David Hanly was ‘unique’ broadcaster and man of ‘integrity’, memorial service told
The writer and long-serving RTÉ presenter David Hanly was a “unique” broadcaster and a man “of virtue and integrity”, his memorial service in Dublin was told. Don’t tell your mother.”“It was this virtue and integrity that made him the celebrated journalist that we grew to love,” he said. “He used to come home in glee after dismantling a junior minister or a poor politician who wasn’t prepped or ready for him. The celebrant was RTÉ broadcaster Shay Byrne and mourners included Hanly’s wife Yvonne, and several members of his family and extended family. His brother, singer Mick Hanly, performed during the service and his sister Anne read The Song of Wandering Aengus, a poem by WB Yeats.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 20:39 UTC
Ballymaloe Cookery School employee pulled up for being ‘persistently late’ loses WRC claim
Ballymaloe Cookery School: An employee of the school who was pulled up for being 'persistently late' by its new management team has failed in a claim for discrimination at the WRC. However, Ms Makejeva told the hearing she wanted a 9am start and “flexible hours”. In December 2022, Ms Makejeva submitted, Ms Allen “stepped back somewhat from her day-to-day role”, with new management staff installed. As these included teaching work, Ms Makejeva was told she was needed on site by 8am or 8.30am, Mr Pearson said. Adjudicator Lefre de Burgh wrote in her decision that Ms Makejeva had put forward “no evidence of discrimination based on any protected ground”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 20:26 UTC
Coalition warned about fiscally ‘flying blind’
Simon Harris, Minister of Finance since last week, has indicated that setting a medium-term fiscal framework is among his 'immediate priorities'. There is another warning this week, with the Republic said to be “flying blind” without the updated medium-term fiscal plan that was promised in last year’s programme for government. “The programme for government from last spring indicated that this medium-term expenditure plan would be updated in the summer,” said Mr Coffey. “It was good to be able to get our messages across,” said Mr Coffey. Ifac’s warning about the need for the medium-term plan may well have landed with the Tánaiste.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 20:16 UTC
Hugo Keenan says he has been battling hip injury for almost 18 months
Close to 18 months in fact, before he decided to sort the issue out once and for all. What was not common knowledge was that Keenan had been dealing with the troublesome joint on and off since the 2024 Six Nations. “It was the second last game, in the England match over in Twickenham,” explains Keenan. You’ll be probably rested for two months anyway.”Ollie Chessum of Leicester Tigers poses with Hugo Keenan of Leinster during the 2025/26 European Professional Club Rugby season launch in London. Photograph: David Rogers/GettyThat Keenan remains on course for a January return will be a comfort to Andy Farrell.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 19:31 UTC
Glen of the Downs nature reserve could expand after NPWS acquires large parcel of forestry land
The State has purchased private land adjacent to the Glen of the Downs in Co Wicklow which could lead to the expansion of a large nature reserve in the area. The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has welcomed the purchase of 100 acres of forestry land by the National Parks & Wildlife Service (NPWS). “It is very encouraging to learn of public funds being used to purchase land for nature restoration,” IWT chief executive Kieran Flood said. The Glen of the Downs is a national nature reserve protecting rare native oak woodland. “Nature restoration protects our natural heritage, restores ecosystems and their wildlife and helps fight climate change.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 19:30 UTC
‘It has changed my whole life’: How ‘listeners’ in Wheatfield Prison support fellow inmates
He was speaking before a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of the listener scheme at Wheatfield Prison, designed to offer trained prisoner-to-prisoner support. During the ceremony, 15 newly trained prisoners were handed certificates by Caron McCaffrey, director general of the Irish Prison Service, having undergone a five-week-long training course delivered by Samaritans volunteers. As of Tuesday, they are available to provide face-to-face support to their fellow inmates, of which there are 722 in total. Anto*, a listener for six years, says providing support to other prisoners gives him a “sense of purpose”. He now credits the listener scheme with transforming the environment of prisons.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 19:03 UTC
New Zealand woman jailed for life over ‘suitcase murders’ of her two children
Hakyung Lee is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her two children, whose bodies were found stuffed into suitcases in a storage locker, at Auckland High Court, New Zealand. Photograph: Markia Khabazi/AFP via Getty ImagesSouth Korean-born New Zealand woman has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering her two young children, whose bodies were discovered in suitcases in an abandoned storage locker more than three years ago. Life imprisonment is the harshest punishment available in New Zealand, which abolished the death penalty in 1989. The children’s remains were discovered in 2022 by a family sorting through the contents of a storage locker they had bought at an online auction. New Zealand police launched a murder investigation and Lee, who had moved to South Korea in 2018, was extradited to face trial in November 2022.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 18:55 UTC
Transport Minister says MetroLink plans could be derailed for two years
Mr O’Brien was speaking on the publication of funding allocation, totalling €24.3 billion, for transport projects from 2026-2030 as part of the National Development Plan (NDP). The previous government had a 2:1 ratio in favour of public transport funding over roads, when the Green Party’s Eamon Ryan was minister for transport. However, the new plan has allocated €10.1 billion for public transport projects and €9.7 billion for the road network and road safety. MetroLink, a 19km rail line from Swords in north Dublin to Charlemont in South Dublin, serving Dublin Airport and the city centre, was approved by An Coimisiún Pleanala on September 30th. The plan allows for €1.8 billion to be invested in the delivery of 1,000km of “active travel” walking and cycling projects.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 18:30 UTC
