Highlights

Lone Star state: Beto O’Rourke at a rally in Texas this week. Photograph: Loren Elliott/Getty The anti-Trump: Could this Obama-style Texan turn the tide?

Democrats hope Beto O’Rourke will beat Ted Cruz to the Senate in the US mid-terms

Haulier Stephen Heasley at Manfreight in Portadown, Co Armagh. Photograph: Liam McBurney for The Irish Times Brexit, the truck driver and 20 tonnes of frozen chicken
Protesters in Sofia. With incomes as little as a tenth of the EU top earners, Bulgaria is the poorest member state, followed by Romania, Croatia, Poland and Hungary. File photograph: Stoyan Nenov Rich Land, Poor Land: The EU’s wealthiest and neediest members
Student rape: most research suggests that rape and sexual assault involving students – especially first-years – are a feature across third-level campuses. Illustration: Getty Images Students and sexual assault: ‘We had sex. Well, he had sex’
. Some oppose the plan because they stand to lose direct routes. File photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times The bus battle: ‘Moving routes won’t solve Dublin’s problem’
Always getting better? Michael O’Leary decided to re-engineer Ryanair by improving its customer service. Illustration: Paul Ryder Inside Ryanair: Michael O’Leary’s making of a ‘nicer’ airline
Irish prisons: warring gangs use threats and acts of violence against other inmates, their family members and staff. Illustration: Dearbhla Kelly Ireland’s prison gangs: ‘You hear a scream and suddenly a fella’s pumping blood’
Orla Tinsley: even at one moment of clear distress, when death is too near to laugh at, she imparts a motivational message to the camera Orla Tinsley: A beacon of best-life positivity through every setback
Dominic Ryan of Leicester Tigers tackles George North of Northampton Saints during the fateful Aviva Premiership match at Franklin’s Gardens on September 9th, 2017. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images Dominic Ryan: The terrifying concussions which have forced my retirement
Leslie Buckley: The inspectors will examine suspicions that he and Denis O’Brien may have discussed “inside information” about INM. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill Stakes are high for INM as it prepares to allow inspectors across its threshold
Dublin’s Philly McMahon lifts the Sam Maguire in front of Hill 16. “Why would we not want to win an All-Ireland? Why would we not want to win six or seven?” Tyrone. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho Dublin still out there on their own – splendid and fearsome
Ciarán Byrne and his wife, Martha Kearns,with their two children, Ciara and Leo, in Hazelwood, Sligo. Photograph: James Connolly Goodbye to Dublin: ‘I had preconceptions about people in the west before I moved here’
The buzz is back on Grafton Street. Photograph: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images Emigration in reverse: ‘Now the brains are coming back’
Pope Francis: Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano claimed the pope had covered up abuse cases involving a former Archbishop of Washington and now former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP The civil war in the Catholic Church breaks into the open
A single person earning €100,000 a year in Ireland pays almost €12,000 more in tax every year than a married person. Photograph: iStock Singletons in Ireland pay high price for their marital status
Caitríona Lucas, a 41-year-old librarian and mother-of-two, was a highly experienced volunteer with the Irish Coast Guard’s Doolin unit. ‘Caitríona Lucas could still be alive, if we had known what we should have known’
Declan O’Callaghan photographed in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons A Ballaghaderreen solicitor’s spectacular fall from grace
US president Donald Trump: his claim that immigrants “infest” the US is test-marketing of whether his fans are ready for the next step-up in language towards “vermin”. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo Fintan O’Toole: Trial runs for fascism are in full flow
Pope Francis. File photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters Dear Pope Francis: ‘A year after John Paul II came, I was raped by a priest’
Former first minister Peter Robinson at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties. Photograph: North West Newspix United Ireland? ‘The south of Ireland doesn’t want us and can’t afford us’
The challenges of the teenage years are as normal a stage of child development as the sleepless nights, endless bodily fluids, food-spattered walls and temper tantrums of the first two years. Photograph: iStock Parenting the teenage brain: a user’s guide
Related indicates that not receiving enough likes or comments on a selfie post can result in individuals feeling badly and/or experiencing low self-esteem. Generation Selfie exposes itself to image problems
Asset classes: Residential property, deposit income, commercial investments and shares have over the years exceeded and fallen short of expectations. Which is the best investment – your house or shares?
