Highlights

Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker: What's available in the Republic of Ireland and what else is coming?

Daily updates as Ireland embarks on largest inoculation programme in its history

Micheál Martin with his son Cillian Micheál Martin: ‘You will always say you have the kids you lost’
Martyn Turner in his studio in Co Kildare. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill. Background: Martyn Turner Fifty years of Martyn Turner cartoons: ‘I have always been a liberal bigot’
Gareth Southgate will need his captain Harry Kane to be at his best for England this summer. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Ken Early: Southgate’s toughest task will be harnessing England's attacking talent
Ryan Tubridy. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Ryan Tubridy: ‘Therapy wasn’t for me. I couldn’t get out of the chatshow guest mode’
Jill Pitcher Farrell, a 23-year-old rover scout and adult volunteer, became the first woman to be elected chief scout, the voluntary head of the youth organisation. Photograph: Alan Place Fresh face for Scouting Ireland after years of turbulence, but divisions remain
In David O’Doherty’s new book a greedy developer gets his comeuppance when some children rob a bank. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times David O’Doherty: ‘Sexual assault in Irish comedy … They’re not allegations … they happened’
Pádraig Ó Muirigh (back left) smiles as the families of the victims react following the verdict into the Ballymurphy inquest at Waterfront Hall in Belfast on May 11th. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images Ballymurphy and the continuing search for a level playing field
Eye on Nature: Ethna Viney with her husband, Michael, who writes the Another Life column Eye on Nature: Ethna Viney’s final column after 33 years
Daniel Smith, marketing manager at Grogan’s pub, South William Street, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill ‘Bookings are solid’: Hotels, bars and restaurants get set for reopening
Sinéad O’Connor: 'If a thing ain’t nailed down, I’m stealing it. I don’t even know why' Sinéad O’Connor on her teenage years: ‘I steal everything. I’m not a nice person. I’m trouble’
Nobel laureate: Bob Dylan in 1963. Photograph: William C Eckenberg/New York Times Bob Dylan at 80, by Declan Kiberd: He was so much older then, he’s younger than that now
Illustration: iStock/Getty No quick fixes: Eight ways to solve Ireland’s housing crisis
Stephen Cluxton wearing the gloves during a Leinster SFC semi-final in 2001. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Stephen Cluxton: The skinny lad in goal who forged Dublin’s endless empire
Fine Gael won about 25% of the vote in January 2020. For the party’s candidate to win this byelection, he needs 50% plus one vote. File photograph: Getty 3:54 All to play for in pivotal Dublin Bay South byelection
Gilford Mill stands derelict, as prophesised by a local priest in 1920 after Catholics were expelled Dirty Linen: a personal history of Northern Ireland
Damien Ryan, who rents in Dublin, says buying a house ‘feels like an insurmountable mountain’. Photograph: Laura Hutton / The Irish Times Life at 30: ‘You feel like you haven’t started your life yet’
Jamie Paisley: ‘We’re just being outbid on anything that we look at.’ Photograph: Damien Eagers Ireland’s property market: ‘We envy every generation that came before us’
Many women who report menopausal symptoms to their GPs are misdiagnosed as depressed or anxious. Illustration: iStock ‘The menopause is where mental health was 10 years ago’
32 great parks in Ireland – one in every county
New Ireland: Jimmy Nesbitt, Fergal Keane, Síona Cahill (top row), Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Adrian Dunbar and Hazel Chu Ideas for a new Ireland: ‘I pray for an Ireland free of sly bucks on the make’
Tim Foley who lives in Cork city: ‘It is hard to pick yourself up after the restrictions are eased a small bit and bang, everything is closed again.’ Photograph: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision A year living alone: ‘I have found the lockdowns soul-destroying’
The number of drugs crimes in 2020 were at Celtic Tiger-era levels. File photograph: Paul Faith/PA Wire How has the drugs trade reached every corner of Ireland, and who is involved?
