In The News

Were Irish colonisers too? A new book reveals our forgotten dark history In discussions around empire and colonisation, including popular movements such as Black Lives Matter and Rhodes Must Fall, Ireland likes to think itself on the “right” side of history, as colonised victims of empire. But as Trinity College Dublin historian Prof Jane Ohlmeyer explores in her new book, Making Empire: Ireland,...

Ireland has come from a place where movies were regularly censored out of puritanical panic, to classifying gay sex scenes as suitable for a 16 audience. The Irish Film Classification Office is now asking the public about “the suitability of existing classification guidelines” as it drafts new advisories for the modern era. Irish Times chief film correspondent, Donald Clarke, explains IFCO's lates...

Content warning: This episode contains details of child sexual abuse and may cause some listeners distress. "They called him God, and the room where he molested them the ‘chamber of horrors,’" says journalist Justine McCarthy, who has followed the trials of Derry O'Rourke since the 1990s. The former Irish international swimming coach preyed upon young girls he trained, and was only jailed for the...

Protesters across Venezuela have been met with a violent crackdown by security forces following the disputed re-election of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro. Tallies show the real winner was the opposition, led by the popular and charismatic Maria Corina Machado. The economy has collapsed after years of mismanagement leading to 1 in 4 Venezuelan's emigrating, in what's one of the biggest migra...

For nearly ten months, the eyes of the world have remained fixed on the devastating war and human catastrophe unfolding on the Gaza Strip. However, this war has not just destroyed the lives of people in Gaza – daily life for the three million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank has also transformed since the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. The territory’s economy has collapsed, unem...

Chinese graduates are heading to the factory floor. During the first quarter of 2024, the number of people under 25 applying for blue-collar jobs rose by 165 per cent compared with the same period in 2019. This is partly a response to increased demand for workers in the manufacturing and service sectors driven by the dramatic growth of ecommerce in China. There are now eight times more jobs in dis...

After more than a year of crisis at RTE and handwringing about how to fund it into the future, the government has decided the license fee should stay and the model of funding continue as it always has. While the status quo remains for the consumer, media minister Catherine Martin revealed the state will pump €725 million euro into the broadcaster over the next three years. But will this golden env...

On Tuesday, Sinn Féin launched its new immigration policy document. The proposals, which come eight weeks after the party’s poor performance in the June local elections, call for a system where “fairness is paramount”, people are “treated with dignity” and where “local communities are treated with respect”. The plan also proposes to “end private profiteering” by private landlords housing asylum se...

Ireland’s Olympic medal hopes have never been higher. Many of the athletes are already household names, including Rashidat Adeleke, Kellie Harrington and Paul O’Donovan, while others will be new names for those watching on the sofa, including Daniel Wiffen and Jack Woolley. According to Irish Times sports journalist Ian O’Riordan it’s not a question of if Ireland wins a medal, it’s when the first...

On Sunday evening, shortly before 7pm Irish Time, US president Joe Biden posted a letter on X confirming his intention to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election campaign. With 21 of Biden’s fellow Democratic politicians publicly calling for him to step aside, the 81-year-old’s announcement was not unexpected – his candidacy had become untenable. Shortly after his announcement, Biden formally...

Comhaltas na nGaedheal (CnG) is a newly-established group of right-wing extremists in Ireland. It focuses on physical confrontation and is part of a growing international network of so-called “active clubs”. The Active Club movement mixes extreme right-wing positions with a focus on masculinity and physical fitness, particularly mixed martial arts.  The CnG group frequently posts photographs...

Belfast and Derry rappers Kneecap have been in the news for many things in the past year: they took a case against the previous UK government for intervening to block an arts grant; they led a boycott at South By Southwest in Texas over the festival sponsor's links to the Gaza bombardment; they played Glastonbury, released their debut album, Fine Art, and their debut feature film, Kneecap , is abo...

