Celebrations at New Year's Day ParkrunThere was a medley of celebrations at the special New Year's Day parkrun event at Mountlucas parkrun, held on January 1. Michael has been taking part in Mountlucas parkrun since July 2017 and has completed all but 14 of his 200 parkruns at Mountlucas parkrun. That's what makes the Mountlucas parkrun so special, everyone makes you feel very welcome. Mountlucas parkrun takes place at Bord na Móna Mountlucas windfarm every Saturday morning at 9.30am sharp. Whether you’re walking your first 5 km or picking up your 50th, Mountlucas parkrun offers something for everyone.

Poor sales have reportedly forced Apple to cut production of the Vision Pro headset that it had hoped would herald a new era in “spatial computing”. Counterpoint Research has predicted a 14% reduction in annual sales of virtual reality headsets. Apple has refused to comment on the reports that it is scaling back virtual reality headsets. Reports in the tech press said Apple had paused its planned next iteration of virtual reality in favour of wearable AI devices. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is also expected to cut back on its plans for a “metaverse”, which includes its virtual reality Quest headsets.

A vile grandson threatened his own grandparents with hammers and knives to fleece their pension money, leaving them with nothing to buy food or to heat their home. Mr Partington also sold anything of value - personal items and kitchen equipment - to feed his addictions, the court heard. Mr Partington was disqualified from driving at the time because of a bad driving record. The terrible saga was dragged out for around 30 months, the elderly couple said in a victim statement, after Mr Partington refused to move out of their front room. Since Mr Partington, of Pier Street, Plymouth, was remanded in jail the couple have been able to buy food and heat their home, even getting new furniture for their home.

A Dublin woman has been convicted of defrauding a friend of approximately €30,000 after exploiting the victim’s dream of investing in a Lanzarote bar, The Irish Times reports. Geraldine McGrath (57) pleaded guilty to three counts of deception at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The victim, who had spoken fondly of retiring to Lanzarote, used money from her wages, savings and pension to fund the fictitious venture. A detective told the court the two women had been friends since the 1970s and shared a holiday to Lanzarote. McGrath later claimed she was investing in a local pub and offered her friend the chance to invest through her.

Essentially, everyone who is aged between 23 and 60 and is earning more than €20,000 a year will be signed up to the new arrangement if they are not already enrolled in an occupational pension scheme at work. It was, quite clearly, an effort to use the occupational pension fund loophole to sidestep auto-enrolment. If contributions to occupational pension schemes did not at least match the structure of auto-enrolment, the workers concerned would still be enrolled in the new mandatory workplace pension scheme, the Minister ruled. So all told, from Day 1, 3.5 per cent of a worker’s pay is going into My Future Fund. Any employer offering a defined contribution occupational pension scheme will need to ensure that contributions to the scheme at least equal 3.5 per cent of a worker’s gross pay.

A journey from Hull to Chelsea via Strasbourg is unlikely to make the cut for Michael Palin’s next documentary. There will be those that sneer at Rosenior’s name even being mentioned in the same sentence as ‘Chelsea manager’. At both Hull and Strasbourg, Rosenior has earned himself a glowing reputation as one of the supreme developers of young talents. Rosenior took several of Hull’s experienced pros – those with backgrounds in the Football League, rather than Premier League – to new heights. Ultimately, with the squad at his disposal, Rosenior's Hull fell short in their promotion push, falling away during the business end of the season.

Holly Ramsay has defended her father Gordon's speech at her wedding to Adam Peaty, saying she felt 'overwhelmed with happiness' during it. In a new interview with British Vogue, Holly shared a photo of herself and Adam smiling and laughing during Gordon's speech. In a jibe at the estranged Peaty family, Holly revealed that her parents paid for her and Adam's luxurious Honeymoon to Mauritius, saying it was their 'wedding present'. With Adam's parents not in attendance at the wedding, they stood alongside the groom in the photo with Gordon and Tana alongside Holly. The Peaty family were all uninvited from the nuptials, aside from Adam's sister Beth who was a bridesmaid.

On the night of April 18, 1926, Ireland paused. A century on, the 1926 census stands as more than a demographic snapshot. The 1926 census was not Ireland’s first. The most arresting number in the 1926 census is not how many people lived in the Free State, but how few. Few questions in the 1926 census carried as much symbolic weight as the one on the Irish language.

