It only requires a short walk through Dublin city centre to confirm the extent to which so many of its streets are blighted by dereliction, decay and under-use. Their inaction is not victimless; it inflicts real social harm. Those failures have been repeated at local government level, where Dublin City Council (DCC), which itself owns a significant number of vacant properties, has struggled to devise a strategy that has real impact. In today’s Irish Times, Dublin Editor Olivia Kelly reports on DCC’s fresh approach. Two streets – Middle Abbey Street and North Frederick Street – have been selected as pilot areas for concentrated regeneration.

Pixie Geldof was all smiles as she enjoyed lunch with friends in Primrose Hill, London ahead of the 12th anniversary of her late sister Peaches' death. Sir Bob Geldof's late daughter Peaches tragically died aged 25 on April 7, 2014, from a heroin overdose - the same fate that claimed her mother Paula in 2000. Paula and Bob had three children together, daughters Fifi, Pixie and Peaches, before divorcing in 1996. He later married Jeanne Marine in 2015, with the actress helping him raise his children following Paula's death. Following her death, the Boomtown Rats star also adopted Paula's daughter Tiger Lily, whom she shared with the late Michael Hutchence.

Erling Haaland hat-trick humbles Liverpool as Mo Salah endures nightmare - 5 talking pointsMANCHESTER CITY 4-0 LIVERPOOL: Erling Haaland plunders a hat-trick and Mohamed Salah misses a penalty as Pep Guardiola's side ease into the semi finals of the FA CupView 5 Images Erling Haaland bagged a hat-trick for Manchester City (Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)Erling Haaland piled pressure onto Liverpool manager Arne Slot as his hat-trick eased Manchester City in the last four of the FA Cup. Mohamed Salah dragged his shot well wide after getting on the end of a long ball and Hugo Ekitike blasted a snapshot over the bar from a loose ball. ‌The Man City goal machine doubled the lead before the break when he headed in a perfect dinked Antoine Semenyo cross. Salah's successors must step upThis being the first game since Mohamed Salah announced he is leaving in the summer, there was always going to be a focus on the Egyptian. It’s a shame he’s going out this way.”View 5 Images Mohamed Salah had a day to forget for Liverpool (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)5.

Storm Dave: Amber warnings in UK as Met Office gives new Stoke-on-Trent verdictHold on to your hats! View Image Strong winds are expected to blast the UK today (Image: PA)Forecasters have today issued amber warnings for wind across parts of the UK as Storm Dave revs up. And the Met Office now thinks gusts of 52mph could smash through North Staffordshire. The Met Office thinks they'll be stronger sitting in the high 30s until 6pm when they reach 41mph. Meanwhile the conditions Storm Dave is expected to bring has seen an amber warning issues for North Wales, which will kick in at 7pm and last until 3am.

Arne Slot insists he has no regrets over his handling over ‘one of a kind’ Mohamed Salah, with a fallout between the pair often stated as a reason for the Egyptian deciding to leave Liverpool. Salah begins his farewell tour at Manchester City on Saturday in an FA Cup quarter-final after announcing his upcoming exit last week. But asked if he was happy with everything he had done in the situation, Slot insisted: ‘Yes. Again, the assumption that if he's not playing that he wants to leave – that's the assumption being made – then he would have left one-and-a-half years ago. He didn’t decide to leave (Salah had a fallout with Jurgen Klopp).

This small German state’s bid to cut loose from Microsoft has not been plain sailing. One German IT blogger compared Schleswig-Holstein to the French comic-book hero Asterix and his “small village of indomitable Gauls” holding out against Roman invaders. Schleswig-Holstein, a coastal region of three million people, first discussed ending its reliance on Microsoft about 15 years ago. Schleswig-Holstein saved €15 million on Microsoft licences last year alone Photograph: David Paul Morris/BloombergThat does not necessarily mean they are free. In a high-profile 2021 incident, hackers including Chinese state-backed groups launched more than 1mn attacks on companies worldwide through a previously unnoticed vulnerability in open-source software called Log4j.

Citigroup’s EU unit in Dublin, the largest bank in the State, booked a net loan impairment charge of $124 million (€108 million) last year due to reflect “heightened global risk and prevailing economic uncertainty”. Ireland has been home to Citigroup’s EU banking headquarters since early 2016, before the Brexit referendum. The total cost to the bank for the site and construction is estimated at about €300 million. Geopolitical risk, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the Middle East conflict, continue to influence energy markets and supply-chain conditions,” it said. For the full year 2025, Citigroup as a whole reported a net profit of $14.3 billion on revenues of $85.2 billion, marking an increase from the $12.7 billion net income on $80.7 billion in revenue reported for 2024.

