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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Ireland has issued a formal rebuke to Israel via the United Nations after Israeli soldiers fired shots into an area being patrolled by Irish peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday. The Government lodged the démarche, a diplomatic letter of protest, which describes events in the village of Yaroun as “completely unacceptable in terms of the safety of peacekeepers and the execution of their mandated duties”.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Met Éireann has forecast unsettled weather for this bank holiday weekend, with temperatures nearing 20 degrees but rain and wind in no short supply. Showery outbreaks will track eastwards this afternoon, with spells of sunshine and scattered showers following, according to the forecaster. Temperatures may reach highs of 15 to 20 degrees in the early evening. Those outbreaks of rain will then move into the west and northwest, gradually spreading eastwards again overnight.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
“Any hour I had, I was studying ... My downtime was a bit of Netflix in the shower,” says Colin O’Donovan, a grinds tutor and TikTok influencer currently advising students on how to prepare for the Leaving Cert exams. The quote is from a recent video in which O’Donovan explains how much study he committed to secure 625 points in the Leaving Cert in 2019. For all of sixth year, he says, he did “nothing but study to guarantee perfect results”.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Mid-season break may have its benefitsDamien Duff questioned the merit of the League of Ireland’s mid-season break this week, but results on Friday night suggest a small rest might be appropriate. Eight goals were scored across the five games, with half of them coming in Waterford and Drogheda’s 2-2 draw at the RSC. Even the imperious league leaders, Shamrock Rovers, looked lethargic as they played out a 0-0 against an admittedly impressive Galway United defensive unit.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Tens of thousands of music fans will arrive at outdoor festivals around Ireland this summer, hauling bags stuffed with battery packs and wet wipes for a weekend camping in a field they pray stays dry. It can feel like entering a separate society. Hordes of people mill from campsite to stage to food truck; queues form for everything from toilets to patches of grass; flags and art installations dot the site as community hubs.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Ireland is to lodge a formal letter of objection with Israel after shots were fired in the vicinity of peacekeepers in south Lebanon. The incident came during a joint Irish United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) and Lebanese Armed Forces patrol close to the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, on Thursday. None of the Irish personnel – who were recently deployed to Unifil as part of the 126th Infantry Battalion – were injured in the incident.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Ireland is to lodge a formal letter of objection with Israel after shots were fired in the vicinity of peacekeepers in south Lebanon. The incident came during a joint Irish United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) and Lebanese Armed Forces patrol close to the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights, on Thursday. None of the Irish personnel – who were recently deployed to Unifil as part of the 126th Infantry Battalion – were injured in the incident.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
The Lumineers, an American two-man folk band made up of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, are set to return to St Anne’s Park on Saturday, two years since their last performance there. The Dublin concert is part of their Europe and UK tour leg for their latest and fifth album, Automatic, that launched earlier this year in February. David Baron, the producer, has worked with artists such as Noah Kahan, Shawn Mendes and Shania Twain.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Cian O'Connell
Gardaí investigating the 1996 disappearance and suspected murder of Fiona Pender have finished a search operation in Co Laois. The search, the second this week, began on Wednesday close to Clonaslee, Co Laois, in the Slieve Bloom mountains, and continued overnight into Thursday. It follows an earlier search operation, at a location at Graigue, Killeigh, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, which finished on Tuesday evening. The results of the searches are not being released for operational reasons.
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1 week ago | 
gaa.ie | Cian O'Connell
Dean Rock, former Dublin footballer, pictured at the launch of EirGrid’s ‘Community Heroes’ campaign at Ballymun Kickhams GAA Club in Dublin. EirGrid, Ireland’s national grid operator, is shining a spotlight on the volunteers who power the GAA community across the country. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/SportsfileBy Cian O'Connell"The first year was probably challenging," Dean Rock reflects on retiring at the start of 2024.
