It’s time for the penultimate round of the Women’s Six Nations, and Ireland welcome Wales to Belfast this evening in the third fixture of the day.
","teaserLeadtext":"It’s time for the penultimate round of the Women’s Six Nations, and Ireland welcome Wales to Belfast this evening in the third fixture of the day.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"With England making their way to Parma to play Italy at 2.0, and Scotland hosting France at 4.15, Ireland and Wales have the honour of topping off the day with kick-off this evening at 6.30.
After the opening three rounds, it has become apparent that 2026 will probably not be the year when anyone other than France or England can finish in the top two.
Italy managed it last in 2019 by finishing second behind England. Once again, the table is split into two hot contests: Can France finally beat England and win the Six Nations? And who will be best of the rest?
While Ireland want to break into that upper third of the table, it’s unlikely to happen this year.
Haunting memories of what could have been in Clermont two weeks ago mean there is only one positive way for Ireland to finish this tournament – with convincing, back-to-back wins at home.
Scott Bemand’s side will be looking to emulate that buzz from Galway in round two where Ireland scored nine tries from a variety of positions.
With threats all over the park, it’s down to Dannah O’Brien in the driver’s seat to command her forwards around the park and set alight Ireland’s dynamic backline.
Wales have plenty of homework to do while preparing for their Belfast visit, starting with lineout and maul defence. They are without notable lineout stealer Gwen Crabb in this round, so they’ll have to be quick on their feet to disrupt Ireland’s innovative and ambitious movements that have so far been working well.
Ireland have also adopted a down-and-drive attack that Wales will have to be wary of if any ill-discipline gives O’Brien the opportunity to kick penalties into the corner.
At scrum-time, the Welsh back-rows will have to be alert in defence with the wrath of Aoife Wafer ready to be unleashed at any moment.
Wafer’s dominant carries from the base of the scrum often draw in several defenders which, when Ireland play quickly, can leave gaps for the backs to pick out and punch through.
\n \nWhen it comes to the backs, the only change to the starting line-up is Eve Higgins at 13.
She will be looking to pierce those holes in the Welsh defence as she made 32 metres in as many minutes versus France, desperate to make up for the time she spent on the bench. A role she’s not used to.
Ireland are not without their fair share of preparation to do in welcoming Wales to the Affidea Stadium either.
The Irish back-three of Stacey Flood, Béibhinn Parsons and round two debutante Robyn O’Connor will have to keep spaces closed to avoid inviting the impressive boot of Welsh out-half Lleucu George into Irish territory.
Defensive spaces around the ruck will have to stay narrow as Kiera Bevan, who earns her 82nd cap tomorrow, loves to snipe.
Full-back Kayleigh Powell has been leaving defenders in her dust and can be destructive on the counter-attack.
As for front-row Sisilia Tuipulotu, if Ireland allow Wales to get within a few metres of their tryline, keep your eyes on her and how many Irish defenders it will take to stop her.
Ireland’s performance in the last round forced France to become the best version we’ve seen this tournament, and maybe even pushed them to reach the heights they will need if they are going to beat England this year.
With that performance fresh in their memory, hopefully by tomorrow night Irish fans will be happy having one fixture at hand and all roads leading to Lansdowne Road for next week’s Super Sunday finale.
All things considered, Ireland at their best should give the Belfast crowd something to sing about.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/a36ca38e-cc3c-48ec-93bc-60271d4eda3e/88a8bc54-e402-472d-a1b2-95832f54ae0b/a36ca38e-cc3c-48ec-93bc-60271d4eda3e.jpg","width":3248.0,"height":2152.0,"credit":"","caption":"Centre Eve Higgins will be looking to pierce holes in the Welsh defence on her return to the starting line-up. Photo: Sportsfile","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3248.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3248.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3228.0,"x":10.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":1435.0,"x":511.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":2153.0,"x":492.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/a36ca38e-cc3c-48ec-93bc-60271d4eda3e/88a8bc54-e402-472d-a1b2-95832f54ae0b/a36ca38e-cc3c-48ec-93bc-60271d4eda3e.jpg","width":3248.0,"height":2152.0,"credit":"","caption":"Centre Eve Higgins will be looking to pierce holes in the Welsh defence on her return to the starting line-up. Photo: Sportsfile","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3248.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3248.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":3228.0,"x":10.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":1435.0,"x":511.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2152.0,"width":2153.0,"x":492.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","c5e8b616-429e-47d8-810f-7c5faea36c96","d466ca4b-b6ea-49ea-a316-dc52516afcd8","609b8a24-0698-436f-a1f6-e96fc16af6d0"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1037100812,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T19:06:59+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/crime","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/crime/man-30s-arrested-after-more-than-100kg-of-cannabis-worth-2m-seized-in-co-clare/a1037100812.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"Man (30s) arrested after more than 100kg of cannabis worth €2m seized in Co Clare","teaserHeadline":"Man (30s) arrested after more than 100kg of cannabis worth €2m seized in Co Clare","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Neil Fetherstone","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A man has been arrested after more than 100kg of cannabis, with an estimated value of approximately €2m, was seized in Co Clare.
","teaserLeadtext":"A man has been arrested after more than 100kg of cannabis, with an estimated value of approximately €2m, was seized in Co Clare.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The man, in his 30s was arrested by gardaí as part of an intelligence-led operation earlier on Friday.
“This seizure was made as a result of a joint operation conducted by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) and Revenue’s Customs Service along with the Clare Divisional Drugs Unit,” a Garda spokesperson said.
“One male, aged in his 30s, was arrested by An Garda Síochána and is currently detained at a Garda Station in County Clare under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.”
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/cb1e60db-6238-40d5-a1d9-0861618f4821/b582d44e-053f-4b7b-ab50-23c012195659/cb1e60db-6238-40d5-a1d9-0861618f4821.jpg","width":1440.0,"height":1920.0,"credit":"","caption":null,"cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":960.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":240.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1280.0,"x":80.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":120.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/cb1e60db-6238-40d5-a1d9-0861618f4821/b582d44e-053f-4b7b-ab50-23c012195659/cb1e60db-6238-40d5-a1d9-0861618f4821.jpg","width":1440.0,"height":1920.0,"credit":"","caption":null,"cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":960.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":240.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1920.0,"width":1280.0,"x":80.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1440.0,"width":1440.0,"x":0.0,"y":120.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","5f6be0a8-23b5-4325-9ba8-ed38de00c646","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","c3822c5d-48bc-4f56-9f4b-b076010a2da0","7234375f-3b5a-4f5d-8a6f-b07700b5379a"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1859893833,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T19:06:18+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer/real-madrid-team-mates-hit-with-heavy-fines-after-altercation-that-left-federico-valverde-hospitalised/a1859893833.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Real Madrid team-mates hit with heavy fines after altercation that left Federico Valverde hospitalised ","teaserHeadline":"Real Madrid team-mates hit with heavy fines after altercation that left Federico Valverde hospitalised ","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Edward Elliot","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Real Madrid have fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 (£432,000) each following their training-ground altercation.
","teaserLeadtext":"Real Madrid have fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 (£432,000) each following their training-ground altercation.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The duo were reported to have fought at the end of Thursday’s training session following a previous incident on Wednesday.
Valverde went to hospital with a head injury after a dressing room row with Tchouameni but denied the pair “came to blows”.
Real said the two players expressed “complete remorse” during an internal disciplinary process which has resulted in hefty financial penalties.
A club statement read: “Real Madrid CF announces that, following the events that led to the disciplinary proceedings initiated yesterday against our players Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni, both appeared today before the investigator assigned to the case.
“During their appearance, the players expressed their complete remorse for what happened and apologised to each other.
“Furthermore, they extended their apologies to the club, their team-mates, the coaching staff and the fans, and both have made themselves available to Real Madrid to accept whatever sanction the club deems appropriate.
“Under these circumstances, Real Madrid has decided to impose a financial penalty of five hundred thousand euros on each player, thereby concluding the corresponding internal procedures.”
Real travel to LaLiga leaders Barcelona on Sunday, bidding to prevent their rivals securing the title.
Valverde will miss the game after the club announced on Thursday he had been diagnosed with a “cranioencephalic trauma” which would keep him sidelined for 10-14 days.
The Uruguay midfielder, 27, later posted a lengthy statement on Instagram – without mentioning 26-year-old France international Tchouameni by name – in which he insisted the incident had been “blown out of proportion”.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) I had an incident with a team-mate during a training session,” wrote Valverde.
“Today (Thursday) we had another disagreement. During the argument, I accidentally hit a table, causing a small cut on my forehead that required a routine visit to the hospital.
“At no point did my team-mate hit me and I didn’t hit him either, although I understand it’s easier for you to believe we came to blows or that it was intentional, but that didn’t happen.”
The disciplinary proceedings are the latest in a string of recent controversies at Real, with defender Antonio Rudiger reportedly apologising to the squad for another training-ground clash.
Star striker Kylian Mbappe was then reported to have been involved in an angry exchange with a member of the club’s coaching staff who was acting as an assistant referee in a training match.
Mbappe, who is recovering from a hamstring injury and is a doubt for El Clasico this weekend, has also faced criticism for a trip to Italy with his partner.
The 27-year-old arrived back shortly before kick-off for last Sunday’s 2-0 win at Espanyol.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ffc7c94b-573d-4a28-8457-ebc9fb4c4f81/c90743c8-a7da-445a-a8bd-b028981a7caa/ffc7c94b-573d-4a28-8457-ebc9fb4c4f81.jpg","width":2644.0,"height":2644.0,"credit":"","caption":"Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1763.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":1762.0,"x":441.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ffc7c94b-573d-4a28-8457-ebc9fb4c4f81/c90743c8-a7da-445a-a8bd-b028981a7caa/ffc7c94b-573d-4a28-8457-ebc9fb4c4f81.jpg","width":2644.0,"height":2644.0,"credit":"","caption":"Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1763.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":1762.0,"x":441.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2644.0,"width":2644.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","84d4d504-6d8f-4856-a351-dc12fac06522"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1985989731,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T19:00:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/i-think-im-flying-to-belfast-she-turns-to-me-and-said-are-you-fking-mad-belfast-theres-a-war-on-up-there/a1985989731.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"‘I think I’m flying to Belfast. She turns to me and said: Are you f**king mad? Belfast? There’s a war on up there’","teaserHeadline":"‘I think I’m flying to Belfast. She turns to me and said: Are you f**king mad? Belfast? There’s a war on up there’","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Aidan Fitzmaurice","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A Frenchman working in Vietnam for an Italian football club, with his adult sons on the way up their own career ladders in Dubai and China. He is much-travelled, but former footballer Pascal Vaudequin always finds his way back.
","teaserLeadtext":"A Frenchman working in Vietnam for an Italian football club, with his adult sons on the way up their own career ladders in Dubai and China. He is much-travelled, but former footballer Pascal Vaudequin always finds his way back.
","summary":"In the latest interview from our League of Ireland legends series, we speak to Frenchman Pascal Vaudequin, who became a cult hero to Derry City and Shelbourne fans\n","subheadline":"","body":"A small part of Ireland’s north-west was and still is the magnet, the draw, his focal point. It’s almost four decades since a young and naive French footballer, aged 21 and with no knowledge of the real world, landed at Derry City to inject some life into his playing career, unsure what he would find.
“I always remember my mother when I told her I signed for Derry City, she said, ‘Where is Derry?’ I said, ‘I think I’m flying to Belfast’. She turns to me and said: ‘Are you f**king mad? Belfast? There’s a war on up there. I said: ‘Is there?’ I didn’t know. I was on my way to play football. I just took two bags, went to get the plane to Belfast, and 39 years later, I’m still here,” he says.
Now 59, Vaudequin played for five teams in the League of Ireland; coached with a club on either side of the border (Finn Harps and Institute); was on the staff of the Irish FA; and, after the guts of a decade working in football roles in Asia and Switzerland, is now back in the area, appointed as head of academy with Irish League side Coleraine late last year.
It’s more down to laziness than anything else that he never took out Irish citizenship and still travels on his French passport, though in the early days of his career here, there was an offer of Irish caps when the Olympic team manager Jim McLaughlin tried to get Vaudequin on board.
“Jim told me, you have an Irish wife, get an Irish passport and you can play for our Olympics team. I thought, ‘No, I cannot deny France’. I didn’t know that I could get two passports,” he says.
“I never applied for Irish citizenship and it’s something I really regretted. But I live here now, that’s me back in Ireland. I don’t want to go anywhere else now.”
The roots the Frenchman set down here showed their depth during recent adversity, when his mother-in-law was dying from cancer, as Vaudequin had returned to Derry to assist.
“She passed away from cancer, but for six/seven months, she went through hell. I was there helping my wife. It was a time for me to help the family, to help my wife. I was a chef, cook. I was doing a lot of things. It was a hard time, because she was like my mammy,” he says.
“I left my family in France very early and it was not easy. But when I came here, I learned something about Ireland, how close you can be. My mother-in-law was like my mom. My father-in-law, he’s like my dad.
“They’re beautiful people, the family is very close. I discovered something here, this is why I love so much Ireland.”
At one stage, his fondness for Ireland almost led to a post-playing role with the Irish national team. After the 2002 World Cup, the FAI was flirting with the veteran coach Philippe Troussier, a man Vaudequin knew well from France, and the would-be Ireland boss saw a role for a former League of Ireland player.
“He called me up,” Vaudequin says. “He says to me that it’s a job which he would have really loved to take, with the passion and everything else in Ireland, that fighting spirit as he used to call it. He said, ‘Pascal, would you be part of the staff?’ And I went, ‘Jesus, Philippe, I don’t even have a coaching qualification’, and it didn’t happen, but it was nice to be asked.”
When Vaudequin did land a role with an international team, it was with Northern Ireland, and he’s proud of his part in bringing through young talents like Conor Bradley while on the IFA staff from 2007 to 2018, before moving to Vietnam.
But for so long, the LOI was his bread and butter. Vaudequin had been at a couple of lower-league clubs in France, but in 1987, aged 21, he was at something of a loose end. Derry boss Noel King used his contacts on the Continent to bring this Frenchman to Derry.
And what a time that was: in his second season at the Brandywell, Derry ruled over all to win a historic treble, all the time backed by full houses at home games and massive support on the road.
“I never realised what could happen here,” he says. “The first thing I always remember seeing was the Brandywell, I thought it was our training pitch. Alex Kristic says, ‘No, Pascal, this is our home pitch’. I say, ‘What do you mean, this is where we play every week?’
