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The Government says it has no plans to amend the criteria for the Covid Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) despite growing complaints from business groups that firms that need it are being excluded. An increasing number of firms are being told that…

Met Éireann has issued a snow and ice warning for six counties with immediate effect. The yellow warning applies to Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. It warns of falls of hail, sleet and snow with Icy and…

Four people-smugglers are each facing possible life sentences for the killings of 39 migrants. The victims, Vietnamese men, woman and children, had hoped for a better life when they agreed to pay up to £13,000 (€14,590) a head for a…

Ireland’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer has said that much more progress must be “achieved and sustained” over the coming weeks to bring the coronavirus under control. Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on Health, Dr Ronan Glynn said that even though case numbers are reducing, hospitals…

Despite dealing with hugely decreased income streams and the effects of the ongoing global pandemic, Louth GAA are finalising preparations to begin the tendering process for a new €12m stadium. Stadium chairperson Aidan Berrill and development committee members are completing design…

Northern Ireland has recorded its highest weekly coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began. Another 156 fatalities occurred in the week of 9-15 January, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said. The figure emerged as Stormont ministers decided…

For Cavan twins Cian and Leah Murray, remote learning is working better during this lockdown but it still presents challenges. Cian and Leah say live classes at the same time can cause issues “At the start it was a bit…

Difficulties with the Northern Ireland Protocol were predicted months ago, Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster said. Hauliers have faced problems transporting stock to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and pet owners face unnecessary veterinary procedures if they…

A teenager is being questioned in connection with a serious assault in Dublin on Wednesday night.  A woman in her 40s was attacked and robbed on a pedestrian walkway in the Irish Financial Services Centre at around 9.30pm.  She was taken to the…

Republicans in the US Senate have asked Democrats to put off the start of former president Donald Trump’s impeachment trial until mid-February, to give him time to prepare a defence against charges of inciting insurrection. It came after Democrats yesterday…

Before he returned to Russia, opposition politician Alexei Navalny and his supporters had anticipated he would be arrested and planned to force the Kremlin to release him by staging repeated protests, a close ally has said. Mr Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most…

Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond has been delayed again as the film industry continues to grapple with the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.  No Time To Die will now be released on October 8 the official James Bond…

Germany has recorded more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre has said. It said 859 people died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the…

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said that by Wednesday night almost 122,000 Covid-19 vaccines had been administered to frontline healthcare workers, as well as to residents and staff in nursing homes. Yesterday, centenarian Norita Mills was the first to…

Twenty-three higher education institutions are to introduce measures to help students with autism and special needs at a cost of €5.4m. Among the new are projects for students are the establishment of autism friendly rooms across nine different campuses. There…

EU leaders have expressed grave concern over the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus and their potential impact on the pandemic in Europe.  Following a video conference of all 27 leaders, member states have agreed to intensify antigen testing…

Rescuers believe it could take at least another two weeks to free miners trapped underground in eastern China, dashing hopes of an imminent retrieval for a group that has already spent 12 days underground after an explosion. The attempt to save…

The National Public Health Emergency Team has warned that despite solid evidence that the coronavirus is being suppressed, the incidence of the disease remains exceptionally high. Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that despite the recent reduction in case numbers…

The Japanese Prime Minister said he was determined to host the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are scheduled to begin on July 23. Yoshihide Suga’s comments follow a British newspaper report that the Japanese government has privately concluded that the Olympic Games…

Google has threatened to block Australians from using its search service unless the government changed landmark legislation to make the internet giant pay news outlets for their content. Google Australia managing director Mel Silva warned a Senate committee in Canberra…

EU leaders have expressed grave concern over the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus and their potential impact on the pandemic in Europe. Following a video conference of all 27 leaders, member states have agreed to intensify antigen testing…

The Central Bank has forecast that growth in the economy will pick up in the second half of this year, if there is a successful rollout of the Covid vaccination programme. It also warns, however, that despite the trade deal struck…

The new affordable housing scheme should be opened up to some of the country’s 220,000 divorced and separated people according to a support group.   One Family which represents single parents says many are in dire need of housing and…

