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
Health: Inquiry into spina bifida and scoliosis care could begin within six months
An inquiry into the State’s care of children with spina bifida and scoliosis could be up and running within six months, according to Labour TD Marie Sherlock.However, the party’s health spokesperson has warned it could take “years” before families find out what went wrong and why.Ms Sherlock was speaking after she and a number of other TDs, including Fine Gael’s Colm Burke and Social Democrats TD Padraig Rice, were briefed on Saturday evening on a 136-page report by Remy Farrell SC into the pote...
Irishman, 64, dies after getting into difficulty in water at Portugal beach
An Irishman is believed to have died after getting into difficulty in the water at a beach in Portugal.The incident happened at Prainha beach in Alvor, Portimão, according to Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Notícias (JN).The man is reported to be 64 years old and, according to a statement to JN from the National Maritime Authority (AMN), he “got into difficulty in the water” in an unsupervised area of the beach.The alert was raised at 10.40am, with members of the SeaWatch project, INEM (Nationa...
Disability: Cork family faces €3,000-a-month transport bill to get daughter to HSE-funded disability training
Teresa O’Sullivan has every reason to be grateful for her daughter’s placement at a facility where she can receive training to help her do basic things.Megan is one of the only a few hundred people in medical history ever recorded to have a faulty TUBB2B gene that affects the development of a person’s brain. She needs help to do things like make a sandwich or count money.While outwardly, the 19-year-old may appear like any other teenager, she suffers from an extremely rare neurological disorder...
Artificial intelligence: State to fund research on AI voice 'companion' for the elderly
The Government is funding the development of an AI voice “companion” that can check up on the elderly in their homes.The €100,000 from Enterprise Ireland will be used by Amethyst Care to develop its device that is being designed to help older adults stay independent for longer.Operated remotely, it will use a combination of AI voice technology with remote health monitoring to provide a service that will do anything from providing medication reminders to checking up on the user’s wellbeing.Founde...
Requirement for e-scooters to be registered could be brought in via 'emergency legislation'
The requirement for owners of e-scooters to register them could be brought in via “emergency legislation”, according to Minister of State with responsibility for Road Safety, Seán Canney.Speaking at the start of informal meetings among EU transport ministers, the Mr Canney said that he is pressing ahead with moves to classify e-scooters as mechanically propelled vehicles, which would then require them to be registered.Speaking in Dunlin Castle on Monday morning, he said: “We’re looking at redef...
Road safety minister says rising death toll on Irish roads is a 'failure of everybody'
The rising death toll on Irish roads is down to the “failure of everybody”, the Minister of State with responsibility for road safety, Seán Canney, has said.His comment came after a weekend in which four people were killed in separate road crashes in Limerick, Meath, Waterford and Wexford.At the start of Monday morning’s informal meeting of EU transport ministers, he was asked by reporters how he will be able to stand over his record as Minister of State with responsibility for road safety with...
Government may stall carbon tax rise due in October, minister hints
Minister of state at the Department of Transport Seán Canney has hinted the Government could “stall” the forthcoming carbon tax rise.The Galway East independent TD, who is the leader in cabinet for the independent ministers, was asked what independents aligned with the Government would want from the forthcoming budget.While he said he did not want to speculate, he said the Government wanted to “do the best for our citizens”.This could include stalling carbon tax increases that could see a €4.86...
Trump in Doonbeg: 'I wish the protests weren't here' says local resident
"I wish the protests weren’t here. We’d have enjoyed the golf better."Doonbeg resident Michael Neenan, whose house was a few doors down from the anti-Trump protests on the village’s main street, said he had mixed feelings about the atmosphere surrounding the visit of the US president.In sentiments echoed by many fellow residents, he said he welcomed what golf was doing for the entire county, but he was “no fan of Trump”. The 80-year-old said: “I don't agree with any of his policies. He’s very di...
Residential care services will have to declare where CCTV is being used and why
A new code is coming into effect next year which will see all residential care services having to declare exactly where CCTV is being used in which bedrooms and bathrooms and why.All approved services that offer residential-based settings will also be expected to undertake a digital monitoring technology impact assessment before introducing any additional monitoring technology.All technologies already in use will also have to be reviewed, according to the new Mental Health Commission (MHC) code...
Less than 5% chance of Naval Service applicants being accepted for cadet training
People applying to be a Naval Service officer had less than a 5% chance of being accepted for basic cadet training, according to Defence Forces records.In 2019, just eight of 192 people (4.1%) who applied to be a Naval Services officer were accepted for the three-month long cadet induction.This rate dropped to 2.9% by 2023, when just five of the 172 National Service cadet applications led to inductions.The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, cover a five-year period as the n...
Met Éireann: To be asked about why Kerry received no warning whatsoever before Killarney was hit by category red rain fall levels that led to flash floods.
Met Éireann is to be asked to explain why it didn’t provide any weather warnings for Kerry ahead of “biblical” flash floods that tore through Killarney.A red weather warning event happens when at least 50mm of rain falls over a six-hour period, but it is understood that Killarney was hit with 57mm in just four hours.Mayor of Killarney John O’Donoghue said the town somehow “dodged a bullet” because everyone “rallied around” to deal with the aftermath of the flash floods.He also praised Kerry Co...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Army chief ordered to hand over files related to alleged sexual assault case
The chief of staff of the Defence Forces has been ordered to hand over documents relating to the alleged sexual assault of a female air corps officer. Defence Forces Tribunal lawyers made the order after receiving information about a series of complaints between 2005 and 2014 that relate to the officer.She initially raised concerns about her accommodation and toilet facilities in 2005, when she complained about “inappropriate female toilet facilities and accommodation”.That complain...
