In The News

Web Summit co-founder and now ex-CEO Paddy Cosgrave was accustomed to speaking his mind. It never really did him, or his business, any harm, until his remarks about Israel annoyed too many of the wrong people. Now he's out. Can the company he built survive? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Ashling Murphy murder trial began last week at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court. The 23-year-old teacher was killed in 2022 while out for a run on the banks of the Grand Canal near her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on a bright January afternoon. Last week, the nine men and three women of the jury listened as the prosecution laid out its case against Jozef Puska, a 33-year-old Slovakian national...

Two weeks on from the savage assault on Israeli civilians by Hamas that left 1,400 men, women and children dead, Israel’s fierce response continues to ramp up. 3,785 Palestinians have been killed and 12,493 wounded, the health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday. Hundreds of those were killed at a hospital in an incident that enflamed the Middle East but that Israel denies responsibility for. With n...

On Monday, just one day after a record number of Poles voted in their country’s general election, opposition leader and former prime minister Donald Tusk claimed a victory for his Civic Coalition. By Tuesday, it was clear that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party would not be returning to power for a third term. The political change marks a massive shift in Poland and an end to PiS leader Jarosl...

As the homelessness crisis has deepened over the last decade, the Peter McVerry Trust, a key pillar in the State’s provision of homeless services, significantly expanded in an effort to tackle the problem. Now, with more than 600 properties and an annual income of €60 million, the charity finds itself in a major financial crisis, sparking fears of a collapse . On today’s In the News podcast, Irish...

Chuck Feeney, the Irish-American philanthropist, died last week at the age of 92. During his lifetime he quietly gave away almost all of his $8 billion fortune. Through his foundation Atlantic Philanthropies he funded massive life-changing education, health and science projects in Ireland, the US and around the world; as a proud Irish-American he helped fund the peace process leading to the Belfas...

Tomorrow in Paris, Ireland will know has the hex been lifted, the bogeyman slain – has the team been able to make it out of the quarter-final stage in a Rugby World Cup? The team made it through the group of death, nailing a fourth win to top Pool B and progress in what has been an exciting tournament in France, characterised by a huge number of travelling Irish fans. The team has been picked with...

How will the tax cuts and new spending announced in yesterday's Budget 2024 affect you? Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope is here to tell us. Plus: As a political set piece, Budget 2024 ticked a lot of boxes, but also handed the opposition some ammunition to attack the Government, especially the generous tax break for landlords, explains political reporter Jack Horgan-Jones. Ho...

On Saturday morning, Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive by land, sea and air into Israel. A catastrophic failure by Israeli intelligence, the attack left hundreds dead, even more injured and an unknown number of hostages of all ages taken over the border into Gaza. One of the missing is a young Irish-Israeli woman, 22-year-old Kim Damti, who was at the festival in the desert on Saturday whe...

A threatened “strike” by rank and file gardaí next month has been lifted following a compromise between Garda staff associations and senior management in the dispute over rosters. Rank and file gardaí have dropped plans to refuse overtime over the next four Tuesdays and will not withdraw their service, a strike in all but name, on November 10th. What happened at that meeting on Friday between the...

For decades, a prestigious Dublin school knowingly employed a former SS officer, Louis Feutren, as a French teacher. Now, former students of St Conleth's College allege that Feutren subjected them to physical and psychological abuse. The school has expressed 'regret' - but is that enough? Uki Goñi, who attended St Conleth's, and reporter Ronan McGreevy tell the story on today's In the News podcast...

Eamon Butterly, the former manager of the Stardust nightclub on Dublin’s northside, where 48 young people died in a fire in 1981, is one of the most important witnesses appearing before the inquests at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court. The 78-year-old, whose family owned the building and who was on-site the night of the fire has given evidence for more than a week and will resume his testimony...

The Republic will run a huge budget surplus this year and next, thanks to bumper corporate tax receipts. So when Budget 2024 is announced next week, can some of that money be spent on easing the cost of living crisis and tackling issues like decarbonisation, housing and health? Some, yes - but the coalition will probably opt for a more conservative set of measures than they did last year, says Iri...

