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Irish Times
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Vape shops selling Dubai chocolate and Prime energy drinks branded ‘a new low'
An emerging trend in which vape stores have begun to sell highly sought-after sweets, drinks and snacks, including the viral Dubai chocolate bar , has been described as a 'new low' for the industry. The shops have started to stock food items rarely seen in mainstream grocery stores, usually labelled as 'American candy' or 'American snacks'. This is alongside the sale of trending food items and drinks often boosted in popularity on social media platforms such as TikTok , including the now-famous Dubai chocolate bars and Prime energy drinks . Chris Macey, director of advocacy with the Irish Heart Foundation , which has long called for restrictions on vapes, believes the development could 'normalise vaping in the eyes of children'. READ MORE 'Pairing sweets and vapes as though they are similar tasty treats represents a new low for an industry whose business model depends to a large extent on addicting as many young people as possible to nicotine,' he said. Mr Macey said the issue suggests a need to examine regulation of the promotion and sale of vapes in conjunction with sweets and 'other products aimed at children' alongside the 'brightly coloured' facades of vape stores. Fine Gael senator Mark Duffy, who described the move as 'predatory', said it has 'proliferated across the country'. Mr Duffy, who previously raised the issue in the Seanad after one such store opened in Ballina, Co Mayo, hopes to introduce a Bill this year to amend existing legislation and 'break up the association between vapes and things that generally attract children and young people'. 'If you just took out vapes and replaced it with cigarettes, you have cigarettes and candy. It's not a good look,' he said. 'I've had so many concerned citizens highlighting this. People take great offence to it in the community because of concerns for their children.' Mr Duffy said a landlord in Westport had terminated the lease of one such newly opened store late last year after public backlash. 'We need to have legislation that does not rely on the goodwill of a landlord but tackles it at source,' he said. Many stores also sell vaping products and jellies containing hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), a semi-synthetic cannabinoid that health officials have warned can induce psychosis . While several owners of vape stores selling popular food items did not wish to speak to The Irish Times, one said he has 'definitely' seen an increase in customer numbers since he recently began to do so. Asked if the move might be enticing younger people into the stores, he said: 'No, not really. We don't sell them to younger people. We check their IDs.' He added: 'Other shops, like Spar and Centra, have vapes as well, and they're selling ice cream to kids.'
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Ireland's subsea cables and gas pipelines 'very vulnerable' amid 'non-existent maritime security'
Ireland's critical subsea infrastructure is extremely vulnerable due to the under-resourcing of the Defence Forces and Irish Navy , a former TD and deputy commander of the Army Ranger Wing has warned. Ireland's maritime footprint is seven times the country's land area and is home to the majority of transatlantic data communications . Advertisement For example, the AEC-1 cable connects New York with Ireland, landing at Killala, Co Mayo. It is 5,534 km long and has been operating since 2016. The system primarily serves telecommunications providers, cloud service providers, content delivery networks, and enterprises that require efficient data transport solutions. These undersea cables are crucial to various aspects of daily life, including cloud storage and banking systems. Around three-quarters of Ireland's national gas is also imported via undersea pipelines. Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris has said he expects contract negotiations for the supply of advanced sonar technology to conclude within a number of months. However, the first sonar systems are not expected to be operational until July 2027, meaning Ireland is largely dependent on foreign navies to detect threats. In an interview with , former TD and soldier Cathal Berry said Ireland's undersea cables and gas pipelines are "very vulnerable". Advertisement "All our data centres, all our video footage of our families, our photographs are stored in data centres, not on our phones. We're hugely vulnerable because the umbilical cords between Europe and North America are very vulnerable." "There are about a dozen data cables coming into Ireland. More importantly, we have two gas pipelines coming in from Scotland, which are even more strategically crucial because Ireland has no natural gas." "We're the only EU country without any natural gas reserve. If those two gas pipelines across the Irish Sea were taken out, there would be about eight hours of gas left in the pipes." "About 15 per cent of our supply comes from the Corrib gas field, but that reservoir is drying up too. We also have two electricity interconnectors with the UK, which are important because we need them to balance out the grid." Advertisement "Our critical subsea infrastructure is very vulnerable and exposed, and we're very vulnerable and exposed because we're an island nation and we depend on it." He pointed to the lack of resources available to the Irish Naval Service, which he believes is at its lowest ebb since it was established in 1946. "These energy and data sources come in via the ocean. Unfortunately, our