How does a papal conclave work?
Philip Pullella, a Vatican expert, explains how the sequestered cardinals will elect a successor to Pope Francis. (Reuters)
100 days into the new Government, childcare campaigners protest at Leinster House calling on the Government to tackle the childcare crisis. Video: Dan Dennison
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced the deal on X, saying it 'signals the Trump Administration's commitment to a free, sovereign, prosperous Ukraine."
Michael Gaine's wife Janice (L) and his sister Noreen O'Regan (R) made a public appeal for help with the farmer's disappearance, now upgraded to a homicide.
Students from Dublin Gaelscoileanna protested outside Leinster House, calling for the Gaelcholáiste promised last September to be built. Video: Dan Dennison
Donald Trump has held a campaign-style rally in Michigan celebrating his first 100 days in office, with a speech in which he touted his 'economic victories'.
A protest organised by Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign has called on the Central Bank to stop regulating Israeli Bonds. Video: Alan Betson
Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has taken the BBC to court over a 2016 programme which, he claims, defamed him. Video: Enda O'Dowd
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals retained power in the country's election, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted.
In the first 100 days of his second term US president Donald Trump has been on the offensive against his adversaries. Video: Enda O'Dowd
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Irish Times
21 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘Quango Cull': Almost as many State agencies now as in aftermath of financial crash
The total number of State agencies has almost returned to the peak it reached before a so-called 'quango cull' was announced following the 2008 financial crash, information released by Government departments shows. A 'quango' is typically defined as an organisation to which Government departments have devolved some degree of responsibility, and which are, in most cases, funded by the State. Certain agencies, such as AirNav Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán, and the Home Building Finance Agency are self-financing and do not receive funding from the State. When in opposition in the run-up to the 2011 general election, Fine Gael promised a 'quango cull' and a 'burning of the quangos', believing there to be far too many in the State. There were almost 300 such agencies by the time tough austerity measures were announced in 2010. READ MORE A subsequent 2016 review by Dr Richard Boyle for the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) found a net total of 37 agencies had been abolished in the interim. Although 62 had been shut down in total, 25 new agencies were established over the five-year period. [ Vow to scrap quangos unashamedly populist Opens in new window ] Of the 62 abolished, just 10 ceased to exist entirely. The other 52 were either merged with another organisation or combined to create new bodies. However, newly released information shows at least 33 new quangos will have been created between the end of 2015 and the end of 2025. At least four more – including AirNav Ireland, which provides air traffic management – have directly replaced another agency. In replies to parliamentary questions submitted by Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness , 14 of the 15 Government departments disclosed new quangos established since 2015 (the Department of Health was not in a position to provide the information requested). The information supplied showed a total of 33 have been created, or planned, across the 15 departments, in addition to four that have been renamed or had their role expanded (including Coimisiún na Meán , the broadcasting and online media regulator, and AirNav Ireland). The Department of Justice has established the largest number of new agencies with 10 quangos introduced since 2015. They include Cuan (set up in 2024), the agency that deals with domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Other new agencies established under the Justice umbrella include the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation, which reviews the effectiveness of related laws; the Office for Community Safety; the Judicial Council; the Legal Services Regulatory Authority; and the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland. While the department could not provide information, several large agencies have been established in the health sector. They include Children's Health Ireland (CHI) and the Decision Support Service. Two more – a pandemic and emerging threats agency, and the Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority – are proposed by the end of 2025. Other significant agencies created in the past decade include An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority and Home Building Finance Ireland. Despite its early objection to 'quangos', Fine Gael's post-2011 coalition with Labour saw a more modest reduction, with an estimated 13 per cent of agencies abolished during that government's term in office. Details of more recent agencies were furnished in replies to a series of parliamentary questions tabled by Mr McGuinness who noted that during his time chairing the Public Accounts Committee, it had been difficult to establish how many there were. 'Many of these quangos are getting enormous amounts of money and because they are one step removed from the department, there is not a direct route to audit their finances by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG),' he said. 'The so-called burning of the quangos never happened. It's hard to see how many of them are adhering to good practices in terms of governance, as they are not subject to the same scrutiny as Government departments. 'We need legislative change to make the C&AG responsible for all those agencies,' he said.
