Irish Times
April 2026
Car bombs and hijackings: Why two attacks show the New IRA hasn’t gone away
Minutes later, a police officer’s bodycam recorded the car exploding as nearby houses were being evacuated, with two babies among those who were being brought to safety at the time
Patrick Freyne: When the time comes, Dermot Bannon will visit us all
Which Irish singer-songwriter calls this church their home?”
We often feel we know everything about the celebrities we follow,
Five homes on view this week in Dublin and Wicklow from €525,000
This two-bedroom midterrace redbrick (78sq m/840sq ft), built in 1914, occupies an excellent location in the Oxmantown and Mary’s Abbey area of Dublin city centre
What Ukrainians really think of Trump, Europe and Russia after four years of war
In the aftermath of the verbal lynching of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Oval Office, favourable opinions of Trump dropped to 20 per cent
People say, ‘We have a leader now. Let him work to end the war’... They like the example of Churchill, who was voted out of office in 1945. The same could happen to Zelenskiy,
Ukrainians in Ukraine feel less sympathy for refugees abroad than for internally displaced people,
People were more romantic about the EU then. They have become cynical and pragmatic,
Trust in Biden had declined because he did not give Ukraine the weapons it needed when it needed them,
We have two pillars of Ukrainian resistance,
Without trust in US support, peace deals are senseless for Ukraine.”
Coillte, Bord na Móna lands to be handed over under new effort to tackle ‘abysmal’ state of nature in Ireland
It sets out some pretty stark realities. We know the state of nature is abysmal,
Within NPWS, we have the expertise, the ecologists, the rangers on the ground who are experts at managing land for nature,
Funding should be there that is ring-fenced specifically for nature restoration,
We engaged with the chair of the Independent Advisory Committee as part of their consultation process, and we will continue to engage with key stakeholders to support the development of Ireland Nature Restoration Plan going forward.”
Alleged transfer of €1.5m by autism body to UK parent charity ‘possibly criminal’
I am also concerned that use of our funds in this manner is contrary to our contractual obligations pursuant to our service agreement with the HSE,
This charge was referred to as a ‘historical management charge’ but has never been properly itemised or broken down. Nor has the charge, to my knowledge, been approved by the board of directors,
They previously investigated the same set of allegations, from the same source, and the claims were not substantiated. Corporate recharging, for services provided to us by the wider organisation in UK, has been in place for many years,
The HSE has been well aware of this arrangement. We reiterate that there was no impropriety established by [the] HSE as there was no impropriety to find. We have always been open and transparent with the HSE and they can be assured of our continued full co-operation in all matters.”
Catherine Connolly’s sister part of Gaza aid flotilla ‘intercepted’ by Israel
I have joined the flotilla because we cannot stand by while millions are subjected to forced starvation and an illegal siege.”
Our brave [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers are acting with professionalism and determination dealing with a group of delusional attention-seeking agitators.”
We demand immediate answers and accountability,
Ireland should learn a lesson from UK’s futile efforts at pleasing Trump
His jokes at the state banquet on Tuesday night landed well (the meal was a “very considerable improvement on the Boston Tea Party”); and at a garden party in the British embassy the DC power brokers were desperate to catch a glimpse of Britain’s king Charles III
America's words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence."
America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence,
The Devil Wears Prada 2: Will these characters set the fashion world alight again?
Online reaction was divided, with some deeming them passé or way past their saturated peak, wondering why a powerful and stylish fictional character like Priestly would ever wear those shoes in 2026
I knew that Pat [Patricia Field] had established the characters’ DNA in the first movie, so it would just be about continuing this.”
A third of Irish abroad intend to come home but cost of living is ‘a big issue’
You can’t shy away from it [cost of living], it’s a big issue,
We are seeing an increasing amount of people self-deporting [from the US],
It’s not like the ’50s when everyone went and no one came back.... I think moving abroad is a brilliant thing,
We’re at an advanced stage with New York,
It’s not as big an issue for those returning as perhaps those leaving. Because you’re returning at a different stage of life,
There are people who are isolationist... implementing very worrying economic policies,
It gives us a great opportunity, not only to market [Ireland], but also for them to be put in touch with the Irish groups... and make sure they know their Irish passport isn’t just a document,
Sinn Féin condemns dissident violence, but does it truly back the police?