Children watched Charlie Kirk’s death online and see pornography daily, committee told
A number of TDs and Senators raised concerns about the type of content many children are viewing online. During a hearing on Wednesday, a number of TDs and Senators raised concerns about the type of content many children are viewing online. Fine Gael TD Keira Keogh was critical of the fact that many social media platforms do not seem to enforce robust age verification processes. She said officials in the Department were working with the Government’s chief information officer and his office “to look at practical technical solutions to age verification”. [ Irish regulators take aim at Big Tech, but how will the online safety code be implemented?Opens in new window ]Niamh Hodnett, online safety commissioner at Coimisiún na Meán, said all platforms “have to protect the safety, security and privacy of children online”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 18:17 UTC
The Irish Times view on the IFAC report: budgeting like there is no tomorrow
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) has been an ongoing critic of budgetary policy and its latest report, looking at October’s package, is no exception. This leaves the State finances increasingly exposed to any downturn, or to a rapid fall-off in corporate taxes. That this does not look likely to happen in the short term seems to have emboldened the Coalition to carry on spending. The Government is correct to plan to spend more on infrastructure, but to afford this it needs to keep day-to-day spending under control. It also needs to outline the likely impact of an ageing population on its finances.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 18:02 UTC
Seán Moran: GAA gather to decide what rules cannot be wished away
GAA president Jarlath Burns has noted that concerning payments, 'the easiest thing for me to do is nothing, but it’s not an option'. There are so many issues for discussion that the medium-term course of the GAA could well be affected. No matter how far-reaching a proposal that is debated and even accepted, if the will isn’t there, it will simply atrophy. A prime and much-referenced example is the decision taken in relation to former director general Páraic Duffy’s 2012 discussion document on payment to managers. There has to be a desire, though, to enforce rules, which, in relation to managers and amateur status, appears at best questionable at the moment.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 18:01 UTC
‘Lies and snake oil’: row over Dublin council rents threatens newfound left unity
There were angry exchanges between the left-wing parties that supported the budget (Labour and the Green Party) and those who didn’t (Sinn Féin, People Before Profit and the Social Democrats). Labour and the Greens are, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, part of the ruling group on the council, and supported the proposed budget for the coming year, which will see tenants of the council pay increased rents. [ Left’s unity from Catherine Connolly campaign faces its first big testsOpens in new window ]It’s one thing left-wing parties agreeing that Ireland should be “a voice for peace”. The other instructive thing is how ready and willing the parties of the left were to accuse each other of lies and betrayal. None of this means that a left-wing alliance that is a viable alternative for government cannot come together.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 17:43 UTC
Lions confirm R360 players to be ineligible for first women’s tour
National unions issued a statement last month warning that the breakaway competition would be “enormously harmful”. Photograph: Billy Stickland/InphoThe British & Irish Lions have confirmed players who sign up for the breakaway R360 competition will be ineligible for selection for the Lions women’s team’s first tour in 2027. Last month, a group of national unions, including the IRFU, issued a statement urging players away from R360, warning it would be “enormously harmful” to the health of the sport. The national unions added that men’s and women’s players who opt to participate in R360 would be ineligible for international selection, with the Lions now following suit. “As we continue preparations for the inaugural Lions Women’s Tour in 2027, the British & Irish Lions wishes to outline its position on the proposed R360 competition and provide clarity to players,” a statement issued on Wednesday read.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 16:51 UTC
More than 50% of assessed not-for-profit housing bodies ‘non-compliant’ with rules
The sector spans 438 registered approved housing bodies, which manage 68,000 homes with €1.95bn in annual rent and nearly €10bn in assets. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergMore than half the not-for-profit housing bodies that underwent regulatory assessment were “non-compliant” with sectoral rules, said housing supervisors in a new report calling for improvements in the way many groups are run. The 2024 annual report from the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority set out the need for action in the areas of governance and risk, finance, property and asset management and tenant management. The authority oversees hundreds of not-for-profit approved housing bodies (AHBs) that receive public funds to provide affordable housing to tenants. Another 13 housing bodies, comprising 40 per cent of those assessed, were found to be “non-compliant working towards compliance”.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 16:32 UTC
Labour to raise £26bn in UK tax increases to fund spending plans
Photograph: Carl Court/Getty ImagesBritain’s chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves has once again resorted to large tax increases to fund the Labour government’s spending plans, after previously promising a year ago that a tax raid then was a “one-off”. Added to the £40 billion in tax hikes in her first budget a year ago, it amounts to one of the biggest tax increases in the history of any UK government. This year, however, Ms Reeves avoided hitting employers with tax increases, after criticism last year. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the leak was a “shambles” while Ms Reeves told the Commons she was “deeply disappointed”. “These are Labour choices,” Ms Reeves said repeatedly throughout her budget speech.
Source:The Irish Times
November 26, 2025 16:18 UTC