RTÉ records €5.5m surplus in 2024 after €9.1m deficit in previous year
Photograph: Alan BetsonRTÉ recorded a €5.5 million surplus in 2024, compared to a €9.1 million deficit in 2023 according to its latest accounts. A drop in licence fee revenues following the payments controversy which engulfed RTÉ in 2023 contributed to the deficit that year. Earlier this year it emerged that the State missed its target for social homes in 2024 by almost 20 per cent with some 10,596 delivered last year. Some 1,757 new social homes were delivered in April, May and June, including 1,443 new-build homes, 162 acquisitions and 152 homes delivered through leasing programmes. The latest Social Housing Construction Status Report shows a pipeline of 26,684 social homes at various stages of design and construction as of the end of June, including 11,557 social homes on-site.
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 16:31 UTC
Gordon D’Arcy: Back where it all began, Ireland need the same spark that first saw them topple the All Blacks
Ireland players look on during the Haka before last year's Test at the Aviva Stadium. Ireland had the All Blacks rattled in the first Test, but they let them off the hook. Defeat was agony, but it felt like a turning point, the day Ireland realised they could compete with New Zealand. Captain Rory Best speaks to the Ireland team after their win over the All Blacks in Soldier Field in November 2016. The World Cup draw takes place in December, and trying to stay in the top four rankings has shaped the way Ireland approached this block of matches.
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 16:30 UTC
Sex offender mistakenly released from UK prison deported to Ethiopia
Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from England's Chelmsford prison instead of being taken to an immigration detention centre. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA WireHadush Kebatu has arrived in Ethiopia after being deported from the UK with no right to return, the British Home Office has confirmed. The Ethiopian national was wrongly freed from Chelmsford prison on Friday morning instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre. I would like to thank the police for rapidly bringing Mr Kebatu into custody and the public for their vigilance. “I have pulled every lever to deport Mr Kebatu and remove him off British soil.
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 16:16 UTC
New Corolla, Century and beyond: Toyota’s bold new world
New Toyota Corolla conceptYet if it was, it would herald a vast leap in terms of styling and finish for the hugely popular car. Then there’s a new-look Lexus LS concept—this time shown as a crossover. Lexus LS ConceptLexus LS ConceptWhy six wheels? That craftsmanship is typified by the finish of the Century concept crossover, coated in 60 hand-applied layers of paint. From the humble Corolla to the luxury Century, Toyota shows its imagination stretches from the everyday to the extraordinary.
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 16:04 UTC
Death announced of Mary ‘May’ McGee who won historic Supreme Court contraception case
Ms McGee, known as May, died peacefully at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday, surrounded by her family. Their second and third pregnancies had been complicated by severe cerebral thrombosis and Ms McGee had also suffered a stroke and temporary paralysis. This August, aged 81, a mosaic was unveiled in Ms McGee’s honour in her hometown of Skerries, Co Dublin. To think you had all that fuss years ago,” Ms McGee said of the change. [ Woman’s landmark case overturning ban on contraception started ‘social revolution’, says Supreme Court judgeOpens in new window ]
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 15:54 UTC
United Ireland debate is increasingly loud – preparation cannot be deferred forever
References to a united Ireland, as can be judged in recent weeks in Belfast’s newspapers and radio stations if less so in Dublin, are increasingly difficult to avoid. Serious players across these islands – and well beyond – realise that intensive and open governmental preparation cannot be deferred forever. Northern Ireland does not need the chaos of a reactive referendum flowing from the unintended consequences of narrow English nationalism. [ In a united Ireland, should everyone be given a choice of Irish, British or dual identity?Opens in new window ]There is a well-founded desire not to mess this up. It would be a foolish public servant, for example, who ignored the evidential signs of these times on this island.