Garda fitness test: Male applicants more successful than women
Fewer women are attempting the obligatory assessment of physical fitness for prospective gardaí, but men are performing better since a newly structured test was introduced last year, data show.Last year saw the lowest number of female applicants taking the obligatory Garda Physical Competency Test since 2021.Last year also saw the highest percentage in six years of male applicants passing the test first time round, as well as one of the lowest failure rates.All Garda applicants undergo a standar...
Workplace Relations Commission: Teacher in job interview who lost out to candidate with no registration for subject
A leading secondary school looking for a maths teacher initially selected a candidate who did not have a Teaching Council of Ireland registration for maths, the Workplace Relations Commission has heard.One of the unsuccessful candidates for the job at Waterford's Kennedy College maintains that the fact that the successful candidate was also younger than him amounted to age discrimination.It was in the course of hearing that claim against Waterford and Wexford Education Training Board — which man...
Wind farms: State is missing an opportunity in wind farm development
As we here in Ireland grapple with the necessary adjustments to allow us cope with climate change, it is worth considering if the current Government model aimed at ensuring local communities benefit from windfarms could actually undermine those objectives.As is pointed out by Neil Michael in today’s newspaper, while it might appear Government's plans will deliver more renewable energy, there is a concern it could fail the wider test of a just transition if local communities or the Irish State d...
Wind farms: Kerry and Cork top Ireland's wind power league table
It may not have the largest installed wind energy capacity, but Galway can lay claim to being Ireland’s windiest county.Based on data collected over more than five years, the Atlantic-facing county recorded the highest number of wind warnings over the longest amount of time, as well as the strongest wind speeds.This is according to analysis of Met Éireann wind warnings from January 2020 to November 2025 by weather and hazards alert system MapAlerter.In a study published last November, it noted t...
Wind farms: Less than 2% of Ireland suitable for wind farms
With wind farms frequently making headlines, either through new developments or local objections, it might appear that Ireland is going to be overrun with turbines.The pressure to expand renewable energy is significant, with the Government under increasing pressure to meet legally binding climate targets and avoid potentially huge EU penalties for falling short.Yet despite the scale of planned expansion, there is still potential for enough additional wind energy capacity to power up to 6m homes...
Wind farms: Local communities should get a better dividend from wind farms
Two words often get neglected in discussions about wind energy — “just transition”.The noise from protests about wind farms, the prospect of Ireland being fined billions of euro for missing 2030 climate targets, and the growing chorus in favour of decarbonisation get far more attention than a concept that is actually the cornerstone of EU climate policy.Just transition is effectively a blueprint for how everybody in society should benefit from the transition to clean, renewable energy.It is all...
Wind farms: Why does Ireland still have only one community-owned wind farm?
When John Fogarty addressed the Oireachtas joint committee on climate action in October 2019, he hoped his experience would help make it easier for local communities to develop their own renewable energy projects.By then, the Templederry community wind farm in Co Tipperary had been generating electricity for seven years, following a journey that took more than a decade from conception to operation.Mr Fogarty, 77, a former Merchant Navy radio and electronics officer, appeared before TDs and senat...
WRC hears case of teacher in job interview who lost out to candidate with no registration for subject
A leading secondary school looking for a maths teacher initially selected a candidate who did not have a Teaching Council of Ireland registration for maths, the Workplace Relations Commission has heard.One of the unsuccessful candidates for the job at Waterford's Kennedy College maintains that the fact that the successful candidate was also younger than him amounted to age discrimination.It was in the course of hearing that claim against Waterford and Wexford Education Training Board — which man...
Garda Commissioner condemns reckless behaviour for 'social media likes' in wake of horror crash
Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has condemned reckless behaviour for "social media likes" in the wake of a devastating crash that has claimed five teenage lives and shattered a family.Gardaí are still trying to identify people involved in a head-on collision on the M9, in which five people died in the early hours of this morning. The deceased were in a car driven the wrong way on the northbound side of the M9, into oncoming traffic at around 3am.The vehicle collided with another car, carrying fo...
Flahavan's workers to vote on possible strike action
Workers at Flahavan's are to vote on possible strike action in a dispute over a new "flexibility agreement" being proposed by management.Unite trade union said members employed at the porridge oats and granola producer in Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, voted unanimously at an extraordinary general meeting over the weekend to ballot for industrial action.'Pay linked to flexibility deal the union did not see' The union said the move follows what it described as management's "unilateral attempt" to t...
'You must speak up': Defence Forces launches campaign to tackle 'unacceptable behaviour'
The Defence Forces has launched an internal campaign to tackle “unacceptable behaviour” as its chief of staff urged people to "speak up" when witnessing wrongdoing.The See Something, Say Something campaign was formally launched today by Lieutenant General Ross Mulcahy.In an internal memo, he told senior officers and other personnel that the campaign will run for the next year and “will provide clear information on dealing with behaviour that is not in line with our organisation's values”.He rem...
National Symphony Orchestra musician, 71, claims discrimination on age grounds
The Workplace Relations Commission is to investigate a claim that one of Ireland’s celebrated classical musicians has been discriminated against on the grounds of his age.John Finucane, who has been principal clarinet with Ireland’s RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra since 1995 and has been described by Gramophone magazine as "an outstanding virtuoso", claims he is being discriminated against by the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).The 71-year-old has had a contract of “indefinite duration” wi...
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