“But the first game here, it was absolutely jammed, for just a friendly game, and I saw the passion the Derry people had. Later, I understood the political issues behind it, Derry City being banned from the league in the North. That passion, I was totally amazed. I just thought, ‘This town is crazy’.”
Derry had a multinational squad at the time, but back home, Vaudequin was making news.
“I think I was the third Frenchman to play outside of France at the time. You had [Michel] Platini in Juventus, Didier Six in Aston Villa ... and I was the third. This is why French TV came over to do a story, I just was living something very, very special.”
Vaudequin was soon to learn an early lesson about the boom/bust nature of life in the LOI. Treble winners in 1989, by 1991 City were on the slide and finished seventh, Jim McLaughlin had left and Vaudequin went back to France, for second-tier football with Rodez, where he still got to play against emerging French talents like Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry. But Rodez also had money issues, went bust, and Vaudequin had a call to make.
“My wife was Irish, we had two kids under five. Derry wanted me back. I was 27/28, I wasn’t going to be a millionaire in France. I had to choose, at that stage, football was secondary for me and I had to choose for my sons, so I said, which education is the best and I chose to go back to Ireland for that.”
So in 1993 it was back to Derry for a three-year spell, which did bring an FAI Cup win, but the pain of losing out on the Premier Division title at the death in the 1994/95 season.
In 1996, as Felix Healy was building a side that would go on and win the league, Vaudequin was sidelined but not finished, as a move to Damien Richardson’s Shelbourne inspired him to new levels.
“I loved what Damien Richardson was putting in place. I thought it was like fresh air. I liked to play against Shels. I liked his style. It was a team that played decent football,” he says. “Jim McLaughlin was a great manager, but I think Damien was the best coach I ever had.
“The football we played at Shels was the best football I played in Ireland, even with the Derry treble and even though I had so many years with Derry.”
His spell in red did yield an FAI Cup success in a final win over Derry, in the same season that Derry won the league. And while Vaudequin was content to stay at Shels, the travel was tough.
“I was leaving Derry at 5am to go down for 10am training sessions. You do it a couple of times OK, but it started to take a toll,” he says.
Up in the north-west, Charlie McGeever was building a new side at ambitious Finn Harps and, arriving in January 1998, Vaudequin was a signing that made sense for all parties. But an FAI Cup final defeat in 1999 proved costly.
“This is the mistake we are making, they put a lot of money in the first team, but they don’t follow up if you don’t qualify for Europe, and it’s sad because Harps tried something, but it was a gamble which basically didn’t work out.”
Released, as Harps cut costs, Vaudequin was soon back in Dublin with Bohemians in 1999. But that was short-lived, as Vaudequin and manager Roddy Collins did not see eye to eye.
“A different approach, different way of coaching, different man-management, which really didn’t sit with me,” he says.
Aware that injuries, especially the ACL tear sustained in the cup semi-final win over Galway United with Harps in ’99, had slowed his gallop, he looked to be on the way out. But another call from Richardson, this time for Shamrock Rovers in 2000, gave him one last chapter.
“It was the sleeping giant. For me, in Ireland, it was Derry and Rovers. Honestly, I thought that was a club with big support and big expectations and everything else,” he says.
Ireland gave me everything. They give me the family first, but all the rest, the culture, I go to Donegal, I love my wee pint of Guinness, I like the music.
But early in his second season with the Hoops, Vaudequin called it a day; he was fighting a losing battle with injury.
“I went to Damien and said, ‘I apologise, I let you down’. I could not take the money. I could have sat there, I had eight months on my contract with Rovers, but there and then, I decided to retire. It was more out of respect for Damien than for Rovers.
“I came from the east of Paris, from where all the immigrants are. And I always had that kind of loyalty inside me. Even today, when I do something, I do it with loyalty. I couldn’t sit there and take their money.”
His wife thought he was mad to walk away from the contract with no back-up plan. Vaudequin began educating himself abroad as a coach and landed a role with Derry nursery club Trojans.
A spell as assistant manager, followed by 10 months as manager (2005) with Irish League outfit Institute, made him realise he was more of a coach than a manager.
“I wasn’t ready to manage senior players,” he says. “I was too demanding. I could not understand the players’ drinking sessions, not being serious.”
Another stint in men’s football, as an assistant with Finn Harps, made up his mind on his future career.
“I realised that I wanted to specialise in youth development. OK, you are not in the newspapers, you work maybe in the shadows, but that’s what I like.”
A gig with the IFA (2007) opened doors and opened his eyes as the association started to put in place structures that would bring through players such as Paddy McNair and yield success like the 2016 Euros.
“It was the Club NI Programmes, which cost a lot of money for the Irish FA, and there was a lot of criticism. Everybody says, ‘What is it all about? It’s wasting money’. What we were doing was the right approach,” he says.
“We were identifying the talented players at U-12 level, in the regional centres, and we eventually got the likes of Conor Bradley. Look at the Northern Ireland national team today, they’re young, but I think 70 or 80pc came from that programme.”
He stayed with the IFA until 2017, when an offer from his old pal, Troussier, put him on the way to Vietnam, where he coached players at their national centre of excellence, a project with an annual budget of €15m. Covid-19 interrupted with its lockdowns and travel bans.
“At one stage, I didn’t see my wife for nine months,” he reveals.
He was on the move again, though there was a return to Vietnam, this time on a project funded by Juventus – but a second Covid surge in 2021 forced him to move on again.
Next stop, in 2023, was Switzerland and a gig with Neuchatel Xamax, a once-great club fallen on hard times. Demoted to the lower leagues for financial misdemeanours, the club wanted an academy focus to get them back in business, and Vaudequin did his bit. In his time there, they sold Zachary Athekame to AC Milan for €10m.
For family reasons and that cancer battle involving his mother-in-law, Vaudequin opted to come home – and after a spell of searching, he landed the academy gig with Coleraine. He leans on his own experiences in the game to state that only an academy-focused approach can help clubs on the island of Ireland.
“The Coleraine owner knows there is no easy way to make money. He knows that at the start, he’s got to invest, but he wants the club to sustain itself. And there are only a few ways to do it. First is Europe, European money. But second is the youth development, the academy,” he says.
“He understands very much that youth development can take a lot of time. He knows that the investment sometimes is not over a year or two years.”
For decades, Vaudequin nipped over and back across the border like it wasn’t there, but he sees a divide in the game on the island.
“I was glad to follow Shels and Rovers in Europe in the group stages, you can see that the League of Ireland really are pushing up.
“But there’s still a lot of work to do in the Irish League. I’m not going to make too many friends by saying this, but I left Northern Ireland 10 years ago, I come back and I don’t see any difference in football. In the North, we need to be a little bit more brave,” he says.
“A club project has got to be some kind of continuity, between each group but also up to the first team. If the first team is kick and rush, and you try to play or develop the young players, it’s complex. With the coaches, maybe it’s too much pressure. I think clubs need to be more brave. Not clubs – managers need to be more brave.
“We are behind in the Irish League. You can see it. I’m just back for five months, but I’m watching games. It’s a different level; the clubs in the south have better structures. I think there’s a lot of hard work that’s been done in the League of Ireland.
“It’s going from strength to strength, the League of Ireland. We are playing catch-up at the moment, the North, but I do believe that teams like Coleraine, Linfield, Larne and Glentoran are doing the right things also.
“People are driving Northern Ireland – the clubs, of thinking a different way
. . . like the Coleraine owner, but I think it will take time to catch up with the south.”
He even sees cracks in the road surface. “When I came to Derry first, I could not understand you had no motorways. Every week we were going down from Derry to Dublin, to Cork and Galway, but the roads were terrible.
“Today, when you look the road between here [Derry] and Aughnacloy, it’s dramatic [the changer]. We’re in 2026 and it’s potholes everywhere. It used to be that the road system in the South was a wee bit crap.
“But I think it’s the opposite way today. I think Northern Ireland is full of potholes everywhere. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Yet, it’s home. “Ireland gave me everything. They give me the family first, but all the rest, the culture, I go to Donegal, I love my wee pint of Guinness, I like the music.
“I just feel comfortable here. I went back to France, but I could not stand the attitude, I could not stand that laziness, strikes everywhere, what it became. France changed a lot, became aggressive.
“And I just felt that, it’s not for me any more, their approach to life. Here, you don’t care, you’ve got time for your work, you’ve got time to enjoy yourself. You’ve got your way of living, it’s totally different.
“I just felt settled here. I don’t know how to describe that. I’m just happy to be where I am. I’ve been blessed.”
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","teaserLeadtext":"Fintan McCarthy will represent Ireland in a men’s single scull at the World Cup regatta in Seville at the end of the month (May 29-31).
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The Olympic gold medallist in lightweight double has made a remarkably successful transition to heavyweight ranks.
He won World Championship medals in two crew boats last season, including gold in the novel mixed double with Mags Cremen.
However, this will be his first time competing in the heavyweight single at a major event.
Fiona Murtagh will begin her campaign as the world champion in the women’s single in Spain.
The Galway woman made her debut in the boat in international competition last year, but ended it with a gold medal.
The women’s team is a strong one, with a four and a lightweight single as well as two new women’s doubles – the experienced Margaret Cremen and Zoe Hyde team up, while Alison Bergin partners talented teenager Sophia Young.
On the men’s side, the new pair of Adam Murphy and Fionnán Tolan have impressed in trials.
Konan Pazzaia teams up with Andrew Sheehan, Ryan Spelman and Martin O’Grady in a novel quadruple scull.
The Ireland squad was split earlier this season, with some going to altitude training in Spain.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/94b31bcb-4762-48b9-bf75-dbd82ea2b8fe/11d1d775-cfcc-4b1b-a34d-ffa897d448af/3246581.jpg","width":3050.0,"height":2292.0,"credit":"","caption":"Fintan McCarthy celebrates winning bronze in the last year's World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. Photo: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":3050.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":3050.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1645.0,"width":2469.0,"x":580.0,"y":60.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":1530.0,"x":1433.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":2290.0,"x":760.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/94b31bcb-4762-48b9-bf75-dbd82ea2b8fe/11d1d775-cfcc-4b1b-a34d-ffa897d448af/3246581.jpg","width":3050.0,"height":2292.0,"credit":"","caption":"Fintan McCarthy celebrates winning bronze in the last year's World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. Photo: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":3050.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":3050.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1645.0,"width":2469.0,"x":580.0,"y":60.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":1530.0,"x":1433.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2292.0,"width":2290.0,"x":760.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Fintan McCarthy"],"regions":[],"ids":["edfd1d67-3e60-43e0-9c02-3660d5acfa51"],"slugs":["fintan-mccarthy"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","98ec7640-ba32-4ead-abc4-544535a09232","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","873c5b6c-c1a9-4882-b6fe-196ff0af1b30","762241ed-ad93-4ebb-a35a-c9446ffa0642","97af9dc7-f3af-4eb3-a4f3-8d7731e1cb41","206fde0b-458a-4fe4-b0c1-b076011030b7","ce43c7b9-7736-473e-a679-b11500b73a82"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1639550548,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T18:00:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/philly-mcmahon-kildare-have-an-abundance-of-talent-so-why-arent-they-more-successful/a1639550548.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"Philly McMahon: Kildare have an abundance of talent so why aren’t they more successful?","teaserHeadline":"Philly McMahon: Kildare have an abundance of talent so why aren’t they more successful?","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Philly McMahon","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Warning: this column contains traces of Kildare. I’m declaring this here at the outset because I can already hear them.
","teaserLeadtext":"Warning: this column contains traces of Kildare. I’m declaring this here at the outset because I can already hear them.
","summary":"Critics should tread carefully before doubting Dublin again, they had a point to prove against Louth\n","subheadline":"","body":"Who? The experts pointing out that I spent a year there and somehow managed not to win a championship with Naas, which is true.
But it doesn’t preclude me from having an opinion on the scene there as I encountered it. I got to see plenty of the best players in that county close up and in the flesh. I had a heightened appreciation for Kildare football after I left than when I came.
And no, that doesn’t mean I have the answers. Far, far from it. Just some relatively informed observations.
The first thing to say about Kildare is that they have loads of footballers. Seriously good ones. Whatever is holding Kildare back, it isn’t an absence of talent. I’d argue that point with anyone to the bitter end.
\n \nParticularly in the forwards. There is a stereotype about Kildare players having a fetish for kicking wides and maybe that is fleshed out in the statistics but in the cold hard currency of raw talent, they are seriously strong offensively.
And not just there either. They have lots of big, athletic men around the middle.
The sort of fellas that tick the boxes for a middle eight player.
Defensively, the depth isn’t nearly the same. But there is more than enough to go on, and go far with. Yet they would be in the Tailteann Cup now if they hadn’t won it last year. My sense is that they should be miles above that level.
I don’t care what inter-county team I’m managing, I’d take Alex Beirne, Darragh Kirwan and Ryan Sinkey in the attack every day of the week. Give me all three.
They should have profiles far above where they are currently. But it is hard for a forward to stand out in Kildare when collectively, they are stuck in a kind of stasis. Shuffling forward and back.
The big regret we had with Naas was that we never really got them working together as a unit. That’s the key. Kildare seem to have the same issue.
Individually all three are excellent. I know Sinkey is out injured now but he reminds me a bit of a young Paul Mannion; silky and quick, but also raw and in need of a polishing.
Kirwan, when his mind is on it, is almost unstoppable. Alex Beirne has serious quality too. He’s strong and aggressive. But we never figured out how to get them to work off each other, to create space for one another.
Their dynamic is like a three-man version of the Damien Comer/Shane Walsh situation at Galway. They were never all moving in unison to their collective benefit. It was about which one would get on the ball and do the damage on their own.
It isn’t just Naas either. I’d have Callum Bolton and Ben Loakman in my squad any day too. Together, that should be a serious attack. Lots of variation and energy. Throw in Colm Moran from Athy and you’d have a rare blend and balance.
Moran had a bit of a hamstring injury going into last year’s county final but he was the best opposition player I came across all season. Fast, agile, accurate. Managed correctly, he is going to be a serious player at the top level.
As is Eoin Lawlor. That’s another regret from last year. He was injured for a while when we came in and when we finally got him back on the pitch, he ended up with another bad knock.
But just a great fella. He’d run through the proverbial brick wall for you. Serious engine too. I’d have no qualms about saying he could be an outstanding full-back or midfielder at senior inter-county level. All the physical materials and attitude are there.