Next has withdrawn from negotiations to purchase Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia empire. Arcadia, which employed around 13,000 people and has 444 stores in the UK, collapsed at the start of December due to the impact of the pandemic, and retailer…

In the wake of the Omagh bombing, four months after the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, one of the defiant decisions made was to build a new model of shared education close to the town centre. The plan involved constructing…

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme would cost an extra €3.7 billion if extended beyond March to the end of this year, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has confirmed. Responding to a Parliamentary Question from Labour Finance Spokesperson Ged Nash, the Minister…

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People smuggling takes place by day and by night – and happens hidden in plain sight. Although the crime is international in nature, Irish criminals were centrally involved in the plot that saw 39 Vietnamese people killed in 2019. The…

Joe Biden may have to find another way to stay fit at the White House, as experts worry the president’s Peloton interactive fitness bike could create security risks. Some of Peloton’s top features – internet connectivity, a camera and microphone…

The group that represents Ireland’s family carers has called for the urgent vaccination of family carers against Covid-19. It comes as one mother who is caring for her son has spoken about how difficult the last year has been trying…

“We’re going to flip her facing towards the ventilator” Seven members of the ICU team in Tallaght University Hospital ‘prone’ a patient. By now, the process of turning a patient onto their stomach is familiar treatment in ICUs across the…

The High Court has heard that a vulnerable woman who has severe anorexia must now be tube fed at home by her mother because of current pressure on hospital services. The woman, who is in her 20s, was admitted to…

Measures are working, but more time needed to suppress virus Dr Tony Holohan says that the existing Covid-19 measures are working and they need to continue working for a much longer period of time. He says: “We have to keep…

The Minister for Education Norma Foley has said that the unions and her Department are making every effort to work in a collaborative way with unions and school representative groups.  She said that “intensive engagement” is under way and it…

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The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said it would be “wise” for the UK to find a solution to the dispute over the UK refusing to grant the EU’s ambassador in London full diplomatic status. In an interview…

Angelo Caloia, a former head of the Vatican bank, has been found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced to eight years and 11 months in prison.  It was the first ever jail sentence issued by a Vatican state court in…

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is under pressure from his coalition to quickly broaden his majority but has made little progress since narrowly surviving an attempt to sink the government, political sources said. After scraping through a confidence vote in…

The Covax programme, bolstered by the new US presidency, aims to secure enough Covid-19 vaccines this year for the most vulnerable 20% in every country, rich or poor. Top US government scientist Anthony Fauci told the World Health Organization (WHO) that…

Home builders are urging the Government not to introduce a “use it or lose it” requirement for large scale housing permissions. New laws are being considered to compel builders to start work within a fixed period following a Strategic Housing…

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warned Government last week that there could be at least 1,000 Covid-19 related deaths in January. In a letter to the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, dated 14 January, Dr Holohan said modelling by…

Irish Olympian Jerry Kiernan has died at the age of 67. A long-distance runner, the Listowel native represented Ireland at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles where he finished ninth in the men’s marathon. He won the Dublin Marathon in…

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said the mandatory quarantine of incoming visitors to Ireland would not be proportionate or workable. Speaking in the Dáil, he said inbound travel has now reduced to around 33,000 people per week and the vast majority…

Glastonbury festival organisers Michael and Emily Eavis have said they are “so sorry” to cancel the event for the second year in a row. It had been hoped that the celebration of music and arts would be able to go…

Nearly 30 people at a crowded market in central Baghdad were killed in two bomb attacks, Iraqi state media said, the city’s deadliest such incident in three years. At least 28 people were killed and another 73 wounded in the…

The shooting dead of a farmer by the British Army in Northern Ireland in 1974 was “unjustified”, a coroner has said. Paddy McElhone, 24, died near his home in Limehill, Pomeroy, Co Tyrone, after sustaining a wound through the back…

Planning permission for Cairn Homes’ proposed development at former RTÉ land at Montrose in Donnybrook has been quashed by the High Court after objections from residents in the area. Cairn Homes had been granted full planning permission by An Bord…

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty has said the Tánaiste’s defence of his “leaking” of a confidential document almost two years ago now lies in tatters and is a scandal that runs much deeper than first thought. Leo Varadkar, who was then…

Military staff will support work at Northern Ireland’s regional Nightingale facility, a health trust chief has said. Health Minister Robin Swann announced yesterday that more than 100 medically-trained military personnel will be deployed in Northern Ireland. It comes as hospitals…

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said the Government “must be open” to reviewing the prioritisation list for Covid vaccines. He told the Dáil that he was “sympathetic” to the concerns raised by people with cystic fibrosis and other underlying conditions….

