Cillian Sherlock, PAA recent report which suggested that a united Ireland would cost €400 billion is “widely inaccurate”, a leading academic has contended. For example, it includes the full cost of both state debt and pensions, currently paid by the UK, and which are part of the UK subvention figure. “This is not a question of the debt being waived, as the IIEA report suggests. He told the committee that the opening deficit for Northern Ireland in a United Ireland would be €1.5 billion, taking account of debt, pensions, defence and tax changes. “An increase in the underlying growth rate in Northern Ireland, of 2 per cent above recent long-term patterns would see the costs of transition covered, and the fiscal deficit ended in approximately 10 years, after which Northern Ireland would run a surplus.

Have your say in the Irish Independent Elections 2024 poll seriesElection posters pictured ahead of the European and Local elections on June 7, 2024The countdown is on to Ireland’s Local and European elections on Friday, June 7. But what do you believe is the main issue for this local election? Have your say below…

CUMBERLAND - Pawtucket native Stephanie Ribeiro has been called in to Portugal’s Women’s National Soccer Team ahead of two qualifying games against Northern Ireland for UEFA’s Women’s Euro 2025. This marks her first call-up to the Portuguese national team. Ribeiro, 29, currently plays as a forward for Club Universidad Nacional (commonly known as UNAM-PUMAS) in Liga MX Femenil (Mexico’s professional women’s soccer league). In college, she played with the UConn Huskies women's soccer team, making 85 appearances and scoring 38 goals. Her mother was born in Terceira, which like Ribeiro granted her access to Portuguese citizenship and the opportunity to join the Portuguese National Team.

Moate one of just two areas in Ireland with no female election candidatesMoate is one of only two local electoral areas in Ireland to have no female candidates contesting the upcoming council elections. See Her Elected, the Government-funded programme to promote female participation in politics, noted that there 677 female local election candidates nationally this year, making up 31% of the total. See Her Elected noted that county Roscommon has the lowest number of female candidates this year, at just 16% of the total. In the Moate electoral area, the four sitting councillors, Tom Farrell (Fine Gael), Vinny McCormack (Fianna Fáil), Liam McDaniel (Fianna Fáil) and Johnnie Penrose (Labour) are all seeking re-election, while Athlone-area councillor Paul Hogan (Independent Ireland) is running in both the Athlone and Moate electoral areas. Sinn Féin's John Lawlor, Shane Lynam of the Irish Freedom Party, and Michael O'Brien (Independent) are also hoping to win a seat in the Moate area.

Leap into your loft, prise open those dusty boxes in the garage and dig out your treasure – This is Money has an exciting new series where our expert will value your modern items and collections for free. I actually had my eye on a mint condition Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo Entertainment System, but was outbid - that retro video games lot was incredibly popular. Personally, I like collecting retro Nintendo video games and have hundreds of games for NES, SNES, N64, Gameboy and Gamecube. Some games now go for hundreds and even thousands of pounds, as examples in good, or mint condition, dwindle. The idea is you, the reader, send in your collections or items for our new resident expert, Dan Hatfield, to put a value on.

Mary Norton and Philippa Barry taking part in the 100 million Trees project in Athlone Business & Technology Park, where 2,500 native trees were planted by volunteers from IDA Ireland. Staff plant 2,500 trees at Athlone IDA Business ParkA small dense forest was recently planted at the IDA Business & Technology Park in Athlone as part of an environmental initiative undertaken by IDA Ireland and the 100 Million Trees Project. The 100 Million Trees initiative aims to plant this number of native Irish trees across the island of Ireland by the end of the decade. The community-driven 100 Million Trees initiative has already seen native Irish trees planted in 62 sites across the country, with 161,180 planted since last November. A video of the IDA Ireland and 100 Million Trees project in Athlone can be viewed here:

MJ Furlong, Keith Groarke, Roisin Clancy, Gaye O'Donnell and Pat Breen at the launch of the AIB Community Awards 2024 in GreenTech HQ, Enniscorthy. Angela Murphy, Eleanor O'Connor and Cally O'Leary at the launch of the AIB Community Awards 2024 in GreenTech HQ, Enniscorthy. Ahead of nominations opening for the 2024 AIB Community €1 Million Fund, the AIB branches in Co Wexford held an information evening for local charities in Greentech Hub in Enniscorthy. Charities in the Co Wexford area were invited in to hear about the process for applying for funding from the AIB Community €1 Million Fund process in 2024. The AIB Community €1 Million Fund re-opened in early-May to receive nominations until mid-June.

‘He was a true and committed Irish man’ – family and friends hear tributes to businessman and Irish rugby star Tony O’Reilly at his funeral

A nursing home resident who was identified as requiring supervision and assistance due to the risk of choking during mealtimes was left alone in their room to eat their lunch, an inspector's report has revealed. Records showed that one resident was six days isolating with flu-like symptoms before a viral swab was taken. For example; no monitoring observations were completed on one resident for 22 days in January, despite three ongoing viral outbreaks. A separate inspection of Belmont House nursing home in Stillorgan Dublin, which was also unannounced, found significant fire safety concerns. This posed a risk in respect of the safe and timely evacuation of residents in the event of a fire.

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, CanadaZip Code

When you were at Company A the pension was provided by Lifesight, but on moving to Company B you were signed up to a Nest scheme. It blamed the delay in part on the fact Lifesight does not use Origo, an electronic pension transfer platform used by many firms. 'New regulations, which came into force in December 2021, require additional checks to be undertaken when completing a pension transfer. A few days later, Lifesight's pension scheme administrator, WTW, got in touch to say it received the bank details - and your pension had finally been transferred. A spokesman for WTW said: 'We always try to complete pension scheme members' transfers as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Last year, I was browsing in a charity book shop and saw a hardback copy of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. In basic terms, a first edition is the very first book(s) produced for a title and distributed commercially. So, with all this information now in our locker, does this mean your books are worth big bucks? These unauthenticated prices will do nothing but confuse and camouflage a book's true value, which is why you can never trust one site. Truman Capote: In Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel detailing a murder case from the late 1950sIn Cold BloodWith regards to Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, I would also be confident to conclude it is a first print edition.

A successful trial of fishing rope that sinks rather than floats shows it could be a simple and low-cost way to prevent whale deaths, conservationists said. A successful trial of fishing rope that sinks rather than floats shows it could be a simple and low-cost way to prevent whale deaths, conservationists said. Previous research has shown that in Scottish waters around six humpback whales, 30 minke whales and 29 basking sharks become entangled annually. The fishing crews involved in the trial, which covered 1,545 hauls of creel pots over 18 months, reported back on the new rope. The Scottish Creel Fishermen's Federation (SCFF) partnered WDC in the project.

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, CanadaZip Code

Education Minister Norma Foley has said a total ban on sales of smartphones to primary school pupils could be considered if a voluntary agreement does not work. Ms Foley said she would consider bringing forward new laws that would ban sales to under-13s if a voluntary scheme is not successful. The Education Minister brought forward the voluntary guidelines for parents last November, which followed Wexford becoming the first county where every primary school asked parents not to give their children smartphones. It comes as six mobile phone networks confirmed they would back the Government’s guidelines which call on parents not to buy smartphones for children in primary schools. “I’ve always been very clear that perhaps some of the key issues was really in the purchase of smartphones by adults for children,” Ms Foley said.