Put that all together and it’s crazy that Kildare haven’t made sharper progress. There is so much room for quick progress in Leinster, yet they haven’t made it. Why? I don’t know.
You’d notice the odd little thing, like a fella being brought into the county squad who hadn’t done much to justify it with their club. Or another player walking away.
But nothing really unusual, that you wouldn’t find in any county. Maybe it’s only small things that are all stacked on top of one another, and look much bigger than they do on their own.
But let’s be honest here. You couldn’t say that Kildare have any defining style. There is nothing unique about them. They have yet to create an identity for themselves. It’s a cliche but there really is so much potential in the county.
It’s hard to know whether it is environment or organisation or some collaboration. I don’t know whether the atmosphere in the county is a factor but it is noticeable that there is a different buzz around Kildare than there is in Westmeath. A level of expectation that doesn’t really check out with anything they have done of late. Something doesn’t quite add up.
Meanwhile, the other Leinster counties are getting on with it. Meath are back in Division 1, Louth have won a Leinster title and Dublin have emerged from their shortest slump in sporting history. Nobody knows for sure yet what Westmeath are.
Dublin clicked last weekend because of Wicklow. I’m absolutely certain of that. It just brought a focus to their preparation. I don’t think they were particularly brilliant against Louth, but they had a bite about them. They had a point to prove. They were running on a different energy source.
They were hungry. They devoured Louth accordingly. Personally, I didn’t see Dublin losing to Louth anyway. There is too much quality in the Dublin squad. All those power rankings with Dublin down in eighth and ninth? Total nonsense.
But you are what you do every day and Dublin hadn’t had too many days when they looked anything but pedestrian for a while.
Sometimes you get locked in. You’re motivated by proving people wrong and you stop overthinking things and you end up with a performance like that and you almost remind yourself of how good you can really be.
A reference point. Dublin always have that in the back pocket. It’s why we should all tread carefully before doubting them again.
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","teaserLeadtext":"An international showjumper has appeared at a special sitting of Sligo District Court charged with handling a stolen horse.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Sligo native, Michael Kearins (43), formerly of Koolwijkerbroek, Gelderland, The Netherlands was charged that on a date unknown between January 1, 2022 and May 25, 2022, both dates inclusive, that within the state he handled a stolen horse, Currina Diamond Tiara, knowing that the horse was stolen.
\n \n \nKearins appearedf before a special sitting of the court at at 9pm on May 7 before Judge Éiteáin Cunningham who remanded him in custody to appear at Sligo District Court via video link on May 14 at 10:30pm. The State had objected to bail.
Funded by the Courts Funding Scheme.
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","teaserLeadtext":"Ireland U-19 captain Rory Finneran has earned his first senior call-up with Heimir Hallgrimsson including the Newcastle midfielder in his squad for this month’s training camp in Spain.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The 18-year-old could make his senior Irish debut in the friendly against Grenada on Saturday week, with Finneran linking up with the squad today following the withdrawals of Cardiff City’s Joel Bagan and Ipswich Town’s Kasey McAteer due to injury.
The Manchester native qualifies for Ireland through his Sligo grandparents and received permission from his club to link up with the Boys in Green today. He has been capped at every age group up to U-19 level, having also impressed at last November’s U-17 World Cup and played every minute of the team’s run to the round of 16 in Qatar.
Finneran spent time at Manchester City and Manchester United in his early career before signing for Blackburn Rovers where, at 15 years old, he became the club’s youngest-ever senior player in January 2024.
\n \nSix months later, he moved to Newcastle United and is now an ever-present for the club’s U-21 side. Boss Eddie Howe has also called him up to train with the first-team on several occasions.
“100pc (the dream is a senior cap),” Finneran told the Irish Independent last summer while on Ireland U-17 duty.
“You just want to keep working your way through the age groups, get to the U-19s and U-21s and then eventually the senior team. I think it helps when you’re seeing other players do it, because you know there’s chances and a pathway there.”
A new-look Ireland squad, mostly made up of Championship and League One players whose seasons have finished, have travelled to their training camp in Murcia which will conclude with the nation’s first-ever meeting with Grenada on Saturday week (5.0 Irish time).
A new squad will be named afterwards ahead of the home friendly against Qatar on May 28, before Hallgrimsson’s side travel to Montreal for a clash against Canada on June 6.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/5daf68ee-731b-4c98-b554-d5a6a8e00523/27f020c6-5221-42fa-83cd-1c4a3d90617f/3287387.jpg","width":2084.0,"height":3354.0,"credit":"","caption":"Rory Finneran","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3354.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1692.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":157.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1386.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3126.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":57.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2087.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/5daf68ee-731b-4c98-b554-d5a6a8e00523/27f020c6-5221-42fa-83cd-1c4a3d90617f/3287387.jpg","width":2084.0,"height":3354.0,"credit":"","caption":"Rory Finneran","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3354.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1692.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":157.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1386.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3126.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":57.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2087.0,"width":2084.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Sean O'Connor"],"regions":[],"ids":["8b932a5c-d047-4106-aeaf-34a5973dca16"],"slugs":["sean-oconnor"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","84d4d504-6d8f-4856-a351-dc12fac06522","057093dc-b3d0-4205-b036-4c630b26be23"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":446367809,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:47:21+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/cycling/paul-magnier-wins-really-hectic-first-stage-to-set-early-pace-at-giro-ditalia/a446367809.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Paul Magnier wins ‘really hectic’ first stage to set early pace at Giro d’Italia","teaserHeadline":"Paul Magnier wins ‘really hectic’ first stage to set early pace at Giro d’Italia","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Ian Parker","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Paul Magnier took the biggest victory of his young career as he emerged from a crash-marred finale to the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia to take the pink jersey, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon coming in third.
","teaserLeadtext":"Paul Magnier took the biggest victory of his young career as he emerged from a crash-marred finale to the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia to take the pink jersey, with Great Britain’s Ethan Vernon coming in third.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Magnier, the 22-year-old Frenchman, was one of only 11 riders who were able to contest the sprint after avoiding a huge crash that blocked the narrow road with 650 metres remaining of the 147-kilometre stage from Nessbar to Burgas in Bulgaria.
Magnier got a lead-out from his Soudal-QuickStep team-mate Jasper Stuyven before coming around Tobias Lund Anderson, who finished second ahead of Vernon and the pre-stage favourite Jonathan Milan.
“I’m so proud about the team and also my performance,” said Magnier. “I’m very happy to be at the start of the Giro with a nice shape and now I can change into the pink jersey.
“It was really hectic in the final because it was a pretty easy day, everyone was pretty fresh. We were in a good position. We knew the narrow road in the final would be tricky. Jasper and Dries (Van Gestel) did a nice job and I could finish it off so I’m super proud.”
The nature of the final sprint was defiend by the crash, which began when Uno-X rider Erlend Blikra clipped a wheel and fell to his left.
Dylan Groenewegen and Kaden Groves, among the top sprinters in the race, suffered heavy falls, with Groenewegen coming home gingerly with what appeared to be a wrist injury.
None of the main general classification hopes appeared to be impacted, however, with no time losses given the crash occurred inside the final five kilometres.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/aea80b98-f5d4-45d8-bd6e-4fee103dd35b/707b4076-edeb-49f9-a96f-316e5b24f724/1f077c40-1489-.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"France's Paul Magnier wears the pink jersey after winning stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/aea80b98-f5d4-45d8-bd6e-4fee103dd35b/707b4076-edeb-49f9-a96f-316e5b24f724/1f077c40-1489-.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"France's Paul Magnier wears the pink jersey after winning stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","98ec7640-ba32-4ead-abc4-544535a09232","04b3f380-641f-4471-b722-5555560bea8d"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1764285772,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:42:42+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/mechanic-granted-refugee-status-cannot-afford-to-have-his-parents-and-sister-join-him-here-judge-says/a1764285772.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"Mechanic granted refugee status cannot afford to have his parents and sister join him here, judge says","teaserHeadline":"Mechanic granted refugee status cannot afford to have his parents and sister join him here, judge says","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Tim Healy","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"An Afghan man has failed in a challenge to a refusal to allow him to bring his parents and sister here after the High Court found he does not have the financial resources to support them.
","teaserLeadtext":"An Afghan man has failed in a challenge to a refusal to allow him to bring his parents and sister here after the High Court found he does not have the financial resources to support them.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The now 42-year-old man fled Afghanistan in 2014 claiming he was under threat from criminal elements and after he was jailed for four months when he approached police for help.
He arrived here in 2014 and was refused refugee status but in 2018 was granted subsidiary protection which is given where a person is deemed to face a real risk if returned to their home country.
In 2018, he married in Pakistan and later he applied for long stay visas here for his wife and son. He has since had another child who was born in this state.
In March 2022, he applied under a new scheme to allow his 80-year-old father, his 51-year-old mother and his 33-year-old sister to enter the State. His younger brother was also included in the application but in 2024 he was believed to have drowned along with other migrants trying to reach Gran Canaria from Mauritania by boat.
The scheme, the Afghan Admission Programme, provided for 500 visas to offer temporary residence here to people whose freedom or safety was at risk arising from the situation in Afghanistan after the takeover of power by the Taliban in August 2021.
Up to four members of the family could be applied for. One of the main conditions, however, was that the sponsor had to have sufficient financial resources to support those people.
The applicant in this case, who lives in a two-bed house in Dublin, works as a mechanic earning €450 a week.
The Minister for Justice refused his application to bring his three family members on grounds that he did not have the resources to support them.
The brought a High Court challenge claiming that due to delay in processing his application, the minister had changed its approach to the scheme and from around Spring 2024, stricter scrutiny was applied to the financial requirements under the programme. It meant, he claimed, he was effectively treated differently from earlier applicants to the programme.
The minister opposed the challenge. It was argued the same financial criteria have been applied since its inception but that around Spring 2024, the department became aware some beneficiaries of the scheme had become dependent on the State for support and as a result stricter scrutiny was applied.
Mr Justice Anthony Barr rejected the man’s case saying, among other things, he was not satisfied that the existence of delay was sufficient to entitle him to the reliefs he sought.
He also said it was not realistic for him to suggest that with earnings of €450 per week he could pay rent and provide food and other necessaries for a total of seven people.
His father was of advanced years and in ill health and was cared for by his wife while his sister had not provided any evidence of qualifications or how she would obtain employment here, he said.
He was not a qualified mechanic, cannot read or write, and works in a garage owned by another Afghan, he said. His chances of getting employment on the open market, should he lose that job, would be extremely low as he would be competing with qualified mechanics who can read and write, the judge said.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/bad283d1-0674-4fb7-957b-85276e90a00a/66c65263-8028-4ad4-93f1-0b1ecbfa2bd2/bad283d1-0674-4fb7-957b-85276e90a00a.jpg","width":5500.0,"height":3667.0,"credit":"","caption":"Taliban members drive in a convoy to celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Photo: Reuters/Ali Khara","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1333.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":5500.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":3666.0,"width":5500.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":2444.0,"x":1528.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":3667.0,"x":914.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/bad283d1-0674-4fb7-957b-85276e90a00a/66c65263-8028-4ad4-93f1-0b1ecbfa2bd2/bad283d1-0674-4fb7-957b-85276e90a00a.jpg","width":5500.0,"height":3667.0,"credit":"","caption":"Taliban members drive in a convoy to celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Photo: Reuters/Ali Khara","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1333.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":5500.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":3666.0,"width":5500.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":2444.0,"x":1528.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":3667.0,"width":3667.0,"x":914.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","d0f67320-5c3b-451a-aacc-4d7111f4f6fb","44e9d80a-1892-4211-9c90-af0300c83022"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":758210969,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:40:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/clare/news","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/clare/news/american-rap-superstar-spotted-in-shannon-airport/a758210969.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"American rap superstar spotted in Shannon Airport","teaserHeadline":"American rap superstar spotted in Shannon Airport","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Molly Cantwell","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"American rap superstar, Flo Rida, has been spotted taking in the aviation sites at County Clare’s Shannon Airport.
","teaserLeadtext":"American rap superstar, Flo Rida, has been spotted taking in the aviation sites at County Clare’s Shannon Airport.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The well-known rapper and singer, Tramar Lacel Dillard, known professionally as Flo Rida, made his charts debut in 2007 with his breakout single Low, which sat at number one on the charts for ten weeks in the US.
From the US state Florida, the rapper is also known for hits like Right Round, Wild Ones, Whistle, and Club Can’t Handle Me, often collaborating with other major musicians like T-Pain, Sia, David Guetta, Kesha, and more.
Shannon Airport broke the news of Flo Rida’s visit on social media, with a picture of the music icon in their aviation gallery.
“[Flo Rida] paid us a little visit this morning and stopped by our aviation gallery - airside playlist upgraded for the morning,” the post read.
“Safe travels from all of us, and special thanks to our Airport Duty Manager Ray for the photo.”
Flo Rida has performed numerous times at various Irish venues, even taking time to congratulate the 2012 cohort of Leaving Certificate students on their results day.
It’s not known why the American rapper has stopped off in Shannon Airport as he currently has no Irish performances planned. He recently performed in Moscow, Russia, on May 3.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ec3084d5-1e1a-46a6-902b-2f2440132a01/26a3220f-5878-4bb1-b7f6-59079f8111c5/RG%20-%20Flo%20Rida.jpg","width":2475.0,"height":2825.0,"credit":"","caption":"Flo Rida at Shannon Airport. Image: Shannon Airport via Facebook","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1645.0,"width":2462.0,"x":13.0,"y":1041.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":1883.0,"x":294.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2473.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":351.0}}}]}},{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":6,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ec3084d5-1e1a-46a6-902b-2f2440132a01/3e94be68-f4fa-4000-93cb-79b327f5ba8d/RG%20-%20Flo%20Rida.jpg","width":2475.0,"height":2825.0,"credit":"","caption":"Flo Rida at Shannon Airport. Image: Shannon Airport via Facebook","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1645.0,"width":2462.0,"x":13.0,"y":1041.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":1883.0,"x":294.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2473.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":351.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ec3084d5-1e1a-46a6-902b-2f2440132a01/26a3220f-5878-4bb1-b7f6-59079f8111c5/RG%20-%20Flo%20Rida.jpg","width":2475.0,"height":2825.0,"credit":"","caption":"Flo Rida at Shannon Airport. Image: Shannon Airport via Facebook","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1645.0,"width":2462.0,"x":13.0,"y":1041.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2825.0,"width":1883.0,"x":294.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2473.0,"width":2475.0,"x":0.0,"y":351.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Stats Regional News","Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["98e85c25-a327-4305-810a-fc128a882013","ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["stats-regional-news","latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","c3822c5d-48bc-4f56-9f4b-b076010a2da0","7234375f-3b5a-4f5d-8a6f-b07700b5379a"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1156581134,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:35:14+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/business","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/business/st-patricks-festival-hit-with-448000-vat-bill-by-revenue/a1156581134.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"St Patrick’s Festival hit with €448,000 Vat bill by Revenue","teaserHeadline":"St Patrick’s Festival hit with €448,000 Vat bill by Revenue","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Gordon Deegan","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The firm behind the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin has been hit with a Vat bill of €448,000 following an intervention by the Revenue Commissioners.