‘We probably were lucky to get through’: Dublin’s Eoin Murchan admits close call against Wicklow
That’s not really something I’d be overly concerned with, or cast my eye over,
We’re happy that we did enough, we probably were lucky to get through,
Yeah, all good, all getting ready for the weekend,
We’ve probably had a challenge with injuries throughout the year,
Eimear Hurley sets sights on St Finbarr’s glory again after Cuala detour
It’s not something I ever considered an option,
It was really tough, to be honest,
The goal was to find a club to train with, and I did that with Cuala... I suppose I was hit with the reality of travelling. I think I spent eight weekends in a row going up and down the road, which just took a lot out of me,
Teahupoo chasing Stayers’ Hurdle hat-trick at Punchestown Festival
Gordon Elliott’s star has been a fixture in the Stayers category in recent years and memorably completed the divisional double at Cheltenham and Punchestown in 2024
He’s just gone so laid-back and the problem with them staying races is if the pace drops halfway through a race and you get out of it, it’s hard to get back into it,
Spike in building material prices may crimp housing output
Meanwhile, the capital goods price index, which measures the cost of inputs and wages was up 2.6 per cent
Recent energy price spikes could act to put downward pressure on housing output,
This is the highest rate of materials inflation since October 2023,
Zelenskiy is testing Europe’s patience
There was a period where Volodymyr Zelenskiy could do no wrong in the eyes of his European allies
Irrational response to Middle East conflict risks slowing transition to renewable energy
At the time of writing, the US administration has reacted by placing a blockade on Iranian ports, a reaction that has hardly improved matters
Once-off housing, garden cities and garden sheds
Call for interim review of landmark mental health legislation after 2½ years
I am compelled to say that if gaps arise in this Bill they are going to arise quickly and immediately,
Iran’s supreme leader signals it will keep control of Strait of Hormuz
The MFC constitutes a critical first step in the establishment of a post-conflict maritime security architecture for the Middle East,
The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skilful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result,
AIB new lending grows 11% as bank sees ‘very little’ Middle East impact
Having entered 2026 with great momentum in our business, the croup delivered a strong performance in the first quarter,
Asset quality remains resilient and we continue to carefully manage the loan book,
Oil surges past $125 as fears of prolonged supply disruption grow
Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped as much as 7 per cent to above $126.41 a barrel before falling back to $123.50
The oil market has moved from over-optimism to the reality of the supply disruption we are seeing in the Persian Gulf,
Asian markets are really taking it on the chin at the moment,
Equities are clearly disconnected from all this,
Google outpaces rivals as Big Tech’s AI spending plans rise to $725bn
Google outshone its rivals in first-quarter earnings with faster cloud growth as the search giant and its Big Tech peers upped their AI infrastructure spending plans again to $725 billion (€621 billion) this year
We now have a frontier model, royalty-free, with all the IP rights [and] access all the way till 2032, and we fully plan to exploit it,
The AI economy is healthy,
Investors continue to be concerned about how Zuckerberg’s once capital-light money machine may be morphing into a capital-intensive incinerator,
There’s reasonable breadth in that. It’s not just one customer or two customers,
Even with these additional investments, and continued efforts to bring GPU, CPU and storage capacity online faster, we expect to remain constrained at least through 2026,
Inquiry into Bondi Beach attack and anti-Semitism recommends gun reforms
Royal commissioner Virginia Bell made 14 recommendations on Thursday in her first interim report, five of which were not made public because they were classified as confidential for national security reasons
The nation is safer because of that,
There has been a rise in antisemitism. That is a global phenomenon,
We need to get to a point where Jewish Australians at Hanukkah this year … feel safe, that we can gather again, that we won’t be targeted,
I certainly hope that that occurs and would continue to engage constructively with state and territory governments to say that this is reform which is necessary,
Coroner to deliver findings on Belfast killing of five people by British army
Families and friends of Fr Noel Fitzpatrick (42), father-of-six Patrick Butler (38), John Dougal (16), David McCafferty (15) and Margaret Gargan (13) will gather at Belfast Coroner’s Court for the long-awaited findings
The deaths of our loved ones that occurred at Springhill and Westrock on 9th July, 1972, have cast a long shadow over our lives,