“I think Ulster are probably in a better place than they were this time last year albeit it's always a really, really tough place to go. “I think Ulster seem very confident in themselves. ULSTER: J Stockdale; W Kok, J Hume, S McCloskey, Z Ward; J Murphy, N Doak; A Bell, T Stewart, T O’Toole; I Henderson - captain, J Hopes; C Izuchukwu, N Timoney, B Ward. Replacements: R Herring, E O’Sullivan, S Wilson, H Sheridan, D McCann, C McKee, J Flannery, J Postlethwaite. MUNSTER: M Haley; C Nash, D Kelly, A Nankivell, T Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, P Patterson; J Wycherley, D Barron - captain, M Ala’alatoa; J Kleyn, F Wycherley; T Ahern, J Hodnett, A Kendellen.

Usman Khawaja is widely regarded as one of the most polarising cricketers to don the baggy green - often generating headlines with his political statements. Khawaja revealed on Friday that the upcoming SCG Test against England will be the final match of his international career. But it was before that, while playing cricket as a child, where he was first subjected to racism. Khawaja was in and out of the team for the first four or so years of his International Test career. The Pakistani born opener has since peeled off a further six Test centuries since the 2022 SCG Test, and was even named as the 2023 ICC Test Cricketer of the Year.

A 35-year-old Irish man has drowned off a beach near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The man died at the popular Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island at around 11am on Wednesday, ahead of New Year’s celebrations getting under way. The man is among a number of people who have died in separate incidents off the Australian coast in recent days. Separately, a 45-year-old woman died at Dunbogan Beach in New South Wales later yesterday after getting into difficulties in the water. A man believed to have been on board the boat died at the scene near Palm Beach, while another man was hospitalised.

Gig: The KatesDe Barra’s, Clonakilty, Saturday, January 3Eve Clague of The Kates. TV: Dancing with the StarsRTÉ One, 6.30pm, Sunday, January 4Dancing with the Stars starts on January 4. Dancing with the Stars glides back with a new cast ready to tango, jive, and cha-cha for the nation’s approval. In Kilcullen Town Hall, Co Kildare, Threads of Connection weaves intergenerational stories into a community quilt rooted in nature, memory and healing. Nollaig na mBan at Whelan’s celebrates Women’s Christmas with poetry and music from Vona Groarke, Tolü Makay, and Jan Brierton.

The Northern Lights, also known as the Aurora Borealis, are described as "one of the most spectacular displays in the night sky". Best time to see the Northern Lights in the UK this weekendThe Northern Lights are now set to be visible in the UK this weekend for the first time in 2026, according to the Met Office Space Weather forecast . Where to see the Northern Lights this weekendThe Northern Lights may be visible to the naked eye right across the UK this weekend, according to the Met Office forecast, from Scotland down to southern parts of Wales. RECOMMENDED READING:What are the Northern Lights? The Northern Lights are caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

Looking back on Ireland’s environmental record in 2025, it is tempting to frame the year as one of contradiction. Across climate, water quality, biodiversity and land use, the signals were consistent and increasingly difficult to soften. Water quality and the derogation questionNowhere is this interaction clearer than in Ireland’s ongoing struggle with water quality. Yet by 2025, the environmental outcomes associated with that system were increasingly difficult to reconcile with the claim of sustainability. Ireland’s environmental challenges are not the result of ignorance or indifference.

Gabon’s government have announced the suspension of the national team, the sacking of the coach and kicked Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang off the squad in the wake of three defeats at the Africa Cup of Nations finals. Gabon’s Minister of Sports announced on television the suspension of the national team after they finished last in their group and were eliminated ⁠from the tournament in Morocco. “Given the Panthers’ disgraceful performance at the Africa Cup of Nations, the government has decided to dissolve the coaching staff, suspend the national team until further notice, and exclude players Bruno Ecuele Manga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,” said acting sports minister Simplice-Desire Mamboula after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Ivory Coast in Marrakech. Neither Aubameyang nor veteran defender Ecuele Manga played on Wednesday with Aubameyang having returned to his French cub Olympique de Marseille for treatment on a thigh injury. Disbanding the national team used to be a common reaction in Africa to disappointing results but since world football's governing body Fifa have taken a hard stance against government interference in the running of football associations, it has been a rare occurrence.