Sean Spicer in the Trump Hotel in Washington: set to embark on a month-long tour to promote his new book. Photograph: Mitchell Long Sean Spicer: ‘I became the story too often’
Ilac Centre Library. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times A day in the library: ‘This is a safe space for people’
Almost a decade after the banking crisis, the trust of bank customers has been shaken again by the tracker-mortgage scandal. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Ireland’s bankers have learnt little from the crash
Mesut Özil meeting the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Londaon last may. Photograph: AFP Skayhan Ozer/AFP/Getty Images Mesut Özil: Is it because I’m a Muslim?
US president Donald Trump and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting in Helsinki, on Monday. Photgraph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Fintan O'Toole: Trump does and says pretty much what Putin wants him to do
Kylian Mbappe celebrates with the World Cup after France’s 4-2 final victory over Croatia. Photograph: Matthias Hangst/Getty World Cup 2018: The Irish Times writers’ review
US president Donald Trump. “Trump’s trade war – and his other antics – run many more risks than a mere dent to global economic growth.” Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Trump and global leaders show deep ignorance of history
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry leave St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after their wedding. File photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire Meghan Markle is far from a feminist icon
The Irish language derives from a world in which the unseen is as real as the seen. Photograph: Istock A magical vision is hidden in the Irish language – we need to rediscover it
“Sitting in the car as the sun seared over the Papal Cross, I realised I had finally learned how to swim, all on my own. I was finally at peace with myself.” Photograph: iStock ‘For the first time in my 20s, I feel at peace. And not in a rest-in-peace way’
Rosey Blair, sitting right behind her targets, detailed every turn of the developing relationship on Instagram and Twitter. Hell is other people and other people can’t keep to themselves
The Battle of Aughrim by John Mulvany. Photograph : Matt Kavanagh King Billy’s other July 12th victory: Aughrim of the Slaughter
Backing the president: Bikers for Trump members at a rally in Phoenix, Arizona. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Pulse of America: 'Trump will go down in history as the greatest US president'
Dr Jane Goodall with a chimpanzee at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in June 2018. Photograph: Sumy Sadurni The woman who redefined man: Jane Goodall’s life of activism continues
A mural depicting Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan on a Dublin wall on November 24th, 2010. In early October Ireland had crossed the threshold from financial vulnerability to irreversible crisis. Photograph: Getty Images Avoiding the ‘doom loop’: Why Ireland needed the IMF in 2009
A water tanker near Vartry Reservoir in Co Wicklow. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire Panicked response to water crisis won’t fix Dublin’s leaky network
Mayo’s Keith Higgins, Conor Loftus and Diarmuid O’Connor react as referee David Gough awards Kildare a late free at Newbridge. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Jim McGuinness: Mayo are the greatest team never to win an All-Ireland
The Irish housing market has had a uniquely volatile nature over the past 20 years Why are Irish house prices so volatile - and will the rollercoaster ever end?
Roscommon: 14 Acres Hill, Ballinameen, Roscommon Town. Sold: €71,000; Salary needed to buy: €18,321 What salary will buy a typical house around Ireland?
Former FBI director James Comey backstage before a panel discussion about his book “A Higher Loyalty” earlier this week in Berlin. Photographs: Carsten Koall/Getty Images James Comey: ‘We weren’t trying to hurt Hillary. Or help her’
sdlfkji From Syria to Wicklow: A desperate family, an Irish welcome
Mothers and babies wait at a Concern Worldwide outpatient centre for malnutrition screening. Photograph: Kathleen Harris Rohingya crisis: ‘We have no one, no idea what is going to happen tomorrow’
Tax haven: Yanis Varoufakis says Ireland is a freerider piggybacking on the rest of the world. Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/AFP/Getty Fintan O’Toole: Ireland is becoming the tax haven of choice for profit-shifting multinationals
Republic of Ireland fans at the European Championships in 1988. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho Euro 88: When everything seemed possible
As a woman, you do not have to go to great lengths to be called difficult: stick rigidly to an opinion, foster great ambition, question the status quo and there you have it Are we all difficult women now?