RTÉ News
41 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Thunderstorms may rain on Trump's military parade
US President Donald Trump's dream of hosting a grand military parade in Washington on his 79th birthday tomorrow could be clouded by thunderstorms. Forecasters say there is a threat of lightning at the same time as nearly 6,000 troops, 50 helicopters and 150 armored vehicles are meant to roll through the capital, watched by thousands of spectators. The Republican has been unlucky with the weather before, as freezing conditions meant that his inauguration for a second term in January had to be held indoors and a parade was canceled. The White House vowed that a "historic celebration" of the US army's 250th birthday would go on even if there were "changes" due to the weather. "Any changes to the Army Birthday Parade will be announced by the Department of Defense or America 250 Commission," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP. "No matter what, a historic celebration of our military servicemembers will take place!" The army and the America 250 Commission, which is responsible for arranging the parade, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hundreds of anti-Trump "No Kings" rallies are planned on Saturday in cities across the United States -- although not in Washington -- in protest against what critics call the president's growing authoritarianism. 'Very big force' The rare military parade, the largest since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, comes after Trump sent National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles following protests. Mr Trump said on a visit to an army base on Tuesday that "we want to show off a little bit" with the parade, and vowed "very big force" if protesters try to disrupt it. The army says the event could cost up to $45 million. Nearly 7,000 soldiers will take part, wearing a variety of uniforms including some that date back through all of America's major wars since the Revolutionary War against Britain. Roaring overhead will be more than 50 helicopters including Apache gunships, giant twin-rotor Chinook transport choppers and sleek Black Hawks. Around 150 military vehicles -- including 28 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 28 Stryker eight-wheel vehicles -- will rumble past too. The route will take them past historic landmarks including the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, ending up near the White House. The parade is meant to end with a parachute display as the army's Golden Knights team jump in and present Mr Trump with a US flag. 'Believe in democracy' The event is being held on Flag Day, which celebrates the Stars and Stripes -- but it also coincides with Mr Trump's own birthday. Long fascinated with military pomp, Mr Trump has openly envied the military spectacles seen in cities from Paris to Moscow and Pyongyang ever since his first term as president. Mr Trump has been particularly obsessed with having a parade since his first term as president when he attended France's annual Bastille Day parade in Paris at the invitation of president Emmanuel Macron in 2017. "One of the greatest parades I have ever seen," Mr Trump said shortly afterwards. "Because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that." Back then he was put off by the huge cost -- an estimated $92 million -- and warnings that heavy tanks could damage Washington's streets. But after his return to the White House in January, Mr Trump would not be dissuaded again. This time, the army says metal plates will protect the roads from damage Such displays of military might remain rare in the United States. "We were founded by a group of merchants and farmers who were tired of a standing army invading their streets in the name of keeping them safe," Peter Loge, director of George Washington University's School of Media, told AFP. "We've always looked down on grand military parades in Russia across Red Square or in North Korea, because we're not like that. We're Americans, and we believe in democracy, not in military shows of force."
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: We failed to stop war in the Balkans, so why are we repeating this with Gaza?
