The Irish Times view on US foreign policy: Trump’s gunboat diplomacy
Donald Trump’s foreign policy doctrine for the United States prioritises relations with North and South America – the Western Hemisphere. This is clearly seen in Trump’s appointment of Pete Hegseth as his secretary of war, formerly defence. These moves willfully cut across international law to bolster US interests. The 21 attacks on small boats in the Caribbean since September, in which at least 50 people have died, are acts of international war without the legally necessary approval of Congress. Gunboat diplomacy on this scale, with this ethos, resurrects memories and charges of Yankee imperialism in Latin America.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 20:45 UTC
An activist looking to help hungry children over politicians hungry for the White House
Shore was an aide to Gary Hart in the Senate and in his presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988. Shore was also Bob Kerrey’s chief of staff in the Senate and helped with his losing presidential run in 1992. In 1984, when a brutal famine in Ethiopia was killing hundreds of thousands, he founded Share Our Strength, a hunger relief organisation, with his sister, Debbie Shore. He realised he’d rather help hungry children than politicians hungry for the White House. Hunger, Shore added, “is a solvable problem, relative to so many other things we care about.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 20:32 UTC
A deal with the devil: What will artists sacrifice to realise their ambitions?
This is the provocative premise of Yfel, a new comedy from Pan Pan, the Irish theatre company run by Gavin Quinn and Emma Coen. At the Yfel School of Performing Arts, the aspiring actors are ready to make a deal with the devil: there is nothing they won’t sacrifice. “I started working with Pan Pan when I was 16, in a youth-theatre project,” she says. One of them is Mazzy Ronaldson, who is making her Pan Pan debut in Yfel – and happens to be Faith’s partner of five years. Yfel, staged by Pan Pan, opens at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, on Saturday, December 6th, and runs until Saturday, December 13th
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 18:55 UTC
Taxi drivers’ protest raises interesting question on rights
The protests were part of a campaign by taxi drivers to get the Government to ban fixed fares introduced by Uber. In choosing how to progress their grievance, the Taxi Drivers Ireland group opted against industrial action or a strike which would have primarily impacted their customers. If the planned protests had proceeded, it would have been interesting to see how they were policed. There is a lack of unanimity among taxi drivers on the fixed fares. Knowing this, the Taxi Drivers Ireland group is asking the Government to close this option.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 18:07 UTC
Netanyahu expects to meet Trump to discuss new phase of Gaza plan
Photograph: Ariel Schalit/Pool/AFP via Getty ImagesIsraeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he will meet Donald Trump later this month, saying a second phase of the US president’s Gaza plan was close. Negotiations on the next stages of Trump’s plan to end the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave have been continuing. “I will be having very important conversations at the end of the month on how to ensure the second phase will be achieved,” Mr Netanyahu said. He also said the first phase of Mr Trump’s plan was almost complete. Violence has subsided but not stopped since the Gaza truce took effect on October 10th.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 18:01 UTC
Infant boy in critical condition after two-car crash near Dundalk in Co Louth
The infant boy, was taken to the Children’s University Hospital where he remains in critical condition. Photograph: Alan BetsonAn infant boy is in critical condition following a two-car collision near Dundalk in Co Louth. The collision took place on Saturday night, December 6th at around 8.20pm on the R132 at Dowdallshill, Dundalk. The passenger, the infant boy, was taken to the Children’s University Hospital where he remains in critical condition. [ Mourners remember ‘most perfect’ Chloe Hipson, killed with friends in Co Louth car crashOpens in new window ]
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 17:02 UTC
Christmas rituals assume women have endless free time – The Irish Times
But if I try to point to what it is I love so much about Christmas, it gets murky. Hochschild also gave us the “second shift”: the unpaid domestic and care work women take on after paid employment. Modern festivities operate on the assumption that women have endless hours to pipe royal icing onto structurally sound gingerbread like a yuletide tradwife. Call it the festive load, or the third shift: the disproportionate tasks needed to produce “the magic”. Cowan might as well have been writing about the festive season: every supposed shortcut simply widens the gap between “good enough” and “properly done”.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 17:00 UTC
The return of the dinner party: Expert advice on how to host a great night in
Don O'Neill cooks, and his husband Pascal Guillermie does the tablescaping for their dinner parties in Co Kerry. At-home dinner parties are back in fashion, but gone are the days of ceremonial white table linen and stuffy seating plans. Al HigginsAl Higgins hosts regular dinner parties with his wife Amy in their house in Stoneybatter in Dublin. I spent about €230 on produce for a recent dinner party, and there’s the time involved travelling around buying everything.”But the 39-year-old enjoys the whole ritual. “In wintertime, boeuf bourguignon is my go-to dinner party dish,” says Kerry-based Don O’Neill, who with his husband Pascal loves to entertain.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 16:31 UTC