Bray Boxing Club murder: gardaí at Pete Taylor’s sports club, where Bobby Messett was shot. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Bray Boxing Club murder: When ‘the wrong person’ is shot
The 100 best restaurants, cafes and places to eat in Ireland
A former resident outside the laundry at Sean McDermott Street, where there are posies and a bouquet left at the door in memory of women who spent their lives inside. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / The Irish Times The last of the Magdalenes: 'The nuns took my childhood'
The vigil for Cameron Reilly at St Brigid’s church, Dunleer, Co Louth. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Fintan O’Toole: Catholic Ireland is now a religious rust belt of half-empty churches
A single rose is held aloft at Dublin Castle as the crowd gathered to celebrate the Yes vote. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Miriam Lord: It took 35 years to build this stunning result
Jastine Valdez: gardaí have yet to establish if Mark Hennessy first encountered his 24-year-old victim in the Bray restaurant where she worked part-time The last hours of Jastine Valdez and her killer Mark Hennessy
In the early hours of Sunday morning, people stopped and hugged, lit candles or left notes at the mural depicting Savita Halappanavar at Portobello. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien How the death of Savita Halappanavar revolutionised Ireland
Covers from Banshee, The Moth and Poetry Ireland Review Ireland's thriving literary magazine scene: space for tradition and experimentation
Jonathan Dowling, youth worker at Belvedere Youth Club. By the age of 10, he says, he was robbing shops and by 14 he was helping older boys to steal cars. Photograph Nick Bradshaw I was one of those lads, robbing shops, stealing cars
Ruqayeh al-Araj was five years old in 1948, when the war came to Walaja. She hopes one day she will be able to return to her old village Homeless since 1948: 70 years since the creation of Israel
Kathy Foulds at the spot where her friend Petra Riedel was killed in a crash in Cork in April 2012. Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision The cycling fatalities: ‘Never cycle in Ireland’
Richard “Ricky” McDonnell: “At the beginning I was silent out of fear, and then it was out of respect.” Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times I was Ann Lovett’s boyfriend
The grotto where 15-year-old Ann Lovett died after giving birth to her stillborn baby. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons Ann Lovett: Death of a ‘strong, kick-ass girl’
Students arm in arm during civil unrest in Paris on May 30th, 1968. Photograph: Getty Images May 1968 and the death of a French revolution
Adrian Crevan Mackin: The making of a garda killer
Businessman and INM shareholder Denis O’Brien and former INM chairman Leslie Buckley. File photograph: Bryan O’Brien ‘Leslie. This storm will pass. Denis’: The INM controversy
Winning ways: Emmanuel Macron at his victory rally in Paris after being elected president, in May 2017. Photograph: Patrick Kovarik/AFP/Getty Le Big Mac: Emmanuel Macron’s rise and rise
One of the traditional, now highly contested, ideas about consent is the “No Means No” framework, where consent is understood to be revoked if and only if the unwilling partner says no and resists, firmly and explicitly Everything you want to know about consent but were afraid to ask
The four accused in the rape trial of Ireland and Ulster players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding have been acquitted of all charges Inside Court 12: the complete story of the Belfast rape trial
The determination of Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair, allied to the patience of Senator George Mitchell, pulled enough people over the line to make the Belfast Agreement possible 20 years ago. Photograph: Crispin Rodwell/Reuters The Belfast Agreement: a historic deal is under threat
Dark web: Cambridge Analytica is controlled by a key funder of the hard right in US politics, the billionaire Robert Mercer, who also owns AggregateIQ’s intellectual property. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Fintan O’Toole: The DUP’s Cambridge Analytica link
Dr Martin Luther King Jr makes his last public appearance at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3rd, 1968. The following day King was assassinated on his motel balcony. Photograph: AP Photo/Charles Kelly Martin Luther King’s final speech analysed by Fintan O’Toole
“We’re in a good spot, in a good place. But we’ll always be aware that it can come up and bite you on the backside.” Photograph: Cyril Byrne Dylan McGrath: ‘I’m 100% back. I’m as good as I’ve ever been’
Smoke rises on the Syrian side of the border in Hassa, near Hatay, southern Turkey, as Turkish jet fighters hit People’s Protection Units (YPG) positions. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images) The Irish man ‘fighting fascism’ in Syria: ‘I was always curious how I’d react to battle’
The Ireland team celebrate with the NatWest Six Nations trophy and the Triple Crown trophy after their match against England at Twickenham. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Best of the Slams: This is the most successful Irish team – ever
Fr Alex Reid gives last rites to one of the two soldiers murdered. Photograph: Trevor McBride On the brink of civil war: The two dark weeks that still haunt Northern Ireland
