Adrian Weckler: Coming to a country near you – fines for dodgy box usersItaly has issued thousands of penalties and Greece is fining users €750, but in Ireland, we’d need to change the law to follow suitDodgy box users could be looking at problems in the future in IrelandAdrian Weckler Today at 06:30Will 2026 be the year dodgy box users begin to become publicly identified, or possibly even fined for the first time? There’s a chance this will happen, albeit an outside one.
Tenant renting luxury D4 apartment had deposit withheld by landlord over ‘nick’ to €5k dining tableDispute centred around damage to item of furniture bought in 2010, RTB toldTenant renting luxury D4 apartment in dispute with landlord over ‘nick’ to 15-year-old Roche Bobois dining tableAmy Molloy Today at 06:30A landlord renting a luxury apartment in Dublin 4 has been ordered to return €1,750 of a tenant’s deposit over a dispute about damage to a 15-year-old Roche Bobois dining table.
I’m an Irish mum who resisted a Eurocamp family holiday for years – but Bella Italia won me over‘I may never fully embrace organised fun,’ says our writer, ‘but the Eurocamp bandwagon has officially won me over’Eva and family on their Eurocamp breakEva Marie Gibney Today at 06:30What a difference a quarter of a century makes. For years, my attitude to camping holidays in Europe was shaped by a single, traumatic memory: a family trip to France when I was 17.
NTA deputy chief executive Hugh Creegan told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday that it was “a pity that it cost as much as it did”. He said it should have been possible to deliver the project at a lower cost. Documents released recently by the NTA under the Freedom of Information Act showed the initial cost estimate provided by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was €200,000. “This is a project that cost more than we would have expected it to,” Mr Creegan said on Thursday. The park at Mount Merrion is run by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, which developed the project, but funding was provided by the NTA.
Record 36.4 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in 2025James CoxMore than 36 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in 2025, making it the airport's busiest year ever. The numbers are up five per cent on 2024 and well in excess of the 32 million a year passenger cap. A total of 36.4 million passengers travelled through the airport in 2025, the total number included 1.7 million transfer passengers, which was down three per cent on the previous year. The number of passenger numbers going through Dublin Airport has increased by 46 per cent since 2015. Dublin Airport managing director Gary McLean said that up to 10 years ago, it never handled more than 100,000 passengers in a single day.
Photograph: Chris Maddaloni/The Irish TimesTánaiste Simon Harris has landed in hot water in recent weeks after comments linking homelessness to immigration. Opposition politicians called for Harris to withdraw the comments, with Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin arguing that conflating homelessness and immigration was “dishonest” and “dangerous”. While this may mirror trends, it has also left Harris open to Opposition criticism including a claim of “dog-whistling” to the far right. Later that month, as taoiseach, Harris told a Dáil debate on the pact: “Ireland benefits from immigration. His remarks “reflect the reality that higher levels of inward migration – across all categories – place additional strain on an already constrained housing system”, he said.
We’ll continue to move away from complicated 10-step routines, reaching instead for streamlined formulas that deliver both immediate aesthetic pay-offs as well as long-term benefits for overall skin, hair and nail health. Aesthetics and injectablesMedik8 Advanced Pro Collagen+ Peptide Cream (€91 from Space NK)The rise in regenerative treatments will continue apace this year. Anyone with a passing interest in beauty treatments will have heard of Profhilo at this stage, the hyaluronic acid-based injectable that plumps and hydrates the skin, and polynucleotides, derived most commonly from salmon DNA. Hair and scalp careMixsoon Scalp & Hair Essence (€23 from iherb.com)The “skinification” of hair shows no signs of slowing down. Bio-stimulating ingredients traditionally found in high-performance skincare, like exosomes, peptides, and more – are increasingly appearing in our everyday hair care products.
IDA officials have said the level and delivery of energy investment had not been 'providing certainty or confidence to FDI'. Ireland has lost of billions of euro in new jobs projects because global companies cannot access electricity and infrastructure, a top Government adviser has said. Despite such challenges, IDA Ireland went on to deliver record FDI in last year, with 323 new projects linked to more than 15,000 jobs. Asked about board papers, the agency acknowledged Ireland “must accelerate” infrastructure delivery, but said Government plans for a multibillion euro energy investment had improved the outlook. “In fact, people were discouraged to talk about it because you were seen to be negative about Ireland, talking down Ireland and talking down our FDI opportunities.
