The ESRI does not believe prices are vulnerbale to a crash – or at least finds that they are not overvalued in terms of the current state of the economy. Photograph: iStock What Irish house prices say about the regional economic divide

Smart Money: New research also shows how affordability differs for first-buyers around country

Jose Mourino with Son Heung-Min following Tottenham’s defeat to Bayern Munich. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Tottenham brushed aside by Bayern, could the clock be stopped at scrum time?
DUP leader Arlene Foster. Photograph: Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry/PA Wire Newton Emerson: Why should the DUP not take advantage if it wins enough seats in the election?
George Soros: Orbán running a ‘mafia state’ in Hungary. Photograph: Oliver Hoslet/AFP/Getty In Defence of Open Society: George Soros’s worldview laid out
Liverpool’s Egyptian attacker Mohamed Salah scores against RB Salzburg. Photograph: Getty Images All Blacks reveal new head coach; Liverpool qualify for last-16 on top
‘I find this incredibly difficult to deal with, this is my son who I gave birth to, that I clothed as a boy and I dreamt of becoming a man, a husband and father.’ Photograph: iStock. ‘My son believes he is female and I am finding it incredibly difficult’
Joe Schmidt with Paul O’Connell in 2014. The coach and captain dynamic between the two proved the catalyst for Ireland winning two Six Nations. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/INPHO Gordon D’Arcy: The Ireland camp in 2019 became a difficult place to operate
Sarah-Davis Goff’s Last Ones Left Alive is an inventive, vividly realised feminist dystopia. Best debuts of 2019: despite perennial difficulties, talent has emerged
Efrem Gidey with his bronze medal from the Men’s U20 race and members of his club Clonliffe Harriers at the Team Ireland homecoming from the European Cross Country Championships. Photo: Ryan Byrne/Inpho FAI staff looking for clarity on job security; Gerry Thornley on Ireland’s halfback dilemma
Dating apps such as Tinder have brought sex into the free market economy. The End of Love: Disposable partners, ghosting and casual sex
Boris Johnson presents a 21st century postmodern version of this “theatrical show of society”. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Fintan O’Toole: Boris the loveable buffoon beats Johnson the charlatan
Ballyboden St. Enda’s Darren O’Reilly celebrates at the final whistle after the Leinster SFC final win over Éire Óg. Photo: Ryan Byrne/Inpho FAI is on the brink; news expected on extent of Johnny Sexton’s injury
“Ireland has golden visas, we just don’t really talk about them.” Una Mullally: Chinese millionaires taking advantage of golden Irish visas
Shannon Pufahl: Talent for intricacy. On Swift Horses: Secrets and lies in 1950s California and Mexico
Winter Papers contains 32 varied contributions - essays, fiction, poetry, interviews and photography Winter Papers: a potent antidote to the season’s blues
‘Think of what lessons you want to teach your children regarding love and happiness and parenthood.’ After a broken marriage, I’m scared to let the perfect man love me
‘Brian and Leo are crying their eyes out while calling their brother every F word, B word and C word under the sun.’ Ross O’Carroll-Kelly: ‘When I say Lapland, I’m not talking about the gentlemen’s club’
If Jeremy Corbyn cannot say what he believes on Brexit, voters cannot believe him on all the other things he cares about. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Fintan O’Toole: Labour's failure in this election will be due to Jeremy Corbyn
Before the multinationals: from 1921 to 1991 the Irish economy was the worst performer in western Europe; this photograph, by Hans Silvester of Gamma-Rapho, shows Toomey’s bar in Hollywood, Co Wicklow, in the 1950s David McWilliams: Without multinationals, Ireland is a bad-weather Albania
Huguenot refugees arriving on the English coast at Dover in Kent, 1685. They fled religious persecution in France. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images The Outsiders: Refugees in Europe since 1492
Workers in an Indonesian garment factory. Photograph: Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg via Getty Images Fashionopolis: how fast fashion is destroying the planet
Freddie Ljungberg looks on during Arsenal’s defeat to Brighton at the Emirates. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA Brighton claim first ever win at Arsenal, Jim Gavin did what’s best for Dublin
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Fine Gael won 20.7 per cent of the votes cast in the recent byelections, a drop of one point on its general election performance in the four constituencies. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins Warning signs for Fine Gael in byelection results
Traffic congestion applies costs to the economy, and to our lives. Photograph: Dave Meehan How much does sitting in traffic every day cost you?
