Last year was the second-warmest on record for Ireland, Met Éireann says in its annual climate statement. The report revealed that the average annual temperature for Ireland was 11.14C – 0.97C above the most recent average and only the second time with a mean over 11C. Last year was only slightly behind the warmest year in 2023, when the average annual temperature was 11.21C. Winter finished warm and was followed by the warmest and sunniest spring on record, and the warmest summer on record. Last year was also marked by extreme weather events, with five named storms directly affecting Ireland, including Storm Éowyn, Storm Amy, Storm Bram, Storm Claudia, and Storm Floris.

England expect to discover later this week if their Twenty20 World Cup fixture against Bangladesh is being re-located. That is because Bangladesh wrote to the International Cricket Council on Sunday requesting that their matches be moved from India, following a deterioration of relations between the two Asian neighbours. Pakistan have long since been guaranteed to play their entire World Cup fixtures in Sri Lanka due to political tension with India. England expect to discover later this week if their Twenty20 World Cup fixture against Bangladesh is being re-located (Pictured: Captain Harry Brook, right, with Brendon McCullum)The ICC are not commenting publicly on the issue, but an ECB spokesperson said they hoped to be updated by the end of the week. Moving the Valentine’s Day match would be extremely complex, not least because England are due to play minnows Italy back in Kolkata two days later, before heading to Sri Lanka for the second stage should they qualify.

Now may be the time to recheck cattle two to three weeks after lice treatment. The advice comes from Teagasc beef specialist David Argue, who highlighted the importance of clipping and effective lice control in protecting cattle performance over the winter. Clipping also improves the effectiveness of pour-on treatments by ensuring the product reaches the skin. Without effective treatment, populations can build quickly, leading to severe irritation and skin damage. Injectable and pour-on avermectins are effective against sucking lice and mange mites, but only pour-on treatments control biting lice.

Ardstone subsidiary Sandford Living Ltd is making a renewed bid to secure planning permission for a €356m apartment scheme at the corner of Sandford Road and Milltown Road in Dublin 6. As part of its Part V social housing requirements, Sandford Living is proposing to sell 56 of the planned 562 apartments to the City Council for social housing. It has put a price tag of €1.03m on the largest three-bedroom apartment. The lowest price among the 56 proposed social housing units is €365,300 for a studio apartment. The report states that the proposed development is appropriate and has regard to recent national policy, which requires the densification of sites in core urban locations.

Photograph: Alan BetsonClimate change was directly responsible for some of the weather extremes last year, Met Éireann has said. The average temperature was 11.14 degrees. Climatologist Paul Moore said climate change was resulting in more extreme weather events such as Storm Éowyn. There was a marine heatwave in April and May, with Atlantic temperatures of 2-4 degrees warmer than average in offshore areas. It’s clear and obvious.”All of Met Éireann’s 25 official weather stations had above average temperatures for the year.

Interim head coach Darren Fletcher says it is beyond his wildest dreams to be leading Manchester United but insists he has not given any thought to replacing Ruben Amorim moving forward. “It’s an amazing honour to be able to lead a Manchester United team. Asked if he was interested in the job beyond this interim spell, Fletcher said: “Honestly, it’s not something I’ve thought about. “Hopefully it looks like a Manchester United team that represents a bit of me and what I know is Manchester United,” Fletcher said. Darren Fletcher enjoyed a successful career as a player at Old Trafford (Martin Rickett/PA)“I think we’ve got good players, and I think we’ve got players who care, and I think we’ve got a lot of quality in that team.

Dividing young GAA players by ability can be ‘very beneficial’, research findsBy Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press AssociationThe approach to divide young GAA players into teams based on their ability can be “very beneficial” if done correctly, a study has found. The process involves separating young players into different teams based on their ability, and is a topical issue as coaches put plans in place for the year ahead. Over the course of two months, Mr Moore interviewed 85 players, parents and coaches on the side of pitches at various clubs, both urban and rural, across Ireland. “The kids spoke really highly about that, the parents really recognise the value of that as well. “Streaming has the ability, has the potential anyway, to provide an appropriate level of challenge.

