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Irish Times

January 2026

‘My comrades are struggling and freezing and dying.’ Exhaustion is sapping Ukraine’s spirit

Lieut Yulia Mykytenko’s sad, beautiful face appeared in flickering candlelight on a screen in the Centre Culturel Irlandais

It’s not a secret that our troops are extremely exhausted,
I hope you’re warm enough,
I am thinking about my comrades in the dugouts who are struggling and freezing and dying,

This year almost feels like a French home Six Nations

Fabien Galthiéhead coach
At the beginning of my tenure, I opted for a conservative approach to build collective experience within the French national team. After six years together, it’s time to find a balance between this conservatism and innovation,... Two seasons ago, who knew Louis Bielle-Biarrey? Hardly anyone. So we need to give our most talented young players the chance to wear the jersey. They deserve to be seen and seen again. Because the French team also needs fresh blood.”

Storm Chandra: Does climate change make small streams and more frequent flooding new risks?

It is acknowledged at an EU level that this gap may widen in the light of the increasing frequency and severity of weather events due to climate change,
Conor Murphyirish republican politician (born 1963)
The most powerful tool we have at our disposal is planning,
I don’t really know what way to think about all of this,
Michael Moraninsurance Ireland spokesman
There is a gap but it’s 5 per cent which is low by international standards and there are a few components to reducing it,
It flooded before, in 2011, but it wasn’t bad. Maybe an inch of water,
Insurance companies make their own individual underwriting decisions,
If you have your own home, don’t pave over your garden, put in a rain butt to catch the runoff from your roof, even planters will catch rain if you don’t have much space,
It used to soak up the water when the river got high but there’s nowhere for the water to go now,
I have flood insurance but I don’t know if I’ll claim off it,

US government shuts down partially over homeland security funding

Chuck Schumersenator
These are not radical demands, they’re basic standards the American people already expect from law enforcement,
Russell Voughtdirector of the Office of Management and Budget
The administration will continue working with the Congress to address recently raised concerns to complete appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026,
But the House is going to do its job. We want to get the government funded, as does the president,

Séamus Power moves into second place at Farmers Insurance Open

The Waterford golfer had five birdies and an eagle in his second round at the North Course, with a single drop shot, his eagle coming at his final hole on a par 5

Justin Roseryder Cup star
Yeah, that was two special rounds of golf,
Séamus Power (golfer)irish golfer
As well as I scored [Thursday], it was more the putter and I knew I was a little off with the long game,

Gardaí seize cannabis worth €10m after raid in Co Louth

A joint operation by Revenue Customs Service and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau seized 506kg of cannabis in a raid on a property in Co Louth on Friday, January 30th

Ulster Unionists preparing to lead unionism again, new leader says

All of the party’s MLAs and its only MP, Robin Swann, attended the meeting at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast

Jon Burrowspolice officer
We are here to do business, to get things done, to find solutions and that is what you are going to have as we start preparing to lead unionism in Northern Ireland again.”
This is a new chapter for the Ulster Unionist Party, we are going to confidently go out engage our communities, provide the leadership that unionism needs, be sure-footed, not make the strategic big mistakes and deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.... Lead
We can now switch into an outward-looking election mode and go fishing for votes.”
Politics has stalled in this place, Stormont is not delivering and keeping up with the advances that have been made elsewhere in Northern Ireland in our vibrant economy and we need to look at why that is.”

Age restrictions needed for social media amid looming ‘public health emergency’ — Harris

We have to be more self-reliant, and there’s a real appetite for that,
We do this in so many areas. You can’t drive a car, you can’t have an alcoholic drink, you can’t smoke until a certain age,
I think we’re on the verge of a public health emergency in terms of social media and the impact on young people in Ireland, Europe and across the world,
We can’t just be talking about what happens in the White House... We have to look at what we can do in our own country and in Europe to make our country and the European Union more competitive,