","teaserLeadtext":"The firm behind the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin has been hit with a Vat bill of €448,000 following an intervention by the Revenue Commissioners.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The charge is revealed in 2024 accounts for Feilte Dhuibh Linne Cuideachta Faoi Theorainn Ráthaíochta (St Patrick’s Dublin Festival Company) which also discloses that the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment moved last September to provide additional funding of €454,000 to the firm in order to cover the Vat bill.
In the directors’ report attached to the 2024 accounts, they state that there has been an ongoing Revenue compliance-and-intervention review in relation to the recovery of Vat on purchases by the charity.
The directors say that after the review concluded last August, Revenue disallowed a significant portion of Vat input credits which had been claimed by the charity, dating back as far as the March/April 2023 Vat return.
This resulted in Revenue disallowing Vat totalled €301,000 in the period to August 2024, and an additional €147,000 up to last August.
The directors claim the €448,000 Vat write-off arose from a change in Revenue’s interpretation of the rules.
The exceptional Vat charge of €302,946 for 2024 resulted in the St Patrick’s Festival firm recording a loss of €27,326 for the year.
The directors say that although the charity is reporting negative reserves as at August 31, 2024, “the injection of additional funding from the Department and a strong FY2025 have returned the charity to a positive net asset position”.
A spokesman for the St Patrick’s Festival (SPF) said today: “The Vat adjustment arose following a Revenue review of the application of Vat rules to certain expenditure categories.
“SPF engaged fully and transparently with this process, and the outcome reflects a revised interpretation rather than any issue of non-compliance.
“The department’s funding reflects the importance of the festival as a key national cultural event and supports its continued delivery. Since then, SPF has delivered a strong financial performance, with 2025 delivering an economic impact of €138m and the 2026 festival attracting over 650,000 attendees.”
In 2024, the festival’s total income amounted to €3.4m which included grant funding of €1m from Fáilte Ireland, €846,978 from the Department of Tourism, €438,000 from Dublin City Council and €65,100 from the Arts Council.
The festival also generated €309,304 from sponsorship and €333,932 from the sale of grandstand tickets, which was an increase on the €276,240 in grandstand ticket sales generated in 2023.
The festival’s spend in 2024 totalled €3.36m, which included €2.19m on festival events, incorporating €416,246 on artists and pageants.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/4f964720-ab6d-4fce-a56f-ed3fd788e59c/2a2037e9-aeaa-4c0d-94bb-4a13d61d7b7d/IB%20St%20Patrick%20%283%29.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"St Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin in March. Photo: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/4f964720-ab6d-4fce-a56f-ed3fd788e59c/2a2037e9-aeaa-4c0d-94bb-4a13d61d7b7d/IB%20St%20Patrick%20%283%29.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"St Patrick's Day celebrations in Dublin in March. Photo: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","b8e75f41-4b25-4e3e-9d50-94167111f436","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","d0f67320-5c3b-451a-aacc-4d7111f4f6fb","44e9d80a-1892-4211-9c90-af0300c83022"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":92120853,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:33:44+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/woman-who-swallowed-cocaine-pellets-worth-80000-jailed-for-three-years/a92120853.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"Woman who swallowed cocaine pellets worth €80,000 jailed for three years","teaserHeadline":"Woman who swallowed cocaine pellets worth €80,000 jailed for three years","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Eimear Dodd","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A woman who ingested €80,000 of cocaine was brought to a Dublin hospital after she told staff at the hotel where she was staying that she was concerned a pellet could burst.
","teaserLeadtext":"A woman who ingested €80,000 of cocaine was brought to a Dublin hospital after she told staff at the hotel where she was staying that she was concerned a pellet could burst.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Georgia Arante Rodrigues (27) came forward from the District Court on signed guilty pleas to possession of cocaine for sale and supply on August 30, 2025.
Garda Jack McHugh told Maddie Grant BL, prosecuting, that gardai were contacted after Rodrigues was brought to St Vincent’s Hospital.
Rodrigues arrived in Ireland around three days earlier and checked into a hotel. She went to the hotel reception on August 30 and told staff using a translation app that she’d ingested what she suspected to be cocaine pellets and was concerned they could have burst.
At the hospital, she handed over a handbag containing 99 pellets of cocaine wrapped in a towel. She passed one further pellet during her stay at the hospital. After caution, she repeated to gardai what she told the hotel reception staff.
Rodrigues was arrested after being discharged from the hospital on September 2 last. She told gardai that this was her first time in Ireland, having travelled from Brazil, and she was to give the pellets to someone she didn’t know, who was supposed to contact her.
She was cooperative with the investigation, with the court hearing that Rodrigues arrived on a tourist visa and had a return ticket to Brazil.
The court was told that Rodrigues was acting as a drugs mule and was due to receive the equivalent of €2,500 upon her return to Brazil. She has no previous convictions.
Gda McHugh agreed with Dean Kelly SC, defending, that his client was fully cooperative and gave some details about her background to gardai.
Mr Kelly asked the court to consider his client’s early admissions and guilty plea.
He submitted that there is “something so jarring” that someone would take such a significant risk with their health, leaving aside the high risk of detection and imprisonment.
He noted that his client raised the alarm herself, acknowledging that she was concerned about the risk of an “agonising death” due to a pellet bursting or disintegrating in the digestive system.
His client has no addiction issues, very limited English and wishes to return to Brazil as soon as possible.
Imposing sentence today, Judge Orla Crowe said Rodrigues “voluntarily assumed a significant risk to herself in deciding to become a drug mule for gain”, which she didn’t receive.
The judge said it was a “highly organised operation” that Rodrigues took part in, noting that others would have booked a tourist visa, flights and accommodation for her.
Judge Crowe said this was a “very serious” matter, noting the harm caused to society by drugs.
Having considered the mitigation, including the difficulties serving a sentence in a foreign jurisdiction, Judge Crowe imposed a three-year sentence backdated to when Rodrigues went into custody.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/fc93c294-12a8-4f86-be5e-964e3ef82ee6/5e70a0a4-d9a5-4890-af29-f4246cfc6ccd/fc93c294-12a8-4f86-be5e-964e3ef82ee6.jpg","width":960.0,"height":640.0,"credit":"","caption":"The CCJ in Dublin.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":426.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":640.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/fc93c294-12a8-4f86-be5e-964e3ef82ee6/5e70a0a4-d9a5-4890-af29-f4246cfc6ccd/fc93c294-12a8-4f86-be5e-964e3ef82ee6.jpg","width":960.0,"height":640.0,"credit":"","caption":"The CCJ in Dublin.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":426.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":640.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1825770527,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:27:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/united-rugby-championship","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/united-rugby-championship/leo-cullen-confirms-leinster-wont-replace-rieko-ioane-with-another-all-black-as-james-lowe-deal-remains-unsigned/a1825770527.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"Leo Cullen confirms Leinster won’t replace Rieko Ioane with another All Black as James Lowe deal remains unsigned","teaserHeadline":"Leo Cullen confirms Leinster won’t replace Rieko Ioane with another All Black as James Lowe deal remains unsigned","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Rúaidhrí O'Connor","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"It looks increasingly unlikely that Leinster will sign a marquee overseas player, as Leo Cullen ruled out replacing Rieko Ioane with another All Black and highlighted the difficulty of recruiting in a World Cup year.
","teaserLeadtext":"It looks increasingly unlikely that Leinster will sign a marquee overseas player, as Leo Cullen ruled out replacing Rieko Ioane with another All Black and highlighted the difficulty of recruiting in a World Cup year.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The head coach confirmed that Springbok RG Snyman would be with Leinster next season, but as of yet, they have not announced a replacement for Ioane or departing prop Rabah Slimani.
Leinster have become the European destination of choice for All Blacks wishing to spend a sabbatical in Europe over the last two seasons, with Jordie Barrett spending the 2024/25 campaign in Dublin before Ioane came up for this season.
Ardie Savea was briefly linked with a move, but the picture is complicated by 2027 being a World Cup year, which makes the market far more difficult. Cullen is also dealing with the IRFU restrictions around who he can sign from overseas.
“We’re always looking at how you add to the group, but it has to fit in with the union remit as well,” he said.
“That’s obviously number one and where it fits in with the depth chart and who the national selectors want to come through. That’s always the landscape that we deal in. Listen, it is what it is. I know fans want... there’s a great excitement when you have a marquee player. Rieko is a great example this year. Someone who has added in lots of ways to the group.
“Someone like Jordie last season, as well as all the players who have gone before in the past. That’s a constant conversation, from a union point of view.
\n \n“Specifically to that All Black marquee player, that’s not going to happen next year because that just doesn’t fit for the way this season is laid out.
“New Zealand players need to be playing in that set-up to be considered for a World Cup, so obviously that would keep a lot of talent in the country, so that won’t be something that we’ll be doing anyway.
“If there’s somebody else, we’ll wait and see. We’re always looking. As we know, there are pretty tight parameters there as well.”
Cullen confirmed that he’d like to keep James Lowe at Leinster next season, but as of yet, the Ireland winger has not signed on the dotted line and his resumé was circulated to French clubs during the season.
Although he’s been an Ireland regular since he qualified for residency in 2020, the New Zealander has never been on an IRFU central deal. Andy Farrell has previously expressed confidence that he’ll remain in Ireland.
“It is playing out. It is still playing out, so yeah, there are still a few loose ends around the place at the moment that need to be tidied up, and that would be one of them,” he said. “He’s always been on a Leinster contract. Yeah, never been on a national contract.
“Definitely, yeah [we’d like him to stay]. James is great in terms of the character that he has, his ability you’ve seen over the years as well. So, yeah, let’s see how that plays out. But it would be great to have James here next year.”
Cullen revealed that Lowe suffered a “small setback” when returning from the groin injury he suffered against England in the Six Nations and was not considered for Saturday’s meeting with the Lions.
He returned to training on Thursday along with Robbie Henshaw, who suffered a concussion against Toulon last week, but faces a battle to prove his fitness for the Champions Cup final against Bordeaux in two weeks.
Cullen has explained his decision to start Sam Prendergast ahead of Ciarán Frawley, who is at full-back for the key URC game.
“We want to keep investing in Sam as well, because Sam’s such a quality player, and we think he’s going to be big for the future of Leinster,” Cullen said.
“So, Ciarán at 15, let’s see how he goes there, obviously Hugo’s on the bench, and we need to make a change there, depending on how the game plays out, that’s obviously a strong option for us as well.”
The Leinster coach clarified that some of the leading players who faced Toulon are being rested as per the IRFU’s player management mandate and explained how it worked from his perspective ahead of the battle with the third-placed South Africans.
“You come off the Six Nations, we have six regular season URC games to play, the game obviously we played initially was against Glasgow away, so the international guys got a bit of a break then, so there’s obviously 12 more games,” he said.
“I think they [can play] 10 of the 12 games, I think that is what’s allowed in terms of from a management point of view, so then the easy way to obviously get a couple of breaks is to not qualify for one of the knockout rounds, because then that automatically gives you a free weekend.
“The tricky part is you try to budget for potential Champions Cup games, so we’re going to have four Champions Cup games, but obviously, there’s the potential of three knockout URC games as well, so that’s kind of the broader picture of the landscape, that means guys are going to have to drop out for whatever three rounds of 13 games you have left.
“There’s always a bit of juggling and balancing, but what you want to also do is, we’re trying to pick a team to beat the Lions this weekend.”
A commis chef who sued over a back injury which he said occurred as a result of having to mix a spaghetti marinara sauce in a confined alcove next to a restaurant kitchen has been awarded €74,000 by the High Court.
","teaserLeadtext":"A commis chef who sued over a back injury which he said occurred as a result of having to mix a spaghetti marinara sauce in a confined alcove next to a restaurant kitchen has been awarded €74,000 by the High Court.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Niall Govers (40) of Nicholaus Court, Dundalk, Co Louth, sued Canurie Ltd, trading as McGeough's bar and restaurant, Dundalk, over the incident in which he put his back out on November 7, 2029, in his employer's restaurant.
He claimed that as a result of having to carry out the sauce mixing in a crouched position in an alcove due to lack of space in the restaurant, that when he stood up he popped his back.
He claimed there was a failure by the defendant to comply with statutory and regulatory obligations in failing to give him training, including manual handling training, in relation to the use of the 5kg commercial blending equipment and in failing to carry out a risk assessment of this process.
The claims were denied.
Mr Justice Conleth Bradley awarded him €74,052 including loss of earnings of €41,815 and general damages of €45,000. However, he reduced the general damages by 35pc for contributory negligence giving €29,250 for that figure.
The judge found the defendant had established contributory negligence because Mr Govers affirmed that he was able to work when he had hurt his back lifting weights in the gym the previous day. He therefore failed to have any proper or sufficient regard for his own safety.
He had also failed to act on previous instructions of another employee in making the marinara sauce by the use of a blender in the manner shown to him. He therefore failed to take any or any sufficient steps so as to avoid the accident, he said.
The judge said Mr Govers and the kitchen porter had been asked to prepare a marinara sauce for lunchtime that day and they initially set up in the kitchen but were told \"in expletive language to get out\" by another employee as the kitchen was busy.
So they did the blending in an alcove or nook in the hallway beside the kitchen.
Mr Govers claimed he had to squat in using the blender and could not stand straight. He stated that he was in a squatting position throughout this 15 minute process and described his position as half squatting over a stool but not sitting on it.
He said he was not in pain while doing it but when they were finished, he said he stood up and turned right to put the blender on top of a freezer and heard and felt his back pop and immediate pain.
As he was on split shift work, he went home after lunchtime but did so with difficulty with what was normally a five to six minute walk taking 25 to 30 minutes.
He did not return and lay in bed all day before a couple of days later going to hospital where he stayed for three days.
On being discharged, he used two crutches and wore a Velcro back brace for in or around two years after the accident and was in an extremely disabled condition, he said.
