Only one man can wear the No.10 jersey, whether that be for Leinster or for Ireland, but Tyler Bleyendaal is perfectly comfortable with swapping Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne in and out as needs must. Byrne has bagged significant game time since his return from his short-term loan to Bristol Bears last season. And the team needs to be confident to play and not be solely reliant on the one guy. The expected return of Joey Carbery to Leinster next season could blur this canvas even more but, with Leinster about to travel to France, the focus lies on the two out-halves currently available to them. Not so much a passing of a torch in the bid for Leinster and Ireland primacy as a seizing of it, some would say.

Government to introduce new rules to limit data centres’ electricity useThere will be a requirement to co-locate with renewable energy sourcesData centres already use over a quarter of the country's power output. Stock image: GettySenan Molony Today at 06:30The Government is to ­introduce rules to prevent giant data ­centres from using a disproportionate amount of electricity.

Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke is to brief Cabinet colleagues on a plan aimed at sustainable data centre development in Ireland. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke is expected to seek approval for legislation that would transpose the EU’s AI Act into Irish law. Separately, Mr Burke is to brief colleagues on a plan aimed at sustainable data centre development in Ireland. The plan provides for “limited development” of data centres and other energy-intensive industrial facilities in places where there is generation capacity though the companies must co-locate development with renewable energy resources. Minister for Higher Education James Lawless is to update the Cabinet on a report about delivering infrastructure including addressing construction skills and workforce shortages.

Photograph: Getty ImagesHome-building activity in Ireland fell for the eighth straight month in December as all three sectors of the construction industry recorded a decline in activity. John Fahey, senior economist at AIB, said that while activity in the home-building sector had declined for the eighth month in a row, the pace of that “contraction was the mildest since May”. Any figure greater than 50 indicates expansion of activity in the sector; a figure less than the break-even mark represents a contraction of activity. Commercial activity contracted for a second successive month, the survey indicated, while activity in the civil engineering sector remains the weakest of the three. While other industries in the economy have seen input price inflation ease in recent months, the construction sector has continued to see inputs rise in cost.

It cited the high cost of the daily delivery service and the expense to the company of pay increases to staff. Letter volumes declined by 7 per cent in the past 12 months and by more than 50 per cent since 2016. It cited a 90 per cent decline in letter volumes since the start of the century. Removing this obligation would have implications for staffing levels and generate a huge political row around the provision of services in rural Ireland. Whether through action by our politicians or regulators or the effect of punishing annual price increases, the days of the daily letter delivery service here appear to be numbered.

Construction activity continued to fall in December, but an increase in new orders and expanded employment presented a more “upbeat picture” for the sector heading into 2026, the latest AIB Construction Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) shows. However, this is still below the 50 mark which indicates the sector went through a contraction during the month. This is the eighth month in a row the sector recorded a reduction in activity, but it is the slowest fall in activity since June 2025. Homebuilding activity declined for an eighth month in-a-row, although the pace of contraction was the mildest since May,” he added. The continued reduction in activity in the homebuilding sector is continuing to impact the housing crisis.

Author Ryan Cahill, 33, from Palmerstown on selling hundreds of thousands of fantasy books, career U-turns, and returning home to Ireland after relocating to New Zealand‘I started writing seriously when Covid hit. At the time, I was a science fiction fan and a biochemist. I studied pharmaceutical biomedical chemistry in Maynooth and I then worked in various areas, including immuno-oncology, over a period of eight years. At the time, I was also a musician and used to play gigs during the week. Then Covid happened, and we literally had nothing to do.

Billions for farming, but fewer farmersHow €2.1bn in payments is reshaping rural Ireland and why it isn’t fixing the succession crisisMembers of the Independent Farmers of Ireland block traffic on Dublin's St Stephen's Green in protest at beef prices in 2019. Photo: PACiaran Moran Today at 06:30Irish farmers received more than €2.1bn in Department of Agriculture payments in 2025, a record level of support that underlines just how central public money has become to the rural economy.

Home-building activity declined for eighth month in a rowConstruction activity in Ireland fell again last month, although there were signs of an improvement in the sector, the latest AIB Ireland Construction PMI has found. The total activity index came in at 48.4 in December, with any reading below 50 meaning activity fell in the month. There was a continued fall in activity in all three main areas of construction – housing, commercial and civil engineering. Housing construction performed best of the three, with its activity index at 49.0 showing the smallest fall in seven months. “The AIB Irish Construction PMI survey for December showed a further fall in building activity levels at the end of 2025,” John Fahey, AIB senior economist said.

US president Donald Trump’s continuous talk about the forceful annexation of Greenland is raising ­questions few imagined would ever be asked. In response, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, said that seizing Greenland would represent the end of the Nato alliance. A disastrously dangerous precedent of dissolving agreements between European states recognised since the end of World War II would be set. As to US security guarantees, what would they be worth in a paradigm where Nato itself was being threatened by Washington? Is history not there to remind us that superpower, exercised without super caution, can only end ruinously?

Heir apparent of the exiled Iranian monarchical dynasty, Reza Pahlavi has urged Iranians to continue their mass protests until the 47-year-old Islamic republic has fallen. The son of the last shah of Iran has called for a referendum to determine the polity of a successor regime and pressed monarchists to take part in the demonstrations. During his father’s coronation in 1967, Reza Pahlavi was named crown prince. When his father went into exile in Egypt, Reza Pahlavi enrolled at the American University in Cairo but did not complete his degree. After his father’s death in 1980, Pahlavi, then aged 20, proclaimed himself shah of Iran.

Athlone District CourtMen in court following New Year ‘fracas’Two men involved in an alleged “fracas” in the early hours of New Year’s Day have appeared before a sitting of Athlone District Court. The court heard how gardaí on beat at 2.50am on January 1, came across a fight breaking out on Church Street, Athlone. It is alleged that Mr Alkhalaf had produced a glass bottle in the course of a dispute. He was uncooperative with gardaí and had to be pepper sprayed, which caused him to flee, and to drop the bottle, the court heard. Both men were remanded on bail to reappear before the court on February 11, 2026.

As the survey notes, the city deteriorated from “seriously unaffordable” to “severely unaffordable” in 2024, with a median multiple of 5.1. This year’s survey shows it has one “severely unaffordable” market – Perth – and four “impossibly unaffordable” cities – Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. Auckland now has a “severely unaffordable” median multiple of 7.7, still some way north of Dublin’s level. While the median multiple is 5.4 times income across the country, three of the six locations are rated “severely unaffordable” or “impossibly unaffordable”. You will need just 3.2 times the median income here to buy a typical home, well below the Central Bank’s four times income rule.

The Oireachtas justice committee will be told that overcrowding is an 'affront to human dignity'. Photograph: Enda O'DowdChronic overcrowding in the Republic’s prison system led to more than 600 inmates being obliged to sleep on mattresses earlier this month. The State has 4,718 prison spaces, but on January 7th, 5,761 people were incarcerated, leaving 613 prisoners without a bed. [ Complaints from Mountjoy Prison Opens in new window ]It follows a scathing annual report by the OIP published in November, which set out such overcrowded conditions. In his opening remarks to the committee, chief inspector of prisons Mark Kelly will say the situation is “inhuman and degrading, unworthy of Ireland in 2026″.

Other days, its filling in reports, or reading over a chapter I’ll be teaching, or one of the frequent circulars from the department. Teaching, for me, is a job that takes place in school and not one where it continues at home. But these are all gone now and teaching, like many professions, has become an increasingly lonely profession. The non-teacher asked us what the main part of our job during class time is, what are we actually doing. These are increasingly rare in teaching, as they are in many professions.