Joyce Fegan

2 weeks ago | irishexaminer.com | Joyce Fegan

The Irish tourism season is officially upon us, with many major attractions opening their doors this month as the influx of foreign visitors begins in earnest. However, with stark figures from the Central Statistics Office in March showing a 25% and 30% drop in visitors here in January and February respectively, compared to the same months in 2024, what exactly is the state of the Irish tourism industry ahead of the summer season, an industry worth approximately €6.2bn to the State?

1 month ago | irishexaminer.com | Joyce Fegan

"We tend to use the term 'addicted' as in 'addicted to our phones, to social media, to gaming etc' in quite a colloquial way. But it is not quite an accurate term to describe what we mean," says Dr Nicola Fox Hamilton. "Clinical addiction is a very specific thing where what you're doing is very distressing and it is seriously impacting on aspects of your life, like your relationships or work etc. "But for most people, that is not the level that we are doing these things at.

2 months ago | irishexaminer.com | Joyce Fegan

On January 24, Ireland was hit by the record-breaking Storm Éowyn, at its peak leaving 768,000 homes, farms, and businesses without power, and 130,000 without water. The damage was so severe and widespread that the ESB had to call in almost 700 crew members, coming from Britain, Austria, France, Germany, Finland, Norway, and Northern Ireland. "We have never had to call in that kind of assistance before," said regional manager at ESB Networks Siobhán Wynne.

Oct 1, 2024 | irishexaminer.com | Joyce Fegan

In 2018, the world received the drastic wake-up call — by way of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report — that we had only 12 years to keep an increase in global warming to a maximum of 1.5C. After that, even half a degree would significantly worsen the risks of floods, extreme heat, droughts, and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.

Oct 1, 2024 | irishexaminer.com | Joyce Fegan

Michael Smith has been raising his two young children aged seven and nine alone in Kerry since their mother died suddenly in 2018. Her death left the children without their mother, Michael without his partner of 16 years, and a family without access to social welfare benefits simply because the parents were not married.