He is still not able to work because he is in too much pain, cannot really move or lift anything and his mobility is reduced, he said.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Bradley was of the view that his injuries come within the category of moderately severe soft tissue back injury.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/e0179d18-52e6-4480-a20b-1fdf4ef4f144/ee848ba5-ebc3-4728-82bc-90dbce3352a2/GettyImages-186557938.jpg","width":2000.0,"height":1500.0,"credit":"","caption":"Stock image: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1333.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":39.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":1000.0,"x":500.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":1500.0,"x":250.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/e0179d18-52e6-4480-a20b-1fdf4ef4f144/ee848ba5-ebc3-4728-82bc-90dbce3352a2/GettyImages-186557938.jpg","width":2000.0,"height":1500.0,"credit":"","caption":"Stock image: Getty","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1333.0,"width":2000.0,"x":0.0,"y":39.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":1000.0,"x":500.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1500.0,"width":1500.0,"x":250.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","1095fba6-e53c-4aba-8f19-420bff2fdc77","57d41c23-880f-4ce4-8106-4bd44ef9b4dc","23e9b99f-cc76-41be-af16-aefb00ad51f5","6a97cefc-66d8-419c-b1ec-805e48629a15"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1147354954,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:20:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/news/courts","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/news/courts/wicklow-man-ordered-to-pay-5000-after-racist-abuse-of-garda-while-in-custody/a1147354954.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Wicklow man ordered to pay €5,000 after racist abuse of garda while in custody","teaserHeadline":"Wicklow man ordered to pay €5,000 after racist abuse of garda while in custody","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Darragh McCann","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A Wicklow man who directed racist abuse at a garda while in custody has been ordered to donate €5,000 to the court poor box after pleading guilty to an assault aggravated by hatred offence.
","teaserLeadtext":"A Wicklow man who directed racist abuse at a garda while in custody has been ordered to donate €5,000 to the court poor box after pleading guilty to an assault aggravated by hatred offence.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Paul Murphy (44), of Ocean View, Ballyguile, County Wicklow, appeared at Bray District Court for the finalisation of his sentence after pleading guilty to intoxication in a public place, threatening or abusive behaviour and assault aggravated by hatred.
An assault aggravated by hatred offence applies where an assault or public order offence is motivated by hostility towards a person’s race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or other protected characteristic.
The offence was introduced under the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024, which came into force on December 31, 2024, creating aggravated versions of existing assault, public order and criminal damage offences.
A letter from a Garda inspector was handed to the court by Sergeant Mick Canavan outlining the offence, its penalties and that the charge was contrary to Section 2A of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
The legislation allows courts to impose tougher penalties in cases involving prejudice or hostility, and only a small number of prosecutions have come before the courts since it was introduced.
The court previously heard that in December 2024 the accused was observed in an intoxicated state.
When approached by gardaí, Mr Murphy said: “What do you want? You should be out arresting drug dealers in Wicklow town.”
Mr Murphy was arrested and conveyed to Wicklow Garda Station, where he was placed in a cell due to his aggressive behaviour.
Back in March, Sgt Canavan stated that, while in custody, Mr Murphy directed racist abuse at another garda by saying: “You’re a black c** t and a black b*****d.”
Mr Murphy has 20 previous convictions for public order offences, along with multiple drug-related offences, including offences under Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The court was previously told the accused has two children and is recently out of a seven-year relationship.
In mitigation back in March, solicitor for the defence Brendan Maloney said Mr Murphy has struggled with alcohol issues, had been sober for five years, but relapsed prior to the incident.
Mr Murphy is currently living with his mother while working as a digger driver, earning €750 per week. Mr Maloney said his client had previously apologised.
Judge David Kennedy directed Mr Murphy to donate €5,000 to the court poor box in lieu of imposing a fully suspended six-month prison sentence.
The judge initially gave Mr Murphy four months to pay, but extended the period after Mr Maloney told the court the accused is suffering from a blockage on his kidney, which will leave him unable to work for several weeks.
Funded by the Court Reporting Scheme
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ab5379e8-dc21-4ab3-9a0a-d3f7cb5aecb5/0112c48c-e5e2-4286-a99f-4a7361859f4e/ab5379e8-dc21-4ab3-9a0a-d3f7cb5aecb5.jpg","width":1060.0,"height":1413.0,"credit":"","caption":"Paul Murphy (44), of Ocean View, Ballyguil, County Wicklow","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":707.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":942.0,"x":59.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1060.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":88.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/ab5379e8-dc21-4ab3-9a0a-d3f7cb5aecb5/0112c48c-e5e2-4286-a99f-4a7361859f4e/ab5379e8-dc21-4ab3-9a0a-d3f7cb5aecb5.jpg","width":1060.0,"height":1413.0,"credit":"","caption":"Paul Murphy (44), of Ocean View, Ballyguil, County Wicklow","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":707.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1413.0,"width":942.0,"x":59.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1060.0,"width":1060.0,"x":0.0,"y":88.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","72e3f15d-512a-4694-9184-7413cb673582","b18f6e94-6641-4cb9-9972-ea68e7b26c63","f8d76067-f30e-4995-8ff1-af0300d11980","dea5ca19-aa8e-4055-b0ed-8785e47f7f90"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":978293972,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:13:30+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/examiner-approved-for-rathwood-home-and-garden-centre-with-liabilities-of-18m/a978293972.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"Examiner approved for Rathwood home and garden centre with liabilities of €18m","teaserHeadline":"Examiner approved for Rathwood home and garden centre with liabilities of €18m","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Tim Healy","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"The High Court has approved the appointment of an examiner to Rathwood, the troubled Carlow-based home and garden centre.
","teaserLeadtext":"The High Court has approved the appointment of an examiner to Rathwood, the troubled Carlow-based home and garden centre.
","summary":"Provisional figures provided to the court suggest the company has liabilities totalling €18 million, including €10 million owed to trade creditors, €1.4 million to the Revenue Commissioners, and €2.5 million in customer deposits and vouchers\n","subheadline":"","body":"Provisional figures provided to the court suggest the company has liabilities totalling €18 million, including €10 million owed to trade creditors, €1.4 million to the Revenue Commissioners, and €2.5 million in customer deposits and vouchers.
Confirming the appointment of Strata Financial’s Padraic Bermingham as examiner on Friday, Judge Rory Mulcahy said he was satisfied the company had a reasonable chance of survival, although noted that this was “entirely contingent” on external investment.
For the High Court to appoint an examiner, it must be satisfied that the company in question has a reasonable chance of survival.
In his ruling, the judge noted concerns raised by Revenue regarding corporate governance at the company. Lawyers for the company denied any wrongdoing.
Rathwood is a family business, controlled by couple Carmel and Patrick Keogh, of Rath, Tullow, Co Carlow, and their two sons, James and Thomas. The company presently employs 71 people, although its current difficulties have resulted in lay-offs.
The appointment comes after two creditors of Rathwood, Paleo Furniture Company Ltd and Anhui DW Living Company Ltd, petitioned the court to place the company in examinership. The two creditors are owed a combined $3.3 million (€2.8 million), according to court documents.
At Friday’s hearing, barrister Stephen Brady, appearing for Bermingham, said his client had received nine expressions of interest from potential investors in the company. In a report provided to the court, Bermingham stated that the company had a reasonable chance of survival, but said this was “singularly based on onboarding an external investor”.
In his report, Bermingham estimated the company’s total liabilities at €18,295,186. The estimated value of the company’s assets do not exceed €3 million, he said.
Barrister Keith Farry, appearing for Rathwood, said his client acknowledged and apologised to the customers impacted by the examinership process. Counsel said his client denied any suggestion of corporate governance issues at the firm.
Farry submitted that factors beyond the company’s control were to blame for the position it found itself in, pointing to a “chain of events” set off by a Northern Ireland-based supplier of the firm being placed into administration.
Farry said his client was not opposing the application to appoint an examiner, adding that the company was ready to engage in the process.
In a sworn statement to the court, James Keogh said he was “devastated” at the trust broken between Rathwood and “30 years of customers and friends”.
“[W]e did everything we could to fix the issue,” he said.
Sally O’Neill, barrister for Revenue, said her client, on foot of extensive correspondence with Bermingham, was satisfied not to oppose his appointment.
O’Neill said her client had concerns relating to corporate governance at the company, including alleged reckless trading and breaches of fiduciary duties. She said an audit of the firm was nearing completion, but given the evidence before the court, that may be delayed.
Counsel said the examiner had been “up front” and said that the company will not be able to “wash its face” during the examinership process.
Ross Gorman, barrister for the petitioner companies, submitted that there was sufficient evidence before the court to show the company had a reasonable chance of survival.
Arthur Cunningham, counsel for creditor National Seaways Freight Ltd, said his client was not opposing the application to appoint Bermingham.
The case will return in June.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/db08a03e-699f-42bf-adfc-6d8a5e9fecb6/225f50bd-ce17-4ac0-b5a8-531db956c6a0/db08a03e-699f-42bf-adfc-6d8a5e9fecb6.jpg","width":1179.0,"height":776.0,"credit":"","caption":"Rathwood Home and Garden World","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1163.0,"x":15.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":518.0,"x":464.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":777.0,"x":399.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"video":{"id":"2DEILZ9RHC4Q","position":5,"duration":"n/a","url":null,"imageUrl":null,"width":0,"height":0,"credit":null,"caption":null,"embed":"","videoSource":"StreamOne","consentVendorId":null}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/db08a03e-699f-42bf-adfc-6d8a5e9fecb6/225f50bd-ce17-4ac0-b5a8-531db956c6a0/db08a03e-699f-42bf-adfc-6d8a5e9fecb6.jpg","width":1179.0,"height":776.0,"credit":"","caption":"Rathwood Home and Garden World","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":1163.0,"x":15.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":518.0,"x":464.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":776.0,"width":777.0,"x":399.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","72e3f15d-512a-4694-9184-7413cb673582","b18f6e94-6641-4cb9-9972-ea68e7b26c63","fbfbc052-7f62-4bcb-98ba-b07600e137e4","01d28061-4679-4a65-bc60-b07700aee1af"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":206235648,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:10:56+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/tesco-delivery-driver-avoids-jail-sentence-over-fatal-car-park-collision/a206235648.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"Tesco delivery driver avoids jail sentence over fatal car park collision","teaserHeadline":"Tesco delivery driver avoids jail sentence over fatal car park collision","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Claire Henry","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A delivery van driver has been given a suspended sentence for careless driving, causing the death of an 83-year-old man in a supermarket car park.
","teaserLeadtext":"A delivery van driver has been given a suspended sentence for careless driving, causing the death of an 83-year-old man in a supermarket car park.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Colm Rooney (54), who had been employed as a Tesco delivery driver for four and a half years, pleaded guilty to one count of driving a vehicle without due care and attention, thereby causing the death of Thomas Leeson, at Roselawn Shopping Centre, Blanchardstown, Dublin, on December 7, 2024. It is a sentence that carries a maximum prison term of two years.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Rooney, of Stapolin Lawns, Baldoyle, Dublin, was driving the delivery van at 12km per hour when the accident occurred. Dashcam footage of the incident was played to the court, which showed Mr Leeson being hit by the van at chest height and falling backwards onto the concrete, striking his head.
Sergeant Colm Fox told Kate Egan BL, prosecuting, that Mr Leeson was conscious at the scene and was transferred to hospital where he passed away two weeks later from his injuries. Mr Leeson suffered from broken ribs, a fractured skull and a bleed to the brain.
A full, detailed collision report was carried out, which established the speed at which the van was travelling and that Rooney’s reaction time was slightly below average. He was breathalysed and drug tested at the scene, and the results were negative for all substances.
A victim impact statement, which was prepared by Mr Leeson’s daughter, Yvonne Kidd, was read to the court by the prosecuting counsel, which said: “Our dad was knocked down in our local supermarket. He went to collect a prescription and never came home.”
The statement outlined that Mr Leeson was a “devoted” father, grandfather and great-grandfather. They said his absence is missed every day, in the big and little moments, and that no sentence will ever bring him back.
The statement said that Mr Leeson had been a truck driver for over 40 years and would have been the first to recognise the pressure that delivery drivers are under.
It concluded: “Our dad deserved to live out his life, and we deserved more time with him.”
Passing sentence today, Judge Elma Sheahan began by extending her sincere condolences to the Leeson family on their enormous loss. She noted the family's dignity throughout the court process.
Judge Sheahan said the aggravating factors in this case were the seriousness of the offending and the impact that this loss has had on Mr Leeson’s family. She set a headline sentence of 12 months.
The judge said she must have regard to the significant mitigation before the court in the form of Rooney’s early guilty plea, his good character with no previous convictions and contributions to his community. She took into account the character references handed into the court and that Rooney has shown genuine remorse and co-operated throughout.
Judge Sheahan said she must consider the law and the evidence before her. She also highlighted the words from Ms Kidd’s victim impact statement, which said that “no sentence will bring back our father.” She sentenced Rooney to nine months in prison, which she suspended in full for nine months, and disqualified him from driving for two years.
Sgt Fox agreed with Vincent Henegahan, SC, defending, that from the moment gardai arrived at the scene and up until today, his client has been fully co-operative. He also agreed that there was no “outrageous” driving carried out by Rooney.
The garda agreed with counsel that this was a case of a “momentary lapse in concentration”.
Mr Heneghan said his client would like to express his remorse to Mr Leeson’s family. “That expression doesn’t just come today; it comes from the very first day he met the gardai and all the way through this case. He is truly remorseful.”
Counsel said this was a crime of recklessness of the most significant kind in that it resulted in death, and also the most benign in how long it lasted, less than two seconds.
He said Rooney has worked all his life and had been employed as a driver by Tesco for four and a half years. He no longer works as a driver but is still employed by the supermarket, which he described as significant because it shows that his employers trust him.