A 52-year-old man has been sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison with two-and-a-half years suspended for coercive control, intimidation and multiple assaults on his former partner over a two-year period between 2018 and 2020.  Daniel Kane from Scariff House, Waterville Terrace in…

Experts tracking the spread of Covid-19 in England say infections may have gone up at the beginning of the current lockdown. Professor Paul Elliot, who is leading the React study at Imperial College London, suggested the current measures may not…

The Irish Road Haulage Association has written letters to both the Taoiseach and the President of the EU Commission to highlight the “serious and far-reaching challenges” hauliers are facing due to Brexit.  It also repeated its call for a single…

The British government has been accused of a “petty” approach after refusing to grant full diplomatic status to the European Union’s ambassador to the UK. João Vale de Almeida has not been given the same status as other ambassadors, with…

Rescuers in China were drilling new shafts on Thursday to reach gold miners who have been trapped underground for 11 days after an explosion,including one they hope to use to bring the survivors to safety. A total of 22 workers…

The Government has reiterated its commitment to reopen schools on 1 February, but with just over ten days to go until that deadline, many are skeptical about the prospect of pupils returning to the classroom. In homes around the country,…

Some 3,500 relatives of people killed during the Northern Ireland conflict have urged the British and Irish governments to fully investigate the decades of violence. They are seeking the long-delayed establishment of an independent team of detectives to pursue fresh…

Muscovite Sofia Dorofeyeva had always been drawn to the trains traveling across the vast expanses of her native Russia but until this year she and her female compatriots had been barred from occupying the driver’s seat.  From 1 January, Russia shortened the…

Poet Amanda Gorman became a sudden star at age 22 at President Joe Biden’s inauguration as she recited verse inspired by the Capitol attack, touching on how democracy “can never be permanently defeated.” Ms Gorman was the youngest poet to recite at an inauguration,…

The Department of Health has been notified of 51 new deaths and 2,608 further cases of Covid-19. The number of patients in intensive care units is 214, up 4 from yesterday. Dept of Health notified of 51 further Covid-related deaths, 2,608 new cases…

Level 5 restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19 are set to be extended, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney saying they will be maintained “well into February”. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said coronavirus transmission numbers were “still too…

The six-year-old boy from Co Cork, whose ‘virtual hug’ provided one of television’s most memorable moments last year, is set to see it light up buildings across the country tonight. Adam King’s virtual hug sign, which he first shared with Late…

Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen, and Katy Perry were among the stars who gathered last night for a star-studded primetime TV special to mark US President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris’s inauguration day. Actresses Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, and singers…

New US President Joe Biden has warned the worst of the pandemic is still to come, as the number of American coronavirus deaths surpassed the country’s troop fatalities in World War II. Coronavirus cases have surged past 96 million worldwide,…

Tiger King star Carole Baskin has said she is ‘thankful’ that Donald Trump did not grant a pardon to her rival Joe Exotic who is serving a 22-year jail sentence for breaching wildlife laws.  Trump issued a number of pardons…

Job postings for the final quarter of last year were 23% lower than the same time in 2019, according to figures published by e-recruitment platform IrishJobs. Despite being in the grip of a third wave of Covid-19 cases, the jobs index…

A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in connection with the Oireachtas Golf Society’s Dinner last August which became known as “Golfgate”.  Gardaí launched an investigation following the event on 19 August last year into what…

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin will join other EU leaders on video conference later today to discuss the target of vaccinating 70% of the EU’s adult population by the summer.  The issues of the threat of new variants of the Covid…

