Everything you need to know about new grants for replacing windows and doors
Now, you will be able to apply separately for a windows grant without having to commit to a full retrofit – but watch out for the small print. [ Are the new grants of up to €5,600 for windows and doors available for all Irish homeowners?Opens in new window ]But bear in mind that not everyone might benefit. The first caveat is that you may need to do all the windows – and you must be replacing existing single- or double-glazed windows with high-performing windows. If you need to improve your insulation, you can do so at the same time as you get your windows and/or doors. Under the most recent enhancement, FTBs can apply for €2,500 back on the cost of attic insulation.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 10:32 UTC
Disappointment as Plymouth's UK City of Culture bid fails
Disappointment as Plymouth's UK City of Culture bid failsCity not included on longlist for £10m prizeView 2 Images Plymouth's The Box, gallery and museum was a part of the City of Culture bid (Image: William Telford)Plymouth has failed in its bid to be named UK City of Culture leaving city leaders “hugely disappointed”. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport longlisted Milton Keynes, Sheffield, Blackpool, Inverness-Highland, Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Swindon, Wrexham and Plymouth’s dockyard rival Portsmouth. They said the bid process created momentum and galvanised the city, bringing together partners, stakeholders and communities around a shared vision for culture. The bid team will now reflect on what has been learned and explore how the ideas, partnerships and public support generated through the bid can continue to strengthen Plymouth’s cultural future. We are committed to building on that momentum and continuing to champion culture as a vital part of Plymouth’s future.
Source:Daily Mirror
March 18, 2026 08:46 UTC
Proposed petrol station price rise for first time in 16 years to cost drivers thousands
Fuel duty was reduced by 5p in 2022 in response to the Ukraine invasion. It would mark the first increase in fuel duty for 16 years. The increase, taking duty to 58p a litre, would see this rise by £3,400 over the same period, making a lifetime spend of £39,708. TPA Researcher Anne Strickland said: "Taxpayers are rightly alarmed at the looming fuel duty hike, given the already sky-high prices they pay at the pump. It will keep you up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from the North East.
Source:Daily Mirror
March 18, 2026 08:37 UTC
The life of an Irish housebuyer: Smile, bid, get outbid, weep – The Irish Times
If I hadn’t started chatting to one of those dads, we wouldn’t have been able to buy our house. We had moved three times in four years, and wanted to stay roughly in the same area of Dublin’s northside. We went to see a house that I passed four times a day for the past seven years and had never noticed. We had viewed it three times before bidding and it was never pristine, but three months on, it was squalid. I googled “moved house bad luck” and hundreds of thousands of matches appeared.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 07:50 UTC
‘I’m all alone’: Cuba’s elderly face crisis as young people flee
Photograph: Hannah McCarthyConsuela Tenela's apartment in Cerro, Havana. Photograph: Hannah McCarthyAlmost 40 per cent of retirees in Cuba live on a similar pension to Tenela. Photograph: Hannah McCarthyThousands of Cubans, particularly elderly residents, live in buildings on the verge of collapse in old Havana. Photograph: Hannah McCarthyMany Cubans have begun to resent the growing inequality and visible deprivation, as citizens are divided into those with and without access to foreign currency. Photograph: Hannah McCarthyBut the fuel crisis is threatening the bubble Soto has created in her Havana neighbourhood.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 07:03 UTC
‘A perfect storm is coming to Jersey’ he warned, but all I could see were blue skies
On the surface, Jersey seemed like the wealthy little paradise that, for many, it surely is. On the surface, Jersey seemed like the wealthy little paradise that, for many, it surely is. “We are approaching a perfect storm,” it warned ominously, pointing to an article by former politician, Ben Shenton. [ Jersey: An unusual little island that feels surprisingly familiarOpens in new window ]Next day, I met Shenton for coffee before flying back to London. But Shenton said Jersey’s villages were fighting to keep their young people, while some small, independent businesses were struggling to survive.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:55 UTC
‘We said to Natalie Portman, we need you to protect the movie. And she did’
Through Iris’s world, Bienvenu confronts the reality of climate change and environmental instability. “Like many of my contemporaries, we were struck by Japanese animation early in our lives, and also by American animation and European animation,” he says. The post-Covid era has proved a fascinating moment for European animation. “I think it’s not only European animation,” Bienvenu says. “People sometimes think it’s a very intellectual movie, but I also wanted to make a fun movie: something you can simply enjoy.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:44 UTC
Grand marshal Vogue Williams in pole position for Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade
Vogue Williams could scarcely have looked any happier travelling Dublin’s St Patrick’s Day parade route as grand marshal. The streets of Dublin were thronged on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands turned out to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Chief executive of the St Patrick’s Festival Richard Tierney was all smiles as almost a year’s work came to its sun-blessed climax. Photographs: Enda O'DowdPresident Catherine Connolly was also putting her best foot forward as she arrived for her first St Patrick’s Day parade as president. Joyce, Siobhán and Daniel Myles had travelled from Buckinghamshire for their first experience of St Patrick’s Day in Ireland.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:33 UTC
