fishing industry
A series of articles about the dying Irish fishing industry - one of Ireland's few remaining indigenous industries.
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articles
Complaint lodged over handling of evidence in Deirdre Morley's trial for her children's murder
A man whose three children were killed by their mother has lodged a formal complaint to the DPP about the State prosecutor's handling of evidence at her trial.Andrew McGinley has lodged his complaint on four grounds, including one which covers issues he has around what medication Deirdre Morley was taking when she killed Conor, 9, Darragh, 7, and Carla, 3, at their Dublin home while suffering a psychotic episode.He believes detailed evidence about the variety and doses of prescription drug...
Children's charities warn that a social media ban could be 'a potential gift to abusers'
Children's charities have warned how the “unintended consequences” of a social media ban could end up as “a potential gift” to paedophiles.Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Head of Policy and Public Affairs Fiona Jennings warned nobody really knows what impact a ban would have.She said “perpetrators” will target children regardless of whether the platform they use is regulated or not.More than 4.7m social media accounts held by Australians deemed by online platforms as bein...
Chef who was sacked by WhatsApp message awarded €3,000
A chef has been awarded €3,000 by the Workplace Relations Commission after she was dismissed via WhatsApp from the cafe where she worked.In making the decision, it was ruled the cafe owner who sacked her had “jumped the gun”.A case for unfair dismissal was brought after the chef sent a WhatsApp voice note to her employer in November 2024, explaining her immigration permission was in the process of being renewed.She expressed uncertainty about whether she was entitled to work but later told the W...
'Speeds in excess of 190km/h': Kerry TD found guilty of dangerous driving in Cork
A TD has been disqualified for two years and fined €500 after being found guilty of dangerous driving on his way to a public event.Michael Cahill, of Rossbeigh, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, overtook an unmarked garda car and was later observed driving “at speeds in excess of 190km/h and very close to 200km/h” while travelling southbound on the M8 near Mitchelstown.Fermoy District Court, sitting in front of Judge Colm Roberts, heard Garda Peter O’Loughlin recalled how he saw Mr Cahill’s brown Audi Q5 ove...
A 'truly heartbreaking time': Cork hotel launches fundraiser to repatriate body of Ukrainian teenager
A GoFundMe appeal has been launched to repatriate the body of a Ukrainian teenager who had only just moved to Ireland to “start a new life”.Kateryna Tovstyk, who died last month, had arrived in Ireland last July and was working in a Cork hotel.The 18-year-old came here to join her brother Illia and his partner, Oleksandra, at their home in Clonakilty, West Cork. They had been living there since 2022.Before her death, Kateryna was working alongside Illia at the Clonakilty Park Hotel.The hotel’s H...
Fisherman dies off Kerry coast on Spanish trawler which had another fatality in 2018
A fisherman has died and another was seriously injured after an accident on a Spanish trawler off the Kerry coast.The tragedy occurred when a rope snapped aboard the vessel, striking two men working on the boat. The incident happened on the Spanish-registered Novo Alborada when it was about 30km off Valentia Island, in what local fishermen have described as “fairly difficult” sea conditions.One of the men died on board from his injuries and the second fisherman was successfully taken off the tra...
'We've never protected nature well in Ireland:' Call for investment to protect Ireland's marine areas
Ireland has never protected nature well and the State is failing to provide adequate resources to meet its environmental targets, an Oireachtas committee has been told.Birdwatch Ireland’s head of policy Oonagh Duggan said aspirational plans to protect nature would never be fulfilled unless increased investment was made.Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, in a debate about marine protected areas, Ms Duggan said: “There’s potential for so much hope when thi...
Public urged to report unusual interactions between seals and other marine animals
The public is being urged to report any unusual interactions between potentially amorous seals sizing up other mammals, such as dolphins, porpoises, and even penguins for some loving — or possibly fighting.It follows reports of potential attempts by seals to mate with members of different marine mammal groups, or simply that the seals were looking for a fight.The interactions in Ireland so far are baffling dolphin watchers here, including one Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) member who witne...
Inflation has hit Irish wallets — but wage rises help us stay ahead
With most people preoccupied with post-Christmas returns to school and work last Tuesday, few batted an eye at an announcement by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) that morning on the latest estimate for something called the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, or HICP.While hardly a staple of the everyday vernacular, it is a relatively new economic signature that acts as another yardstick for measuring the cost of groceries in your shopping basket. As a comparable measure of inflation across...
Big chunk of exchequer’s income could 'vanish' if handful of US companies change their tax profile
Continued over-reliance on corporate tax receipts from US multinationals remains one of the biggest threats to Ireland’s financial stability in 2026, leaving the country in “big trouble if it dries up”, economists have warned.A sudden shift in the geopolitical scene outside the country could plunge Ireland into recession.The situation in Venezuela, Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric around Greenland, and the combustible internal situation in Iran could all spell trouble for an economy beholden t...
All dolphins saved after third mass stranding in three weeks at Clare harbour
Another mass dolphin stranding has taken place in Clare, the third in the same location in three weeks, according to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).About eight dolphins were spotted circling, which they do when hunting in groups, during a falling tide near a beach in Ballyvaughan on January 4.The area near the small harbour village in north Clare, on the south shores of Galway Bay, is where 28 dolphins stranded en masse just before Christmas.All dolphins spotted stranded near the same...
Clare woman who had 'sudden and traumatic' accident in Vietnam now cleared to return home
A Clare woman put into an induced coma after being seriously injured while travelling in Vietnam has been cleared to come home, according to her family.Aoife Cahill had been living in Australia, where she moved after working as a secretary at University Hospital Limerick, but had gone to Vietnam on her Christmas break.She is understood to have been going to Thailand to meet friends when she suffered a fall on December 19.In a GoFundMe appeal for €57,500, her family explained Aoife was involved i...
