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Ireland’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon is set to be extended for another year, with the United Nations Security Counc...
22/08/2025

Ireland’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon is set to be extended for another year, with the United Nations Security Council expected to ratify the operation later this month

The continuation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) comes after intensive diplomatic efforts by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which sought to safeguard the operation. Unifil is the entity that polices the peace line between Israel and Lebanon and manages the peace agreement between the countries

Simon Harris, the tanaiste, is expected to engage in more diplomatic efforts to extend the operation this week

A growing number of government-supporting Independent TDs are backing former Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys to bec...
22/08/2025

A growing number of government-supporting Independent TDs are backing former Fine Gael minister Heather Humphreys to become the next president of Ireland, after the shock departure of Mairead McGuinness from the race

The Fine Gael executive council is due to meet tomorrow to decide who will replace McGuinness, with party sources tipping Humphreys. Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly has said he is also considering putting his name forward

However, the majority of the Independent TDs in government have come out in support of Humphreys despite the former Fine Gael deputy leader having not yet declared her interest in campaigning to become president

Shareholders Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley were paid a dividend of €10 million earlier this year by Actavo, the engin...
22/08/2025

Shareholders Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley were paid a dividend of €10 million earlier this year by Actavo, the engineering services company formerly known as Siteserv

Details of the dividend, the first to be distributed to O’Brien since he acquired the group 13 years ago, are included in group company accounts recently filed at the Companies Registration Office. O’Brien owns 87 per cent of Actavo, Buckley holding the remainder. Both stakes are held though companies in the Isle of Man

Actavo is involved in utility services in Ireland, the UK and the Caribbean. Activities include network engineering and in home broadband and cable TV installation

Ashton’s11 Vergemount, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 6★ 6/10Is comparison really the thief, or indeed death, of joy? Can two i...
22/08/2025

Ashton’s
11 Vergemount, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 6
★ 6/10

Is comparison really the thief, or indeed death, of joy? Can two incredibly similar things exist independently without spoiling the enjoyment of one or other? Is comparing and questioning authenticity entirely necessary when the benefit of the doubt and coincidence exist?

When things are this similar, though, comparison cannot be avoided. An old kid on the block in new clothing, Ashton’s in Clonskeagh has come under scrutiny since the former Press Up site reopened in July. The criticism stems from its striking resemblance to the Devonshire in Soho — London’s most lauded and heavily hyped pub — run by the Irish publican Oisín Rogers, which opened to fanfare in 2023

Unless you’ve been living under a hot rock, you’ll know that mobile saunas have been popping up at pace around Ireland. ...
22/08/2025

Unless you’ve been living under a hot rock, you’ll know that mobile saunas have been popping up at pace around Ireland. From windswept shorelines to city car parks, these wooden barrels and hot boxes have become community hubs for sauna lovers seeking heat, connection and a time-out

But a second wave of sauna culture has been quietly breaking across the island. These are sustainably built, design-led spaces with privacy at their core, and they are quickly becoming an essential draw of boutique nature-based stays in places like Fernwood Farm in Connemara, Co Galway

Drawing inspiration from Scandinavian-style cabins, the lakeside sauna at Fernwood was designed by Aidan Conway of Marmar Architects and mimics an oversized birdhouse. “We were keen to create a unique feeling for our sauna and wanted it to feel like none other,” says the Fernwood co-owner Anne Ashe

If you suspect that the Belfast-born electronic DJs Bicep create their music in a dark basement under the muted glow of ...
22/08/2025

If you suspect that the Belfast-born electronic DJs Bicep create their music in a dark basement under the muted glow of purple lighting, rest assured that you’re correct. The London-based duo — Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar — speak to me from the bowels of a building in the hip Shoreditch area

But if you also suspect that success has changed the pair — after all, they’ve gone from music bloggers to producers who can sell out London’s 10,000 capacity Alexandra Palace venue in five minutes flat — you’re wrong. McBriar (the lighter-haired, taller of the two) and Ferguson (bearded, slightly quieter, but like his work partner, replete with dry Belfast humour) are disarmingly down to earth. Their affable nature sits alongside a refreshing approach to their career. After a brace of hugely successful albums, other artists would try to mine similar ground. But their latest long-player is an audiovisual collaboration called Takkuuk, about life in the Arctic

