It stated the work of the global OBC transfer project team organising the transfer will now accelerate. KOSTAL management said it accepts and understands there are continuing uncertainties about the transfer timeline that need to be clarified. KOSTAL announced in October 2024 that it was looking to reduce its workforce by 60 after staff were issued with a letter outlining the changes. Requests were made before Christmas for the Minister for Enterprise and the IDA to engage with KOSTAL to safeguard as many jobs as possible. The company previously intimated that it may invest in other forms of production such as spare parts and injection moulding.

Photo: Frank McGrathStudents at the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition "are going to accomplish incredible things in the years to come”, they were told today by someone who should know. Patrick Collison, co-founder of payment giant Stripe, won the competition 21 years ago and now runs the $100bn technology company with his brother John. He visited the RDS to meet some of Ireland’s brightest young minds whose work is on show at the Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, which is now sponsored by Collison’s firm Stripe. The student, from St Andrew’s College in Dublin, mimicked the growth of pancreatic cancer in the membrane of an egg. The overall winner of the 2026 Stripe Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, January 9, at 5pm, with a limited number of tickets still available to buy online.

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Irish consumer sentiment remained steady at a fairly subdued level in December, with a slight easing in cost-of-living concerns and continued encouraging news on Irish economic growth offsetting increased negativity about the jobs market. The latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Survey found that while there was no significant monthly change in consumer sentiment, the December 2025 reading was markedly lower than that recorded twelve months earlier. The past year has seen a broadly based downgrade of Irish consumer thinking in relation to economic conditions and their own financial circumstances. 'Worrisome year'This suggests that 2025 has been a worrisome year for Irish consumers, and those worries, for a range of reasons, continue to weigh on sentiment. Slowing labour marketIn contrast to thinking on the general economic outlook, sentiment on job prospects weakened in December, the survey showed.

According to Deloitte’s figures, there were 812 corporate insolvency appointments recorded in 2025 — a 7% decrease compared to 2024. The forecasted increase in insolvencies this year come as measures such as the introduction of the pension auto-enrolment as well as the increase to the minimum wage are expected to add to the cost of doing business. Services and the hospitality sector account for highest proportion of corporate insolvencies In total, 349 insolvencies were from the wide-ranging services sector, while the hospitality sector accounted for 16% or 123. Of the total in the hospitality sector, 70% were restaurants and cafés. The retail sector recorded 97 insolvencies, while the remaining insolvencies were spread across construction, 78, manufacturing, 54, transport, 27, wholesale, 15, and IT, 17.

Chris Robshaw has urged Harlequins fans to stick with the team despite the club’s recent struggles, insisting that the players are hurting just as much as the fans. But Robshaw defended the players, who he believes are just as disappointed as the fans about the downturn in form. "As a player, you know how the players are feeling and no one hurts or feels as bad and as guilty as the players. So the Prem is over, but we can use this opportunity in the Champions Cup to try to achieve something. It takes some time to develop but I think he’s doing really well.

France, Ireland and Hungary will vote against the EU-Mercosur trade deal when it goes to a vote in the European Council on Friday, their leaders announced on Thursday. However, the opposition of these three countries is not enough to block the deal, and it is still expected to pass. The deal was originally due to be voted on in Brussels in December and signed in Brazil the same month. December’s delay came after support from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wavered, and she sought more time to secure support for the deal domestically. If Italy had joined France, Hungary and Ireland in opposing the deal, their votes would be enough to block it.

State and federal officials have offered different accounts of the shooting, in which an unidentified ICE agent shot US citizen Renee Nicole Good in a residential neighbourhood. Demonstrators confront federal agents outside the Whipple federal building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, yesterday, after an ICE agent fatally shot a woman. One protester is removed by federal agents as tensions rise across Minneapolis. People gathered for a vigil yesterday in Minneapolis after Ms Good was fatally shot on Wednesday. Ms Good’s mother told the Minnesota Star Tribune that her daughter was not the type of person to confront ICE agents.

The woman’s legal papers referenced some real cases but misquoted them, the WRC was told. The adjudicator asked: “Ms Maclou, have you been getting a bit of AI assistance putting your case together?”“Of course, I’m just one person,” the complainant replied. One disclosure was on “equality and pay compliance” when “one person was paid paternity leave and one was not”; while another related to a data protection matter, Ms Maclou said. She told Ms Maclou she was to “take a look” at her August 2025 submission and “re-edit” it. The adjudicator adjourned the matter until the end of February for the exchange of new legal submissions.

In unusually strong and apparently uncoordinated remarks, Emmanuel Macron and Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned the postwar rules-based international order could soon disintegrate. “The US is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from the very international rules that it was until recently promoting,” Macron told France’s diplomatic corps at the Élysée Palace on Thursday. “Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively,” the French president said. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. There had been a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order”, said the president, whose role is largely ceremonial.

Brazilian beef containing banned hormones has officially been recalled by the Food Safety Authority. It was confirmed this week that beef containing banned hormones had accessed the Irish food chain and was now subject to a recall. Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman said this confirmation of the banned hormones infiltrating the Irish food system should be a wake-up call for the Irish Government. “In 2024, another EU audit found the Brazilian system to stop hormones entering the EU food chain could not be relied upon. Yet, hormones have now entered the EU and Irish food chain.

Charlotte Crosby has revealed her holiday in Dubai has turned from bad to worse after her fiancé Jake Ankers also had to go to hospital. Charlotte wrote on Instagram stories on Thursday: 'Cannot believe we are back at the drs again. Charlotte went on: 'You can see the raised red area around the graze and it's been really pussing and swollen and hot' (sic). The reality TV star and Jake had flown to the Maldives before their Dubai trip with their two daughters Alba, three, and 11-month-old Pixi. The TV star later uploaded an Instagram post of the holiday moments and wrote: 'Some photos from the recents since my mam arrived.

Arsenal have been dealt another injury blow after defender Piero Hincapie was forced off during the second half of the Gunners' clash against Liverpool on Thursday night. The Gunners are looking to move eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table with a win against Arne Slot's side. But Mikel Arteta's team have been dealt another injury blow. With the score level at 0-0, Hincapie, who the Gunners signed on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, was forced off against Liverpool. Arteta was also complimentary of his opposite number, Arne Slot, who's faced criticism this season amid Liverpool's weak defence of the title.

The tactic is among various plans being discussed by the White House for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US military. One source said White House aides were eager to carry over the momentum from the Maduro operation toward accomplishing Trump's other long-standing geopolitical goals. One of the sources familiar with White House deliberations said the internal discussions regarding lump sum payments were not necessarily new. In theory, payments could be used to induce Greenlanders to vote for their independence, or to sign onto a COFA after such a vote. Surveys also show most Greenlanders, while open to separating from Denmark, do not want to be part of the US.

Smaller than a grain of salt, the tech could revolutionise many fields including medicineRoboticists have built the world’s smallest autonomous robot, capable of making decisions, moving independently and surviving for months. “If you’re small enough, pushing on water is like pushing through tar,” assistant professor Miskin noted. When placed in a fluid, the moving particles drag nearby particles to move with them, creating forward motion. “It’s as if the robot is in a moving river, but the robot is also causing the river to move,” said assistant professor Miskin. “This is really just the first chapter,” said assistant professor Miskin.