In 2017, I visited Bosnia as part of my Erasmus programme to Croatia. In Sarajevo, I saw the bullet holes in the buildings, the fields on the edge of town lined with white unmarked pillars representing the dead. My friend and I cried in the museum that displayed the horrors of what happened there. About 100,000 people died in the war – 80pc of those victims were Bosnian Muslims. I wondered how the conflict lasted four years. Remember, this was in the 1990s. How was there no intervention? Surely that could never happen again, we thought. In 2025, history is repeating itself as we watch the genocide of the Palestinians, and this time there is no way to pretend we don't know what's happening – we see it on our screens every day. In years to come, the next generation will ask why there was no intervention. Why did no one stop them? I wonder will there be anything left of Gaza and its people. How many unmarked graves will they need to represent their dead? Aisling Brady, Drumcondra, Dublin US should learn from the North – putting troops on the streets solves nothing Northern Ireland's bitter experience with military deployment offers a stark warning to the US ('Troops on the streets is a chilling moment for democracy in US' – Editorial, June 12). Soldiers are trained to confront enemies, not to police citizens. Their presence rarely calms tensions; in fact, it almost always inflames them. We had troops on the North's streets for 38 years – a 'short-term' intervention that became a decades-long occupation. The recent deployment of not only the National Guard but active-duty Marines to Los Angeles – against the wishes of local officials – should trouble anyone with a concern for democracy. Sending troops to silence protest rather than address its causes does not resolve crisis. It hardens it. As protests spread over Donald Trump's heavy-handed immigration raids, the danger of irreversible escalation grows. There are reports that ICE officers have been tasked with making 3,000 arrests a day. Putting Marines on city streets in such a context risks turning political grievance into a national trauma. History shows us that once soldiers are deployed domestically, it becomes exponentially harder to withdraw them. As John F Kennedy warned: 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.' ADVERTISEMENT If America still values democracy, it would do well to learn from Northern Ireland's costly legacy before choosing force over dialogue. The military cannot secure the soul of a nation. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh With their RPZ policy, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made things worse Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil's perma-government seems incapable of understanding that endless, piecemeal and reactionary market intervention is not the answer to our housing crisis ('Entire country to be brought under Rent Pressure Zone in major change agreed by Government leaders' – June 10). By capping rent increases everywhere, from Ballyfermot to Ballycotton, and further curtailing the rights of 'large' landlords with more than three properties, the Department of Housing will do nothing except encourage non-corporate landlords to finally bail out and put their properties up for sale. More ads on property websites will offer short-term hope to first-time buyers seeking to get on the ladder, but only until they run up against the inexhaustible wallets of national and international vulture funds raising asking prices by tens of thousands of euro. The rest of us will be left to continue fighting over the scraps, as we have done for the best part of two decades. All the while, the Government's reluctance to reduce the swathes of taxes and regulations it has introduced, in a way that would encourage investment by developers and the return of construction workers, gets worse. The Spanish policy that places a 100pc tax on foreign purchases of homes in that country is a rare bit of reasonable socialism that our lads won't countenance. These new measures give a sop to louder elements who believe state micromanagement of irrelevant minutiae is the only solution to the housing crisis. Eventually, the incompetence starts to look wilful. Killian Foley-Walsh, Kilkenny town To those who find Pride 'irritating' – it remains just as important as ever At a time when right-wing governments all over the world, including some within the EU, are attempting to roll back rights for LGBTQ+ people, Pride is more important than ever. I note that Eric Conway finds it 'irritating in the extreme' (Letters, June 12). However, the annual celebration remains a vital expression of solidarity for a minority that suffered terribly at the hands of both church and state here until very recently. Long may Pride continue. Bernie Linnane, Dromahair, Co Leitrim De Valera's championing of the presidency should always be remembered I read with interest Thomas Garvey's letter on the presidency (June 11). The writer notes in particular that Fianna Fáil has not featured in recent presidential contests, having monopolised the office for so long. It is interesting to note that it was Éamon de Valera who created the office of president of Ireland. He did so in the face of the most virulent opposition during the debates on the introduction of Bunreacht na hÉireann in 1937. When the Constitution was debated in the Dáil, the office of the president was the single most contentious issue. It came up about 60 times and De Valera was accused of trying to impose a type of dictatorship along the lines of Hitler or Mussolini. Issues such as 'the special position of the Catholic Church' and 'women in the home' were minor by comparison. As it turned out, these fears were wild exaggerations and the office has evolved into the most respected of all our political institutions. De Valera waited until the end of his active political career before opting for the Áras – the Phoenix Park was 'the ideal paddock for the old warhorse'. Fr Iggy O'Donovan, Thomas Street, Dublin
