Funeral of Garda Kevin Flatley takes place in Co Dublin
Garda Flatley died after being hit by a motorcycle as he was carrying out speed checks on the R132 at Lanestown, north Co Dublin. Video: Dan Dennison
Emmy performs "Laika Party" for Ireland's entry at the second semi-final for Eurovision 2025.
Cork-based singer/songwriter Martin Leahy marks three years of singing his song Everyone Should Have a Home outside Leinster House. Video: Dan Dennison
Syrians in Damascus celebrate after US president Donald Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and normalise relation. Video: Sally Hayden
Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 52,908 people since October 2023, while the total number of injuries has climbed to 119,721.
Hollywood icon Robert De Niro lambasted 'philistine' US President Donald Trump and his proposed movie tariff at the Cannes Film Festival's opening ceremony.
Released Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was reunited with family members after 19 months of captivity by Hamas. Video: Reuters
Dubliner Oscar Despard captained a team from Christ's College, Cambridge to victory in the final of the BBC student quizshow University Challenge. Video: BBC
The Irish Times chess columnist Jim 'JJ' Walsh (93) has retired. He has written about chess in the newspaper for close to 70 years. Video: Dan Dennison
The front facade of an unoccupied cottage in Ranelagh has crumbled and fallen onto the street, obstructing a footpath. Video: Dara MacDonaill
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Irish Times
41 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Proposed changes to rent rules will incentivise evictions, housing charity warns
Proposed changes to regulations in the private rental market will only act to incentivise evictions, the housing charity Focus Ireland has said. Its advocacy director, Mike Allen, said he was surprised by the timing of the move, which is expected to see rent levels in newly constructed build-to-let properties in rent pressure zones (RPZs) tied to the rate of inflation rather than capped at 2 per cent. It will also likely give landlords in affected areas the ability to reset rents between tenancies. Mr Allen, who has not been party to the proposals going to Cabinet on Tuesday, said they 'would clearly create incentives for landlords to evict their current tenants so that they could avail of higher, market-related rent for new tenants. READ MORE 'How do you make sure people are safe in those circumstances?' He was speaking at a Raise the Roof press conference on Monday. The trade union-backed group has announced protests over a lack of housing provision, scheduled to take place outside the Dáil next Tuesday, June 17th, and in Cork on Saturday, June 21st. Mr Allen also questioned why the rent moves did not come as part of a broader housing plan due this summer. Focus Ireland's Mike Allen, Siptu's Ethel Buckley, Kate Mitchell, of National Women's Council, and Patrick Nevin, of Irish Traveller Movement, at the Raise the Roof press conference. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw The reported plan is 'essentially a Government policy to increase rents' so as to stimulate investment, he claimed, but there was no reason to believe it would work. 'And if the only housing that can be produced is housing that people can't afford, then that isn't a solution to the housing crisis and it's very, very far from being a solution to the homeless crisis .' [ Housing RPZs: What will a new rental regulation system mean for renters in Ireland? Opens in new window ] Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney, one of a number of politicians to attend Monday's event, said the Government 'needs to answer the question: when is rent too high?' The Raise the Roof protest outside the Dáil at 6pm on June 17th, organised by Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), will coincide with a Private Members' Bill tabled by Opposition parties. Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said it would 'focus on emergency action, things that the Government can do now'. The measures, he explained, would include a faster return of vacant and derelict properties to social affordable use, as well as initiatives aimed at 'protecting renters'. Siptu deputy general secretary Ethel Buckley said the Government needed to ensure everybody had adequate housing and that workers were able to afford to live in the communities where they worked. 'This is a huge issue for the trade union movement,' she said, 'one that comes up with our members all the time because if they are not struggling with housing themselves, they have grown-up kids who can't afford to move out living with them or have other friends or family impacted by the crisis'. [ Average monthly rent exceeds €2,000 for the first time Opens in new window ] Other backers of the Raise the Roof campaign include advocacy groups representing women, the Traveller community, children and students. Meanwhile, the Irish Property Owners Association said it was concerned the proposed reforms were over-complicated and that a six-year minimum security of tenure would have 'a serious negative impact on private, non-institutional landlords, and on the rental market'. '[They] are unfair on the individual who – for good reason – wishes to, and needs to, rent out their home for a short period, and points to a flaw on the part of the Government thinking which – by going after institutional landlords – has ignored the implications for individual, private landlords,' said its chairwoman Mary Conway.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Leaving Cert student diary: ‘I've deleted TikTok and Instagram. Phones are a big annoyance for me'