Almost €80k raised for Cork boy, 6, whose suspected broken nose was actually cancer
Almost €80,000 has been donated to help fund cancer care for a six-year-old boy whose suspected broken nose led to a cancer diagnosis.Last summer, Darragh Foley developed a bump on his nose that was first treated as a broken nose and re-set into position.But after bruising went down and the nose still looked broken, a doctor in Cork’s South Infirmary ordered an ultrasound and MRI which showed a mass on his nose. Three days after a biopsy was done, he was diagnosed with a soft tissue cancer calle...
Average weekly earnings top €1,000 for first time since 2008
Average weekly earnings for workers in Ireland surpassed the €1,000 mark for the first time since 2008, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).As of September 2025, average weekly earnings were €1,003.81, which is up by €311.02, or 44.9%, when compared with 10 years earlier in September 2015.Average hourly earnings also grew across all 13 economic sectors over the last 10 years, the body noted.But while people are, on average, being paid more, they are also paying more for their basic...
Race to save Shackleton and Tom Crean’s South Georgia refuge from collapse
A race is under way to restore a building used by Irish polar explorers Tom Crean and Ernest Shackleton during their epic mission to rescue the crew of their ship, Endurance.The vessel became trapped in pack ice in February 1915 during Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, leaving its 28-strong crew stranded aboard the three-masted schooner barque for nine months before it finally sank.Led by Shackleton, the crew survived for more than six months living on sheets of floatin...
Labour Court rejects request for pay review at technological universities across Ireland
The Labour Court has rejected a request for an urgent review of the pay at the country’s technological universities and institutes of technology.The review was sought by the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) which said the Government was not adhering to a years-old collective pay agreement across the technological university (TU) sector.Agreed in 2017, it related to — among other things — a commitment by the then government to address major issues and developments in the sector, including “relevan...
OPW minister to meet creator of Midleton flood early warning system
The Office of Public Works (OPW) minister plans to meet the man behind the first early warning flood alert system of its kind in Ireland to glean whether it can be used by local authorities in the future.Kevin 'Boxer' Moran wants to meet Midleton businessman Colin James, who set up the Midleton Early Warning System (MEWS) after Storm Babet devastated the East Cork town in 2023.It was inspired by New Zealand’s tsunami early warning network, which tracks sea-level changes and provides real-time...
‘Five years is nothing’: Parents explain why Christmas grief after baby loss never fades
Every Christmas and New Year, Máirie Cregan feels a sadness shared by an untold number of people around the country.It is a sadness that lingers around missing places at a table, fewer presents under the Christmas tree, the silence of voices never to be heard and one less person to ring in another year with. To the founding director of Féileacáin, Ireland's national charity supporting parents affected by stillbirths and baby deaths, it’s a sadness that never goes away. It is one that hits any...
Almost half of helpline's 7,000 calls in 2025 come from parents afraid of their children
Ireland’s national parent support helpline has taken approximately 7,000 calls this year, many from parents who are afraid of their children. Parentline chief executive Aileen Hickie said the increased time parents spend with their children is “like a pressure cooker” over the festive holiday period. Ms Hickie said 43% of all calls to Parentline this year were from parents who are afraid of their own child. Ms Hickie said: “Calls relating to anger and aggression continue to be the standout issue...
Teen who died in tractor crash named locally
The teenager who died in a tractor crash has been named locally as TJ Chambers.A promising hurler with his local GAA team at Ballyea, the 16-year-old died after the tractor he was driving crashed on Saturday on the R458 at Bunnahow, north of Crusheen, at 2pm.The former Ballyea National School pupil, who was the only occupant of the tractor, was pronounced dead at the scene by gardaí.The boy was removed to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick.Gardaí have appealed to anyone travelling on...
Cork cancer campaigner Natasha O’Byrne dies aged 26
Cork cancer campaigner Natasha O’Byrne has died at the age of 26.The mother-of-two from Blackpool died on December 23 surrounded by her family and in the “tender and exceptional care” of the staff at Cork University Hospital.Ms O’Byrne's family have requested that all attending her funeral mass on Saturday wear bright colours in her honour. The beautician, who was originally from Innishannon, was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was just 24.She is survived by her husband Rad, her two youn...
On call this Christmas: West Cork RNLI volunteers ready to drop dinner to save lives
Like most teenagers, Muireann O’Donnell has a gadget that is never far from her side and Christmas Day will be no different.But unlike her peers, she won’t be worrying about friend updates or viral videos trending on TikTok. She will instead be keeping a close eye on a gadget few of her Gen Z friends even know exists — the pager the RNLI has supplied her and the other 20 or so volunteers with Union Hall’s RNLI lifeboat station.Muireann has been a lifeboat volunteer since January, and after nearl...
Taoiseach 'supportive' of review of healthcare needs of Air Corp personnel exposed to 'dangerous chemicals'
The Taoiseach is to look at proposals to review the healthcare needs of sick former Air Corps personnel.The review, initiated by then defence minister Simon Harris after it was suggested by Sinn Féin Cork South Central TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, was set up earlier this year to see how an assessment of needs could work.Micheál Martin said he was supportive of the initiative when he was asked by the Irish Examiner, saying: “I will have a look at what they are proposing.” Concerns were raised by Ai...
People in Midleton should not be 'angry going to bed on Christmas night if it's raining', minister says
People in East Cork whose homes were destroyed in Storm Babet in October 2023 should not be in a position where they are worrying about flooding over Christmas, the Office of Public Works minister has said.Kevin 'Boxer' Moran was speaking following renewed calls by residents in Midleton and surrounding villages for Cork County Council to speed up its flood relief measures.Millions of euro worth of damage was done when severe flooding paralysed homes and businesses for months.An Oireachtas Commit...
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