‘This is a godforsaken place’: A despairing letter from a garda stationed in Tipperary in 1940
Some years ago here, I wrote about a visit to the “remote” (my description) Tipperary outpost of Rearcross. The column was mostly about the village’s pretty tin church which, as I said, looked like a little piece of New England dropped among the Slieve Felim Mountains. But reading it in retrospect, I might have been inclined to apologise for calling the place “remote” – a bad habit of Dublin journalists – on the grounds that nowhere is remote if you live there. It was written by a garda newly stationed in Rearcross in 1940. But, remote as the place may have seemed, it hadn’t been remote enough for the IRA’s purposes.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 19:08 UTC
‘I know I won’t stay in Vancouver forever. But I’ll return different’
'Joanne and Vogue’s podcast kept me company, their familiar laughter carrying a part of home far away from home.' One year ago, I arrived in Vancouver with no familiar faces, no clear path, and a head full of dreams that felt just beyond reach. It’s a story that might feel familiar to anyone who has ever packed their life into a suitcase and stepped into the unknown, hoping the ground would appear beneath their feet. Every moment of discomfort was planting something that would one day bloom into the life I’m living today. I know I won’t stay in Vancouver forever.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:48 UTC
Fianna Fáil TD accuses Fine Gael of trying to ‘undermine’ party over Ivan Yates training
Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins: 'It’s not really any of Fine Gael’s business what media consultants or media trainers Fianna Fáil use.' Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish TimesA Fianna Fáil TD has accused Fine Gael of trying to “undermine” his party by raising concerns over training provided to some of its senior figures by Ivan Yates. Six senior Fianna Fáil politicians, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin, were also given media training by Mr Yates. The revelations that Mr Yates had provided services to Fianna Fáil was “not new news”, the Limerick County TD said. It’s a matter for Fianna Fáil, who Fianna Fáil engages as a media coach or indeed as a consultant.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:44 UTC
‘His good name will probably never recover’: DJ Carey begins 5½ years in prison
Former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey was once considered an icon. File photograph: Patrick Bolger/Inpho“A final comment,” said Judge Martin Nolan before DJ Carey turned to go. On a busy day in Court 5, DJ Carey was nobody special. At 1.06pm, after a hectic morning during which 32 cases had passed through the court, Judge Nolan announced there was a sentencing matter to be dealt with before lunch. DJ Carey arrives at the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin on October 31st.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:42 UTC
‘Irish people really value privacy. In Greece it is completely different’
Annie Angelopoulou had never been to the west of Ireland before she moved in 2017 from her native Greece to Ennis, Co Clare. When friends from Austria, the Netherlands and Slovakia heard she was moving Ireland, she says they said: Are you crazy? One aspect of life in Ireland she appreciates is that she finds people value privacy. Irish people will first text or call and say: ‘Will you be available?’ In Greece it’s completely different. I was completely, you know, like a fly in the milk.”Annie Angelopoulou at home in Ennis Co Clare.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:36 UTC
‘I’ve no idea how to help ensure my son completes the CAO application process properly’
'If I have one piece of advice for parents, it is to ensure your child reads the 2026 online CAO Handbook carefully.' Photograph: Getty ImagesQuestionMy son is sitting the Leaving Cert next June and his school has advised us that the CAO application process will open today. As a first-time parent, I’ve no idea how to help ensure he completes the application process properly. If I have one piece of advice for parents, it is to ensure your child reads the 2026 online CAO Handbook carefully. It is also vital to remind your son to deal promptly with any correspondence from the CAO.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:02 UTC
Third-level students, staff unlikely to lodge formal complaints of harassment or violence
Data collected by the Speak Out platform shows fear of inaction as the most common reason why most incidents are left unreported by students and staff. Fewer than one in eight third-level students who anonymously disclosed experiences of bullying, assault or sexual violence over a two-year period felt comfortable making a formal report to their Higher Education Institution (HEI). Discrimination was noted in 18 per cent of staff cases, compared to 13 per cent of student cases. Bullying accounted for 382 reports, 35 per cent of staff cases and 19 per cent of students. Across the board, reporters were predominantly women, at 71 per cent for students and 80 per cent of staff.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 18:01 UTC
Alarm at claims of cheating in electricians exam