Mr Heneghan described Rooney as a single man who lives a quiet life and has a big love for music. He said that a tragedy has happened, that his client takes full responsibility for this, and he asked the court to be as lenient as possible.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/57a11937-009b-4300-bc29-86d906c6e63d/f61418b6-de07-4882-b421-c3fda4240c82/Colm%20Rooney%20CCJ1.jpg","width":4207.0,"height":3943.0,"credit":"","caption":"8/5/2026\rColm Rooney, 54yrs, of Stapolin Lawns, Baldoyle, Dublin pictured arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after his sentence hearing - he received a suspended sentence. pic: IrishPhotoDesk.ie","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2804.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":284.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":2628.0,"x":789.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":3943.0,"x":130.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/57a11937-009b-4300-bc29-86d906c6e63d/f61418b6-de07-4882-b421-c3fda4240c82/Colm%20Rooney%20CCJ1.jpg","width":4207.0,"height":3943.0,"credit":"","caption":"8/5/2026\rColm Rooney, 54yrs, of Stapolin Lawns, Baldoyle, Dublin pictured arriving at the Criminal Courts of Justice (CCJ) on Parkgate Street in Dublin after his sentence hearing - he received a suspended sentence. pic: IrishPhotoDesk.ie","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2804.0,"width":4207.0,"x":0.0,"y":284.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":2628.0,"x":789.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":3943.0,"width":3943.0,"x":130.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2114410817,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T17:00:00+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/carlow/news","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/regionals/carlow/news/carlow-pensioner-80-skydives-out-of-plane-to-raise-funds-for-cancer-research-if-you-have-a-goal-you-want-to-achieve-just-do-it/a2114410817.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"Carlow pensioner (80) skydives out of plane to raise funds for cancer research – ‘If you have a goal you want to achieve, just do it’","teaserHeadline":"Carlow pensioner (80) skydives out of plane to raise funds for cancer research – ‘If you have a goal you want to achieve, just do it’","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Aisling Bolton-Dowling","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Moments before stepping from a plane 10,000ft above the ground, Dave Dowling felt no fear.
","teaserLeadtext":"Moments before stepping from a plane 10,000ft above the ground, Dave Dowling felt no fear.
","summary":"Having lost a number of immediate family members to cancer, Dave Dowling jumped out of an airplane in honour of their memory and to raise money for cancer research\n","subheadline":"","body":"His thoughts weren’t on the fall below, but on the loved ones who would be with him on his way down – those he had lost to cancer.
Tucked inside his jumpsuit was a photo album filled with their faces. He rested his hand on the photo album for a split second, before the doors of the plane opened and Dave was greeted with a blast of cold air.
\n \n \nBefore he knew it, he was sitting on the side of the plane, preparing to jump. Looking down, the fields below had been shrunk into rows of tiny green boxes with rivers and streams meandering through.
He paused to take in the beauty of a landscape rarely seen from birds eye view.
A second later, he jumped, his body becoming weightless as the green fields below came closer into view as he soared towards earth.
For Dave, his 80th birthday on January 7 was more than a celebration – it acted as a powerful reminder of the people he loved, who sadly never reached that milestone themselves.
Having lost five immediate family members to cancer, the Graiguecullen man was determined to honour their memory and legacy by stepping outside of his comfort zone to raise money for cancer research by jumping out of an airplane.
“When I was up in the plane there were no nerves, I was just overcome with emotion,” Dave told the Irish Independent after the skydive.
\"Joanne, my daughter, she got me a photo album to bring with me, and in it, I had all the photos of our lost loved ones. I kept that with me inside my jumpsuit and I carried their photos and memories with me when I jumped.
\"As the plane was going up, you could see the fields and the rivers and lakes getting smaller and smaller.
\"Once we reached 10,000ft, the door was lifted and my jump master Lucas, from the Irish Parachute Club, he gave me a tap and we moved out and we wrapped our legs around the bottom of the plane. Before you realise it you’re gone, you have jumped.”
For Dave, the skydive was an experience he will never forget and the “buzz” of adrenaline will never grow old.
\"It’s the cold that hits you straight away,” recalled Dave. “For the first 5,000 of the 10,000ft, it is a freefall, there’s no parachute or anything, you are just falling, dropping to earth at 125 miles an hour.
\"You are immediately trying to adjust to the cold and before you know it, the parachute opens, and you’re actually given control of the parachute.
\"You don’t go straight down when the parachute opens, you go for a little ramble around the place and eventually you hit the ground.”
With his family there to support him and his grandchildren watching on in awe, it’s a memory the entire Dowling family will cherish for the rest of their lives.
\"I was straight over to my family who were all waiting and there were plenty of tears and celebrations,” said Dave. “The whole experience was such a buzz, I’ll never forget it and neither will my family, especially my grandchildren who were so excited to see this old man jump out of a plane.”
Speaking to the Irish Independent in February, as he prepared to take to the skies, Dave explained that his primary motivation was to honour his family, both past and present.
\"When you get to the age of 80, you start looking back on your life and remembering all the people who you lost along the way and who didn’t make it to this age,” he said.
\"For some strange reason, their faces and names become clearer in your mind and you realise how lucky you are to have made it to this age.
\"My dad didn’t make it, my brother didn’t make it, my son-in-law didn’t make it, my wife’s mother didn’t make it.
\"The older you get, the more you start thinking about your own mortality and I think that has been a prompt for me. It has made me want to go out there and do something big like skydiving for myself and also for all our family members who we lost over the years and didn’t make it to 80.”
When asked what advice he’d give to anyone chasing a goal that feels out of reach, Dave summed it up in just three simple words.
\"Just do it,” he said.
“It may sound like a stupid thing to say, but if you have something in your mind that you want to do or a goal you want to achieve, just do it. It’s as simple as that.
\"The older you get, the more you realise you can’t do certain things anymore like for me its playing golf and dancing. But if you have something in your head that you want to do, you should do it now while you can.
\"Don’t hold yourself back. I know some people may laugh at me for jumping out of a plane at 80 years old, but 80 is just an age. If I can jump out of a plane at 80, why shouldn’t I do it? There’s nothing stopping me.”
To date, Dave has raised over €6,000 for cancer research.
\"I’m so grateful to anyone who donated,” said Dave. \"It’s amazing to see all the family, friends and neighbours who have supported us. I also can’t get over how many people donated that we don’t even know. They don’t have a clue who I am, but they still donated and supported us. It’s incredible.
\"I would encourage everyone to do the skydive, especially if you have a cause to drive you on. Do it for a cause that is close to your heart and that determination will overcome all of the nerves and fear.”
With the excitement of the skydive now over, Dave is looking forward to celebrating 60 years of marriage in August with his wife, Josie.
Together, they have six grown-up children (three girls and three boys) and 14 grandchildren.
If you would like to donate to Dave Dowling’s fundraiser for cancer research, you can do so by clicking here.
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media posts","teaserHeadline":"Bournemouth drop Alex Jimenez as they investigate social media posts","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Bournemouth have launched an investigation into the alleged social media conduct of defender Alex Jimenez.
","teaserLeadtext":"Bournemouth have launched an investigation into the alleged social media conduct of defender Alex Jimenez.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The Premier League club confirmed on Friday that Jimenez would not be part of the squad for Saturday’s trip to Fulham.
“AFC Bournemouth are aware of posts circulating on social media involving right-back, Alex Jimenez,” a club statement read.
“The club understand the seriousness of the matter and it is currently being investigated.
“As a result, Alex will not be included in the squad for tomorrow’s Premier League game against Fulham and the club will be making no further comment at this time.”
Jimenez, who turned 21 on Friday, has made 32 appearances for Bournemouth this season after a summer loan switch from AC Milan.
The move to Vitality Stadium was made permanent in February.
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","teaserLeadtext":"Gardaí are investigating after the bodies of two females were found at a property in Co Tipperary.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"It is understood the bodies of a woman and a girl were found at the home in Carrck-on-Suir on Thursday afternoon.
The scene has been sealed off as gardaí investigate.
In response to queries, the Garda press office said: “Gardaí and emergency services are currently at the scene of an incident in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary this afternoon Friday 8th May 2026.”
More to follow...
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","teaserLeadtext":"Arsenal are considering offering Katie McCabe a new contract after the long-serving defender had looked set to leave this summer.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Ireland captain McCabe, who has spent the past 11 years with Arsenal, is out of contract at the end of the season and is of interest to several clubs.
The left-back was expected to leave on a free transfer, with Manchester City believed to be the front-runners to complete a deal. But Telegraph Sport understands Arsenal are now likely to make McCabe an offer to stay.
The club have been planning a squad refresh since the end of last season and Spain international Ona Batlle, who can play right-back and left-back, is set to join from Barcelona on a free transfer. Batlle is still expected to sign regardless of whether McCabe remains with the club.
McCabe has played a crucial role in Arsenal’s upturn in form since the start of the year. While she has long been one of the best left-backs in Europe, she has filled in at centre-back on numerous occasions this season.
\n \nMcCabe’s versatility makes her a valuable asset, and her importance in recent months has not gone unnoticed by key figures at Arsenal.
The 30-year-old has a loyalty to Arsenal, but all options are understood to be on the table. Speaking about her future last month while on international duty with Ireland, McCabe said: “There’s been interest. I’m into my last six months [of my contract], so technically you’re allowed to speak to others.
“I’m not part of those conversations. I’ve left those to my agent but there has been interest. The Arsenal fans know how committed I am to them and to the club. I think I’ve shown that over the last 10 years. I’ve given absolutely everything. But in terms of where I’ll be at, I’m going to see out the next few months and then go from there.”
Arsenal have been looking to bring down the age profile of their squad as part of their planned refresh. Several players were out of contract coming into this season. Steph Catley and Stina Blackstenius have recently signed new deals, but there is uncertainty around others.
It is understood that the club made decisions on a number of players who were out of contract and that those who would not be offered new deals were informed ahead of the January transfer window.
While Arsenal have not confirmed that McCabe would be leaving, she was understood to be one of those players.
It appears Arsenal are conflicted over how to move forward. Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead were also expected to leave at the end of the season but both are understood to have been offered new deals. While Foord is expected to stay, Mead looks more likely to leave.
Arsenal signed 19-year-old full-back Smilla Holmberg in January, with the Sweden international seen as a key target. But Holmberg has played further forward in recent games, which is perhaps another reason why the club are considering a new deal for McCabe.
","originalSource":"Telegraph.co.uk","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/c96c4bf1-0db0-48c7-b7e4-da348c4a5db4/f4a8ee93-c6c9-443a-81df-f47a144a8305/c96c4bf1-0db0-48c7-b7e4-da348c4a5db4.jpg","width":2159.0,"height":3238.0,"credit":"","caption":"Katie McCabe","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3238.0,"width":2159.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1346.0,"width":1947.0,"x":85.0,"y":173.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1166.0,"width":1746.0,"x":266.0,"y":209.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3238.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1252.0,"width":1250.0,"x":503.0,"y":144.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/c96c4bf1-0db0-48c7-b7e4-da348c4a5db4/f4a8ee93-c6c9-443a-81df-f47a144a8305/c96c4bf1-0db0-48c7-b7e4-da348c4a5db4.jpg","width":2159.0,"height":3238.0,"credit":"","caption":"Katie McCabe","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":3238.0,"width":2159.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1346.0,"width":1947.0,"x":85.0,"y":173.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1166.0,"width":1746.0,"x":266.0,"y":209.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":3238.0,"width":2158.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1252.0,"width":1250.0,"x":503.0,"y":144.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Katie McCabe"],"regions":[],"ids":["4f7c6411-f404-4835-82e6-2a878f654b74"],"slugs":["katie-mccabe"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","84d4d504-6d8f-4856-a351-dc12fac06522","609b8a24-0698-436f-a1f6-e96fc16af6d0","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","d0f67320-5c3b-451a-aacc-4d7111f4f6fb","30ce209c-f676-456a-ae81-aefb00a4519f"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":2015488409,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T15:45:08+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/soccer/premier-league/arne-slot-confirms-liverpool-double-injury-boost-before-chelsea-clash/a2015488409.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Arne Slot confirms Liverpool double injury boost before Chelsea clash","teaserHeadline":"Arne Slot confirms Liverpool double injury boost before Chelsea clash","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Richard Jolly","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Liverpool could welcome back Alexander Isak and Giorgi Mamardashvili for the game against Chelsea as Arne Slot’s injury problems ease.
","teaserLeadtext":"Liverpool could welcome back Alexander Isak and Giorgi Mamardashvili for the game against Chelsea as Arne Slot’s injury problems ease.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"The 2025 champions were without their main two goalkeepers and centre-forwards for last week’s defeat to Manchester United.
But Isak, who scored against Crystal Palace on his last appearance, has returned to training and Slot is waiting to discover how long he can play on Saturday.
“Alex trained with us again, only yesterday for the first time so that’s a positive,” he said. “Yesterday he did parts of it, so hopefully he can do parts – or everything – today and let’s then see how much we’re going to use him tomorrow.”
Mamardashvili suffered a deep cut to his knee in the Merseyside derby win over Everton on 19 April and Slot added: “Giorgi will train with us today for the first time so let’s see how he’s going to react.”
However, first-choice goalkeeper Alisson, who has not played since March’s 4-0 win over Galatasaray, remains out, along with Mohamed Salah.
“Alisson not yet, doesn’t train with us yet but very close to,” said Slot. “Mo [has] also not trained with us yet but is also, like Ali, getting very, very, very close to training with us.”
Salah will have a maximum of two more games in his Liverpool career, away at Aston Villa next Friday and then at home to Brentford on 24 May.
Florian Wirtz, who missed training with illness on Wednesday, is expected to be available while third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, who has started their last two games after coming off the bench at Hill Dickinson Stadium, is set to return to the bench.
Liverpool will still be without Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni and Wataru Endo.
Slot is waiting to see if Bradley will be fit for the start of pre-season training, adding: “I think – I don’t think, this is what they tell me – in the rehab it’s always really important in certain steps if they go well or don’t go well.
“It’s really difficult in the stage where he’s in now to predict exactly when he will be back; that will be by margins.
“He’s still inside, he works really hard to make the right steps but he’s at this moment quite far away of already going outside, and that makes it quite complicated to tell how long it’s going to take.”
