Ireland

29 May 2024; MEMO: Irish Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin, announced yesterday that European Union foreign ministers have held a “significant” discussion for the first time on imposing sanctions on Israel if it fails to adhere to international humanitarian law.

“There was a very clear consensus about the need to uphold the international humanitarian legal institutions,” Martin told reporters following the Foreign Affairs Council.

LONDON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Simon Harris is set to become Ireland's new prime minister, or Taoiseach, after he was confirmed on Sunday as the new leader of the governing Fine Gael party.

He is to replace Leo Varadkar, who unexpectedly announced his resignation Wednesday as party leader and Taoiseach, citing "both personal and political" reasons.

"It's the absolute honor of my life... to accept the leadership of this great party," Harris said in his first speech as the party leader, according to Sky News.

DUBLIN, March 20 (Reuters) - Leo Varadkar will step down as Ireland's prime minister and the leader of the governing Fine Gael party in a surprise move, Irish media reported on Wednesday.

He will hold a press conference at 1200 GMT on Wednesday, the government said.

Varadkar's departure as head of the three-party coalition does not automatically trigger a general election and he could be replaced by a new Fine Gael leader.

DUBLIN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Airlines cancelled 102 flights in and out of Dublin airport on Sunday due to a storm that was forecast to rage for the rest of the day, the airport operator said.

Storm Isha had also forced 24 aborted landings by 1700 GMT, while 27 flights opted to divert to other airports, Dublin Airport said in a post on social media platform X.

DUBLIN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday it was safe to return to Dublin city centre after police made 34 arrests following overnight rioting that was triggered by the stabbing of three young children in the street.

Irish police have warned that further violence could follow after rioters smashed shop windows, set fire to police cars, buses and a tram, and clashed with officers in violence rarely seen in the Irish capital.

DUBLIN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Friday described Israel's actions in Gaza as "something approaching revenge", in some of the strongest criticism of Israel by a leader of a European Union member state.

Gaza health authorities say at least 9,061 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the enclave of 2.3 million people in retaliation for deadly attacks by Hamas militants on southern Israel.

19 October 2023; MEMO: An Irish Member of the European Parliament criticised the EU for hypocrisy on the issue of Palestine, Anadolu Agency reports.

In an interview with Anadolu, Mick Wallace regretted that Israel had the support of not just the US but also the EU.

“The violence is directly linked to the Occupation,” the MEP said. “If we want to stop the violence, we have to stop the Occupation.”

Aug 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that it was tracking a new, highly mutated lineage of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X.

"As we learn more about BA.2.86, CDC's advice on protecting yourself from COVID-19 remains the same," the agency said.

DUBLIN, Apr 10 (NNN-XINHUA) – A ceremony to mark the 107th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, an armed insurrection against British rule in Ireland, was held here yesterday.

Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Micheal Martin, attended the event.

The event was held in front of the building of the GPO (General Post Office), a place in downtown Dublin where the fiercest battle of the 1916 Easter Rising took place.

BALLINA, Ireland (AP) — Joe Blewitt is just about the busiest man in Ballina. His phone rings constantly with calls from locals and the world’s media as he prepares to welcome a relative — U.S. President Joe Biden.

Biden is scheduled to travel to Ireland next week, with a stop in Ballina, the town from which one of his great-great grandfathers left for the United States in 1850. Blewitt, a distant cousin who first met Biden when he came to town as vice president in 2016, said the U.S. leader pledged to return once he’d won the presidency.