Pretax profits at Dublin Street Parking Services fell by 1 per cent last year. Photograph: Alan BetsonPretax profits at the firm contracted to clamp illegally parked vehicles in the Dublin City Council area last year dipped marginally to €712,580. The pretax profits last year fell by 1 per cent from the €720,366 recorded in 2023. Quarterly purchase orders published by Dublin City Council show that the company last year received €7.99 million (Incl VAT) in payments from the local authority. The clamping company recorded post-tax profits of €607,158 after incurring a corporation tax charge of €105,422.

The failure to agree European-wide online child protection laws is to the “collective shame” of political institutions, the Minister for Media has said. The Minister suggested the app, which has already been developed and will be tested early next year, could also set age limits for pornography websites. Over the course of a press conference on Tuesday, Mr O’Donovan described the slow pace of online child protection at EU level as “disappointing”, “tiresome” and a “failure”. He spoke as the Dáil heard a ban on social media for under-16s “amounts to putting a sticking plaster on a gaping wound”. Most social media companies already have an age limit of 13 which “just isn’t being enforced”, she said.

The ESB Christmas ad Coming Home, set to the haunting tones of Goin’ Back by Dusty Springfield is among them. While Dad drives in the peaceful solitude of his car to pick up the prodigal son at the train station. For me, it’s when the plane’s wheels screech down on the tarmac in Dublin or Shannon that I exhale a deep sigh of relief. In August last, talk of a friends’ night away to mark the passage into our fourth decade was defeated by tight schedules. Would you like to share your experience with Irish Times Abroad, something interesting about your life or your perspective as an emigrant?

“I don’t know where to go with the babies. She is one of at least four tenants who have been told they must leave their apartment in the three-storey Georgian building at 61 Mountjoy Square West in Dublin 1. Now the tenants at 61 Mountjoy Square West have been told they must vacate the 17-unit building early next year, and many are nervous about what lies ahead of them amid a housing crisis, with high rents and a shortage of available properties. 61 Mountjoy Square West. While her rent at 61 Mountjoy Square West has been manageable, her living conditions have been far from ideal and she says the apartment is in need of urgent repairs.

US authorities are planning to ask visitors for details of their social media accounts covering the past five years as part of the review for entry. Compile a list of your social media accounts, from the most used to the ones you have almost forgotten about. There are some third party services that can help clean up your social media history. If your views have moved on, your social media footprint should too. Don’t deliberately leave out informationWe may all have a few social media profiles that are unused and forgotten.

Retired garda superintendent Eamonn O’Neill and four other serving gardaí are accused of unlawfully interfering with pending or potential road traffic prosecutions. Photograph: Brendan GleesonA Fine Gael councillor asked a garda superintendent to “sort” a speeding ticket for him, a trial heard Wednesday. Text messages exchanged between Limerick County Fine Gael councillor Liam Galvin and Garda superintendent Eamon O’Neill were heard in evidence at the trial of Mr O’Neill, now retired, and four serving gardaí. The image allegedly sent by Mr Galvin to Mr O’Neill was accompanied by a text message that said: “Please read, chat later.”In response, Mr O’Neil texted Mr Galvin: “A decent lady”, to which Mr Galvin replied: “sort her so”. Mr O’Neill also argued that “internal circulars and reports within An Garda Síochána allow for such behaviour”.

The progress made by Jude Postlethwaite, Dan Kelly and Hugh Gavin makes for a reasonable case study on the topic. They represent centres of attention as far as the Ireland senior management is concerned, an assertion that’s supported by recent evidence. Gavin went on the Simon Easterby-led Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa later that year and made an obvious impression. Hugh Gavin in action for Ireland during the Test against Portugal in July. Kelly, who can play both centre positions, has requalified for Ireland since and was given his opportunity against Spain.