Source:The Irish Times
October 29, 2025 15:25 UTC
Why I spoiled my vote: ‘I feel invisible to the Irish political classes’
A record number of people spoiled their vote in the presidential election, with close to 13 per cent of the total ballot deemed invalid. The Irish Times conducted a call-out to hear from readers who had spoiled their vote, chosen not to vote or had voted for Jim Gavin as a “protest” vote. It didn’t feel like the right thing to do – but nothing Government or most of the Opposition parties did was right either – so Maria Steen got my number 1. Miriam, Dublin/LondonCurrently living in London, I still retain my vote, and I flew back to “spoil the vote”. Brighid, DublinI feel, and have felt, for quite some time as if I am invisible to the Irish political classes as a single middle-aged, middle-class woman.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:48 UTC
Appeal court overturns decision that Irish jeans manufacturer copied Diesel jeans trademark
Photograph: iStockThe Court of Appeal (CoA) has overturned a High Court decision which found an Irish jeans manufacturer had, since 1979, “dishonestly and wrongfully” copied the “Diesel” trademark of the popular Italian clothing brand. The Supreme Court has since upheld a 2001 High Court decision refusing Montex’s registration. On Tuesday, Ms Justice Niamh Hyland, on behalf of the three-judge court, overturned Mr Justice Cregan’s decision and allowed the Montex appeal. She said the question as to the proprietorship of the mark was decided by the High Court in 2001. Ms Justice Hyland said as the Supreme Court had already upheld that High Court decision meant the matter had already been decided.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:38 UTC
Martin always outmanoeuvres FF enemies but the Jim Gavin error leaves him vulnerable
Micheál Martin’s leadership has been under pressure before, but the Fianna Fáil leader has rarely been so vulnerable as he is now. And the monumental screw-up of the Jim Gavin presidential candidacy has left TDs and grassroots alike seething. [ Maybe some of us are just not meant to be presidentOpens in new window ]That is not, however, to say that Martin’s leadership is in its last days. The man most talked about as the successor to Martin is the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan. Speaking to RTÉ at lunchtime on Monday, Wexford-Wicklow TD Malcolm Byrne was critical of the party leadership but shied away from joining any putative rebellion.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:35 UTC
No heave against Micheál Martin, but many in Fianna Fáil mute on public support
There is little apparent appetite among Fianna Fáil TDs for an immediate heave against party leader Micheál Martin, a survey of the party’s Dáil deputies suggests. Presidential candidate Jim Gavin with Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the FF presidential candidate announcement. “The one thing I would say is ... we really need to come together as a party,” said Mr Byrne. Louth TD Erin McGreehan said the party has to have a conversation about whether it delivers for people “with or without” Mr Martin. Mr Kelly received fewer than 10 signatures from parliamentary party members, putting him well short of the 20 required to compete against Ms Humphreys for the nomination.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:34 UTC
‘We expect nothing other than full compliance’: Inside the row over a hospital boss’s pay
Emer Martin, chief executive of St John’s Hospital in Limerick“As you are aware, statutory bodies cannot be autonomous in setting salaries,” she said. The issue of chief executive salaries has been a long-standing bugbear in the voluntary hospital sector. “Section 38 organisations including St John’s Hospital have all the benefits of being public servants and are also fully obliged to comply with public pay policy,” he said. “The [regional executive officer, Ms Broderick] has correctly represented and restated the position to St John’s Hospital. We have no further comment to make on the matter.”St John’s Hospital declined to comment.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:33 UTC
National children’s hospital board sees legal expenses triple as it fights €880m in claims
The amount of money spent on legal fees, litigation and defending claims by the board of the new national children’s hospital rose sharply from €2 million in 2023 to more than €6 million in 2024. The hospital’s board said it is now defending €880m in claims. Relations between the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) and BAM have publicly deteriorated in recent years. If it is disputed, the claim goes to legal proceedings, so that the dispute can be finally determined by the court. “As it stands, claims are now at all levels of the dispute mechanism process, which involve the Employers Representative, Project Board, Conciliation, Adjudication, and the High Court,” the spokeswoman said.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:33 UTC
Limerick hospital expansion at risk over chief executive pay row
The expansion of a hospital in Limerick is now at risk due to an escalating row between the Health Service Executive and the board of the healthcare facility over the rate of pay to its chief executive. In August, The Irish Times revealed that the salary of Emer Martin, chief executive of St John’s Hospital in Limerick, was increased to that of a higher pay band - breaching the consolidated public pay scales. “Failure to comply may result in delayed progression to planned developments for St John’s,” the letter said. Ms Broderick added: “All future developments agreed or otherwise are now paused based on our concerns in respect of governance matters. St John’s Hospital did not respond to a request for comment.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:33 UTC
Surge in number of exclusion orders against foreign-national prisoners
Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins PhotosEfforts to deport convicted criminals from the Republic have been ramped up in recent months, with a record number of those in Irish prisons now also having exclusion orders imposed. That compares with 24 exclusion orders imposed on EU citizens last year and 19 in 2023. Of the people covered by those 99 exclusion orders imposed to mid-October, some 45 have already been removed, including 22 on commercial flights and 23 on a charter flight, to Romania, the week before last. [ About 500 people subject to deportation orders living in international protection facilitiesOpens in new window ][ Explainer: What is the purpose of deportation flights out of Ireland? Having come to Ireland in 2019, his application for international protection met a final rejection last year.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:32 UTC
Gaza peace plan deadlocked despite hands-on US efforts
Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty ImagesIt’s been one month since US president Donald Trump announced his Gaza ceasefire plan, forcing both Israel and Hamas to endorse the 20-point plan despite significant reservations. The initial signs were promising, with the release of all 20 living Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity just a few days later - a dramatic development that few Israelis believed would happen. Israel is reluctant to flood Gaza with aid as long as Hamas is keeping hold of some of the bodies. Vance raised the prospect of rebuilding and repopulating Rafah, at the southern tip of the enclave, which is under complete Israeli control, with the relocation of tens of thousands of homeless war refugees. Israel last week started placing large yellow concrete blocks demarcating the temporary “yellow-line” border between eastern and western Gaza.
Source:The Irish Times
October 28, 2025 22:32 UTC