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said the highly infectious nature of Covid-19 cannot be under-estimated, as well as the impact it can have on families and communities. The latest data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) shows…

The family of Nóra Quoirin will challenge an inquest ruling that she died by misadventure after vanishing in the Malaysian jungle while on holiday, their lawyer has said. The body of the 15-year-old was discovered after a massive hunt through the rainforest…

US President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to launch his administration, including a decision to rejoin the Paris climate accord and a mask mandate for all federal buildings. The orders included keeping the United States in the…

The Minister for Justice is to publish new legislation to allow pre-trial hearings to take place in criminal cases.  It is hoped the legislation will be enacted by the summer.  The measures in the Criminal Procedure Bill 2021 will make…

The Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald has written to the Taoiseach Micheál Martin demanding that he “act” on new information relating to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s leaking of a GP contract. The contract had been negotiated between the Government and the Irish…

New research has identified a number of specific genes associated with breast cancer.  Scientists at NUI Galway, who were involved in the international study, say the findings will help to identify people with a higher likelihood of developing the condition,…

A woman who was awarded €56,000 by the High Court after she was scalded when trying to make tea in a glass jug has had the award of damages overturned by the Court of Appeal. Eva Cekanova from Windmill Terrace,…

The son of a Co Mayo man, who died after contracting Covid-19, has urged people to adhere to the public health measures to keep their families safe and to stop the virus spreading. Seán Conroy was speaking after the death…

The Government has been strongly criticised for refusing to pay student nurses and midwives, while sanctioning an €81,000 per year increase for the next Secretary-General of the Department of Health.  During a debate on a Sinn Féin Private Members Motion on the…

US President Joe Biden spoke for just over 20 minutes after his swearing in. Here are some excerpts from his inaugural address. The election, and democracyThis is America’s day. This is democracy’s day, a day of history and hope, of…

China is to sanction more than two dozen officials and members of former President Donald Trump’s cabinet. This includes his secretary of state Mike Pompeo, for violating the country’s “sovereignty”, the country’s foreign ministry said. “China has decided to sanction 28 persons…

Lady Gaga launched US President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony in style by performing a dramatic rendition of the US national anthem. Ahead of her performance of The Star-Spangled Banner, Gaga said on Twitter that she was praying for a day of peace. “My intention is…

Joe Biden will be a “true friend of Ireland”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said, as he celebrated the new US President’s ancestral links to the country. “Today a true friend of Ireland, Joe Biden, became the 46th President of the…

A number of local authorities are considering making an apology for their involvement in mother-and-baby homes. Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman said that he believed an apology for their involvement in mother-and-baby homes was “necessary…

Sinn Fein’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, has indicated she will support the use of British military personnel in the battle against the Covid-19 virus. Hospital services personnel have asked the Executive’s Minister for Health, Robin Swann, to access…

A former Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland has called on the British government to fund the cost of payments for victims of the Troubles. Baroness Nuala O’Loan issued her statement as the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, again outlined the…

Two people have died and another is said to be missing after a building belonging to the church collapsed in a central Madrid explosion, according to Telemadrid broadcaster. The mayor of Madrid said at least two people had died and said…

At least 43 West African migrants trying to reach Europe have drowned off the coast of Libya, after their boat capsized in rough seas. It is the first shipwreck of 2021 in the central Mediterranean, United Nations agencies said. Ten…

Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe is listed to sit on a panel with his Supreme Court colleagues next month to hear applications for leave to appeal. It is the first time Judge Woulfe’s name has been listed in the Supreme Court’s…

RTÉ has published the earnings of its top ten earners for 2017, 2018 and 2019, and noted that it has cut the pay of its highest earning presenters by 15% in 2020. In all three years, Ryan Tubridy topped the list,…

Donald Trump has left the White House for the last time as US president. Mr Trump and his wife, Melania, departed on Marine One a short time ago and headed for Andrews Air Force base where he will board Air…

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Updated / Wednesday, 20 Jan 2021 16:55 The White House on the morning of the presidential inauguration ceremony As Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States, it will be an inauguration day with many differences.  The…