Between 20 and 30 homeless asylum seekers are sleeping rough nightly in sometimes freezing temperatures in Dublin city, volunteers say, as figures show almost 3,500 beds in refugee accommodation centres lie empty. These included 2,430 “mixed-accommodation beds”, 600 “single-male beds”, and 450 “family-only beds”. They show that on the night of October 24th Ipas centres had beds for 36,128 people while those accommodated numbered 32,648. “The current policy, which requires male IPAs [international protection applicants] to sleep rough to demonstrate need for accommodation, is more dangerous than ever. “Single male applicants for international protection have been particularly affected by shortages ...

The rat box is just one in a series of critter-filled containers that Angry Ginge sticks his head in over the course of several minutes. Give Angry Ginge a mysterious box and he’ll stick his noggin in. Unlike Winston Smith, Angry Ginge isn’t being psychologically manipulated into a totalitarian mindset by this box of rats. No, Angry Ginge is tasked with rotating plastic stars with his tongue inside a box of rats so that celebrities can eat delicious crocodile feet. And now she is a successful Irish export, like Kerrygold, Bono and passive-aggressive alcoholism.

Graffiti near River Lodge in Newtownmountkennedy in 2024 shortly after protests over plans to accommodate international protection applicants at the site. Photograph: Nick BradshawAbout €400,000 was spent on a mothballed tented accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Co Wicklow that was the site of major disturbances last year. The site – River Lodge at Newtownmountkennedy, the site of anti-immigration protests in April 2024 – was used as emergency accommodation for international protection applicants. Due to the impact of the weather, the department said, it was not possible to continue using River Lodge as an emergency tented accommodation centre. He said that there has been an increase of 13.5 per cent in arrivals of unaccompanied minors during this year, when overall international protection numbers have reduced.

The new €750,000 pedestrian entrance to Deer Park in Mount Merrion, Co Dublin. The Sinn Féin leader was keen to welcome our latest urban wonder when Micheál Martin returned from his global travels on Wednesday. “The list of waste is as long as your arm,” marvelled Mary Lou, before helpfully remembering some of the highlights. But he also believes that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s project involved more than putting in a few steps and a swanky ramp. The spats over what Government member should be in the chamber taking Leaders’ Questions.

Áras an Uachtaráin is undergoing work after the departure of Catherine Connolly's predecessor, Michael D Higgins. Ms Connolly has a further three appointments, comprising a head of communications, a speech writer and a personal assistant, that she can make. Nor has a decision been made on whether Ms Connolly will follow the example of Mr Higgins and waive a portion of her salary. The Áras website has been revamped since Ms Connolly’s election and no longer contains a section devoted to the spouse of the office holder. “Catherine Connolly wants to be a President for all the people, especially for those often excluded and silenced,” the website states.

Many Southeast Asian data centres are equipped with high-end Nvidia products, similar to those used by US Big Tech groups to train LLMs. Many of these data centres are equipped with high-end Nvidia products, similar to those used by US Big Tech groups to train LLMs. It is also working closely with domestic chipmakers led by Huawei, to optimise and develop the next generation of Chinese AI chips, according to those people. The company views its partnership with DeepSeek as a strategic effort to advance its semiconductor and software systems to be adopted for AI training across the country. One constraint is that Chinese tech giants are not allowed to move private data out of the country.

That is where open-fit earbuds are a better option. But the Shokz OpenDots One go the more traditional route, using speakers, and look more like ear cuffs than earbuds. The Shokz Open Dots don’t do this, so you will have to remember to pause whatever it is that you are listening to. GoodThe Shokz OpenDots One are lightweight but still stay put, which was surprising. VerdictLightweight earbuds that deliver good audio without blocking out the outside world.

