Ivor Bell appears in court over 1972 murder of Jean McConville, in case which could implicate senior Irish republicans Even two decades after the IRA ceasefire, it is a crime from the bloodiest year of the Troubles that continues to haunt senior Irish republicans including Gerry Adams and could yet have fresh ramifications for the peace process. In a sensational development inside a Belfast court...
David Ford says Chinese-born politician subjected to 'vile racist abuse' on internet Northern Ireland's justice minister and leader of the cross-community Alliance party has defended his European election candidate's right to state her belief in a united Ireland. David Ford also attacked those who have subjected Anna Lo – the UK's only Chinese-born member of a devolved parliament – to racist abuse....
Third man critically ill in hospital after boat carrying anglers from Co Armagh club overturns in strong winds on river Shannon A man from Northern Ireland has died hours after being rescued from a lake in the Irish Republic, it was confirmed on Friday. One of the dead man's friends remains missing in the area around Lough Ree on the river Shannon. A third man from Northern Ireland remains critically...
Internet firm is known to be unhappy about snooping and would be under no obligation to hand over material under Irish laws Theresa May summoned the internet giant Yahoo for an urgent meeting on Thursday to raise security concerns after the company announced plans to move to Dublin where it is beyond the reach of Britain's surveillance laws. By making the Irish capital rather than London the centre...
Police ombudsman opens investigation into St Patrick's Day incident seen on BBC and social networks A Derry woman who was drunk on St Patrick's Day and abandoned by police in a busy bus lane wants the officers involved to be sacked. Bridget Mongan admitted on Thursday that she had been inebriated at the celebrations in the city on Monday but says the two policemen should never have placed her in the...
John Gilligan, who was acquitted in 2001 despite judge's 'grave suspicions', seen boarding ferry to Britain A gangland boss accused of ordering the murder of the investigative reporter Veronica Guerin has fled Ireland after two attempts on his life since his release from prison this year. John Gilligan was seen boarding a ferry to Britain in the early hours of Monday, St Patrick's Day, after travelling...
Guinness brewery withdrew its support of the event because of a ban on LGBT groups. Here’s a look who is still supporting the parade Amanda Holpuch Kayla Epstein ...
Bill de Blasio follows Boston mayor in decision to sit out traditional event over ban on pro-gay signs ...
In celebration of St Patrick's Day, here is an emotive ballad from one of Ireland's foremost nationalist poets in which an expat longs for her homeland Born in Dublin in 1866, Dora Sigerson Shorter was a journalist, novelist, sculptor and prolific poet. Like her father, George Sigerson , she was active in the Irish literary revival, and a passionate campaigner for home rule. The emotive lyrics of...
Glasgow University scientists claim landmark and tourist attraction is homegrown and was not a present from Scotland As millions of Irish people at home and abroad celebrate Saint Patrick's Day by pinning shamrocks to their clothes and downing the odd pint or two, their Celtic cousins across the sea in Scotland have shattered a couple of myths about one of Ireland's most iconic tourist attractions....
Businessman and politician with seats in both the Irish and British upper houses Lord Ballyedmond, who has died aged 70 in a helicopter crash near his stately home on the Suffolk-Norfolk border, was a self-made multimillionaire whose business and political influence straddled both sides of the Irish Sea. He was the first person since the Marquess of Lansdowne in the 1920s to sit in both upper houses...
It's a day when cultural bandwagon-jumping goes into overdrive, but whether you're Irish or 'Irish for the day', enjoy the craic What are you doing for St Patrick's Day? Solemnly convening with your inner Celtic spirit, perhaps through the medium of an Enya CD? Or will you achieve that higher state of Gaelicness by digging out your novelty hat and fake beard and heading on down to your nearest O'Neill's...
Gay rights campaigners say PSNI should not take part in march that excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Irish groups Gay rights campaigners have urged the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to reconsider its decision to take part in New York's St Patrick's Day parade because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Irish groups are barred from the march. The city's own mayor, Bill...
Siobhán Whelan says she felt demeaned asking hospital staff about termination after learning baby had fatal foetal abnormality An Irish woman who claims to have been demeaned by doctors when she asked for an emergency abortion is to take her case against the Republic to the United Nations. Siobhán Whelan said she was made feel as if it "was illegal" to ask Irish medical staff if she could have the...
When London's Southbank Centre asked me to write a piece for the Royal Festival Hall's newly renovated organ, I set out on a mental pilgrimage on my father's behalf It's six years now since my father told me he had Alzheimer's disease. At the time I was rather nonplussed by the revelation. I did my usual trick of ignoring it and hoping it would go away. Six years on and I wish he'd told me his legs...
A mother and her joey have escaped from land near the village of Clough Two wallabies have escaped from private land in County Down and have been roaming around the county since Friday, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) on Monday. The wallaby and her joey escaped from land on the Knocksticken Road outside the village of Clough. The mother is just over two feet tall and her...
International Women's Day was the perfect occasion to deliver my speech to Stormont demanding society's archaic, patriarchal constructs be torn down • Northern Ireland feminist defends decision to go bare-chested at Stormont Is mise Cara Park. I am used to speaking publicly but I am a little nervous about this speech as it is so important to me. I have always wanted to do this and I am not sure if...
Proposed new business ChiquitaFyffes will generate £2.75bn revenues from sale of 160m boxes of bananas a year The tropical fruit supplier Fyffes is to merge with its US-based rival Chiquita in a deal creating the world's largest banana company. The proposed new business will be called ChiquitaFyffes and generate revenues of $4.6bn (£2.75bn) from the sale of more than 160m banana boxes a year, as well...
s rich postcode areas see 22% increase in property prices while costs outside the capital remain stagnant The Irish capital is at the centre of a new house price boom, according to a survey this week that named Dublin as the world's fifth fastest rising property market, and raised concerns over a new asset bubble in the republic. The banks of the River Liffey are hosting a resurgent property market...
Explosive devices found in Derry and Lisburn sorting offices were intended for staff at Maghaberry top security jail Parcel bombs intecepted in two Royal Mail sorting offices in Northern Ireland were addressed to two prison officers at Maghaberry top security jail, it emerged . Army bomb squad officers dealt with a viable explosive device found in Derry sorting office on Thursday night and at Lisburn...