navy is at its lowest ebb — it's never been as poorly resourced." "Twenty-five years ago, when Ireland was a much poorer country, we could land a helicopter on an Irish Navy vessel. Now, we have no maritime helicopter capability and no naval vessel with a helipad." Advertisement "Fifteen years ago, we could put eight ships out to sea. Now, we can barely put out two. We have no permanent presence at sea. That is why drug cartels are taking full advantage — people trafficking, fugitives, guns, any kind of contraband you want. It's open season in Ireland because we have no sovereign force operating at sea." "We really are the weakest link. We're a major hub in international drug trafficking, particularly narcotics coming from South America into Europe. And drugs, like water, will always travel to the point of least resistance. That's why there's a lot of this activity off our coast." Mr Berry added: "If Russia or any country wanted to squeeze America and Europe, they would begin here. We have no Article 5 protection from NATO, and we have a policy of neutrality, but we haven't resourced that policy. It's like having a health or housing policy — if you don't resource it, it won't work." "The big concern is that we will wake up some morning and some of this critical infrastructure has been sabotaged or interfered with. Then there will be a lot of hand-wringing, reports, commissions of inquiry." Advertisement Mr Berry spent 23 years in the Defence Forces. During this time, he spent six years in the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) and served overseas in the Balkans, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2008, he led an ARW company in Chad. 'Decades of neglect' He said "decades of neglect" have led to the recruitment and retention crisis in the Defence Forces. "It's been decades of neglect and indifference, and this is where we are as a result. To be there is definitely a different attitude among Irish ministers who have travelled to Europe in the last five years in particular, they realise the concern Europe has for Ireland. "It's similar to the banking crisis when Europe was telling us 'you're accumulating this massive risk in the banking sector'. Ireland was laughing saying 'we've conquered economics, you're just jealous', then the banking crisis and housing crisis hit. "Our security crisis is no less concerning and it could also end with a catastrophe. "Ireland asked the international community to recognise it over 100 years ago, with that right comes the responsibility to police your own seas and waters." He said the problems facing the Air Corps should be another worry when it comes to the State's security and defence. "What's happening in the Air Corps at the moment, it looks like the maritime patrol squadron will have to relocate to Shannon Airport because the air traffic control tower in Baldonnel is office hours only. "That is saying the maritime squadron and patrolling our territorial waters is not a national priority. "When we were a poorer country we did man Baldonnel properly and we did recognise that there was a need for a properly functioning Air Corps. Up until 1998 we had subsonic jet interceptors, every year it is death by a thousand cuts. "There is €250 million of naval assets lying idle in Cork Harbour at the moment because we don't have the crew to put them to sea." Mr Berry said the current political debate about the triple lock is a "distraction from the real defence and security issues". Former KIldare South TD Cathal Berry was a deputy commander in the Army Ranger Wing. "These are the actual defence issues that matter, the elephant in the room. Unfortunately some politicans and wannabe politicians have gone down the rabbit hold of focusing on an esoteric, academic thing like the triple lock rather than dealing with the actual issues that matter. "The issues are that we can't put our navy to sea, we have no air traffic control in Baldonnel. The only Irish air base at the moment is operating 9-5, office hours only, five days a week. That is a crisis in anyone's language. "Wheter the triple lock stays or goes is irrelevant to me. But if it stays it should be applied to every occupation on the public payroll not just discriminating against soliders, for instance, it should apply to diplomats, politicians, trade missions, civil servants. The idea that it applies only to members of the Defence Forces is completely unnaceptable to me, if other occupations experienced the same level of extreme micro management they would have a very different view on it. "Our very fine soldiers, sailors and aviators have distinguished themselves across the globe for decades. If it is to stay, it should apply to all public occupations with only 12 allowed to travel together." Mr Berry said the Defence Forces is "fundamentally a people business" and that improvements in conditions for members will go a "long way to solving this crisis". 'Three Ps' "A ship, an aircraft, is only as good as the soldier, sailor or aviator crewing it. There hasn't been enough ministerial intervention, particularly over the last 10 years, to solve that problem. Ireland Changes to triple lock 'nothing to do with neutral... Read More "It requires a direct itervention from the Cabinet table to fix this. Our maritime security is almost non-existent. "If you want to solve the people issue it's the three Ps - pay, purpose, pride. "If you pay tecnichians and specialists propertly they will stay in the navy, if you provide people with the right resources they will have purpose. "Solve the pay and purpose piece, then people will be walking around in their navy and military uniforms proud of their jobs."