It’s been an intense 12 months for Bicep. They typically spend most of the year on tour. “You get home on Monday, pack Tuesday, away Wednesday, repeat,” Ferguson says, and they will be on tour until October for the 2025 festival season. But this past year has had another layer of intensity: McBriar had a rare craniopharyngioma tumour removed from his pituitary gland 12 months ago

It’s Monday evening. The kids are home from school and ravenous, the fridge is depressingly bare and after a frazzled da...
22/08/2025

It’s Monday evening. The kids are home from school and ravenous, the fridge is depressingly bare and after a frazzled day of meetings and deadlines the thought of having to cook something even reasonably nutritious feels brutal. Thankfully, I’ve planned for this scenario — and on my doorstep is a large box full of ingredients that will cover not only tonight’s dinner, but healthy, hearty meals for the rest of the week

Gousto is the latest addition to the recipe box market in Ireland, joining companies like HelloFresh, DropChef and Eatto in providing easy-to-follow recipes for subscribers. It’s clearly a growing market too; since launching in Ireland in October 2022, HelloFresh has delivered more than 3.5 million meals, and over one in ten Irish households have used the service

The government has come under pressure from an unlikely advocate for hate speech legislation: a Love Island contestantBi...
21/08/2025

The government has come under pressure from an unlikely advocate for hate speech legislation: a Love Island contestant

Billykiss Azeez, who lives in Dublin but is originally from Nigeria, has spoken about her disappointment with the decision by the Fianna Fail and Fine Gael-led coalition to park new laws after a political and public backlash over perceived threats to free speech

“It’s disappointing to hear that the government, whose job and responsibility is obviously to protect the people, will not push to get that hate speech legislation in place,” Azeez, 28, told The Sunday Times

Norman Brown watched from afar like a proud father as his beloved horses starred on the grandest and most regal stagesSu...
21/08/2025

Norman Brown watched from afar like a proud father as his beloved horses starred on the grandest and most regal stages

Surrounded by pictures, paintings and sculptures of the animals at his home in Lisburn, Co Antrim, Brown, now 80, can barely believe how three of his horses ended up serving the royal family

“All my friends used to ring me when the horses were on TV and it was great that they never changed their names because that often happens when horses are sold to England,” he told The Sunday Times. “The whole week of the Royal Ascot my horses would be out every day.”

Ireland will have to rely on immigrants to support economic growth for years to come due to limited slack in the domesti...
21/08/2025

Ireland will have to rely on immigrants to support economic growth for years to come due to limited slack in the domestic labour market, according to the Department of Finance

In an analysis published last week as part of the department’s Economic Insights series, government economists contend that, while the post-pandemic recovery was driven by inward migration and increased labour force participation, growth in the medium term will depend on increasing the labour pool through immigration and driving more productivity from the existing workforce

That is because Ireland is reaching the limits of its domestic labour supply, due to an ageing population and the widespread activation of the available pool of workers

Bid to boost population of the species on Killiney Hill in Dublin has angered locals who say the conservation project is...
21/08/2025

Bid to boost population of the species on Killiney Hill in Dublin has angered locals who say the conservation project is ‘woke’ and doomed to fail

Read the full story in the comments 🔗

Gareth Sheridan arrives at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Stillorgan just a few minutes late, without his wife Heidi, who has...
21/08/2025

Gareth Sheridan arrives at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Stillorgan just a few minutes late, without his wife Heidi, who has attended all his other media commitments. It is a glorious Friday afternoon and the sun is splitting the summer skies, but he seems just a little preoccupied. It has been a bruising few days for Ireland’s youngest aspiring presidential candidate, who has been forced to answer questions on everything from his own business dealings, to social housing planning objections lodged by his mother, to a business partner’s reported links to Russian oligarchs

His interview with The Sunday Times was originally due to take place in his home, with his family around him. But there is a last-minute change of location to a hotel, and he arrives on his own

“Heidi has a thicker skin than anyone I know,” he says. “The hardest thing is when our daughter gets dragged into this. It’s all over Twitter. We have an adopted black daughter and you can imagine the comments.”

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