Family ‘angry and frightened’ after being locked out of affordable housing for second time
A young family in Co Kildare have been locked out of a State-funded affordable housing scheme for a second time this year because of a cap on their State-backed mortgage. Ms Rowe and her husband Joe have two children, Josh (9) and Ruby (12), meaning they need a three-bed home. The same thing happened to the family when they applied for another affordable housing scheme that went on sale in May at Lattin Place, on the Rathasker Road in Naas. While the department considers what changes might be made, Ms Rowe and her family are facing the same dilemma as before. “So that threshold is not working in the private sector or in the local authority sector,” Ms Rowe said.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 10:31 UTC
‘Dog-whistle racism’: How far-right claims of protecting women justify abuse of immigrants
They view women in the context of the “great replacement theory”, which calls for more white women to have more white babies, he adds. And then they say they’re trying to protect Irish women and children? I’m an Irish woman, I have Irish children. “If we really want to talk about safety for women and children, let’s talk about where the most amount of violence towards women happens. “When they talk about defending ‘our women’ it’s clear they mean white women.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 10:31 UTC
Captivating Kazakhstan, where striking landscapes give way to staggering ones
I’m at Lake Kaindy in the south of Kazakhstan, a country where striking landscapes give way to staggering ones. Straddling eastern Europe and central Asia, Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country but has one of the lowest population densities on the planet. In the 19th century, the expanding Russian empire took control of Kazakhstan, and from 1936 until 1991 it was part of the USSR. In the Medeu Valley, for example, we take two ear-popping cable cars on our way to the Bogdanovich Glacier. Bogdanovich GlacierStarting from about 3,200m, we snake our way along a boulder-strewn trail, past corrie lakes and through huge sweeps of moraine.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 10:30 UTC
Paul Costelloe: ‘I really love Irish people ... they are so quick to pay you a compliment’
It is more than 20 years since Paul Costelloe picked up the phone and rang Margaret Heffernan of Dunnes Stores to suggest a collaboration. Now 80 years old, the veteran designer recalls that he wanted “to show Margaret what we could do”. He produced a homeware collection first, with womenswear and menswear collections following a few years later. AW25 menswear from Paul Costelloe at Dunnes StoresTailored jacket and jeans from Paul Costelloe's menswear AW25 at Dunnes StoresLooking back, what stands out from his first womenswear for Dunnes? I really love Irish people for that – they are so quick to pay you a compliment.”
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 10:30 UTC
Bus Éireann Expressway routes viability under review
Informed sources said that while all Expressway routes were under review, a number of services in particular were being examinedA review is under way of the viability of Expressway routes operated by the State-owned transport company Bus Éireann. The Expressway services are run on a fully commercial basis by the company and do not receive financial support from the exchequer. Informed sources said that while all Expressway routes were under review, a number of services in particular were being examined. In September 2020, Bus Éireann announced it was to discontinue Expressway services between Dublin and Cork, Galway and Limerick. At the time, trade unions argued that private-sector rivals frequently operated on a point-to-point basis from city to city along the motorway network while the Bus Éireann services often served towns in between.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 10:30 UTC
Private CCTV on Co Roscommon town’s streets a ‘game changer’ for policing, says local group
Photograph: Ballagaderreen Town TeamThe installation of a privately operated CCTV system on Ballaghaderreen’s streets, Co Roscommon, has been a “game changer” for policing and people “now feel safer”, a representative group for the town has said. People’s concerns around resources and security really began nearly three decades ago, said Ballaghaderreen Town Team member Joe Egan. Photograph: Ballaghaderreen Town TeamThe new CCTV initiative has cost the town more than €41,000. Photograph: Ballaghaderreen Town TeamJoe Egan, a retired business owner and member of the Ballaghaderreen Town Team, admitted “some incidents in 2024 may have copper fastened” the need to crack down on crime in the area. There are two sergeants and three gardaí based in the Ballaghaderreen Garda station who are “supported by wider resources in the Roscommon Community Engagement Area,” he said.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 09:50 UTC
now it’s claiming my friends in their 40s – The Irish Times
My friends are moving to Australia, which, as Suzy put it, in geographical terms is the same as moving to space. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/GettyLast Saturday I drove to Wicklow, to the house our friends Suzy and Danny bought after the pandemic, when we had given up hope of all living in the same neighbourhood in Dublin. “What’s hardest,” Suzy said, staring into one of the fishbowl gin and tonics we were drinking, “is that your friendships won’t grow from here. There are the obvious reasons – children, work, fatigue – but there’s also something subtler: a collective retreat from effort. I sometimes wonder if part of what we call friendship fatigue is really exhaustion with the work real closeness takes.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 08:37 UTC
Welcome to the new Global Briefing newsletter