Visitors to Ireland spent a €529 million in October, according to Central Statistics Office data. Despite the improved numbers in October, the figures for the year to date remain lower than 2024. In total, visitors stayed a total of 4 million nights. Eoghan O’Mara Walsh, the chief executive of the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation, welcomed the data suggesting that inbound tourism numbers improved in October but said it was “surprising” that spending is down in the month. Despite making up just one-fifth of all visitors, US tourists accounted for 38 per cent of money spent in October at €202 million.

The scene where two members of the US national guard were shot in Washington DC on Wednesday. The suspect came around a corner and began firing at the guard soldiers, who were on a high-visibility patrol, metropolitan police assistant chief Jeff Carroll said. FBI director Kash Patel (left) and Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, hold a press conference close to the scene. At the same time, other national guard members had pinned someone on the ground, Ryan said. Members of the US national guard gather on a corner near the scene in Washington DC.

Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan said Ireland’s rate of population growth was too high. However, the new accommodation charges will not apply to people who have been granted refugee status but remain in State accommodation. A Government source said there will now be a renewed focus on continuing to move these people out of State accommodation. People in receipt of certain social welfare payments within three years of getting protection status will not be eligible to apply for reunification. There will be additional powers to revoke refugee status for someone convicted of a serious crime.

Good People Homecare was paid several million euros by Tusla to staff unregulated emergency accommodation for children taken into State care. Newly released internal documents show subsequent background checks of all care staff flagged a “serious disclosure” about one employee, deemed concerning enough to prohibit the individual from further work with young people. An employee of the firm, a young relative of Mr Chimbganda, was convicted in May of forgery and falsifying Garda vetting documentation of staff. A review prompted by concerns inside Tusla flagged “discrepancies” in Garda vetting paperwork supplied for at least 17 employees of Good People. A HSE spokeswoman said local officials were satisfied after further work, the company complied with vetting and governance standards.

The loan will be available to all homeowners whether they are Bank of Ireland customers or not. The bank is also exploring other product innovations, focused on supporting expanding families to trade up to a larger property. Dilosk-owned ICS Mortgages, one of the smaller players in the market, did launch a bridging loan product about a year ago to address what it said was a bottleneck in the second-hand property market. The Bank of Ireland group also discussed the optimal mix of financing solutions for home builders to scale up activity across multiple sites and the important role of equity finance. This new product can help support the better use of existing housing stock in the market and we will continue to explore other options.”

The number of landlords intending to sell their properties has steadily increased since last year, RTB figures show. Illustration: Paul ScottThe number of tenancies ended by landlords has increased by 35 per cent since the same time last year, new data from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) shows. “The proportion of tenancies provided by large landlords with 100-plus tenancies has now increased for nine consecutive quarters to 14.2 per cent today,” Ms Steen said. While the number of landlords issuing notices to quit has increased significantly, it is worth noting that the number of registered tenancies has grown by 1.9 per cent annually to a total of 240,741. The proportion of tenancies provided by landlords with more than 100 tenancies has increased for nine consecutive quarters and now stands at 14.23 per cent of all landlord types.

Actor Olwen Fouéré says the contract linking Galway university to Technion is 'extremely problematic'. Photograph: Alan BetsonActor Olwen Fouéré has turned down an honorary doctorate from the University of Galway due to an “extremely problematic” contract linking the college to Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. She said Technion had trained many future Israeli military leaders and helped to develop tank and drone technologies used by the Israeli military. Actor Olwen Fouéré has turned down an honorary doctorate from the University of Galway. “I would of course be more than happy to accept if and when the remaining ties with Technion were cut,” she said.

Sir, – Further to your article (“Ghost buses simply not acceptable, Minister for Transport says,” November 25th), I find it difficult to reconcile our stated commitment to better public transport with the fact that we can’t seem to get it right in this country. Buses also ran according to the timetable and always showed up. Here, when a bus disappears from the street screens or Transport for Ireland app, it stays gone without explanation. Last week alone my two teenagers encountered five ghost buses, including two in a row on a cold, wet evening, while a newly employed friend has been driven (quite literally) to buy a car after being let down on multiple occasions by these phantom services. “Ghost Busters” seems an obvious title.