ghosting here.

It was our restaurant critic Corinna Hardgrave’s birthday recently, and to mark the occasion she went all out and splurged on some caviar, which, she says, is currently having a moment in fine dining restaurants. The caviar arrived “with its own set of accoutrements: the golden flecked pearls glistening on the upturned tin of Ars Italica Oscietra Imperial caviar, sitting on a salt filled glass bowl, which, in turn, sits on a specially designed wooden tray. It looks impressively self-assured,” she writes. She enjoyed this flashy starter during a meal at Forbes Street, a hotel restaurant that “is not what you expect from” such a venue, “with a huge emphasis on quality Irish produce”. Read her full review of the restaurant here.

As always, there is much more on irishtimes.com, including rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews, tips for the best restaurants in our food section and all the latest in sport. There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.

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