Tag Archives: Ireland

Politico Europe reports: People must stop socializing in each other’s homes for several weeks under new pandemic restrictions announced Wednesday by the Irish government. The Cabinet took action in emergency session after public health chiefs warned that the rate of COVID-19 infections was growing much faster than during the first and second waves. Some measures, while immediately intended to discourage …

The New York Times reports: The government of Ireland announced a six-week lockdown beginning Wednesday night, becoming the first European country to reimpose a national lockdown. The new measures, announced on Monday, are a dramatic U-turn for the government, which just two weeks ago fell short of imposing the highest level of restrictions despite advice from public health experts. Under …

The Independent reports: The US government has announced it is expanding its European travel ban to include Britain and Ireland, as it seeks to contain the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. Donald Trump originally exempted Britain and Ireland from his 30-day ban on travellers from 26 European countries that took effect at midnight on Friday. The new travel restrictions on …

Business Insider reports: Hours after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, President Donald Trump announced a 30-day travel ban on most of Europe. But he excluded two countries where he has hotels and golf courses that have been struggling financially: the UK and Ireland. Trump has two properties in the UK — Trump Turnberry and Trump …

The BBC reports: Dublin has cancelled its annual St Patrick’s Day parade amid fears about the spread of coronavirus, Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported. Earlier on Monday, Cork moved to cancel its parade, the second largest in the country attracting up to 50,000 people. The city council said public welfare was paramount and cancellation was the correct decision. Irish Health …

The Guardian reports: Leo Varadkar has resigned as taoiseach after Ireland’s hung parliament entered deadlock over the choice of a new premier. Varadkar submitted his resignation to Michael D Higgins, the president of Ireland, on Thursday night after a tempestuous but inconclusive sitting of Dáil Éireann, which met for the first time since the 8 February election. It adjourned until …

The Irish Herald reports: A €14,000 spend by gardai on sandwich/snack bags for members was part of an overall €107,625 catering payment to the Donald Trump-owned Trump Doonbeg resort in west Clare. That is according to figures released by An Garda Siochana concerning its €11.3m overtime operation put in place to protect the US President during his two-night stay at …

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson has signalled to the EU that he would make a major U-turn on his plans for the Irish border to successfully secure a 48-hour window of intensive negotiations over a potential Brexit deal. EU diplomats gave the green light to a weekend of talks after being told by the bloc’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, that …

Politico reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to President Trump’s Doonbeg, Ireland resort cost taxpayers nearly $600,000 in ground transportation fees, according to State Department receipts. The receipts, first noticed by the left-leaning watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, totaled over $599,000 along with Pence’s stay, which required him to bounce back-and-forth between Doonbeg and Dublin for his …

From an opinion piece in the Irish Times: To look at Mike Pence, with all smiles and handshakes, you’d hardly think he isn’t very keen on the gays at all. Brave Mike sat down to lunch with the Taoiseach and his partner Matthew and managed not to choke on his Dublin Bay prawns. The VP’s wife Karen, who recently took …

Vox reports: Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short told reporters Tuesday that Pence’s stay at Doonbeg was a matter of convenience and safety. The vice president wanted to stay in Dublin, where his sessions with officials are to be held, Short claimed, but an unspecified last-minute schedule change led to the decision to stay at the Trump International. “It’s …

The Associated Press reports: Vice President Mike Pence’s staff is defending his decision to stay at one of President Donald Trump’s properties while in Ireland amid criticism by Democrats that he’s enriching Trump at taxpayers’ expense. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Tuesday that the decision to stay at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg was made at Trump’s …

The Huffington Post reports: President Donald Trump wrapped up a visit to his Ireland golf resort Friday, in the process adding at least another $3.6 million to a taxpayer-funded golf tab that totals nearly $106 million in just 2 1/2 years. Trump played golf Friday morning and possibly also played Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The White House press corps was …

Irish Central reports: An Irish priest has said he is saving ‘a special place in heaven’ for Donald Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Junior after the two brothers visited a multitude of local pubs in Doonbeg on Wednesday night. Doonbeg parish priest Joe Haugh had previously pledged a place in heaven for President Trump but has now extended that pledge …

The Irish Times reports: US president Donald Trump will visit Co Clare in early June, his first visit to Ireland as president, the White House has announced. Mr Trump will touch down in Shannon on the afternoon of June 5th after a three-day state visit to Britain. He will then depart the following morning to attend the D-Day commemorations in …

The Irish Times reports: Disagreement over the location of a possible meeting between US president Donald Trump and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has thrown a potential visit to Co Clare by the president into doubt. While the Taoiseach’s preference is to meet Mr Trump in Co Clare, Irish officials are reluctant to meet the US president in his golf course in …

The Irish Times reports: An American preacher with extreme anti-gay and anti-Semitic views has become the first person ever banned from Ireland by exclusion powers dating from 1999. Steven L Anderson, a Baptist pastor based in Arizona, came to public prominence in 2009 when telling his congregation he had prayed for the death of then president Barack Obama and also …

The Irish Times reports: On Thursday, Mr Varadkar attended a breakfast at the residence of vice-president Mike Pence. In a short speech delivered beside the vice-president, the Taoiseach reflected on his ambition to become a politician when he was younger. “I also knew at the time that I lived in a country where if I tried to be myself at …

The Guardian reports: The EU has injected further pressure into the Brexit talks by confirming it will enforce a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal outcome, despite the risk this would pose to peace. In comments that proved highly uncomfortable for Dublin, Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief spokesman told reporters in Brussels it was “pretty …

The Guardian reports: Campaigners in Ireland celebrated the end of a “medieval” ban on blasphemy on Saturday, after voters overwhelmingly backed removing the offence from the constitution in a referendum. The referendum saw 64.85% vote yes to remove the prohibition on blasphemy, with 35.15% in favour of retaining it. A total of 951,650 people voted for the change, with 515,808 …