","originalSource":"UK Independent","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/2a081a78-4c58-4847-ab1d-2cce6da6bfa9/4791b0ff-3383-4a38-8537-b5c6db23f4f6/2a081a78-4c58-4847-ab1d-2cce6da6bfa9.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and Alexander Isak during the Premier League win over Crystal Palace at Anfield. Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/2a081a78-4c58-4847-ab1d-2cce6da6bfa9/4791b0ff-3383-4a38-8537-b5c6db23f4f6/2a081a78-4c58-4847-ab1d-2cce6da6bfa9.jpg","width":3238.0,"height":2159.0,"credit":"","caption":"Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and Alexander Isak during the Premier League win over Crystal Palace at Anfield. Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/Getty Images","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2158.0,"width":3238.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":1439.0,"x":897.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2159.0,"width":2159.0,"x":537.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Liverpool Football Club"],"regions":[],"ids":["c861e903-371c-40a6-a0de-8834f3ba53b0"],"slugs":["liverpool-fc"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","50b5fc50-eff1-4634-b024-d04cdeea933f","84d4d504-6d8f-4856-a351-dc12fac06522","59f01559-0cbf-4482-aeeb-f2d0f5e8a485"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1568442624,"type":"video","articleType":"video","pubDate":"2026-05-08T15:44:43+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/world-news/europe","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/world-news/europe/spain-tests-suspected-hantavirus-case-in-alicante-as-two-irish-passengers-safe-and-well/a1568442624.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"Spain tests suspected hantavirus case in Alicante as two Irish passengers ‘safe and well’","teaserHeadline":"Spain tests suspected hantavirus case in Alicante as two Irish passengers ‘safe and well’","headlinePrefix":"LATEST","byline":"Laura Lynott","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A 32-year-old woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with a hantavirus infection and is being tested, Spanish health officials said on Friday.
","teaserLeadtext":"A 32-year-old woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with a hantavirus infection and is being tested, Spanish health officials said on Friday.
","summary":"\n\tAuthorities seek to trace passengers who disembarked before outbreak was detected\n\t\n\tThree people have died\n\t\n\tShip heading to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands\n\t\n\tHuman-to-human transmission is uncommon\n\t\n\tDutch media says air stewardess in contact with passenger taken to hospital\n\t\n","subheadline":"","body":"The woman was a passenger on the same flight as a patient who died in Johannesburg after travelling on the MV Hondius cruise ship and contracting the virus, Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla told reporters.
Authorities have identified the Andes strain of hantavirus on the ship, a version that can spread from human to human in rare cases, typically only after close contact.
The woman has \"mild respiratory symptoms\" and is being transferred to a hospital in the city of Alicante where she will be tested for the virus, with results expected 24 to 48 hours later, according to a statement on the regional health department's website.
Padilla said the woman, a resident of Alicante in the Valencia region, was sitting two rows behind the cruise ship passenger, but the contact between them \"was brief\" since the passenger had only been \"on board for a short time\" during the flight.
Padilla added that Valencia's regional health authorities were tracing the people the woman has been in contact with over the past few days.
Meanwhile, another suspected case of hantavirus was identified in a British national on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha on Friday, as efforts continue to trace passengers of the luxury cruise.
The British health security agency did not disclose further details of the new suspected case on the world's remotest inhabited island, home to only around 200 people, where the cruise ship made a stop on April 15.
Three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - have died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius.
Four others confirmed to be infected, two Britons, a Dutch and a Swiss national, are being treated in hospitals in the Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland.
A Dutch woman died shortly after she had left the ship on April 24. She was the wife of 'patient zero', the Dutch man who died on the ship on April 11.
The World Health Organisation said it would provide an update on the latest suspected and confirmed case numbers later on Friday.
The two Irish people on board the ship are “safe and well”, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee has said.
Speaking in County Armagh on Friday, Ms McEntee said: In terms of the two Irish passengers, I am pleased to say that they are safe and well.”
She said her team has been “engaging directly with them” and also with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to see what measures “would need to be taken when they do get home”.
She added: “But obviously the priority is to make sure that they can get home as quickly as possible, and we’re working with them and engaging with them.”
It is a “very difficult situation” for the families of those who have died, Ms McEntee said “and for all of those on board”.
The boat left Cape Verde on Wednesday and is expected to arrive at a port in Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday, but this is subject to change.
Experts believe the incubation period for the virus in the human body can extend to six weeks.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is not expecting the outbreak to be an epidemic.
Ireland has not yet set a specific duration for quarantine, but the HSE says self-isolation will take place “for a period” and that passengers will be actively monitored.
A HSE spokesperson said passengers will receive “optimal patient care and safety” and that all measures are being taken to “protect broader public health.” The HSE said decisions on where passengers will quarantine will be made on a case by case basis and if they become symptomatic they will be assessed and treated as appropriate.
There are understood to be two Irish passengers on board, and they have not been affected.
Dutch health authorities said on Thursday two people who had been close to the woman before she was taken off a plane in Johannesburg on April 25, due to her deteriorating medical condition, had tested negative for the virus.
Among them was a flight attendant who had been admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam with symptoms of a possible infection, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
The Dutch public health institute said it was still waiting on clear test results for the third case on Friday.
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but the strain identified in the passengers of the Hondius can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the hantavirus outbreak as 'level 3' emergency response, the lowest level of emergency activation.
Other experts have also stressed the low probability of a widespread contagion, but the outbreak has put authorities on high alert as they urge all who have been in contact with passengers who left the Hondius before the outbreak was reported to be mindful of possible symptoms.
Several U.S. states have said they are monitoring asymptomatic residents who had returned home after disembarking from the cruise ship.
Singapore on Thursday isolated and tested two residents who had been aboard the ship.
\n \nCruise operator Oceanwide on Thursday said there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the ship, which was expected to dock in Tenerife in the Canary Islands early on Sunday.
The WHO has said it was working on step-by-step guidance for when the dozens of passengers remaining on the ship disembark and travel home.
The British health service said nationals on board who are not displaying symptoms will be flown back home and asked to isolate for 45 days.
The HSE said the situation is “evolving” and is being closely monitored by the Department of Health, the HSE National Health Protection Office (NHPO), the European Commission, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the WHO, and colleagues in Northern Ireland. It said no passengers are currently symptomatic, and public health protocols will be followed once the ship docks.
The NHPO is preparing follow up care for the two Irish nationals, if needed. “Decisions with regarding repatriation will be taken depending on tier medical status, folliwng public health guidance,” the HSE said.
The NHPO’s National Incidence Management Team has been activated to coordinate the public health response.
The Taoiseach has said the Government will do everything possible to make sure Irish citizens on a hantavirus-hit cruise ship get home safely, the Taoiseach has said.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Micheál Martin said health authorities are “working actively” to bring the Irish citizens home.
Asked if they will have to quarantine he said: “Health Service Executive and public health protocols will apply. Obviously, quarantine and isolation will be part of that.”
He added: “We have a duty of care to our citizens, we want our citizens to come back in a safe way, and we will do everything possible to facilitate that. That’s our obligation.”
He said the ship is due to dock in Tenerife “shortly”, adding that “we’ll see progress from then onwards and that’s important”.
A former builder (45) is set to have his work shown at a leading auction this month.
","teaserLeadtext":"A former builder (45) is set to have his work shown at a leading auction this month.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Kildare native Simon Hayes, who works as a facilities manager on the Johnstown Estate, Co Meath, currently has his work on show in Gormleys’ Sculpture Auction until Tuesday, 12 May.
He is known for contemporary steel sculptures which carry philosophical insights, involving steel geometric structures and some featuring reflective surfaces.
Mr Hayes, who creates his sculptures in his home in Donadea, Co Kildare, is known for contemporary steel sculptures which carry philosophical insights.
Mr Hayes added: “I like to examine societal structure in my work – in particular, the invisible rules and invisible boxes it puts you in.”
His recent debut into the art world, just over three years ago, has been met with critical success, including a Sculpture in Context award.
Mr Hayes’ collection at Gormleys’ Sculpture Auction has the potential to reach €120,000, while the entire auction contents have a high estimate of €630,000.
The auction involves over 100 garden structures and also includes pieces by artists Eamonn Ceannt, Patrick O’Reilly, Olivia Kim, Paddy Campbell and Cody Swanson also feature in the auction.
The 45-year-old first worked with steel as a way to create a hanging chair for his garden.
He said: “I created my home workshop to work with steel because it presents a great deal of choice in terms of malleability. “I am a carpenter by trade, so there is some cross-over in terms of the skillset. However, with wood, you are working with a bulky material, whereas steel allows you to create a big piece from a starting material that is relatively smaller.”
One of his works in the auction, Escape, is formed from individual large nails which together create the impression of a box, speaking to the discomfort he says can come from existing within the invisible parameters of society.
Mr Hayes’ work is also currently being shown at Cotswold Sculpture Park, south of Cheltenham in the UK.
His works are being shown alongside a range of international sculptors.
Meanwhile, Gormley’s auction is currently showing on gormleyartauctions.com.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":2,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/01451c6b-894e-4da2-bbb2-2cbe079aac38/1aaa600a-3259-4d35-a256-355d513c2285/01451c6b-894e-4da2-bbb2-2cbe079aac38.jpg","width":1600.0,"height":1600.0,"credit":"","caption":"Simon Hayes","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1066.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":133.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1066.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/4e2ffe93-388a-4b52-bb50-bd36c15a357f/4f9de2bd-63db-480c-b383-1c4e6699c258/4e2ffe93-388a-4b52-bb50-bd36c15a357f.jpg","width":1179.0,"height":1800.0,"credit":"","caption":"Sculpture by Simon Hayes","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1800.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1800.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":786.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":253.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1768.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":8.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1179.0,"width":1179.0,"x":0.0,"y":153.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/01451c6b-894e-4da2-bbb2-2cbe079aac38/1aaa600a-3259-4d35-a256-355d513c2285/01451c6b-894e-4da2-bbb2-2cbe079aac38.jpg","width":1600.0,"height":1600.0,"credit":"","caption":"Simon Hayes","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1066.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":133.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1066.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1600.0,"width":1600.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","8824c9f4-7857-47bf-89d9-b0760115d355","7a8c71ce-63e9-4473-9838-b07700fba4cc","8b0a75d9-8bd3-4db2-8343-b076011094f3","bed53345-af8d-4fea-bbc8-b07700e038f6"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":163904618,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T15:12:18+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/business/technology","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/business/technology/ptsb-fined-277500-by-dpc-for-failing-to-prevent-malicious-actors-accessing-customer-bank-accounts/a163904618.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false},"headline":"PTSB fined €277,500 by DPC for failing to prevent malicious actors accessing customer bank accounts","teaserHeadline":"PTSB fined €277,500 by DPC for failing to prevent malicious actors accessing customer bank accounts","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Adrian Weckler","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined PTSB €277,500 after the bank failed to properly stop malicious actors from accessing customer accounts through its call centre. The incident was first brought to the attention of the DPC in 2022.
","teaserLeadtext":"Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined PTSB €277,500 after the bank failed to properly stop malicious actors from accessing customer accounts through its call centre. The incident was first brought to the attention of the DPC in 2022.
","summary":"The Data Protection Commission said that breaches occurred when malicious actors called PTSB’s Open24 contact centre and posed as customers to gain access to their accounts and amend account details, leading to some instances of financial loss\n","subheadline":"","body":"“The breaches occurred when malicious actors, in possession of certain customer information, called PTSB’s Open24 Contact Centre and posed as customers to gain access to their accounts and amend account details,” the watchdog said in a statement today.
“In all three incidents, appropriate security protocols were not followed. The malicious actors were able to change details associated with the accounts and obtain additional account information. As a result, account holders were exposed to an increased risk of additional fraud. The account holders were forced to close their accounts, and, in some cases, suffered financial loss.”
The privacy regulator said that PTSB failed to ensure appropriate security of the personal data related to customer accounts using appropriate technical and organisational measures. It also said that PTSB didn’t tell the regulator about it as it should have, “without undue delay and within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breaches”.
It found that the bank had infringed several articles of GDPR in its lack of protection of customer security and privacy, as well not informing the regulator on time.
“In light of the infringements identified above, the DPC has reprimanded PTSB, fined PTSB €250,000 for the infringements of Articles 5(1)(f) and 32(1) of GDPR, and fined PTSB €27,500 for the infringement of Article 33(1) of GDPR. The DPC will publish the full decision in due course,” the regulator said.
A spokesperson for PTSB said: “PTSB fully acknowledges the outcome of the Data Protection Commission inquiry and sincerely apologises to the three customers affected by the incidents in 2022. At the time, the bank fully reimbursed the impacted customers for the monies fraudulently taken from their accounts by external fraudsters. The bank has cooperated fully with the Data Protection Commission in investigating this matter. PTSB takes data security extremely seriously and has made improvements to its processes to significantly reduce the risk of any incident of this nature reoccurring.”
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":2,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/65398a88-8d56-4fee-8e86-c69ba28b7802/1e8d9bd8-3e22-4c75-88a4-11aa9d1f201b/65398a88-8d56-4fee-8e86-c69ba28b7802.jpg","width":1922.0,"height":1276.0,"credit":"","caption":null,"cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1922.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1922.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1914.0,"x":4.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":850.0,"x":536.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1276.0,"x":323.0,"y":0.0}}},{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/3037671e-7c66-4a96-88d3-9b4840c09d9d/d326ce7d-bea2-4d22-99ed-3ba950cf4539/3037671e-7c66-4a96-88d3-9b4840c09d9d.jpg","width":3259.0,"height":2145.0,"credit":"","caption":"Eamonn Crowley ","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":2145.0,"width":3259.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":2145.0,"width":3259.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":2145.0,"width":3217.0,"x":19.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":2145.0,"width":1430.0,"x":914.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":2145.0,"width":2145.0,"x":555.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/65398a88-8d56-4fee-8e86-c69ba28b7802/1e8d9bd8-3e22-4c75-88a4-11aa9d1f201b/65398a88-8d56-4fee-8e86-c69ba28b7802.jpg","width":1922.0,"height":1276.0,"credit":"","caption":null,"cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1922.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1922.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1914.0,"x":4.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":850.0,"x":536.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":1276.0,"width":1276.0,"x":323.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":[],"regions":[],"ids":[],"slugs":[]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","b8e75f41-4b25-4e3e-9d50-94167111f436","2a38c971-ba94-4ecf-a6e3-ccd7b61acca0"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":454234261,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T14:27:46+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/david-kelly-kerry-v-donegal-clash-proves-that-gaa-and-rte-are-no-longer-islands-in-the-stream-as-association-goes-its-own-way/a454234261.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":true},"headline":"David Kelly: Kerry v Donegal clash proves that GAA and RTÉ are no longer islands in the ‘stream’ as association goes its own way","teaserHeadline":"David Kelly: Kerry v Donegal clash proves that GAA and RTÉ are no longer islands in the ‘stream’ as association goes its own way","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"David Kelly","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"Well, that didn’t take long.
","teaserLeadtext":"Well, that didn’t take long.
","summary":"Reality bites at Montrose as GAA+ turns up the heat in TV battle\n","subheadline":"","body":"Just when it seemed safe for everyone to sit back and stop wagging the remote furiously, the ‘entente cairde Gael’ is over.