'Compromised' exam papers were alleged to have been shared with apprentices hoping to qualify as electricians in advance of assessments. The claims raised fears for the public from potentially unqualified electricians. Other “compromised” exam papers were alleged to have been shared with apprentices hoping to qualify as electricians in advance of assessments. And in the detritus of its disastrous presidential campaign, Fianna Fáil now finds itself in its Maud Gonne era. Path to Power told The Irish Times it “had no knowledge of any professional relationship between the Minister and Ivan Yates”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 16:52 UTC
The Irish Times view on delivering major projects: slowly, the State plans to speed up
The broad outline of a likely Government response to one of the most pressing public policy problems facing the State – the slow pace of infrastructure development – is emerging. A Cabinet committee on Monday considered a report from a taskforce charged with making recommendations on how to get things moving. A key reason why progress on housing and infrastructure has been so slow is that there is significant opposition to many developments. Dealing much more effectively with complaints is vital and the judicial review process is clearly in need of reform. Ministers need to commit to an agreed timeline and be prepared to move heaven and earth to stick to it.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 05:39 UTC
Company sues over use of allegedly confusingly similar name
AlphaSights Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales, is suing AlphaSense Inc and its Waterford-based subsidiary Tegus Ltd over its use of an allegedly confusingly similar name. Photograph: Getty ImagesAn Irish registered company and its US parent are being sued in the Commercial Court for infringement of its trademark logo. AlphaSights Ltd, which is registered in England and Wales and provides expert network services for a variety of businesses, is suing AlphaSense Inc and its Waterford-based subsidiary Tegus Ltd over its use of an allegedly confusingly similar name. AlphaSense and AlphaSights are currently involved in pending litigation in the US and England, he said. In its Irish proceedings, AlphaSense is also seeking damages and an injunction prohibiting the defendant from passing off its trademark.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 05:05 UTC
Social justice campaigner and Focus Ireland founder Sister Stanislaus Kennedy dies aged 86
The death has been announced of social justice campaigner and homelessness advocate Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, known to many as Sr Stan. Sr Stan died on Monday morning after a short time at the St Francis Hospice, Blanchardstown. She went on to earn a bachelor of social sciences and a master’s in social policy from University College Dublin, graduating in 1969 and 1980 respectively. “People thought at that stage that there weren’t women homeless, because they were invisible, there were only men,” she said. Focus Ireland head of communications Roughan Mac Namara remembered Sr Stan as “a lively spirit” who was “years ahead of her time”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 03:02 UTC
Former Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates no stranger to controversy
Ivan Yates’s exhortation to Fine Gael during a Newstalk podcast to “smear the bejaysus” out of Catherine Connolly in the presidential campaign was true to form for the broadcaster and former politician. Since arriving in the media industry in 2010, Yates’s trademark approach has been to stir controversy with colourful language. The 66-year-old Wexford man has made a career out of seizing opportunities that benefit himself and making no excuses for it. Because he was a free marketeer and from a Church of Ireland background, he gravitated towards Fine Gael. His Dáil career lasted 20 years, much of which was spent on the Fine Gael front bench, often as spokesman on agriculture.
Source:The Irish Times
November 04, 2025 02:42 UTC
Government’s new housing plan will affect property valuations for years, auctioneers say
The political decisions the Government is going to make in its imminent new housing plan will impact property valuations, residential and commercial, for years to come, auctioneers and valuers have said. Ms McGuirk, a former head of education at IPAV, said property valuations are a “critical element” of a properly functioning economy, with “much to be learned from the financial crash in advance of which property valuations were not taken seriously enough by lenders”. Sinn Féin spokesman on housing Eoin Ó Broin has said that the Government’s new housing plan, due to be launched in November, must prioritise ending homelessness by 2030. “The Minister for Housing James Browne is due to publish his new housing plan in the coming weeks,” he said. “To achieve this the plan must include a dramatic increase in funding for and targets for social and affordable housing.
Source:The Irish Times
November 03, 2025 22:58 UTC
The ethos of the Dublin Six: ‘Classic, timeless pieces that are not going to date’
Duke and Grant had worked together at John Rocha. The venue became a showcase “for our vision and shared ethos”, Grant says, “a one-stop shop where customers could buy”. “It’s the person who loves to support Irish design and who takes her time to choose,” Grant says. “She’s not into trends, preferring classic, timeless pieces that are not going to date, but is still interested in fashion. Photographer Aoife Louise Walsh; MUA Amanda Ribeiro; models Bláthnaid McKenna, Mary McHale, Perrin Winders, Nikki Bonass and Maria Oxley Boardman
Source:The Irish Times
November 03, 2025 22:54 UTC