Around 50 people have gathered outside the Racket Hall hotel on the outskirts of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, to protest at its selection as a location to house 160 International Protection applicants. News emerged yesterday among local representatives and TDs who had been informed by the Department of Integration that Racket …

There’s been a sharp increase in the number of students who are getting exemptions from studying Irish at second level. A third of junior cycle students availed of exemptions between 2019 and 2022, while the numbers of Leaving Cert students dropping Irish went up by 22% over the same period. …

Pilots in Aer Lingus who are members of the Irish Air Line Pilots Association (IALPA), a branch of the Fórsa trade union, have voted overwhelmingly to reject a pay offer based on the findings of the Aer Lingus Pilot Pay Tribunal. The ballot saw 98.1% of IALPA members voting to …

A senior member of the Kinahan cartel, Declan ‘Mr Nobody’ Brady, has pleaded guilty to facilitating a criminal organisation in the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan, an innocent man who had no involvement in crime. At a sitting of the Special Criminal Court today Brady, who is in custody …

The Stardust inquests have heard how three teenage victims of the fire were last seen six feet from an emergency exit as they tried to escape the blaze. The proceedings into the deaths of the 48 people in the 1981 fire continued to hear about the extent of the victims’ …

The UK and US have launched “targeted strikes” against Houthi rebels in Yemen after weeks of attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. Here is a look at why the region is a key trade route and what the knock-on effects of continued disruption could be: What is happening …

Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who vowed to retaliate against US and British strikes early Friday against key military sites, have built up a significant arsenal, including cruise missiles and drones. Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on 7 October, the Iran-backed Houthis have carried out a spate of attacks in the …

A former Co Derry postmaster has described the “soul destroying” toll the UK’s Post Office scandal took on him and his family. Lee Williamson, 48, ran the sub-office in Portstewart from 2003 to 2012. He said the computer system showed daily discrepancies in his business accounts ranging from £30 up …

St Vincent’s University Hospital has apologised to the family of a 76-year-old woman who died after an operation that was supposed to give her a new lease of life. Freda Fox from Castlerea in Co Roscommon died in September 2017 after losing 17 litres of blood in the operation carried …

A Bottle of The Emerald Isle Irish whiskey, from The Craft Irish Whiskey Co, has sold for $2.8m – making it the most expensive bottle of whiskey – or whisky – ever sold. The Emerald Isle, already the rarest triple-distilled single malt in existence, was sold to US collector Mike …