A network promoting disinformation to Irish TikTok users with the aim of “intensifying social conflict” has been discovered and removed by the social media giant. The information was disclosed in data reported by TikTok to the European Commission under a new code of conduct that requires major tech platforms to report disinformation on their networks and detail their efforts to combat it. The netw...

After a dramatic week in which Gardaí and the Defence Forces thwarted an audacious attempt to import tonnes of cocaine into Europe, Irish Times Crime and Security Correspondent Conor Gallagher tells the whole story of Ireland's biggest ever drugs bust, including how incompetence played a sizeable role in the smugglers' undoing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The number of murders in the Republic has almost doubled in a 12-month period, according to new  Central Statistic Office  figures. The figures also show there were more reported assaults and more incidents of shoplifting. Reported sexual crimes are holding steady at a much higher level than they were five years ago. So is Ireland becoming more dangerous? It's not that simple, says Crime...

Lough Neagh is dying in plain sight ; the entire body of water has been contaminated by blooms of poisonous blue-green algae. How has it happened that the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Britain has become toxic and, as Northern Ireland still does not have a working government in Stormont, what can be done to reverse this disaster? Northern editor Freya McClements visited Lough Neagh to tal...

The Sallins Train Robbery in 1976 was one of the most audacious criminal acts ever in the State. The Dublin to Cork mail train, carrying £200,000, was robbed with the IRA (much later) claiming responsibility, but only after three innocent men had been jailed.  The men were tried, convicted and imprisoned as part of a convoluted saga involving the non-jury Special Criminal Court, claims of phy...

To understand the unfolding crisis on the Italian island of Lampedusa , where a state of emergency has been declared as 7,000 migrants arrived on boats within just 48 hours, it’s crucial to look across the short stretch of the Mediterranean to Tunisia. Sally Hayden, who has been reporting on the migrant crisis and the EU’s response to it, explains in this podcast why there has been a surge of peop...

Children suffering from spina bifida have been let down by an under-resourced healthcare system for years. This week’s news that there are now serious concerns over the safety of surgery performed on children with the condition at Temple Street children’s hospital will only deepen the anxiety and frustration of children and their families left waiting for vital corrective surgery. A UK expert is t...

Expectations were high for the start of the 61st season of The Late Late Show , and new host Patrick Kielty delivered on some of them: the comedian delivered a funny monologue and generally seemed comfortable in his new role. But some of the programme’s old problems remained. On today’s In the News podcast, Irish Times writer, editor and podcaster Hugh Linehan reviews the first episode under new m...

The hiring of 'community safety wardens' to patrol Dublin’s north inner city was just one of the 50 actions contained in the Government’s latest plan for the area. But Irish Times Dublin editor Olivia Kelly explains why these wardens' ability to make the community safer will likely be limited. Meanwhile Peter Evans, a warden in Derry, explains how the system works there and just how effective it h...

This weekend, for the first time, the content of The Irish Times Magazine will be written entirely by teenagers. The six volunteers tackle subjects including the pitfalls of Tiktok, why many young women drop out of sport and what it is like to be a wheelchair user. One of their mentors for the project was Patrick Freyne, who recorded a conversation with them about the way their generation consumes...

Gardai have  confirmed that a poisonous substance sold by an online seller in Canada, was posted to a number of people in Ireland. The man accused of selling these so called ‘suicide kits’ is Kenneth Law, a 57 year old Canadian chef. Law is currently in police custody, charged with 14 counts of counselling and aiding suicide in the region of Ontario. However, he is thought to be linked t...

In 1982, Emmett McConomy ’s brother, 11-year-old Stephen, was playing in the street near their home in Derry. A shot fired by a British soldier from an armoured car hit him in the back of the head; he died from his injuries days later. Emmett tells In the News about his family’s decades-long fight for the truth about what happened to the child and how the UK government’s Northern Ireland legacy Bi...