Local News
Tuesday’s briefing: Premier League clubs get ready to spend
The new year is looming and Premier League clubs are already starting to flex their financial muscles ahead of the reopening of the transfer window. Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal to splash the cash to combat an increasing defensive crisis, while at the other end of the pitch – and the table – Wes...
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Tuesday’s briefing: Premier League clubs get ready to spend
The new year is looming and Premier League clubs are already starting to flex their financial muscles ahead of the reopening of the transfer window. Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal to splash the cash to combat an increasing defensive crisis, while at the other end of the pitch – and the table – Wes...
In this week's Leinster Leader Sport
Massive weekend for Kildare Football Clubs as Sallins and Grangenolvin, are in action with a place in the AIB Leinster Intermediate Club and Leinster Junior Club All-Ireland finals respectively, at stake. Sallins take on An Ghaeltacht of Kerry in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, on Saturday with a 1.15 thro...
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In this week's Leinster Leader Sport
Massive weekend for Kildare Football Clubs as Sallins and Grangenolvin, are in action with a place in the AIB Leinster Intermediate Club and Leinster Junior Club All-Ireland finals respectively, at stake. Sallins take on An Ghaeltacht of Kerry in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, on Saturday with a 1.15 thro...
Community group in Tipperary announces date of AGM and makes a call-out for new members to join
Fethard Daycare and District Centre will host their AGM in January. The Fethard and District Day care Centre CLG has announced that they will host their AGM on Tuesday January 27. The meeting will take place at 8pm in the Daycare Centre, Main Street, Fethard, E91 RR94. All are welcome to atte...
Nearly half of road accidents this year were caused by vehicles colliding while driving – research
Forty per cent of road accidents this year were caused by vehicles colliding while driving, new data has shown. Breakdown assistance provider the AA analysed 67,000 claims from its Accident Assist support service recorded from January 1 to December 14. It showed that in addition to vehicles collidin...
Judges warned impact of Irish in courts could undermine confidence in justice
Judges warned in 2004 that demands caused by the use of the Irish language in courts in Northern Ireland had the potential to undermine public confidence in the justice system. Declassified files also show senior police officer Judith Gillespie raising concerns when she said that she feared delays c...
U2 U-turn put Irish diplomats in ’embarrassing situation’
Irish officials thought they had five times as many free tickets for a U2 tour of the United States, with newly released Government files revealing that diplomats were left in an “embarrassing situation”. Management for the Dublin rock band had engaged with the Department of Foreign Affairs ahea...
Compston: I now show support in ‘quieter manner’ due to online hate
Martin Compston has said he has made a “conscious decision” to step back from expressing public opinions on football and politics amid the level of anger in Scotland. The Scottish actor said he still supports the same teams and believes in the same things, but is now quieter about it. The Line O...
Blair refused intelligence-sharing with Ireland over Sellafield threat
MI5 blocked an appeal by Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern for the UK to share intelligence on any terrorist threat to the Sellafield nuclear facility, according to newly-released government files. Following the deadly 2004 Madrid train bombing, the Taoiseach wrote to Tony Blair warning of a “tran...
Scots Tory leader Findlay ‘not holding breath’ on budget deal
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has said he is “not holding my breath” on achieving a budget deal with the Scottish Government. The key ask of the party, he told the Press Association, is the reduction of income tax. The Government has seemed reticent at the idea of reducing the income tax ...
Stormont ministers received legal advice on ‘royal command’ to fly Union flag
Stormont ministers received legal advice in 2000 on whether they could be “commanded” by the late Queen to fly the Union flag over government buildings. The advice to the executive, contained in declassified papers, stated that the flying of the flag was a matter for the “discretion” of indi...
Blair ignored warnings over Women’s Institute speech fiasco
Tony Blair ignored warnings to avoid “capital P politics” in his infamous address to the Women’s Institute, according to newly released government files. The speech at Wembley Arena to an audience of 10,000 turned into a fiasco as the prime minister was heckled and slow-handclapped by WI membe...
Irish officials criticised ‘venal’ Churchill amid King Edward VIII crisis
Irish civil servants concluded Winston Churchill was “unscrupulous” as they discussed how the crisis over King Edward VIII’s proposed marriage to an American divorcee could be used to the Irish Free State’s advantage. Historical files show how Irish authorities reacted to the constitutional ...
McAleese husband’s contacts with UDA took on ‘life of own’, ambassador was told
Contacts between former Irish president Mary McAleese’s husband and UDA leaders in Northern Ireland took on “a life of their own”, a UK government official said in 2003. Declassified files show that engagements included Martin McAleese laying on a coach for loyalist leaders to attend a golf ou...
Northern Ireland was on ‘cusp of new beginning’ with Stormont return in 2000
Northern Ireland was on the “cusp of a new beginning” with the return of the Stormont political institutions, officials predicted in 2000. A briefing document among declassified files at the Public Record Office in Belfast said the return of devolution put a premium on the need to provide “joi...
No 10 blocked FoI release of Blair call with Chirac after Diana’s death
Downing Street refused to release details of a conversation between Tony Blair and French president Jacques Chirac following the death in Paris of Diana, Princess of Wales, according to newly-declassified government files. Papers released to the National Archives at Kew, west London, show No 10 was ...
UK’s biggest property value hotspots of 2025 revealed by Lloyds
Plymouth, Stafford and Wigan have been identified as the “housing hotspots” of 2025. The port city of Plymouth in Devon recorded the steepest rise in the value of homes during the last year in the locations analysed by Lloyds, with property values rising by 12.6% on average compared with the pre...
Prisoner rehabilitation charity founder says training can cut jail overcrowding
The founder of a charity which rehabilitates ex-offenders has said prison overcrowding could be solved with increased training opportunities. Pat Clark, 76, who founded Open Gates, based in Glasgow, trains prisoners and former inmates to carry out renovation projects, upcycle furniture, and learn vi...
Shirley Ballas ‘surprised’ at Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman’s Strictly exit
Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas has said she was “surprised” when the show’s hosts announced they would be stepping down after 11 years in the role. The 65-year-old spoke about Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly’s departure from the popular BBC One show calling it “sad”, aft...