Irish parties pledge increased investment after coalition deal
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Ireland’s two major centre-right parties finalised a coalition deal with independent lawmakers on Wednesday that will return Micheal Martin as Prime Minister and continue the previous government’s high spending economic policy. The Fine Gael and Fianna Fail-led government pledged to increase public sector investment, fix infrastructure deficits and cut taxes after securing […]
Ireland’s centre-right parties close in on re-election, likely to need new partner
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Ireland’s two large centre-right parties looked set to be returned to power after an election on Friday, but will likely need at least one smaller partner to secure a majority, raising questions over the stability of the next government. That could result in prolonged negotiations or an unstable coalition ahead of the […]
Sinn Fein tops Irish exit poll, but coalition parties look set for re-election
Dublin, Ireland Reuters Ireland’s main opposition party Sinn Fein looked on course to narrowly win the most votes at a general election on Friday, but its two main centre-right rivals will likely have enough seats to govern again without it, an exit poll showed. The exit poll put the left wing Sinn Fein on 21.1 […]
Ireland’s tradition of welcoming migrants under strain in election
Ballaghaderreen, Ireland Reuters In the small Irish market town of Ballaghaderreen, a long-standing welcome to immigrants is fraying badly ahead of a general election this week, the first to see the country’s main political parties competing to be toughest on migrants. A country that has long prided itself on being welcoming to migrants, Ireland has […]
StrangeSights: “Indiana Stones” revives stone lifting; penny farthings gather in Prague; and, vale Cassius, the world’s oldest crocodile…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Books: A parable on the costliness of compassion
JO KADLECEK reads Claire Keegan’s ‘Small Things Like These’, due to be released as a film in November…
Irish inquiry finds “truly shocking” level of sexual abuse at church-run schools
Dublin, Ireland Reuters An Irish state inquiry uncovered a “truly shocking” level of sexual abuse at religious schools, primarily those run by the Catholic Church, over nearly a century with 2,395 allegations, the government said on Tuesday. The preliminary “scoping inquiry” found 884 alleged sexual abusers at more than 300 schools across the country between […]
Dutch voters kick off EU election, nationalist parties seen gaining
The Hague, The Netherlands Reuters Dutch voters cast their ballots on Thursday at the start of a four-day election for the European Parliament that is likely to see a rightward shift in the continent’s balance of power. The election will shape how the European Union, a bloc of 450 million citizens, confronts external challenges, including […]
Western states push for deal on pandemic response rules at WHO meeting
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Western countries led by the United States, France and Germany pushed for a deal to bolster pandemic response rules at a major World Health Organization meeting on Tuesday after states failed to finalise a pandemic treaty. No agreement was reached on the treaty last week in time for this week’s World Health […]
Spain, Ireland and Norway recognise Palestinian statehood
Madrid, Spain/Dublin, Ireland/Oslo, Norway Reuters Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday, prompting an angry reaction from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after more than seven months of conflict in Gaza. Madrid, Dublin and Oslo said they sought to accelerate efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war with […]