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Irish Times
For Valerie by David French: A very personal study of femicide that is ‘dedicated to the silenced women'
For Valerie Author : David French ISBN-13 : 978-1804583296 Publisher : Gill Books Guideline Price : €18.99 Valerie French , a mother of three very young boys, was 'savagely slaughtered' by her husband, the Central Criminal Court in Dublin was told last year. In a victim impact statement read in court, her brother David also said that her murder in June 2019 'was violent and prolonged, with multiple assaults and several major injuries ... She died in terror for her own life and the lives of her children.' He added that the fatal stroke suffered by their mother, also named Valerie, five months later, was 'a direct consequence' of Valerie's murder. James Kilroy, originally from Oldcastle, Co Meath, inflicted 57 wounds on Valerie when he murdered her outside their home near Islandeady, close to Westport, Co Mayo. She was the third Irish woman whose partner was charged with murder in the first half of 2019, a year in which 14 children lost their mother through domestic homicide. She was one of more than 274 women killed violently by a man in Ireland over the past 30 years, an average of more than nine a year. [ People convicted of killing their spouse face losing guardianship rights Opens in new window ] Kilroy, who is serving a life sentence for Valerie's murder, retains legal guardianship of the three boys that he abandoned when he fled on the night of the murder. He also has full ownership of their former home, whose mortgage Valerie's salary paid and which is mortgage-free under a life assurance policy, David French writes. READ MORE As godfather to Valerie's sons, he attended all of the preliminary court and inquest hearings and every day of the trials. He wants Irish laws changed to ensure that men who kill their partners are automatically prevented from having a say in the children's lives. His distressing and important book is 'dedicated to the silenced women'. It distils much of David French's extensive reading about femicide and domestic abuse in Ireland and abroad. It will not ease the shock and horror of the family and friends of the next women to be murdered by a male partner, but it will give them valuable advice and it will show them that they are not alone in their suffering and loss.
