The “phenomenon” of ghost buses on certain routes is “simply not acceptable”, the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has told the Dáil. Mr O’Brien said a “great frustration” of his was “unreliability” in public transport. That can happen, people will understand now and again if this happens but the increased prevalence [of ghost buses] on certain routes is of grave concern,” he said. Mr Ó Cearúil said there were “persistent cancellations and ghost buses and severe overcrowding” on the C4 route, which travels between Maynooth and Ringsend. Mr O’Brien said he would speak directly with the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland on the TD’s behalf and put forward his suggestions.

According to Reuters, Mr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to advance the US-backed framework and discuss disputed points with Mr Trump. “Over the past week, the United States has made tremendous progress towards a peace deal,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. And these principles are generally reflected in the plan, which we welcomed,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. However, there are aspects of that plan that deserve to be discussed, negotiated, improved ... We want peace, but we don’t want peace that is effectively a capitulation,” French president Emmanuel Macron said of the US peace plan. The answer is no.”France and Britain reaffirmed on Tuesday that they might send troops to Ukraine in some capacity if a peace deal was agreed and implemented.

At the end of December 2024, Aldi Ireland had shareholder funds of €807 million including accumulated profits of €307 million. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA WireThe Irish arm of discount retailer Aldi recorded a pretax loss of €20.1 million last year. New accounts show that Aldi Stores (Ireland) Ltd took the loss even as revenue increased 1 per cent to €2.12 billion. The pretax loss of €20.1 million followed a pretax profit of €16.82 million in 2023 – a negative swing of €36.92 million. Numbers employed by Aldi Ireland increased by 89 from 4,680 to 4,769 as staff costs rose 12pc from €196.79 million to €221.24 million.

Indeed, officialdom admits that the figures taken from the WLTP test can only go so far. The flat, even pitch of the WLTP test might not be perfect, but at least it gives you an idea of what to expect. With the WLTP test, the trick — with EV range just as with combustion fuel economy — is to treat it as indicative, not gospel. One then does rather have to ask why the people running the WLTP test don’t simply make that calculation themselves. Officially, this Lucid Air Grand Touring model can average 13.5kWh/100km on the WLTP economy test, but clearly the driving team must have exceeded that.

In the past consumers had the right to exit a telecoms contract without penalty when price increases were announced, as such revisions amounted to a material change of the terms and conditions. Under the proposed changes, any price increases will be considered a change to the terms and conditions that will allow a consumer to exit the contract without any financial penalty. He said “any proposal to legislate to prevent retail telecoms and broadband providers from offering variable priced contracts based on the CPI would require careful consideration”. The proposed changes are likely to be met with resistance from the providers. However, Government sources expressed confidence that the measures would be quickly implemented and could be in place before the next round of price increases next spring.

“Nothing has ever seemed quite normal about the situation of the Telegraph Media Group,” said analysts at Enders. [ Daily Mail owner strikes £500m deal to buy TelegraphOpens in new window ]For many, the new merger will seem a perfect fit. Ellison was wondering, they say, why his partner was dedicating time to a £500 million acquisition of a UK newspaper when a $70 billion (€61 billion) mega-deal that would transform Hollywood was on the table. “He was spending too much time on the Telegraph when at the same time trying to put down billions in the US,” said a person close to the investment group. “The financial details are still being worked on,” said one person close to the situation.

Nvidia shares tumbled on Tuesday on widening fears that Google is gaining ground in artificial intelligence, erasing nearly $200 billion in market value from the AI chipmaker. Nvidia shares tumbled on Tuesday on widening fears that Google is gaining ground in artificial intelligence, erasing nearly $200 billion (€173 billion) in market value from the artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker. The sell-off saw Nvidia’s shares fall 4.4 per cent, after rebounding from steeper earlier losses. Alphabet shares rose 0.5 per cent on Tuesday, pushing it close to a $4tn market capitalisation for the first time. Nvidia has now lost more than $800bn in market value since it peaked just above $5tn less than a month ago.