In April, Simon Harris became Taoiseach - today he is 100 days in office. It’s a milestone beloved of political commentators as a yardstick to measure achievements, assess style and predict what might come. The “first 100 days” political metric originated in the US but as Irish Times political reporter Jack Horgan Jones says, Harris, the media savvy, PR aware, “TikTok Taoiseach” will be all to awa...

Garda representatives say officers were left potentially exposed "to extremely volatile and dangerous conditions" in Coolock in north Dublin on Monday night. A long-running sit-in protest at a factory due to be converted to asylum seeker accommodation turned violent after a confrontation with up to 200 gardai. 21 people have since been charged in court. Irish Times security and crime editor, Conor...

On Saturday evening, in the small American town of Butlers in Pennsylvania, former president Donald Trump narrowly escaped death after a bullet grazed his head during a rally speech. The horrifying assassination attempt, which Trump escaped with only superficial issues, sent shock waves across an already deeply divided United States. One Trump supporter lost his life in the attack, and several oth...

According to property website MyHome.ie , house asking prices rose by 7.3 per cent year on year in the second quarter, the fastest pace of growth recorded in two years. And buyers report that the price they actually pay often way exceeds the original asking price as many buyers chase too few properties so that percentage rise is likely to be an underestimation. This year the Government is spending...

Ross O'Carroll Kelly creator, Paul Howard, decided to get a basset hound because Columbo - the iconic tv detective - had one. It's definitely not the soundest of decisions on which to embark on dog ownership, but Humphrey went on to become Howard's constant companion for the next 13 years. His death in May hit the writer hard. He's experienced bereavement many times but losing Humphrey was differe...

After more than a year of civil war in Sudan, the situation is being described as the worst humanitarian crisis anywhere in the world. The death toll is unknown, ten million people have been displaced and 25 million are experiencing catastrophic food shortages or famine. For those trying to flee, women face being raped and men murdered by members of the Sudanese military or paramilitary RSF. And y...

The new transport plan for Dublin is due to be implemented in August. It aims to stop drivers using the city centre as a rat-run to get to other destinations. Even though it was agreed last April by Dublin City Council after lengthy consultation, last minute changes have been made to certain elements of the plan and there are now calls to delay its introduction. On Monday, a protest...

On Sunday evening, France witnessed one of the biggest surprises in the country’s electoral history when the recently formed left-wing alliance won the highest number of seats in the election, dealing a surprise blow to Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally. The shock result followed a week of tactical voting to hold back a surge in support for the anti-immigrant National Rally, led by 28-year-...

On today’s In the News podcast we look at a new report that reveals the shocking health problems affecting children who spend years spent living in emergency accommodation. In May there were 4,316 homeless children in the State, living in a range of emergency accommodation types, from B&Bs to family hubs, often in overcrowded conditions – an entire family sharing one small room, for example –...

Security guard Gavin Plumb hatched an online plot to kidnap, rape and murder British TV personality Holly Willoughby. Yesterday he was found guilty of all charges. His vile plans and years of obsession were uncovered when he tried to recruit a “crew” to help him. One was an Irish man called “Mark” - the other was an American policeman who saw in a dark chatroom what Plumb was writing online and co...

This week Minister for Justice Helen McEntee announced that five more countries have been added to the list of safe countries. They are Egypt, Morocco, India, Brazil and Malawi, and their addition has implications for anyone coming from there to Ireland seeking asylum. There are already 10 countries on that list – and it’s a list that has changed and grown over recent years. So why these countries...

It's been a big week in US politics with Donald Trump's partial legal victory in the Supreme Court and Joe Biden's disastrous head-to-head debate with his predecessor. A debate that went so badly, Democrats have openly called for him to be replaced by a younger candidate with just 5 months to go before the election. Meanwhile Trump is highly unlikely to face trial over allegations he tried to over...

Three weeks ago, French president Emmanuel Macron stunned and bewildered French voters, and his own Government, by calling a snap general election. By Monday morning of this week, it appeared the president’s gamble had backfired. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally led in the first round of these high stakes elections, taking 33 per cent of the popular vote. It was followed by the leftwing Ne...