No prizes for guessing what the DUP and Sinn Féin will ask for in return for a devolution deal. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire Newton Emerson: Stormont’s last collapse a warning of its next
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and José Mourinho shake hands after the Premier League clash at Old Trafford. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images Delving deep into Ireland’s Rugby World Cup failings; FAI suffer another blow
Susanna Moore: In the Cut is a transgressive cult classic. Photograph: James Keyser/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images The return of Susanna Moore’s shocking and disturbing cult classic
I just need to know now, how to distance myself from her on a day to day basis as interacting with her has become insane. Photograph: iStock ‘I find my wife’s behaviour utterly frustrating’
Jeff Hendrick tackles David Silva during Burnley’s defeat to Manchester City. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Man City blow away Burnley, Gordon D’Arcy on academy emphasis
Kevin Dowd, brother of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, holds one of his guest columns signed by President Donald Trump, in Rockville, Maryland. Trump wrote: “Kevin – thank you – you truly get it! Best wishes, Donald Trump.” Photograph: Gabriella Demczuk/New York Times Kathy Sheridan: The trouble with Maureen Dowd’s brother? He’s wrong
László Krasznahorkai: novel shows us how quickly intentions and hopes become debased by the sourness of human interactions. Photograph: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming: a profound tale of certain entropy
Michael Brophy on Eric Bloodaxe and Pat McCabe on Edwulf at a media day at Joseph O’Brien’s yard in Kilkenny yesterday. Photo: Morgan Treacy/Inpho FAI saga takes another turn; World Rugby must act to stop Edinburgh precedent
Tove Jansson: clear-eyed grace and humour was a hallmark of her writing, from her beloved Moomins stories to her adult fiction. Photograph: Alf Lidman. Letters from Tove: Casual brilliance and beauty
Unless something dramatic happens in the UK election, Julian King will be the last British member of the EU Commission. Photograph: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg via Getty Fintan O’Toole: A banal moment in Brussels is a black joke on Ireland
James Maddison of Leicester City celebrates with Kasper Schmeichel after the Premier League win over Everton. Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Kevin McStay on the future for Dublin without Gavin; Lionel Messi should let his feet do the talking
Kevin McStay with Jim Gavin: The former Dublin manager joins a cast of totemic figures who fundamentally altered the fortunes of their county. Photograph: Donall Farmer/Inpho Kevin McStay: Dublin’s aura of invincibility leaves with Jim Gavin
One of the striking features of the early literature is the relationship to the natural world and the shaping of the Irish landscape. A History of Ireland in 100 Words: Engaging, informative and illuminating
He tells me he needs treatment to fix his self-esteem. I tell him it would just be totally fake. Photograph: iStock I want to stop my husband from trying impotence medication
Minister of external affairs Frank Aiken and taoiseach Éamon de Valera Ireland: A Voice Among the Nations: a lavish photographic history of Irish foreign policy
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt during the warm-up before the Rugby World Cup quarter final match in October between New Zealand and Ireland, in Tokyo. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images Ordinary Joe: Ireland rugby coach looks back on an extraordinary decade
Houses of the Oireachtas: its Members’ Restaurant serves seven kinds of potato if you count ‘skinny fries and chunky chips’ twice. Photograph: Alan Betson Oireachtas Members’ Restaurant: Inside the secret dining room where TDs and Senators eat
Portrait of Dean Jonathan Swift. Swift lived through and lost money on the world’s first global financial boom and bust, the South Sea Bubble of 1720. Photograph: DeAgostini/Getty Images David McWilliams: A Swift lesson in Irish economics
Ajai Chopra of the IMF in Dublin. Illustration: Eoin Coveney Fintan O’Toole: All that austerity was a mistake. Awfully sorry
There was a huge number of empty seats at the Emirates as Arsenal lost to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. Photo: Adam Davy/PA Wire Analysing the sports grant system; Matt Williams on coaching conformity
Micheál Martin: He deserves commendation for not seeking party advantage, which is always the temptation for an opposition leader. Instead he has put the country’s interests first, just as he has done throughout the Brexit saga. Photograph: Getty Images Stephen Collins: Varadkar, Martin right to rebuff united Ireland citizens’ assembly
Diana Beresford-Kroeger: Her life’s work has been to advocate for Mother Earth, especially the great forests of the world. To Speak for Trees review: forestry, sexism and Celtic wisdom
The port of Dover which is crucial for Britain’s trade What you need to know about the three key Brexit dates in 2020
Tiger Roll enjoys some light reading at Gordon Elliott’s yard in Meath. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Chelsea and Liverpool made to wait, Sonia O’Sullivan’s half century
Classified information. All sorts of things are revealed while browsing the small ads: famous pigs, medals, lost loves, unwanted graves, Nazi helmets, wedding dresses... The Personals: Short but sweet stories behind the small ads
Hands Across the Divide sculpture in Derry: the involvement of unionists in a unity debate, while desirable, cannot be a precondition. Photograph: Getty Newton Emerson: Road to united Ireland is via united North
Jose Mourinho celebrates after Harry Kane scores Tottenham’s fourth against Olympiakos. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Mourinho’s welcome party ends with a win, Gordon D’Arcy says focus on the clubs
‘No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get what I want.’ Photograph: iStock ‘I’m tempted to run away and start all over again’
Ian Macpherson: comic energy of voice Sloot: A wonderfully funny slice of delicious Dublinese