Shaun Murphy ‘The Magician’ is feeling that old magic again. Photograph: Zac Goodwin/Getty Images Shaun Murphy: ‘I always felt I would call Ireland my home’
Homeless in lockdown: ‘I sat today on O’Connell Street and just cried’
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Conservative party leader Douglas Ross. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire Scotland on a knife edge ahead of vote that could pave way for independence
Reflecting on 2014 and what he might have done differently, Alan Shatter says he is ‘not sure what I could have done to change what happened’. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Alan Shatter: ‘I was effectively cancelled, completely’
Edward Carson’s statue in the grounds of Stormont in Belfast. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Fintan O’Toole: Partition squeezed out pluralism. We have to let it back in
Almost exactly a year ago Ireland stood on the edge of the first great reopening in this pandemic. Photograph: Tom Honan/The Irish Times What could go wrong when Ireland reopens? Quite a bit
Zoe’s parents think it’s inexcusable that the State considers it acceptable for a criminal case involving a young child to take two and a half years to get to court. Photograph: iStock The story of ‘Zoe’, one of the youngest sex-abuse cases ever heard in Irish courts
John Cameron (86) has written a book about his extraordinary origins, called Boy 11963. The landmark paternity suit that ruined an entire family
Summer holidays: the Seychelles and Maldives want to welcome tourists back. Source photograph: Romolo Tavani/iStock/Getty Q&A: What are the chances of being able to holiday abroad this summer?
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan and deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn pictured at a Covid-19 update press conference at the Department of Health. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin Robert Watt may seek to rein in Tony Holohan
Brexit, Scottish independence and a possible border poll has renewed the focus on North-South issues. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters Which has a higher standard of living – Northern Ireland or the Republic?
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and HSE chief executive Paul Reid during a visit to the Citywest Covid-19 vaccination centre in Dublin last Wednesday. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire 16:39 Leadership at issue as Fianna Fáil eyes prospects after pandemic
Body language: Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth in Northern Ireland in 2012. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty No Irish howlers, but Prince Philip’s body language with McGuinness told a story
Some people in Dingle seem to have decided you are somehow responsible for Quaid’s crime. Photograph: Getty 7:46 Róisín Ingle: Dear Sister – Shame on the men of Dingle who praised your rapist
The mural in Belfast to Bobby Sands What Bobby Sands means to me: ‘The hunger strikers chose to die. Daddy didn’t’
Sarah McInerney, RTÉ radio and television presenter pictured in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Sarah McInerney: ‘I had no ambition ... until very recently’
Vice-president Kamala Harris. File photograph: Michael M Santiago/Getty Kamala Harris: ‘Being vice-president? I kind of like it’
UCD Prof Dolores Cahill addresses a crowd during an anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown rally on November 28th, 2020, in Dublin, Ireland. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images 8:40 How did a UCD professor become a leading purveyor of misinformation?
Marcus Stewart and Sue Wrafter with their daughter Sofia (2). The couple caught Covid-19 early in the pandemic and have been suffering bouts of extreme fatigue due to long Covid since. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times. Long Covid: ‘You think you are making progress...then it rears its ugly head again’
Grafton Street in Level 5 lockdown. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Fintan O’Toole: Somebody McSomebody is spreading Covid in Ireland
Six Nations 2021: Gerry Thornley’s team of the tournament
What is often called ‘the privilege of remote working’ is now the norm for many, and looks set to remain part of the landscape of our working lives. Photograph: Getty images The truth about working from home: ‘It’s the first time I've ever burnt out’
Patrick Freyne was taking time to talk to people around the city centre. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw ‘It’s a little bit scary’: A night in Dublin’s locked-down city centre
The offices of Davy stockbrokers in Dublin. Davy was for many years the central player in stocks and shares and in corporate finance. Its competitors did not like it – and it did not care. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire 12:37 ‘You first, Davy second, client third. Fellas wore those phrases as a badge of honour’
Oprah with Meghan and Harry: the couple are charming, clever and good at being celebrities. Photograph: Joe Pugliese/Harpo via AP Harry and Meghan: The union of two great houses, the Windsors and the Celebrities, is complete
We focus on 16 transformative ideas with the potential to enhance Irish society – so that when we go back, we also move forward. Photograph: Getty Post-pandemic Ireland: 16 sweet ideas to improve our country
Irishology: Lena Rice, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, Rockall, Saoirse Ronan and Garth Brooks St Patrick’s Day 2021: Test your Irishology knowledge in our prize quiz
Sean Bresnan: he recalls standing on the tarmac at Dublin airport “with a tear in my eye”. Photograph: Tom Honan 9:51 The unsung heroes who worked away behind the Covid frontline
Emma Roche Hegarty in Stoneybatter, Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Ireland’s young adults on dating, youth-blaming and being bored
Sarah Grace is highly critical of elements of the courts system: ‘The only thing that kept me going was if I leave, he walks, and this is going to happen again. And I can’t do that’ ‘He strangled me to the point where I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t scream’
Perfect shot: the murmuration of starlings over Lough Ennell, in Co Westmeath, on Tuesday evening. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Murmuration of starlings: How our stunning front-page photograph was taken
A rogue personal gain by 16 employees at Davy has left the firm paddling through stormy waters, as it tries to survive the fallout. Photograph: Collins Updated Davy Q&A: Who was involved, what happened and what is the likely fallout?