Photograph: Royal Caribbean/PAThe cruisers at Royal Caribbean have what they say is “one of Black Friday’s best deals in travel”. That doesn’t really count as a Black Friday deal though as it extends to the end of the year. It is also running a Cyber Monday sale, with early access deals offering up to 55 per cent off bookings until next month. Fontainebleau is offering 20 per cent off its rates plus complimentary resort fees on all future available dates when booked between Wednesday November 26th and Wednesday December 3rd. Fota Island Resort has 10 per cent off vouchers and 20 per cent off accommodation.

Irish pizza delivery franchiser Four Star Pizza delivered a €310,000 profit to its owner Michael Holland last year after the company’s slice of the pizza business rose to €2.7 million. Four Star Pizza’s national franchisee network employs more than 1,000 people in over 50 stores across Ireland – one of the largest delivery groups in the country. The company, however, reported significantly increased administrative costs in 2024, up from €1.9 million to nearly €2.4 million. He noted that profit margins for the franchised stores are razor thin in light of inflationary and cost pressures. A representative of Four Star Pizza was contacted for comment.

Earlier this month, Tesco announced Aer Lingus as its new Clubcard rewards partner, promising cheaper flights for shoppers. Under the Aer Lingus scheme, this will translate to 21,600 Avios points – but what can you do with that? Every time you buy a flight with Aer Lingus – or its partners, American, British Airways and United – you will earn points. You could also consider buying or gifting Avios points, earning up to 47 Avios points per €1 spent this way. And you can also earn points with Aer Lingus’ reward partners.

The average weekly pay in Ireland increased by nearly 5 per cent in the past year and has remained above €1,000 for the third quarter in a row.tre this morning. Photograph : Laura Hutton / The Irish TimesThe average weekly pay in Ireland increased by nearly 5 per cent in the past year and has remained above €1,000 for the third quarter in a row. The 4.9 per cent increase in average pay outweighed a nearly 3 per cent increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the year to October. This was far above the average weekly pay in the public sector of €1,244.45, which was itself an improvement on €1,168.7 in the third quarter of 2024. The lowest average weekly earnings in the public sector were those to staff of regional bodies which surpassed the four-figure mark, rising from €987.6 to €1,015.7.

Ukrainian negotiators appear to have secured some changes to the 28-point peace plan from the United States, but Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy still have to discuss the most sensitive issues. If those talks go badly and Trump withdraws support from Ukraine, what can Kyiv’s European allies do? After the initial shock of the 28-point US peace plan last week, European capitals recovered quickly enough to present their counterproposal by the time American and Ukrainian negotiators met in Geneva at the weekend. This means that although Ukraine and its European allies can influence Trump, particularly if Vladimir Putin is intransigent, they will probably have to accept some version of his peace plan. Under the 2022 plan, Ukraine would have become a neutral state and would renounce Nato membership but would be allowed to join the EU, just like under the new plan.

Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne has been named in the World Rugby Team of the Year for the second year running. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/InphoIreland’s Tadhg Beirne has been named in the World Rugby Team of the Year for the second year running. The Munster secondrow is the only Irish player named in the side. South Africa dominated the team with six players, headlined by World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx. South Africa capped off a highly successful year by securing back-to-back Rugby Championship titles for the first time.

The root of Ireland’s woefully inadequate public transport system is simple: we voted for it. Voters rarely raise public transport services with politicians, and most politicians outside of Dublin seem to equate transport policy with roads policy. How different would our public transport system be if politicians were reliant on it? Every elected representative should be given a six-month all-you-can-eat public transport and bike-share card and invited to familiarise themselves with the daily reality for public transport users, parents with buggies and small children, disabled people and those who do not, or choose not, to drive. For the rest of us, by far the most effective way to influence public transport investment is to start demanding it.

DAA had sought approval for measures to raise the annual passenger cap without the need for building work. The decision was taken at a scheduled board meeting last Friday that ended without new moves in relation to Mr Jacobs. “Regarding the procedural status of DAA’s operational application to [Fingal Council], DAA has no comment to make,” the group said in reply to queries. The payment was proposed after mediation talks between the DAA board and Mr Jacobs, one of three options the board considered in August as it discussed Mr Jacobs’s future. It is accepted in Government and DAA circles that such moves would be likely to prompt court action by Mr Jacobs.