BreakingNews.ie
24-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Plans for Mayo data centre opposed by Sally Rooney stalled after appeal
Contentious plans to proceed with a data centre in Co Mayo opposed by international best-selling author, Sally Rooney have been stalled. This follows a third party appeal lodged with An Bord Pleanála against Mayo County Council's decision to grant planning permission last month to Mayo Data Hub Ltd for a data centre at Mullafarry and Tawnaghmore Upper, Killala. Advertisement One of the objectors to the data centre, Colin Doyle from Station Rd, Ennis, Co Clare has lodged the third party appeal. The data centre for a site, located 1.8km to the south of Killala and 10.5km to the north of Ballina, will require 50MW average electrical power to operate. A planning report lodged with the application by John Spain Associates states that proposed development "will attract complementary technology-based companies within the ICT sector and complementary industries to the west of Ireland which will provide for higher paying jobs and activate the local economy'. The planning report also states that the electricity grid in the west of Ireland is currently unconstrained with sufficient capacity to accommodate the required connection for the data centre. Advertisement The report states that the project 'was in fact situated in this part of Ireland after consultation with Eirgrid because this location is outside grid constrained areas and in a region with a surplus of renewable power'. In his original objection with the Council, Mr Doyle stated that his main concern was indirect greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) generated by the data centre and the resulting impact on climate. In her own objection to the centre, Sally Rooney told the Council that 'I urge you in the strongest possible terms to refuse planning permission for this wasteful, unnecessary and environmentally toxic proposal'. Ms Rooney said that she was making this submission 'as a resident of Co Mayo and a concerned citizen.' Advertisement The Normal People and Intermezzo author said: "Climate change represents an immediate and unprecedented threat to our way of life here in Mayo and to the future of human life around the world'. She said: "Unless we act now to stop runaway overheating, children born today are likely to witness a catastrophic breakdown of global civilisation.' Ms Rooney said that in 2023, 'private corporate data centres accounted for 21 per cent of Ireland's total electricity usage – more than all urban households combined'. Ms Rooney said: 'The truth is that these data centres exist largely to support online advertising. Some estimates suggest that online ads account for 50 per cent of internet data usage; others put the figure between 60 per cent and 80 per cent. Advertisement She said: 'Whatever the specific figure, online advertising is extremely energy-intensive and is increasing in scale all the time, requiring more data centres, more energy, and more fossil fuels. Ms Rooney said: 'Advertising, needless to say, is pointless. It adds no value to the real economy. It does not improve the overall quality of life for anyone. It is an utter waste of resources. At the best of times, this seems a shame; at a time of urgent global crisis, it is a catastrophe.' "Wasteful consumption of electricity is a disaster. Not only does it drive energy prices upward for ordinary consumers; it also increases the total demand for energy and thus the total demand for fossil fuels' Ms Rooney said that as the applicants have conceded that the project will result in the emission of more carbon dioxide" into our already overheated atmosphere". Advertisement She said: 'This additional atmospheric carbon will contribute to climate change not only here in County Mayo, but everywhere on the earth, as part of the catastrophic planetary crisis that is global warming.' Ms Rooney further contended that 'Carbon credits' and 'offsetting programmes' deployed by operators of data centres 'act only as a smokescreen for corporations that want to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for profit'. She said: "These gases have already been responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, and in the coming years we can be confident they will claim the lives of thousands more. No complicated EU policy instrument can wave that fact away.' In her six page submission, Ms Rooney further states that 'Not only would this proposed data centre represent a wasteful use of precious and limited electricity; it could also endanger that vital resource for other users, including hospitals and homes.' A decision is due on the appeal in September.
Irish Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Poem of the Week: The Walk Out
She saw it coming: the cold pit in the bed, his irregular hours, strolling in with expectation for dinner, a rub of her legs. She wondered if he had a second family, like in the films: a better-dressed wife pops up at a patriarch's funeral, towing two children with his eyes. She heard the door in the morning —like a departure for work, imagined dew on the windscreen, pink sky, squabbling birds— after a night of straying, his soft steps on the stairs a too-needed snuggle, sour breath close to hers. When it happened, she didn't know it would be the last time, that tired cliche. Her hands in his hair, the rumble of his throat. When she woke, an indent in the pillow was all that remained. She felt nothing but normal as she packed lunches, swept floors, filled bowls. In the weeks that followed, she told herself he'd return. She wasn't the first woman scorned, to be a doormat to an ungrateful—No, she stopped herself. He'd be back. Eventually, the child asked, mum, where's the cat? Alice Kinsella is the author of Milk: on motherhood and madness (Picador, 2023). The Ethics of Cats (Broken Sleep Books, 2025) is her debut full-length poetry collection. She is an Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Artist, and lives in Co Mayo