A Covid patient is transferred along the hospital corridors with medical staff at St Vincent’s hospital in March 2020. One year one, the virus has caused some 4,000 deaths and infected more than 200,000 in the Republic. Photograph: Alan Betson 3:48 ‘We should have done better’: Cillian de Gascun, Paul Reid and Stephen Donnelly look back
Monitoring what the Government does is supposed to be one of the main jobs of the Oireachtas. Photograph: iStock 5:55 Fintan O’Toole: anti-lockdown sentiment given undeserved credibility by political failings
John Boyne in his Terenure College uniform during the 1980s. John Boyne: I was abused at Terenure College, but not by John McClean
donie showcase Donie O’Sullivan: ‘The chaos I’ve had in my mind is more terrifying than the riot at the Capitol’
Joe Biden. Photograph: Doug Mill/New York Times Fintan O’Toole: Biden can make America great again only by making it green
Sheriff Street Lower, in Dublin’s north inner city. Photograph: Crispin Rodwell ‘I’ll blow your f**king legs off’: Crime and neglect in Dublin city centre
An aerial view of the nightclub after the fire. Photograph: Tom Lawlor ‘Why were our children brought into a fire trap?’: Stardust families seek answers
Dr Cillian De Gascun is a member of Nphet and director of the national virus laboratory. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill Dr Cillian De Gascun: ‘I don’t see sport as an at-all-cost thing’
sdfsd Stories of concealed pregnancy in Ireland: 1973-2013
Lab technicians process antigen tests at the RocDoc facility at Dublin Airport which has been established for hauliers bound for France via Dublin Port. Photograph: Laura Hutton Cheap and quick: Could rapid antigen testing be the way out of lockdown?
Writer Tom Coyne made 103 room reservations and over 40 tee times. By the end of the trip he had hit 4,531 shots, lost 129 balls and visited 196 pubs. Photograph: Inpho A Course Called Ireland: A man, some golf clubs and the journey of a lifetime
Fourteen-day quarantine: Reka Markos ‘read eight books, finished Peaky Blinders, wrote, played music, danced, paced, ate mashed potato with chopsticks, stared into space’ Life in a quarantine hotel: ‘Soldiers took us to our rooms, which were guarded 24/7’
asdf Fintan O’Toole: Dublin city – facing its third great abandonment – must be reimagined
As a senior engineer with Dublin City Council, Patricia Reidy has been working since the onset of Covid-19 to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists in the city. Photograph: Enda O’Dowd Walkable, cycle-friendly Dublin: The planning model that could change the city
Múinteoir Ray Cuiddihy. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times The making of Home School Hub: ‘Probably one of the best things I’ve ever done’
Jen Ronan pictured in Limerick. Photograph: Diarmuid Greene Ireland’s mental health pandemic: From crisis to emergency
Former TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran says he has spent recent months fishing and ‘doing up an old cruiser boat’ and is seeking to get a taxi driver licence again. Photograph: Tom Honan My first year as an ex-TD: ‘I looked for jobs, but I didn’t make the grade’
William Horgan, retired garda, at his home in Dundalk. He recalls a car accident in the early 1990s involving a family car and a cattle truck. “The entire family was wiped out. Even talking about it now is difficult enough.” Photograph: Alan Betson Garda trauma: Sean was a garda for six weeks when he saw his first body
The Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary was mother and baby home operated by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from 1930 to 1970. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire Maureen Gaffney: The land of the mother and baby homes
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: what no one really anticipated was that the Scottish Question would create the English Question. Photograph: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images Fintan O’Toole: Nicola Sturgeon’s staunch ally in her push for independence – Boris Johnson
Irish GPs fighting third-wave Covid: On the front line of the world’s worst outbreak
Carmel Larkin, who was born in the Tuam mother and baby home in 1949, holds a statement of apology from the Sisters of Bon Secours at the grotto on Wednesday, on an unmarked mass grave at the site. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire Miriam Lord: Government’s big gesture left in tatters by calm, articulate anger
