Early Edition

A selection of today's top stories from The Irish Times. A crucial vote on the EU’s Mercosur trade deal in Brussels.   The Health Minister criticises two hospitals over patients waiting on trolleys. President Catherine Conolly tells the launch of Dublin TradFest Irish music plays a huge role in communities across the country. One of the Republic of Ireland's 2002 World Cup squad wri...

On today’s Early Edition: The US seizure of a Russian-flagged tanker en route from Venezuela in the North Atlantic yesterday. Minister for Higher Education James Lawless on how the shortage of skilled labour will impact housing - and why he believes ministers should leave social media platform X. New figures released by MyHome.ie show signs that house price inflation stabilised towards the end of...

Mark Hennessy brings you a selection of today's top stories from irishtimes.com . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s Early Edition podcast: Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro appeared in a New York Court yesterday. Meanwhile his former vice president is taking control in Caracas. Archbishop Eamon Martin wrote to Taoiseach Micheál Martin last September about the case of republican activist Denis Donaldson, who was murdered in 2006. New figures show the number of asylum seekers who returned to their co...

How Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien intervened in the debate over Dublin Airport’s passenger cap. Abuse, privilege and enjoyment: TDs who were first elected in 2024 reflect on a year in their roles. “Working from home” has been under attack from US business leaders and rules have been tightened in many Irish workplaces. But is the practice really in decline? And 2025 marked an increase in w...

On this day in 1926 2RN, the radio station which became RTE, was launched for the first time. Dozens of devices could be dropped into the waters off Ireland’s coast to track Russian submarines in Irish sovereign waters.    And in a New Year interview with The Irish Times, Sinn Fein leader, Mary Lou McDonald rejects charges that a stronger line by the party on immigration m...

The father of an autistic boy who cannot get a place at school speaks of the challenges with everyday life.  The Head of Dublin City University hits back at claims it is overcharging for student accommodation.  And An Garda Síochána pleads for people not to drink and drive, as the number of road deaths in 2025 nears 200.  Hosted on Acast. See...

Ukraine has denied carrying out a drone attack on one of Putin’s official residences. The allegation and denial came after US president Donald Trump claimed a peace deal was nearly complete. The number of organ transplants from donors in Ireland fell sharply this year. A threat to the delivery of new homes in key parts of Dublin because of electricity constraints led the government to demand...

A founding member of the Irish pop-rock band The Script is the landlord of a mould-ridden, unregistered rented studio described by the tenant living there as “uninhabitable”. Donald Trump’s “baby bonds” involve opening an investment account, like a pension, but can be managed from birth. The programme for government proposes a similar idea. Calf’s head, pressed beef and hare meat are Christmas rec...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The most common scams that led to money being stolen from people this year started with text messages sent to phones. Consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope is writing about new research released by AIB this morning. There’s been a warming of relations between the British government and the European Commission. Yesterday it announced it’s rejoining the Erasmus student exchange programme , after...

The Irish Times has learned of a report into a number of allegations of patients being mistreated at Bloomfield Hospita l in south Dublin. Our health correspondent Shauna Bowers says they include patients being slapped, left in soiled clothing and threatened with an injection for not co-operating with staff. The highly anticipated review into Fianna Fáil’s calamitous presidential election campaign...

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan says there is no intelligence to suggest a heightened risk to the Jewish community in Ireland following Sunday’s terrorist gun attack in Sydney. But speaking on Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan , he says antisemitism is something we have to confront. After a suggestion in the US that 50 year mortgages could be one way of making American homes more affordable, Fion...

New South Wales police have confirmed the alleged attackers in yesterday’s massacre on Bondi Beach in Australia were father and son . At least 16 are dead after two gunmen opened fire on a gathering of Jewish people celebrating Hanukkah. Fianna Fáil is expected to hold a meeting of the parliamentary party this week to discuss a review into the handling of its disastrous presidential election campa...

A homicide investigation has been opened into the death of toddler Daniel Aruebose , whose remains were found on open ground in Donabate, north Dublin, last September. Our crime and security editor Conor Lally says today would have been the boy’s eighth birthday. The RTE payments scandal gripped the nation in 2023, and RTE’s director general at the time, Dee Forbes, ended up leaving her role in th...

Ireland may be targeted by hostile actors in 2026 as it hosts the European Union presidency, and there is “considerable” concern it lacks capacity to defend against such attacks, a new paper has warned. Meanwhile it’s emerged a “dark vessel” was spotted in the Irish Sea around the same time as the Naval Service noted five drones near the flight path of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy l...

Elon Musk is to take a case against Comisiún na Meán personally, as well as via his social media company X, after being granted permission in the High Court. Board members and tech executives could be held liable for content on their platforms that poses a danger to children, under a r adical reform of our online safety regulations . British spy agencies helped the IRA double-agent codenamed Stake...

Only the top 20 percent of earners in Ireland can afford to rent an apartment, and only the top 40% can buy one. The findings are contained in a new report from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland. The final report into the activities of the British army’s top IRA mole during the troubles will be released today. It is not expected the double-agent codenamed Stakeknife - widely accepted as F...

Gardaí suspect criminals involved in the drugs trade in the Midlands were behind the firebombing of a family home in Edenderry, Co Offaly, on Saturday night that claimed the life of a young boy and his grandaunt.  E-scooters are now the leading cause of traumatic brain injury in children, despite the fact they’re now illegal for under 16s. Doctors and road safety advocates are appealing to pe...

In the days since Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Ireland, it’s emerged five drones were spotted off the coast of Howth. They were spotted by the naval ship, William Butler Yeats, near the flightpath of the Ukrainian president’s aircraft. OnlyFans creators who haven’t paid their taxes don’t want their details published on the list of defaulters because they believe it could put their personal safety...

Libyan soldiers previously trained by former Irish Defence Forces personnel have appeared in Russia and have expressed fears they will be deployed to the frontline in Ukraine , writes Conor Gallagher. More than 33,000 images of people disappeared, tortured and killed in Syria have been uncovered. Sally Hayden is writing about the trove of photographs which reveal previously unknown details about B...

Taxi drivers are to stage another protest in Dublin this evening in their ongoing campaign against a fixed-fare option introduced by booking platform Uber. Winter is here and if you’re a parent of small children, so is the juggle of trying to work when coughs, colds and tummy bugs mean they can’t go to school or creche. Joanne Hunt writes about the different types of leave you can avail of when so...

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Dublin for his first official visit here. It comes at a fraught time for peace negotiations, with Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff visiting the Kremlin at the same time as President Zelenskiy meets Irish leaders . Fresh information has been revealed about President Catherine Connolly’s controversial trip to Syria in 2018, when she was photog...

If you’re commuting to work right now on a jam-packed train or bus, you’ll want to read Cliff Taylor’s look ahead to the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce report. Considering whether to go to Prague for the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup play off against the Czech Republic? Dubliner Cóilín O’Connor has lived there since 1995 and has a few tips on how to avoid the sky high air fares . What’s i...

A decision has been made not to remove tricolours erected across Dublin city, over fears it could put council workers at risk. Conor Gallagher has been investigating the proliferation of Ireland flags hung on lamp posts across the country. The manner of Enoch Burke and his family’s combative approach to protesting can be traced back through the decades, and according to Diarmaid Ferriter, is parti...