The plan is the latest in a series of measures from the Trump administration aimed at restricting entry to the US. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/The New York TimesThe US is proposing that foreign visitors provide their social media history over the last five years to enter the country. US Customs and Border Protection “is adding social media as a mandatory data element” as part of the screening process for travellers entering the US under the Visa Waiver Program, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice posted on Wednesday. The State Department said in December it would expand social media review requirements for H-1B visas for high-skilled workers, urging applicants and dependents “to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to ‘public.’” In June, it ordered a review of student visa applicants’ social media presence. The US has been on track for a sharp decline in foreign visitors and spending by tourists this year.

Irish-based smart kitchen company Fresco has raised €15 million in funding to bring its personalised cooking companion app to more manufacturers and consumers globally. The company offers a platform to connect smart kitchen appliances. The funding will help boost the evolution of the AI Cooking Companion and accelerate its distribution, allowing Fresco to further grow its partnerships with the world’s biggest appliance brands. “The investment is now driving and bringing it to life.”Fresco is tapping into a global smart kitchen appliances market that is expected to reach $60 billion (€52 billion) by 2030. Despite the potential for growth, however, many appliance brands have not yet developed a way to offer personalised cooking experiences at scale.

“All these people,” he marvelled at the very end as the crowd in the Mount Airy Casino, Mount Pocono, chanted “USA! USA!” and Trump thundered: “We will fight, fight, fight, and we will win, win, win. For those who tuned in as a December freeze settled across the Plains and Rust Belt, this was a different rally. Audience members cheer for president Donald Trump at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania. At one stage, Trump broke away to recall the conversation with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, that persuaded him to leave the White House for the short flight up to the Poconos.

The era of the cheap electric car, for all the grumbling on Facebook (yes, we know you’re going to keep your diesel Avensis ...) is upon us. You’d think that all cars, electric or otherwise, would be able to do that. For rural driversIt’s an oddity that rural driving is actually spectacularly well-suited to electric cars, but still, few rural drivers will countenance buying and running an EV. Best: Dacia BigsterNew Dacia BigsterThere’s a very good argument that the Dacia Bigster is the single best all-round car on sale in Ireland right now. Also try: Volkswagen ID.7VW ID.7Can you really use an electric car for long journeys?

Central Statistics Office figures show planning permissions for apartments rose by 51 per cent to 5,016 in the third quarter of 2025,. Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures indicate planning permissions for apartments rose by 51 per cent to 5,016 in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same three-month period last year. Dublin had the highest number of apartment units granted planning permission at 2,782 which represented 55 per cent of the total for the State. Houses accounted for 55 per cent of all dwelling units granted planning permission while apartments made up the remaining 45 per cent. The number of one-off houses receiving planning permission in the third quarter rose by 21.6 per cent to 1,450 units.

Within days of the data breach in 2023, it was confirmed that dissident republicans had accessed the information. Photograph: Peter Muhly/ AFP via Getty ImagesAn officer whose details were disclosed in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) data breach now lives in a “CCTV prison camp”, the High Court in Belfast heard on Tuesday. The unprecedented data breach involved accidental publication on a website in response to the FOI request. The officer recalled his state of shock after learning about the data breach through news reports. It’s just terrible.”Later in evidence, MTB402 told how he decided to hand in his firearm as his mood continued to darken.

Sir, – Once again a judge has cited the age of a child abuser as a mitigating factor regarding the length of his sentence (“Former teacher at Willow Park primary school jailed for 10 years over indecent assault of eight boys,“ December 8th). As a victim of child abuse myself in the 1960s, I feel obliged to express my hurt and disappointment that this factor has been taken into account in this and several other sentences in the past. Where was the age of victims ever taken into account by the abusers? – Yours, etc,FINNIAN E MATHEWS,Skerries,Co Dublin.

There has been early start to the flu season this year. Photograph: iStock“Significant pressures” on healthcare services is expected in coming weeks amid an early start to the flu season, the Cabinet has been told. Almost 2,000 new influenza cases were reported in the week ending November 29th, double the previous week. However, with flu cases set to put a strain on healthcare services, Ministers were told that co-circulation of RSV and Covid-19 will compound pressures. The number of people admitted as inpatients in hospitals due to flu also doubled in a week, with 418 hospitalisations recorded during the last week of November, compared with 213 the previous week.