A member of the medical staff donning PPE before working in the Covid Emergency Department at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times 15:54 Inside an Irish ICU: ‘We are nowhere near the Covid-19 peak’
Protesters at Blanchardstown Garda Station in the wake of the killing of George Nkencho. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times 22:08 George Nkencho shooting: Racial tensions in Dublin’s suburbs
The US Supreme Court is seen through a damaged entrance of the US Capitol on Thursday. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images What the Capitol riots mean for Biden, Trump and the United States
Movers and shakers: some of the people to Watch in 2020 50 people to watch in 2021: The best young talent in Ireland
The big question to be answered about Donald Trump is why he did not do two things that might have seemed obvious: infrastructure and war. File photograph: Getty Fintan O’Toole: Trump has unfinished business. A republic he wants to destroy still stands
Anna O’Sullivan died of Covid-19 in May, just shy of her 100th birthday
Celebrity: Who had a good 2020 and who had a bad one?
Rebel Wilson: her dramatic weight loss was the subject of an opinion piece by Jennifer O’Connell, at number 19 on the list 6:09 The 20 most-read stories on irishtimes.com in 2020
Gone for good: some of the businesses that closed in 2020. Photographs: The Irish Times ‘I cried for days’: The businesses that shut for good in 2020
Covid heroes: ‘We don’t need to change the world, just to change someone’s world for 10 minutes’
Irish retailers are facing a tough Christmas with new Covid-19 restrictions closing non-essential outlets 400 – yes, 400! – Irish retailers for all your online Christmas shopping
Karen Whooley teaching sixth-class students at St Audoen’s National School in Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Weirdest term ever: How students have coped, from primary to third level
Lorena (left) and Estefany Alquinta Gonzalez Twelve days in an Irish prison: ‘The most stressful period of my life’
Dolly Parton photographed by Stacie Huckeba Dolly Parton: ‘I’m just a person, a human being with very sensitive, deep feelings’
Notre-Dame Cathedral burns on April 15, 2019. Photograph: Veronique de Viguerie/Getty ‘Rebuilding Notre-Dame is my reason for living. I must give her back to the world’
Child soldiers watch the inauguration of Yoweri Museveni in 1986. Photograph: William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Kony’s children: The former child soldiers of Uganda
Leaving Cert student Aoife Devlin. Photograph: James Connolly Ireland’s teenage pariahs: ‘We are really at breaking point now’
After Bloody Sunday November 21st 1920, the bodies of British officers assassinated in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence are taken back to England for burial. The men were members of British intelligence cell, the Cairo Gang. File photograph: Getty Diarmaid Ferriter: Bloody Sunday 1920 changed British attitudes to Ireland
Joe Biden pauses during a campaign speech. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Fintan O’Toole: Joe Biden is the US’s mourner-in-chief
Lara Marlowe with Robert Fisk in Kuwait, near a burning oilfield, in February 1991 Lara Marlowe: Robert Fisk, my former husband, was the finest journalist of his generation
Blueshirts: Eoin O’Duffy inspects a guard of honour in 1933. Photograph: Keystone/Gamma via Getty Without the Blueshirts, there would have been no Fine Gael
Supermarkets are happy to spend a lot of money working out the best ways to get us to spend ours. Photograph: iStock 14:15 Twenty-two ways supermarkets trick you into spending more money
US president Donald Trump arrives for a rally at the Des Moines International Airport. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images Fintan O’Toole: Defeat for Donald Trump will shape our world
Martina, Seán and their son Jack before going to Anfield for the first time since the attack Martina Cox: ‘In my eyes, Seán was always coming home’
‘Loneliness and isolation are probably the main issues. We know that families are very important for people with mental health problems.’ Photograph: iStock ‘Afraid, frozen, stuck’: The mental health pandemic and how to fight it