Free banking and edgy banter: Monzo raises the stakes for traditional bank customers
Monzo has most of the neobank basics – free current account banking, advanced budgeting and savings tools, instant payments and split-bill features. Monzo has most of the neobank basics – including free current account banking, advanced budgeting and savings tools, instant payments and split-bill features. Monzo offers instant transfers too, though the usefulness of this feature will be limited by how many Monzo customers there are in your network. As with Revolut, Bunq and N26, Monzo customers can opt in to automatically save the change from every purchase. But be mindful of saving too much into a sub current account or a low-paying savings account, David Looney, of Alpha Wealth, warns.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:31 UTC
AI is a threat to the essence of education
When we accept, as the Department of Education has, that students will use this technology to complete coursework, we are inviting into our education system a resource that enables cheating. Some of the lesser-flagged issues are worth elucidating, such as the educator’s use of it and the doublespeak around the aims of our education system. In England, the department of education has said that teachers can use artificial intelligence for “low-stakes” grading, guidance that education secretary Bridget Phillipson said “cut workloads” for teachers. Have we considered the consequences of using artificial intelligence to grade students’ work, and canvassed our students’ views on their teachers using AI to generate either grades, feedback or both? Ultimately, AI is a threat to what we purport to see as the essence of education: the development of independent-minded and creative thinkers.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:08 UTC
Nato allies must not save Donald Trump from himself – The Irish Times
Trump, JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth are astonishingly illiterate as strategists, tacticians, historians and politicians. An Iranian navy vessel was torpedoed off the coast of Sri Lanka where it had been participating in joint naval exercises with Trump’s navy and those of other regional powers. It is not for Nato allies to offer Trump an off-ramp from his madness. Saving Trump’s bacon would be the ultimate folly for Starmer – a man for whom Trump’s administration team has scarcely concealed contempt. After all, Trump’s generous offer to let China sort out the Strait of Hormuz still stands.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 06:04 UTC
Top US counterterrorism official resigns over Iran War
Joe Kent, one of the United States’ top counterterrorism officials, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his opposition to the Iran war and what he said was Israel’s influence over the Trump administration’s policies. “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, wrote in a social media post. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Kent’s resignation highlights the deep divisions among Trump’s Republican supporters over the Iran war, now in its third week. His argument that Israel forced the US into the war against Iran is shared by many on the right but denied by Trump.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 05:58 UTC
Will Scahill’s late point secures Hogan Cup glory for Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar
Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar celebrate with the Hogan Cup after their victory over CBS Tralee at Croke Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/InphoHogan Cup All-Ireland SFC PPS final: Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar 3-11 Tralee CBS 1-16When Gearóid White fisted Tralee CBS ahead with 60 minutes on the clock at Croke Park, we appeared to be heading towards the Hogan Cup final outcome most expected. Instead, Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar dug deeper and responded with the levelling point from Finn Higgins, before Will Scahill kicked a 63rd-minute winner. Will Scahill celebrates scoring the first goal of the game for Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho“Truth be told, we never thought we would get here,” said Coláiste Mhuire manager Dean McNicholas.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 05:47 UTC
In a Beirut hotel, families brace for war with no clear end
More than one million people have now registered as displaced in Lebanon, with more than 130,000 staying in hundreds of shelters, say Lebanese authorities. Israeli forces continue to launch regular attacks and reiterate mass evacuation warnings for about 14 per cent of the country. His personal guess is that the war will last for a few months, though of course no one knows for certain. Photograph: Diego Ibarra Sanchez/The New York TimesVolunteers at a community kitchen cook food to distribute to displaced people in Beirut. Photograph: Sally HaydenA temporary cemetery being prepared in southern Lebanon.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 05:44 UTC
Taoiseach manages Trump visit successfully with firm interjects and no clashes
The Taoiseach was never likely to go into the Oval Office with the intention of lecturing the US president on his home turf. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images)Micheál Martin’s second trip to the Oval Office went about as well as he could have hoped. At the same time, Martin knew that simply sitting meekly while Trump unloaded would be a terrible look back home. But the Taoiseach was never likely to go into the Oval Office with the intention of lecturing the US president on his home turf. Trump seemed nonplussed at questions from the Irish media about President Catherine Connolly’s comments on the war.
Source:The Irish Times
March 18, 2026 05:26 UTC