On Saturday week, a swathe of sports supporters will suddenly realise that a mere flick of their zapper will not magically beam the first genuine heavyweight contest of the shortened summer into their living rooms.
Kerry versus Donegal will not be on the normal telly. The outrage will be grist to the mill for radio shout-ins.
Grandad hasn’t got a credit card. We’ll have to bring the kids to the pub. There’s no broadband. Sure, we’ll jus t have to get the dodgy box so…
But a bit like complaining about the weather or clamping or M50 tolls, it won’t matter a jot.
This is the new reality, folks. Suck it up.
A bit like the new football rules where refs can move a free 50 yards up the field because a tackler dropped the ball when trying to hand it back.
Except in this case, the RTÉ are the hapless defenders and GAA+ the gleeful free-takers.
For them, putting Kerry v Donegal on their platform is a handy tap over in front of the posts.
The All-Ireland re-run may be the game of the summer that hardly anyone sees. But it might be all anyone talks about for the next few weeks.
Except the hurling crowd because this isn’t the 2023 Munster championship so has nothing to do with them. Yet.
\n \nIt is an internecine struggle for hearts and minds but, most of all, wallets. Relationships have changed utterly. Come back GAAGO. All is forgiven.
The moment Kerry and Donegal were drawn from the hat in the qualifier draw – another three explainer pieces needed right there – the lads in the GAA+ were rubbing their hands.
Almost as soon as the balls were thrown in, they connected with a shuddering shoulder. It reminded us of Tadhg Kennelly on Nicholas Murphy at the start of the 2009 All-Ireland. Take that RTÉ!
GAA+ in its GAAGO guise was formerly part-owned by RTÉ. Now it is 100pc controlled by the GAA themselves.
They have first and second pick for games being played in the next weekend of the football championship. And the next. And the…
You might not understand the format for the football championship, but it didn’t take a genius to work out which matches they would choose.
The GAA didn’t need any help to make the decision. Maybe they waited for RTÉ to ask for it just to see the sad look on their faces.
If only we could go back to those happy angry days when RTÉ guys got it in the neck all the time.
Knowing their luck, they will still get it in the neck even if this has really nothing to do with them anymore.
The GAA have been knocking around for quite a few more years and are clearly unconcerned about donning their flak jackets.
Sure, they might have needed RTÉ for almost a century to help with the talking and the camera pointing and the finger-wagging but we’re doing fine now GRMA.
We can hear the ghostly echo of Michael O’Hehir even as we type. “Give me five minutes more…!”
But no, time is up on the maxim that the GAA need the RTÉ as much as the RTÉ need the GAA.
You can go your own way now.
GAA+ now has all the rights and they have all the might, ever since their equal partners last year sold their crown jewels down the swanny.
And so GAA+ dumped the lads from RTÉ and bought the whole kit and kaboodle for the price of yet another home improvement show or two.
All had changed utterly.
Declan McBennett, the RTÉ head of sport, was on Maurice Brosnan’s Arena podcast this week insisting they remain the primary rights-holder and the GAA’s service remains complementary.
“But,” he mused, “maybe they want GAA TV in the long run…”
McBennett pointed to the fact that the sky did not fall in on RTÉ when Sky TV fell into GAA arms.
But this feels different because it is different. If you don’t think so, wait until they get their hands on the Munster hurling final. John Mullane won’t need to park the van.
Funny, that. The GAA desperate to get their hands on the GAA championship.
Or, if you’re a Munster Council chairman, the GAA desperate to cannibalise their own championship.
The GAA see a future with all the best games on the air except the ones the government don’t allow them to when it gets to the semi-final.
For the GAA, it represents a significant gamble in walking the tightrope between promoting their games to as many people as possible yet at the same time deliberately restricting them from as many people as possible.
Under the revised broadcasting contract, the sequence in a fortnight’s time was always likely except few suspected it would involve, literally, such a titanic clash.
A week after Kerry v Donegal, the dance will begin again but GAA+ will take Dublin versus Louth.
Since everybody hates Dublin and there aren’t that many people in Louth, the outside noise may not be so loud.
After that, RTÉ are due to show two of the eight games across rounds 2A and 2B on June 13/14, GAA+ will stream three matches that weekend.
Of the four games in round 3 on June 20/21, GAA+ will show three and RTÉ will screen the other.
This is only the beginning for a subscription service that is only tiptoeing towards the territory of making a seven-figure profit.
But when the Taoiseach is asked about this – as he was before – he will waffle on about the “direction of travel” and that means only one thing.
More subs, more money. Of course, it is GAA money for GAA people. What GAAGO’s around comes around.
And here we issue the regular disclaimer that people are paying to read an article about people paying for stuff. It’s the economy, stupid.
Except a bit like paid parking at crumbling hospitals, it doesn’t seem like it to many.
There may even come a time when RTÉ accountants must decide whether this is a competitive market worth fighting for if they can’t get what they want. Then again, they have made their bed.
And we barely mentioned the inevitable clashes with other sporting fixtures.
Leinster’s Champions Cup final will be on at the same time as Kerry versus Donegal which will prompt a whole pile-on of a different colour about cultural preferences as the culchies and city folks lock horns.
So, sit back and await the outrage on Newstalk and RTÉ and Virgin Media. Maybe they’ll mention it on GAA+ before the Kerry v Donegal game. But I wouldn’t hold your breath.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":3,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/c35c995f-4a63-4973-9667-42bc4bf2ff8d/3b2f8173-2be5-4cc6-890d-229d830f8be1/3134379%20%281%29.jpg","width":6000.0,"height":4025.0,"credit":"","caption":"Kerry and Donegal will meet again in the first-round All-Ireland SFC qualifier in Killarney. 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","teaserLeadtext":"Two men have appeared in court charged with organised crime and drugs offences following a garda operation targeting the encrypted Ghost communication network.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Noel Smyth (63) and Paul Kelly (55) were both arrested and brought before Dublin District Court today on a series of charges.
They are facing trial at the non-jury Special Criminal Court and were remanded in custody for a week for the preparation of a book of evidence.
Mr Kelly, of Cloverhill Road, Dublin and Mr Smyth from Kilanerin, Gorey, Co Wexford are both charged with participating in an activity intended to enhance the ability of a criminal organisation to commit or facilitate a serious offence.
They are also accused of money laundering - possession of €22,220 in crime proceeds - and having cocaine for sale or supply.
Mr Smyth is further charged with importation of the drug. The offences are alleged to have been committed within the state on dates between August and September, 2024.
Detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau gave evidence of the accused men's arrest at their homes last night, and their subsequent charging at Clondalkin garda station.
Detective Garda Kate Gilligan told Judge Michele Finan she arrested Mr Kelly at 9.03pm and he made no reply to any of his eight charges after caution at the station at 10.36pm.
Detective Garda Dean Healy said at 9.45pm, he arrested Mr Smyth who also made no reply to his eight counts when charged in the station at 11.47pm.
Both accused were handed copies of their charge sheets.
The district court has no jurisdiction to grant bail on an organised crime charge and no bail applications were made. Mr Kelly’s solicitor Lorraine Stephens asked the judge to adjourn the case with a High Court bail application to follow.
Applying for free legal aid, she said Mr Kelly was unemployed and on disability allowance. Det Garda Gilligan said she was seeking for the accused to account for his assets.
Mr Smyth’s barrister Gergory Murphy also applied for free legal aid, saying he had a statement of the accused’s financial means. Det Gda Healy said he was objecting to legal. The judge deferred the legal aid issue in both cases.
The accused were not required to address today’s brief hearing and have not yet indicated how they intend to plead to the charges.
They were arrested following garda coordination with Europol and law enforcement around the world targeting the Ghost communication platform.
The platform has been linked to an Irish organised crime gang, and a recent international police operation which involved the hacking of Ghost resulted in 12 arrests here and in Spain.
","originalSource":"","articleLayout":"","media":[{"imageGallery":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/2478974f-d69c-42fd-8a6b-79ee7ac9d6b2/3aad2b84-bbdd-4414-98eb-9dabcbb156d4/2478974f-d69c-42fd-8a6b-79ee7ac9d6b2.jpg","width":960.0,"height":640.0,"credit":"","caption":"The CCJ in Dublin.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":426.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":640.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0}}}]}},{"teaserImage":{"count":1,"position":0,"alignment":null,"caption":null,"credit":null,"images":[{"url":"//s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/prod-mh-ireland/2478974f-d69c-42fd-8a6b-79ee7ac9d6b2/3aad2b84-bbdd-4414-98eb-9dabcbb156d4/2478974f-d69c-42fd-8a6b-79ee7ac9d6b2.jpg","width":960.0,"height":640.0,"credit":"","caption":"The CCJ in Dublin.","cropping":{"master":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"free":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"landscape":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":960.0,"x":0.0,"y":0.0},"portrait":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":426.0,"x":267.0,"y":0.0},"square":{"auto":false,"height":640.0,"width":640.0,"x":160.0,"y":0.0}}}]}}],"grapeshot":"gv_safe,gb_safe,gb_safe_from_high_med,gb_safe_from_high,pos_oracle_brand_suitability","priority":"desked","tags":{"topics":["Dublin Courts"],"regions":[],"ids":["c4e47c29-eb8e-4706-a937-63dd231922ff"],"slugs":["dublin-courts"]},"hiddenTags":{"topics":["Latest News Ticker"],"regions":[],"ids":["ec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"],"slugs":["latest-news-ticker"]},"sectionIds":["ada62966-6b00-4ead-a0ba-2c179a0730b0","01721b2f-3f42-43d2-84a8-d6d432ec069d","4c1cd185-05ed-409b-b8bd-57d3a1ce0e70","aa3ce9b3-a852-43cb-aa1a-9d4327d7ffca","2320c30a-4d55-4ddc-ac2d-e5dafaefd385","b7dc3741-b2f7-4fec-8c0a-ebf817608088","c266f548-02b1-4107-97ad-aefb00b29c9a","d0f67320-5c3b-451a-aacc-4d7111f4f6fb"],"related":[],"advSectiontree":"independent/preview","isLatestNews":true},{"id":1256626349,"type":"news","articleType":"news","pubDate":"2026-05-08T14:11:24+0200","pubUntilDate":null,"homeSectionUrl":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news","url":"https://preview.independent.ie/irish-news/at-18-i-didnt-realise-i-could-have-such-an-impact-says-teenager-who-donated-his-stem-cells-during-exams/a1256626349.html","teaserImage":null,"outbrainEnabled":true,"taboolaEnabled":false,"galleryAdsEnabled":true,"articleAdsEnabled":true,"advanced":{"showArticleDate":true,"subscriptionProtected":false,"meteredPaywallProtected":true,"meteredWallItemGroupCode":"pfc_indo_metered"},"headline":"‘At 18, I didn’t realise I could have such an impact,’ says teenager who donated his stem cells during exams","teaserHeadline":"‘At 18, I didn’t realise I could have such an impact,’ says teenager who donated his stem cells during exams","headlinePrefix":"","byline":"Niamh Leneghan","bylineImageUrl":"","leadtext":"A Tyrone teenager who helped give the gift of life to a stranger has said he couldn’t turn down the chance to help someone.
","teaserLeadtext":"A Tyrone teenager who helped give the gift of life to a stranger has said he couldn’t turn down the chance to help someone.
","summary":"","subheadline":"","body":"Jamie McGuigan signed up to be a stem cell donor, never expecting to get the call.
However, just weeks later, while studying for his A-levels, he was contacted to say he was a match.
The 18-year-old, a student at Strabane Academy, is the first donor from blood cancer charity DKMS’ school recruitment programme in the UK.
He is also the 3,000th person to donate stem cells to a stranger through the charity.
“It was just after my 18th birthday,” he said.
He explained how he was surprised to have been identified as a match so quickly, as most people are never matched to a patient.
“I was nervous at first, but the opportunity to help someone else outweighed the nerves,\" he said.
“I feel very grateful to be able to give someone another chance at life. I would definitely do it again.
“At 18, I didn’t realise that I could have such an impact on someone’s life — and it all started with simply saying yes.”
DKMS is the world’s largest stem cell donor registry.
Its school outreach programme is aimed at raising awareness of blood cancer and encouraging young people to sign up as potential donors. Those who want to join the register can do so via a quick mouth swab.
Strabane Academy was among the first schools in the UK to take part in the initiative.
Just weeks after the charity’s visit, Jamie was matched to a blood cancer patient.
He made the potentially lifesaving decision to travel to England to make the donation — all during his A-level exams.
“I first heard about becoming a stem cell donor when DKMS came into school,” he said.
“I didn’t really think too much about it, and definitely didn’t think I’d ever be contacted.”
Blood cancers are the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK.
Only 30pc of patients are able to find a compatible donor in their family — and just 7pc of the UK’s eligible population are registered as potential donors.
Jamie added: “You could hear in every phone call how excited they were about finding me, which definitely gave me a boost of encouragement.”
He was warned that, in rare cases, the procedure could require surgical intervention.
In 90pc of stem cell donations, cells are collected from the blood. But in the other 10pc, the procedure requires donation via bone marrow, which requires surgical intervention under general anaesthetic.
Strabane Academy principal Craig Johnston said: “It was a major decision. They had explained the worst-case scenario, where they may have to go in through the hip, but Jamie still chose to do it.
“Ultimately, if someone is in that position, and you are a match, you have the ability to save someone’s life.”
Following medical assessments and injections to prepare his body, Jamie flew to Sheffield with his mum.
It’s been a nice way for me to end my school journey
Fortunately, he was able to donate his stem cells through his blood.
“It was a five-hour process - so I got out my laptop, put on Netflix, sat back and relaxed. It was amazing to see the machine working.”
Jamie and the patient who received the potentially life-saving donation can be put in contact with mutual agreement — anonymously at first, but in two years’ time, they will have the opportunity to meet.
When Jamie found out that he was the UK’s first person in DKMS’ school programme to donate, he couldn’t wait to tell Ms Sayers, the teacher who had arranged the visit.
“I knew she would have been delighted. She has been a big support, especially as the donation was happening during my A-level exams. It has been a nice way for me to end my school journey.”
Studies show that people under 25 make the best stem cell donors, but anyone aged 16–55 in generally good health can register with DKMS UK.
Young people remain underrepresented on the donor register, according to the charity.
DKMS UK spokesperson Bronagh Hughes said: “They are desperately needed. We’re incredibly grateful to the staff and students of Strabane Academy for doing their part to improve the odds for blood cancer patients around the world.”
To sign up as a potential donor, you can order a free swab kit from the DKMS website
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