In The News

Irish drug gangs are now making as much money from cannabis as they are from cocaine, according to new Gardaí figures.

Housing, energy costs and childcare are among the main concerns people have been voicing ahead of Budget 2027.

Ireland’s borrowing costs are a fraction of bigger economies like France, the UK and the United States.

Garvaghy Road residents are in court today as the dispute over an Orange Order parade at Drumcree.

The latest delays to Ireland’s national children’s hospital are carrying a growing cost for patients waiting to use the new facility, new correspondence reveals.

Presented by Andrew McNair.
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At the Labour Party conference last week, British prime minister Andy Burnham surprised delegates by putting the prospect of rejoining the EU firmly on the political agenda. In a rousing speech he said the Brexit vote in 2016 had left the country weaker and failed to allow Britain to “take back control” of its borders and rules, as promised by the Leave campaign. “Brexit has done more harm than good,” said Burnham. Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul, who was at the conference, explains how Burnham’s speech landed and what happens next.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
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Premier League football club Manchester City has been found guilty of boosting its coffers by more than €1bn by arranging “sham contracts” with big name commercial partners.

The infringements to the league’s funding rules were found by an independent commission to have taken place between 2009 and 2018 – a time when the club experienced unprecedented success. So what did the club do with the money? And did this extraordinary level of funding drive its success?

The club is owned by sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the vice president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. Since taking over the club in 2008 his funds have helped turn it into a global brand.

The scandal was first uncovered by Rui Pinto, a Portuguese computer hacker and founder of the Football Leaks website. He passed the information to Der Spiegel and the German newspaper developed the story to the point that the Premier League took Manchester City to the independent commission to adjudicate on the allegations.

It’s a scandal that has rocked football.

So what happens now? The club denies all wrongdoing and an appeals process is open to it. Other clubs are demanding a stiff penalty for City though it is unclear what that might look like.

The Guardian’s investigations correspondent David Conn explains this turbulent week in the Premier League.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
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Irish citizen David Anderson (45) is charged with the premeditated murder of his ex-wife, Megumi Anderson, who died in January 2025 aged 43. Megumi died in a fire in her apartment in Budapest. The Japanese woman was found on the sofa with a cigarette nearby, surrounded by candles and empty wine bottles.

Police initially believed the fire was a tragic accident, but five days later they arrested Anderson on suspicion of murder. So what happened? How did Anderson go from a grieving ex-husband to the police's chief suspect?

Budapest-based reporter Bálint Dömötör was in court this week for the pretrial hearing and he outlines the prosecution’s case. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.
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Since early Sunday morning, 35 members of the Orange Order have been waiting at Drumcree Church to parade down the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown. It is a march that, in the 1990s, sparked tension and violence in Drumcree, and with the result that the Protestant loyalist organisation has been refused permission to march through the Catholic area for nearly 30 years. So why was it given permission now?

As of Tuesday, the Orangemen remain determined to march, saying they now have the legal right to do so. The local nationalist community is equally intent on preventing them. And the repercussions are being felt at Stormont. The DUP and the Orange Order have made complaints to the PSNI about the presence of Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, at the protest.

With tensions running high on the streets of Drumcree, and the DUP-Sinn Féin political partnership fraying, could this standoff bring down Stormont? Mark Hennessy, The Irish Times Ireland and Britain Editor, reports from the Garvaghy Road.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Susanne Brennan.
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