The owner of a restaurant has blasted a couple on social media, claiming they left without paying for their £195 meal. Julien Jourdain, owner of Bistro on the Quay in Ipswich, alleged the pair had ordered a bottle of wine, two starters and two mains on April Fools Day. CCTV footage showed the pair entering the restaurant, then standing outside and smoking a vape before leaving. Mr Jourdain hit out at the pair online, accusing them of pretending to vape outside before leaving without paying in what he described as a 'calculated act'. Explaining that his business works 'incredibly hard to stay afloat' in the post, he branded the couple 'low-lives' for their alleged actions.

Deputy Fitzmaurice warned that rising green diesel costs are impacting every stage of housing delivery and agricultural production. At current prices, that is adding significant daily costs that will ultimately be passed on to homebuyers,” he warned. If costs continue to rise unchecked, the housing crisis will worsen.”Deputy Fitzmaurice also highlighted the serious implications for agriculture, particularly as the silage season approaches. At current prices, that is an additional €700 per fill, often twice in a single day,” he pointed out. The Dáil must be recalled and we must see action on fuel costs and carbon tax — before further damage is done.”He warned that failure to act will have lasting consequences.

Niamh and Ruairí DooleyBiaSol and Circular Food CompanySiblings Niamh and Ruairí Dooley established food start-up BiaSol, creating a nutritious supplement from breweries' waste spent grain. “The spent grain is the outer layer – or husk – which breweries either gave or sold to farmers for animal feed,” she explains. Niamh and Ruairí have since set up the Circular Food Company to advise large food manufacturers on ways to upcycle byproducts and waste food. She left that in 2018 to do a PhD exploring business models for repurposing wind turbine blades. BladeBridge street furniture, made from decommissioned wind turbine blades“I’m a great believer in one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

The company previously offered a crèche service for kids between three months and three years, for up to three hours. However, it has confirmed that this will no longer be offered at any of its five UK resorts by the end of next month. A spokesperson for Center Parcs told Metro: "We’re always looking to review and evolve the guest experience. We have made the decision to remove the crèche activity from our breaks, to reflect guest feedback and limited demand for this particular activity. – often attached to leisure centres, colleges, workplaces, conferences, weddings or community events so adults can take part while children are safely supervised.

At her workshop in Co Cork, Lavanya Bhandari is growing the future of packaging. Using mycelium – a fungal material that feeds on farm waste – she grows small containers in just a few days. Once fully formed, the material is heated to stop growth and to harden, “so you’re not going to get mushrooms growing out of your packaging”, explains Bhandari. Rather than rebuild the same business, he pivoted to an idea he’d been developing since 2020: using mycelium to process waste materials. He emphasises the need to be cost-competitive, noting that the carbon-negative process and lean production will help match conventional packaging prices.

When invasive species such as Sika deer have no natural predators, humans become the only control. In a crisis this urgent, every effort to make space for our native species is welcome, however big or small. In 2022, a global study examined 150 years of invasive species removal across 1,000 islands; nearly nine out of 10 attempts were successful, creating conditions for recovery. [ ‘We don’t have a plan’: Invasive species take hold as action lags legislationOpens in new window ]Doing the work isn’t easy. When invasive species such as Sika deer have no natural predators, humans become the only control.

Photograph: Stephen Collins/CollinsThere is to be a renewed push by Independent ministers for changes to inheritance tax thresholds in Budget 2027. His remarks come after correspondence released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that he told Minister for Finance Simon Harris he would raise inheritance tax thresholds with him. The woman died in 2024 when the tax-free threshold that applied to that grandchild stood at €32,500. The Irish Times reported last year that Independent Ministers Michael Healy-Rae and Marian Harkin pushed for changes to the inheritance tax system for the beneficiaries of estates left by people with no children. Any potential changes to the Capital Acquisitions Tax regime will be a decision for Harris, “as part of the budget process”.

An Irish security source said the number of shadow fleet vessels passing through the EEZ in recent days was “unprecedented”. Vessels carrying sanctioned Russian oil are increasingly opting to travel around Ireland instead of taking the quicker and safer route to the English Channel. However, the British government said shadow fleet vessels are effectively “stateless”, meaning they can be legally boarded and seized in international waters. The jump in shadow fleet traffic off the west coast has placed additional pressure on Defence Forces resources. Shadow fleet vessels are viewed as a threat to critical undersea infrastructure, including communication cables and energy interconnectors.