Ireland

Police say one of the two vehicles involved was driving in the wrong direction on the M9 motorway in County KildareFive teenagers have died and four other people have been seriously injured in a crash involving a car driving in the wrong direction on a motorway in Ireland, police have said.Gardaí confirmed the bodies of the youths, all male, had been removed from the scene of the two-vehicle collision, which happened in the early hours of Sunday on the M9 in County Kildare. Continue reading...

A horrific knife attack on a street in June sparked another summer’s night of racial violence, stoked by loyalist groups. How did the unrest erupt – and why do many fear it will happen again?Shortly after 10.30pm on Monday 8 June, as a summer twilight lingered over Belfast, a horrific scene unfolded on Kinnaird Avenue: a man straddled and repeatedly stabbed a figure lying on the ground in a bloody assault that ended only after onlookers intervened.Others captured the drama on cameraphones and uploaded the footage to social media. Once seen, the grainy images were hard to forget, and by dawn on Tuesday 9 June they were ricocheting around X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and other platforms. Continue reading...

• A mass migration crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta has created a diplomatic crisis, dominating the EU agenda during Ireland's first month of its presidency. • Irish Justice Minister Jim O Callaghan convened a meeting of the EU's integrated political crisis response mechanism following discussions with Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. • While all 27 member states expressed support for Spain, Italy and Denmark raised concerns regarding the enclave's future status within the Schengen free travel zone.

Detectives targeting dissident republicans stopped a vehicle containing explosives near CarrickmacrossTwo people have been arrested after police in Ireland targeting dissident republicans intercepted an “extremely significant” bomb that was being transported in a vehicle near the border.Members of the Garda Síochána’s special detective unit stopped the vehicle travelling on the N2 south of Carrickmacross, County Monaghan on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Irish politicians concerned about Daniel Tatlow-Devally’s treatment in jail want Micheál Martin to send observers to Ulm 5 trialA cross-party delegation of Irish politicians has urged Dublin to send observers to a high-security trial of pro-Palestinian activists in Germany and to raise concerns about the Irish defendant’s detention when the German chancellor visits next week.Mairéad Farrell of Sinn Féin, a member of the seven-member delegation, said she and her colleagues had attended the hearing in Stuttgart on Wednesday of the so-called Ulm 5 activists, who are facing charges over an attack on an Israeli arms company. Continue reading...

Amnesty calls pyre – due to be burned on Friday in Moygashel – ‘blatant attempt to stir up anti-Muslim hatred’A loyalist bonfire in Northern Ireland featuring an effigy of a mosque has been condemned as an incitement to hatred.The effigy sits atop a tower of pallets that is to be burned on Friday night in the County Tyrone village of Moygashel as part of wider loyalist commemorations. Placards beneath the display read “secure our borders” and “end the threat of radical Islam”. Continue reading...

Politicians across Celtic nations braced for constitutional turmoil if Reform continues to riseThe rise of Nigel Farage has prompted political leaders across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to game the unthinkable: the break-up of the United Kingdom.Unionists who wish to save the union and nationalists who wish to end it are bracing for constitutional turmoil if Reform UK emerges triumphant – with Farage as prime minister or official leader of the opposition – after the next election. Continue reading...