Elon Musk has been told to take urgent action to stop X's Grok AI tool generating indecent deepfake images of children and women. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the US tech billionaire must intervene after cases of the system being used to make sexualised images of real people were highlighted in recent days. Ofcom has made 'urgent contact' with Elon Musk's social media platform X after serious concerns that its AI tool Grok can generate 'sexualised images of children'. 'We are aware of serious concerns raised about a feature on Grok on X that produces undressed images of people and sexualised images of children. When requested for a comment about the sexualised images of children on the platform, xAI replied with an automatically generated email saying 'legacy media lies'.

The State’s population rose by 78,300 last year; average weekly earnings surpassed €1,000 for the first time and house prices rose by another 7 per cent. The Central Statistics Office’s Ireland 2025: The Year in Numbers neatly captures the two-tier nature of Ireland’s economy. The latter is perhaps the biggest reason why the median price of a home purchased in the 12 months to October was €381,000, compared with €350,000 in October 2024. Dublin had the highest median price for each of the first 10 months of the year, reaching €495,000 in October while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the most expensive area with a median price of €675,000. Those working in the information and communication sector had the highest average weekly earnings.

Antoine Semenyo is set for a medical at Manchester City hours after playing one final time for Bournemouth. Semenyo is scheduled to undergo medical testing on Thursday and could be in line to make his City debut in the FA Cup against Exeter City at the weekend. Liverpool had retained an interest in Semenyo, whose move will pocket former club Bristol City around £11m, but City pressed ahead to secure his signature early in January. City winger Oscar Bobb is wanted by Borussia Dortmund and other sides across Europe, while Guardiola’s defensive crisis has seen the club intensify interest in Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi. Antoine Semenyo is set to have his medical with Manchester City on Thursday ahead of his £65million move from Bournemouth

Taoiseach calls for China to accept Irish beefBy Cillian Sherlock, Press AssociationIreland has pressed China to reopen its market for Irish beef products, the Taoiseach has said. Micheál Martin has continued his itinerary in China with engagements on transport links and educational connections. Mr Martin met Chinese president Xi Jinping on Monday as part of the first visit to China by a taoiseach since 2012. “We now have 13 joint colleges and about 110 joint programmes and these involve the lecturing to students here in China by Irish colleges and it’s quite beneficial both to Irish colleges and to Chinese students and the Chinese colleges as well. “And that’s apart from the normal toing-and-froing of students coming to study in Ireland and Irish students coming to study as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate programmes in China."

Taoiseach Micheál Martin speaks during a meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photo: APIreland and China are both “major technological economies” which have transformed the lives of their people, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told one of the highest-ranking Chinese politicians during a bilateral meeting on Tuesday. In comments made to Zhao Leji, chair of the National People’s Congress of China, on the second day of his State visit, Mr Martin said both countries were linked by “ancient histories” and “strong tradition” with a focus on education and investment in skills.

Everyone’s talking about: Gut-health supplements – but is there any evidence they boost health? Pharmacy shelves are packed with items and supplements for your gut and its ongoing wellbeing, but what’s the science behind them and what do the experts think? Looking after your gut health doesn't have to be complicated. Photo: GettyErin McCafferty Yesterday at 06:30Walk into any chemist, partucularly at this time of year, and chances are the shelves are lined with a plethora of gut health products from prebiotics and probiotics to gut cleanses and gut resetting merchandise.

Members of the armed support init had to assist in the arrest of a man who allegedly barricaded himself in a store room at the Istanbul Market premises in Cork city and set off fire extinguishers that caused extensive damage. These were the allegations made by Sergeant John Dineen in the case against Kevin Buckley, aged 26, of 5C Shanakiel Place, Blarney, Co Cork, at Cork District Court. Judge Catherine Ryan accepted jurisdiction for the case when informed of the extent of the alleged criminal damage. Sergeant John Dineen outlined the background to the matter which related to the Istanbul Market, 55 North Main St, Cork, on September 22, 2025. Frank Buttimer solicitor asked for a precis of the evidence in the case to be given to the defence.

Officials involved in the national integration process are privately admitting the 2027 deadline for the amalgamation of the three Gaelic sports bodies will not be met. That acceptance comes as the Irish Examiner has learned several counties have yet to form integration work groups as they had been instructed by their respective organisations at national level. A number of GAA county chairpersons maintain the LGFA and CA should first merge before combining with Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. We set that target date then and it was and remains a relaxed target date. It is our target date for integration, for one organisation representing all codes to be in place in 2027.