Global Briefing, which goes out every day from Monday to Thursday, will try to make sense of what is happening and to find patterns or connections between events in different parts of the world. When I started reporting for The Irish Times from Berlin in the 1990s, it was in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of communism in Europe. Moving to London in 2015, I reported on Brexit and its aftermath before coming to Beijing as China Correspondent in October 2022. It’s from Beijing that I will write this newsletter most of the time and I hope it will benefit from having a perspective situated outside the West. And if you like Global Briefing, please share it with anyone you know who might enjoy reading it.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 06:37 UTC
New housing plan could deliver 12,000 social homes and 15,000 affordable units per year
Photograph: Getty ImagesAs many as 12,000 social homes and 15,000 affordable housing units could be delivered per year, on average, under the funding available for the Coalition’s long-awaited housing plan. It was unclear last night what the target for new builds, as opposed to other forms of social housing delivery such as acquisitions, will be in the finalised housing plan. There is also funding available to enable an affordable homes programme of 15,000 units annually, including those supported by the Government’s shared-equity scheme. The LDA would also play a greater role in the starter homes programme for affordable housing, and support more smaller housing developers. A protocol will be agreed with local authorities so that domestic violence victims who meet social housing eligibility requirements can transfer previous time spent on a social housing waiting list to another local authority.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 06:07 UTC
‘I went to the World Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, but chickened out from playing’
Eve McInerney: 'I love spending money. I love spending money. What purchase have you made that you consider the best value for money? Once, I even went to the World Poker Tour in Monte Carlo, but chickened out from playing as I was so overwhelmed by all the celebrities and famous players. My worst, possibly, is that I never worry about spending money.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 06:07 UTC
I’ve changed my old stance on teens and alcohol – it’s snus and vapes that are the problem
I’ve changed my stance on some things as more information came my way. [ Say ‘goodbye’, not ‘day day’: why parents should speak to their child like an adultOpens in new window ]Anyway, back to alcohol. If you want to know how big an issue it is in their peer group, ask your teens. I’ve changed my old stance on teens and alcohol. Now if only we could open some eyes to quite how serious an issue vaping and snus is.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 06:07 UTC
Ireland needs to build wind projects at scale and speed up decision making
According to the 2024 Mario Draghi report on European competitiveness, Ireland is among the slowest countries in the EU for permitting wind and solar projects. Changing the energy system involves building – whether flood defences to protect homes, or wind farms to generate power. In most credible pathways to a secure, affordable, and low-carbon energy system, three things happen. The regulatory thicket needs pruning, with the energy regulator’s mandate aligned to the outcome we want: clean, secure and affordable energy for all. If Ireland wants to prosper in the coming years and decades, it must relearn how to build – and do so fast.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 05:31 UTC
Football round-up: Conor McAteer leads Newbridge attack against Madden to reach Ulster Club semi-final
Dean Ryan of Éire Óg is blocked by Martin Power of Rathgormack in the GAA Munster Club Senior Football Championship quarter-final. Photograph: INPHO/ Natasha BartonConor McAteer led by example as back-to-back Derry champions Newbridge powered past first-time Armagh champions Madden Raparees to reach the Ulster Club semi-final. In Munster, Clare dual champions Éire Óg’s fairytale season continued as they beat Waterford champions Rathgormack 0-20 to 1-13 at Páirc Chiosóg. County man Mark McInerney delivered a masterclass, scoring a remarkable 0-16, including 11 first-half points. The new champions led all the way after John Hutton, who finished with 0-4 from frees, opened the scoring after five minutes.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 04:36 UTC
The Irish Times view on Irish savers: leaving money on the table
This is slightly below the EU average, but the stock of savings of Irish households remains high. But households are losing out by leaving around 90 per cent of their savings in demand accounts which typically only pay interest of less than 0.2 per cent. The big banks will feel no need to offer higher returns, even if they could afford to do so. They have long got away with paying interest rates below the euro zone average on demand deposits. The only way to put pressure on banks to increase demand deposit rates is if enough people start moving their money.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 03:30 UTC
RTÉ management on collision course with staff
After RTÉ management informed workers this week of plans to wind down the broadcaster’s television documentary unit imminently, an already febrile atmosphere in Montrose has darkened substantially. Journalists were told on Wednesday that, due in part to the impact of RTÉ’s flagship voluntary exit strategy on the documentary unit, some staff would be redeployed to other parts of the organisation. No jobs will be lost, but the net effect of this game of musical chairs is that the unit will cease in-house production in 2026. A boon for the so-called independent production sector, the policy has been decried by journalists, technicians and other RTÉ staff members represented by its trade union group as an exercise in backdoor privatisation. But that plan has also put management on a collision course with staff members, which looks difficult to avert.
Source:The Irish Times
November 10, 2025 01:51 UTC