Equivalent of two large hospitals needed to deal with expected Irish flu surge, doctors warn
Photograph: Getty ImagesUp to 1,000 hospital beds will be needed for people requiring admission for the flu as part of a surge in cases expected in the coming weeks, doctors have warned. The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said the equivalent of two large hospitals will soon be occupied by patients with flu across the State. Dr Gilligan said the surge in patients needing hospital admission has again highlighted the shortage of beds in the health system. “Crowding of acute hospitals both in their emergency departments and on their wards leads to challenges in reducing the spread of infection. It said 418 flu cases were reported in hospitals the week ending November 29th, compared to 213 the week before.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 15:29 UTC
Leaving Cert AI reforms risk making a mockery of the principle of equality – The Irish Times
Leaving cert reforms: The allocation of 40 per cent of the final marks to coursework is causing profound unease in every subjectLeaving Cert reform began in classrooms last August. Incidentally, 16.4 per cent of Leaving Cert students sat physics in 2001, and 12 per cent sat chemistry. [ Most secondary teachers will struggle to authenticate students’ work under Leaving Cert reforms, survey findsOpens in new window ]Teachers are supposed to have no input into the design of these experiments. [ Can the Leaving Cert be AI-proofed?Opens in new window ]Perhaps a saint would stick to these guidelines. It risks making a mockery of the slogan of Leaving Cert reform, equity and excellence for all.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 14:16 UTC
Imperfect Leinster beat Harlequins to get Champions Cup campaign off to winning start
Champions Cup: Leinster 45 Harlequins 28Leinster got there in the end with the anticipated bonus point although the scoreline could not mask more imperfections in both attack and defence. A young, remodelled and hitherto misfiring Harlequins also took a bonus point from a low-key pre-festive “marquee” fixture which was more ho-hum than ho-ho-ho. Photograph: Niall Carson/PAOn a wintry night in Ballsbridge, the musical interludes were, as always, an accurate barometer of the atmosphere. Maybe the home crowd were even more expectant of a rout after Leinster jumped off the blocks. Hardly a scrum ended up without a penalty, three of the first four going to Leinster and giving them plenty of access.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 12:11 UTC
Bringing the Ukraine war to its endgame is going to mean messy compromises – The Irish Times
Volodymyr Zelenskiy: Too many of those who say the Ukraine war is about international law, territorial integrity, war crimes, freedom and democracy portray the necessary talk of territorial concessions and security guarantees to end it as betrayal. If we have reached the Ukraine war’s endgame we need help to interpret what has been happening and what is now taking its course. Three narratives about the war based on moral convictions say it is about international law and territorial integrity; war crimes and genocide; freedom and democracy. “Ukraine must not lose the war, and Russia must not win it” sums up the better European pragmatic consequentialist approach. Ukraine has secured its sovereignty and path to the EU, Russia many of its war aims.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 10:52 UTC
Met Éireann issues status yellow weather warnings to affect all counties in coming days
The six counties of Northern Ireland are under a status yellow weather warning, issued by the UK Met Office, which is due to lapse at 3pm on Sunday. Met Éireann predicts a dull start for the rest of the country, with outbreaks of drizzle and occasionally heavy rain. Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford will come under a status yellow rain warning from 9pm on Monday until 9am Tuesday. The State will also be affected by a status yellow wind warning between 3am and 9pm on Tuesday. Met Éireann anticipates “very strong and gusty” southerly winds, with gales possible near coasts.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 10:36 UTC
What’s behind Trump’s power play in the Caribbean?
Not since 1989 and its invasion of Panama has the United States so ostentatiously wielded its “big stick” in the Caribbean. The ultimate target of this supposed policing operation is Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, for years the principal antagonist of the US in the western hemisphere. After several previous failed attempts to eject the Chavista socialist from power, Washington once again has the former bus driver in its crosshairs. The USS Gerald R Ford in the Strait of Gibraltar before arriving in the Caribbean. This psychological pressure campaign against Maduro is just the latest sign that under Trump, Washington has adopted a new more muscular interpretation of its interests in the western hemisphere.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 10:34 UTC
One in three income earners in Ireland don’t pay tax
Approximately one-third of income earners are effectively outside of the income tax net. Photograph: iStockThe lopsided nature of Ireland’s income tax base was laid bare in a Department of Finance report this week. It noted that the top 10 per cent of income earners here now generate 40 per cent of income tax receipts and 60 per cent of USC (universal social charge) contributions. Even more striking, approximately one-third of all income earners – equating to 1.2 million tax units (which can be an individual or a couple) – are effectively outside of the income tax net courtesy of the State’s generous system of tax credits. That’s because many of the top income earners work for the big US multinationals which pay the lion’s share of corporation tax.
Source:The Irish Times
December 07, 2025 10:31 UTC