The incident in the Dóchas women’s prison in Dublin during Storm Agnes in September 2023. Photograph: Dara Mac DónaillPrison inspectors say they witnessed groups of women inmates locked outside during a severe storm, with staff refusing to let them seek shelter indoors. All OIP reports can only be released after being cleared by the Government. During Storm Agnes, inspectors observed women huddled in doors to avoid the wind and rain while “prison officers ignored their pleas and instead remained upstairs”. The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) expressed “grave concern at the OIP’s findings and said prison conditions have only deteriorated further since the inspections were carried out.
Ruth Medjber’s life stories: ‘I’d like people to remember me for being happy, rather than for being the girl who died of cancer’In a new project, photographer Ruth Medjber is asking ordinary people to share their extraordinary tales. This week, she meets Gill Costelloe, who has terminal cancerGill Costelloe at her home in South Dublin, photographed by Ruth Medjber for the series, Sin Scéal EileRuth Medjber Today at 06:30It’s a freezing cold January morning when I knock on Gill Costelloe’s door in South Dublin. I can already see flashes of neon through the front room window and I get an inkling this is going to be an interesting shoot. Gill wrote to me, asking if I could photograph her for this project. “I’m a big smiler so I’d like people to remember me for being happy, rather than for being the girl who died of cancer.”
Big-name investors could see millions wiped out after East Coast Bakehouse examinershipAnne Heraty and Enda O’Coineen among the investors in the biscuit makerHusband and wife team Michael Carey and Alison Cowzer in 2015. Photo: Jason Clarke PhotographyJohn Mulligan Today at 06:30The former Glanbia chairman Donard Gaynor and Business Post owner Enda O’Coineen are among those likely to see their investments in East Coast Bakehouse wiped out, after the Drogheda-based biscuit maker entered interim examinership this week.
This week's dilemma: Should I chose the sold reliable guy, or the one who makes me weak at the knees? (Photo: Getty)I’m dating two guys who I met on a dating app – both non-exclusively. One is solid and reliable. He has his life together, with a good job and a strong sense of direction. He’s the type of guy my mum would choose for me but he doesn’t make me weak at the knees.
How much money would I save if I lived in one of Ireland’s cheapest towns? Money reporter Saoirse Hanley spoke to locals living in some of Ireland's cheapest towns. Photo: Mark CondrenSaoirse Hanley Today at 06:30It’s no secret that Dublin is an expensive place to live. In fact, a 2025 report by Tradingpedia found that it’s the fifth most expensive capital city in Europe. Where can you eke out a cheaper way of life, spending less on everything from your morning coffee to your yoga class?
Planning permission for a high-performance rowing training centre in Co Wicklow has been refused by An Coimisiún Pleanála over potentially “significant adverse effects” on a type of goose found in the area. Rowing Ireland, the sport’s national governing body, had been granted permission by Wicklow County Council for the development at Burgage Moyle, near Blessington, in 2018. The site is of special conservation interest for greylag geese and lesser black-backed gulls. In response to Mr O’Sullivan’s appeal, Rowing Ireland said most of the existing rowing clubs using the Blessington lakes would use the facility. It said the change in location of the boathouse would be a “positive measure for roosting greylag geese”.
When I started school in Dublin, it was nice to see people from different cultures and different backgrounds. [ Adiba Jaigirdar Q&A: ‘I love balancing some of the heavier themes in my work with lighter moments’Opens in new window ]Ireland is a great place to be a writer. It feels almost like it shouldn’t happen in Ireland, because Ireland has faced colonialism, has faced discrimination in a worldwide way. I’ve always hoped that Irish people and Ireland in general know better and don’t fall for being anti-immigrant and racist. This interview, part of a series about well-known people’s lives and relationship with Ireland, was edited for clarity and length.