US fund Kennedy Wilson owns the Shelbourne Hotel, which took it out of receivership in 2014, with about €110 million in debt attached. How vulture funds got their tentacles deep into Irish lives
Climb Croagh Patrick, whichever way you want. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill / The Irish Times The ultimate Irish bucket list: Croagh Patrick, the Gaeltacht, soda bread
London children: we played the same games and watched the same TV programmes and listened to the same pop songs Fintan O’Toole: The British and Irish are no big deal to each other, which itself is a very big deal
Illustration of starving peasants clamouring at the gates of a workhouse during the Irish potato famine, 1846. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Great Famine's impact illustrated by interactive map
circa 1833: A Choctaw Indian encampment on the Mississippi River. Original Artwork: Painting by Karl Bodmer. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images) What the Irish did for – and to – the Choctaw tribe
For a lot of folk, Cheltenham presents the four days in the year where it feels acceptable to gamble in a way that we just wouldn’t on the other 361 days. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Gambling addict’s story is a salutary read in Cheltenham week
Crash site: coastguards watch the wreckage-recovery operation in Co Mayo. Photograph: Keith Heneghan/Phocus Rescue 116: ‘It’s been a tough year, very tough’
Brigid of Kildare: a fearless negotiator who secured women’s property rights, and freed trafficked women 25 fearless women who helped shape today’s Ireland
George Gibney in May 1988 when Ireland swimming coach. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho No justice, no peace for the victims of George Gibney
True grit: Motorway maintainence workers load trucks at the Dublin County Council depot in Ballymount. Photograph: Cyril Byrne Storm Emma: Behind the scenes of the snowmergency
Music shop Waltons closed down this week after more than 20 years on South Great George’s Street in Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times The economy may be booming, but Irish shops are dying
If you have not been up a mountain previously, Carrauntoohil may not be the recommended starting point. Photograph: Getty Images Chaos on Carrauntoohil: Too few guides, too late starting
Catherine Nevin entering the Central Criminal Court during her trial. She was given a life sentence in April 2000 after being found guilty of murdering her husband Tom. Photograph: Collins Derek Byrne: The Catherine Nevin I knew
Saoirse Ronan attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards Nominee Luncheon in Beverly Hills, California, the US. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Saoirse Ronan: ‘I don’t know where I am from. I’m just Irish’
Dr Ali Selim of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. The Muslim population is small but growing rapidly, from 49,000 to 63,000 between 2011 and 2016. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien Fintan O’Toole: No integration please, we’re Irish
Students released from a lockdown are overcome with emotion following following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Photograph: AP ‘This happens nowhere else other than the United States’
Bernard Brogan: his experience and guile invaluable when Dublin need a forward whose brilliance lies in turning a match on nothing moments. Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho Brogan’s real value to Dublin will only be evident in his absence
The Syrian town of Kobani in 2014. The US-led coalition has carried out more than 27,000 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. Photograph: Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images Islamic State: Defeated but still dangerous
Joe Schmidt during the captain’s run in Paris. Photgraph: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes The Joe Schmidt interview: ‘Hopefully I haven’t outstayed my welcome’
Losing sleep over infinity? Try reading Bertrand Russell. Photograph: Getty Images/Ikon Images To infinity and beyond: The numbers game behind God’s ‘existence’
The District Court in Virginia, Co Cavan, sits four times a month before Judge Denis McLoughlin. Photograph: Garrett White Irish life laid bare, one court case at a time
Manchester United line up before their 1958 European Cup quarter-final second leg against Red Star Belgrade. Photograph: Inpho/Getty Manchester’s trailblazing Babes and a legacy cut short
Continuing reciprocal access to both EU and UK waters is seen as crucial by EU negotiators, who point to the joint management of around 100 shared fish stocks. Photograph: Annie Sakkab/Bloomberg via Getty Images Brexit slideshow looks more like a disaster movie
Derek Coakley Hutch: Like most of the Kinahans’ victims, he appears to have had no involvement in anything that could be even loosely defined as active organised crime Shot because his name was Hutch: The propaganda war
Buying a new home in 2018? Here's what's coming
Fr James Good: was suspended from carrying out his priestly faculties almost 50 years ago for publicly opposing “Humanae Vitae”. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision ‘Humanae Vitae’ and the suspension of priest opposed to it
Author Philip Roth, at home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side in January 2018. Photograph: Philip Montgomery/The New York Times Philip Roth's final interview: 'Life can stop on a dime'
Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times On the road again: GAA players going the distance for their counties