The Leaving Cert dominates our lives like nothing else ever has – and hopefully never will again. It's such an intense set of exams. The Junior Cert was stressful for me too but, looking back, I don't really know why. The Leaving Cert is just on another level, and it's a shared pressure that everyone feels. The past three months have felt very long and drawn out, but I'm now in the thick of it and the end is in sight. The exams have been a mixed bag for me, so far. I was nervous going into English paper one, but very glad that I could tackle a short story. Paper two was tough, as the question on the poet Derek Mahon focused on the nuances of spoken vs written poetry, and it was unapproachable. Maths paper one was difficult but I preferred it to maths paper two. As for paper one in Irish, I was happy enough, and glad there were no particularly strange accents in the listening comprehension. READ MORE I'd love to study medicine, but I don't know if I will get enough in the HPAT (medical school admissions test). I've already decided that, if I don't get medicine, I'm not looking to repeat the year or apply to European universities. This is because I'd be happy with my second choice, engineering. I love art too, and I am doing it as a Leaving Cert subject, but it's not one of my college choices. But all study and no rest is counterproductive, so I try to squeeze in a walk every day. I usually go with my dad. We live in Glassan, Co Westmeath, where there's plenty of lakes, forests and nature, so it's a great way to clear the head. On our walks, I am future focused: what I want to do after school, how I will spend the summer, the big hikes I will have and the day trips I have planned. I'm also off to Lisbon for a city break with my sister During the summer, I want to take up taekwondo again. I have a black belt, but had to step back from it in recent months to focus on the exams. Another thing that I stepped back from is social media. I had TikTok, but deleted the app, and then I looked at it on the website rather than the app, so I deleted my entire account. Same with Instagram, where that quick, fast video feed draws you in. In general, I'm trying to be more conscious of my phone use, and put time limits on it, because phones are a big annoyance for me. I see people who are younger than me just glued to their phones. When I'm on the phone for too long, I feel anxious, so how can people who are 11 or 12 manage with such an addictive device?
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Opposition tables second motion to ban Central Bank role in approving Israeli bonds
Members of the main Opposition parties have combined for a second time to put pressure on the State to stop facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds through the Central Bank . A fortnight after the defeat in the Dáil of a Sinn Féin Bill to prevent the Central Bank's role in approving Israeli bonds for sale in the European Union , the Social Democrats have tabled a private members' motion calling for the exact same measures. The Central Bank of Ireland has a role in approving documents on bonds issued by the Israeli government, which have been described as 'war bonds' by the Opposition. The Bill would have prevented the Irish Central Bank from approving the prospectus that allows Israel to trade its bonds in the European Union. Israel traditionally had its European bond prospectuses rubber-stamped in the UK, but turned to the Central Bank for authorisations after Brexit. READ MORE Sinéad Gibney of the Social Democrats said the Government had insisted the State is not selling the bonds. She argued the fact remained that Ireland was 'facilitating' the sale of bonds within Europe. 'Countries sell these bonds to raise money, and in the case of Israel, that money is being spent on bullets and on weapons to kill people, and that's why we have to stop it,' she said. Ms Gibney, Seán Crowe of Sinn Féin, Duncan Smith of Labour and Paul Murphy of People Before Profit all spoke against the bonds at a joint media conference by the four main Opposition parties on Monday, and argued that by facilitating their sale, Ireland became complicit in the Israeli war effort. They said the Central Bank should have no role in approving the prospectus that allows Israel to trade its bonds in the European Union. 'What's happening is these bonds are basically going toward blood money,' said Mr Crowe. 'It's buying the bullets, it's buying the ammunition.' [ 'Repulsive'; 'obscene'; 'genocide': Dáil voices rise in unison over Israel's slaughter in Gaza Opens in new window ] He added: 'Is there anyone in Ireland comfortable with the fact that we're facilitating this blood money coming into our country and being spent on weapons that are killing men, women and children?' Mr Murphy said that in the past day Israel had seized a boat carrying humanitarian aid from international waters and 'kidnapped' activists, including Greta Thunberg . He said the argument of the Government 'boiled down to the fact that if they don't authorise the bonds, someone else in Europe will authorise the bonds, and they'll be able to be to be sold. 'We do not accept that we should be assisting in the sale of Israeli bonds used for genocide at all,' he said. Mr Smith said that Ireland may be doing more than other European countries but the bar was so low, it was nowhere near enough. 'This motion could send a clear signal that Irish people do not stand for the selling of Israeli war bonds. We are asking for the Government to legislate, on an emergency basis, for the Central Bank to ban those sales.' [ Harris praises Madleen volunteers for highlighting 'urgent need for humanitarian aid' to reach Gaza Opens in new window ] Ms Gibney said the Government had a very clear mandate of support for Palestine from the population. 'Other Member States have much more divided populations, much more gritty things to deal with in terms of getting people on board. The Irish Government has the mandate of the Irish people, and they should be leaders on this. And it is simply not good enough to say, 'if we don't do it, somebody else will', because that is the absolute definition of complicity. If we stand up and stop this, other countries will follow suit.' Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said during the Dáil debate at the end of May that the Sinn Féin legislation was 'unworkable' and inconsistent with EU law.
