It was his most direct intervention as prime minister on the matter to date. The motivation for his growing brazenness on Brexit is the pursuit of economic growth. The Corkman had pushed the prime minister, a Remainer by instinct, to accept Brexit. “Thankfully, Britain still has choices.”He suggested Britain would, as a sovereign nation, accept more “shared rules” with the EU in parts of its economy to spur growth. The prime minister and his EU minister, Thomas-Symonds, are still insisting that the UK’s so-called Brexit “red lines” – no return to the customs union, no free movement and no return to the single market – remain intact.

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Just when we thought Amy Huberman couldn’t get any more bubbly, she’s gone and launched her third wine — Ah CAVA, Organic Brut Reserve, proving once again that she knows how to bring the sparkle, both on and off screen. This latest addition to the Ah Wines family is a crisp, elegant Spanish Cava, organic, beautifully balanced, and ready to take its rightful place in your fridge this Christmas. And while some might say “all celebrations speak French”, Amy’s here to remind us that Spain knows its bubbles too. So whether you’re toasting to love, laughter, or just surviving another work week, Ah Cava is the perfect partner for your celebrations. Drinkaware Drinkaware banner.

Give the gift of timeless indulgence this Christmas. This festive season, share the magic of The College Green Hotel, Dublin with a luxury gift voucher the perfect way to treat someone special. Whether it is a thoughtful gesture for family, a treat for friends, or a well-deserved indulgence for someone, a College Green Hotel gift voucher is more than a present it is a moment of five-star celebration wrapped in festive elegance. Give the gift of experience. Give the gift of The College Green Hotel this Christmas.

Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesThe United States has failed to recruit substantial troop contingents for the proposed 20,000-strong international stabilisation force (ISF) for Gaza. This has delivered a major blow to US president Donald Trump’s peace proposal for Gaza and the Middle East that he proclaimed during the October 13th summit at Egypt’s Sharm al-Sheikh. Trump’s aim was to remove Gaza from the global agenda, promote Arab normalisation with Israel and focus on Russia’s war on Ukraine. Children stand at the site where Palestinians were killed on December 3rd by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on December 4th, 2025. Israel’s military said it had targeted a “Hamas terrorist” in retaliation for an earlier attack in Gaza that wounded five Israeli soldiers.

Leak of Assad torture photos reveals fate of thousands. Mass graves also began to be discovered, with some family members even digging themselves in an attempt to find information about the fates of their loved ones. But some family members say they have been disappointed with the lack of engagement by the new authorities. “But of course it should be done properly.” She said an organisation should do an analysis and inform family members. “Not ... publish it [all] on the internet.”She too longs for Syrian trials that victims and their family members could attend.

Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA WireThe completion of the new national children’s hospital has been delayed again, missing its 16th deadline, and it now seems the development will not be finalised until some point next year. The initial substantial completion date was scheduled for November 2022. Neither the NPHDB nor BAM have set out a revised timescale for the substantial completion of the hospital. The NPHDB said a realistic date of substantial completion of the hospital was within the gift of BAM, to commit to and deliver on. The NPHDB said its immediate priority was to get additional early access for Children’s Health Ireland as soon as possible to the new hospital.

Critical infrastructure is what will give people the opportunity to live, socialise and work where they want. Critical infrastructure and emergency powers legislation will also be useful tools in the Government’s armoury. Co-ordination and delivery reform will require the various organs of State to work in a more integrated way than has been the case. The members of the Accelerating Infrastructure Taskforce thought we had signed up until the end of this year. Feargal O’Rourke is a member of the Accelerating infrastructure Taskforce and Chair of IDA Ireland

Headline figures show that Irish households' wealth has risen sharply over the past decade, but many do not consider themselves to be wealthy. Rising steadily: Wealth in Ireland – measured as total net household assets minus liabilities – has risen steadily over the past decade as the economy recovered from the financial crash. Total net wealth was €1,321 billion (or more than €1.3 trillion) in 2024, which is around €688,000 on average per household. The brokers conclude that “the rate of feed through from the domestic economy to the financial welfare of Irish households appears less than it might have been”. Davy estimates that there are around 75,000 wealthy households with surplus assets of over €1 million.

Israel‘s foreign minister has claimed Micheál Martin’s administration and Irish institutions have an “anti-Semitic nature” in fractious exchanges over the Herzog Park row with Ireland’s ambassador to Tel Aviv. The footage appears to show Ms McGuinness telling Mr Saar he is “ill-informed” about the issue. A commemorative plaque at Herzog Park in Rathgar, Dublin. “And only then your foreign minister and your prime minister and everyone woke up? “It is not easy to publicly challenge a foreign minister in a room where most people probably shared his view, but it needed to be done,” he said.

Minister for Finance Simon Harris welcomed the move to get details of property people hold abroad under new OECD exchange deal to avoid tax evasion. Ireland has signed up to a collective agreement with other OECD countries to exchange information on immovable property as part of efforts to combat tax evasion. The move will effectively see Revenue share information with other countries to ensure better cross-border access to information on property assets held and income derived from abroad. The initiative is designed to enforce tax laws more efficiently and deliver tax transparency. “In recent years, tax policy developments have greatly enhanced cross-border exchanges of tax information and international cooperation between tax administrations, combating offshore tax non-compliance and tax secrecy on financial accounts,” it said.

The Irish Times has reviewed messages, videos and images showing the presence of the 166 in Russia and its close ally Belarus. The messages show several troops expressing concern they will be sent to fight with Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. Images of 166 members in Russia reviewed by The Irish Times show soldiers using Russian uniforms and equipment. One soldier expressed fear they would be sent to Ukraine, according to messages reviewed by The Irish Times. Haftar has also deepened relations with Belarus, which last year provided training to his 87th Special Forces Battalion.

In the new world of artificial intelligence (AI) toys, step right up and behold the horrors. AI toys can actually transmit data, generate all kinds of inappropriate responses, and basically behave the way people thought Furby did way back when. It’s here where things tend to get murky as loot boxes tend to get pushed as the must-buy item with those Robux. In other words, children are being introduced to gambling at a rather young age. The thing is, games with far more mundane reputations also employ loot boxes with the same mechanics.

There was a spike in Russian shadow fleet activity in Irish-controlled waters this week, placing additional pressure on security services dealing with the State visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. However, the vessels attracted attention due to the suspected use of other shadow fleet vessels in hybrid warfare against EU countries. These vessels, which have also been accused of damaging undersea cables in EU waters, are known collectively as the shadow fleet. In September shadow fleet vessels were suspected of serving as a launch platform for drones that disrupted operations at Copenhagen airport in Denmark. Shadow fleet vessels are closely tracked by the Coast Guard and Defence Forces.

Brussels is planning a new antitrust investigation into Meta over the roll-out of artificial intelligence features within WhatsApp. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty ImagesBrussels is planning a new antitrust investigation into Meta over the roll-out of artificial intelligence (AI) features within WhatsApp, in the EU’s latest challenge to Big Tech. Meta rolled out its AI feature into WhatsApp in March across European countries, after initially delaying the introduction due to the region’s “complex regulatory system”. The Italian antitrust authorities are already investigating Meta over allegations that it used its dominant position to integrate AI into WhatsApp without user consent. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the upcoming EU probe and referred to an earlier statement on the Italian investigation, which it rejected as “unfounded”.