Free Republic

Sanctioned vessel reportedly under NATO surveillance as Russia asks US to halt pursuit A Venezuela-linked oil tanker operating in the so-called "dark fleet" painted a Russian flag on its hull, changed its name, and reflagged to Russia in an apparent bid to evade the U.S. Coast Guard, according to reports. The vessel has since been spotted off Ireland, with the U.S., U.K., France and Ireland reportedly conducting aerial surveillance after it escaped U.S. interception in December, The Times reported. Meanwhile, Russia has reportedly since deployed a submarine and naval assets to escort the tanker to its own waters, the Wall...

China is keen on expanding economic and trade cooperation with Ireland while aiming for mutually beneficial results, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the Irish prime minister on Monday, positioning stronger bilateral ties as a way to also boost relations with the European Union. Xi emphasized mutual respect and achieving win-win outcomes as “valuable experiences” for long-term and stable development of China-Ireland ties in his opening remarks at a meeting with Prime Minister Micheál Martin at the Great Hall of the People, a media pool report showed. […] China is interested in cooperating with Ireland in fields such as artificial intelligence,...

Large crowds gathered in Kells, County Meath, Ireland, on St Stephen’s Day as the town hosted its traditional hunt meet, which proceeded shortly after a proposed ban on hunting with hounds was defeated in the Dáil. Riders assembled in the town centre before midday, accompanied by spectators who lined the streets to watch the annual departure. The event took place in a festive atmosphere and attracted families and visitors from across the region. The timing of the hunt placed it at the centre of renewed national attention, coming just days after parliament rejected legislation that would have outlawed the practice....

Gardaí, the Irish police, have opened a hate crime investigation after antisemitic graffiti, including swastikas and the words “Jew” and “rat,” was sprayed on roads in Co Louth, the Irish Times reports. Holocaust Awareness Ireland condemned the incident, saying the graffiti “repeats one of the most disturbing antisemitic caricatures deployed by Nazis in pre-war Germany.” In a statement, the Garda confirmed it had received a report of criminal damage and is treating the case as a hate crime. It urged anyone with information to come forward. .....

Representatives of the fishing sector have said the loss of one third of Ireland’s national fish quota in 2026 means they are facing their toughest year ever. The Government is establishing a taskforce aimed at supporting those affected. Minister of State for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Timmy Dooley has met representatives of the sector in Killybegs, County Donegal. At the meeting, he outlined the Government’s plan to address challenges facing coastal communities. The minister said fish stocks have reduced dramatically in the Atlantic Ocean because of the overfishing, principally by Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. “The Government is demanding...

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has been helping to form an Irish “national party” as he works “behind the scenes” on what he described as “the Irish situation”, he said in an interview. The Donald Trump ally, whose anti-EU rhetoric previously included an expressed desire “to drive a stake through the Brussels vampire”, told the Politico news website that there would soon be an “Irish Trump”. Mr. Bannon, who hosts the War Room podcast and retains influence in the grassroots of the MAGA (Make American Great Again) movement of Trump-supporting populists, is quoted as supporting the new US national...

The left-wing Irish government has vowed to push for the European Union to prohibit the use of anonymous social media accounts in what may set the ground for another battle over free speech with the Trump administration in the United States. Ireland will take over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union for a six month term starting in July and looks set to push for more restrictions on the internet, namely the imposition of ID-verification for social media accounts. The move would effectively end anonymity on social media, which critics have warned will hinder dissidents from...

An advisory body has warned that Ireland’s population is at risk of what it called a “vicious downward cycle” due to a declining birth rate. The statement is contained in a report by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), which researched recent demographic shifts across the country. It calls on the Government to begin planning for any negative impacts from a downward cycle before it becomes too difficult to reverse. The report says that Ireland’s demographic profile is undergoing rapid and profound change as the birth rate falls and the population ages. It means an aging and declining population...

A group of Western and allied states issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of 19 new communities in Judea and Samaria, stating that the move was "part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank." The statement, issued by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom, described the decision as a unilateral action and claimed that such steps "not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability." According to the statement, the decision risks undermining "the implementation of the Comprehensive...

A Palestinian doctor living in County Meath, whose family members have been killed in the war in Gaza, has called for more aid for the people of the enclave. Four of Dr Mahmoud Abumarzouq’s close relatives were killed in an Israeli strike earlier this year. At his home in Navan, Dr. Abumarzouq is going through some family photos. He knows more than most about the misery the war has brought. […] The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said 70,000 people have been killed, since the outbreak of the war and the 7 October attacks. …

Activists have recreated the nativity scene in Dublin to draw attention to the conflict in Gaza. The Gaza Solidarity Nativity, organized by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was enacted beside the Molly Malone Statue less than a week before Christmas. The event heard reflections that if Jesus had been born today, he “would be born under siege, displaced, without access to medical treatment or nutrition”, while the wise men and the shepherds who visited him “would be taken hostage and they would be illegally detained in Israeli prisons”. It also heard a call for the Government to “move beyond empty platitudes,...

A new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) says that although energy related emissions in Ireland have fallen by 16% since 2018, the country has not broken the link between economic growth and fossil fuel use in a meaningful way. The SEAI says Ireland needs to double down on decarbonization, especially in transport, which is still 93% powered by fossil fuels. Ireland is legally obliged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. SEAI Energy in Ireland 2025 report notes total energy-related emissions have fallen to the lowest level in over 30 years. This has been...

Most Americans have never heard the name Enoch Burke, but they should—because his story is quietly becoming one of the most important religious liberty cases in the Western world. Burke is an Irish schoolteacher, a Christian, and the kind of man whose convictions are not negotiable, even when the entire cultural machine demands otherwise. In 2022, he was ordered by the administration of Wilson’s Hospital School in County Westmeath to use transgender pronouns for a student. Burke refused, not out of spite, but because his faith does not allow him to affirm what he believes is false. That refusal set...

Comedian moved to Ireland after Trump's re-election but continues breaking vows to stay off social mediaRosie O’Donnell is sounding the alarm about her ongoing fixation with President Donald Trump. The 63-year-old, along with some of her friends and family, spoke to The Washington Post about her move to Ireland after Trump's re-election last November, and one thing was made clear from the article. She "can't resist" speaking about Trump. O’Donnell told the outlet she promised her therapist the Wednesday before Thanksgiving she would refrain from posting about Trump for two days. It fell apart within hours. A longtime friend, Jennifer...

One of the more bizarre artifacts of the Israel-Hamas War—which Hamas started just over two years ago, when it attacked, murdered, and kidnapped more than 1,000 Israeli civilians—is the exposure of the rabid and rampant antisemitism among the Irish, especially Irish Catholics. One might expect that Catholics—whose popes have denounced antisemitism off and on since the sixth century and have clearly and repeatedly condemned it since the 1930s—would be understanding of the Jewish people’s plight and willing to listen to Pope Pius XI’s admonition that “Antisemitism is inadmissible. Spiritually, we are all Semites.” In the case of many Irish Catholics,...

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided that Israel will be allowed to compete. Organizers of the pop music spectacle, which draws millions of viewers globally, met earlier Thursday to discuss Israel’s participation, amid calls for the country to be excluded over the war in Gaza and threats from some members to boycott. An independent United Nations inquiry concluded in September that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and that the country’s top leaders have incited genocide. The Israeli government has maintained it is conducting the...

Dublin councilors halted plans to rename a park currently honoring a past Israeli president that had drawn criticism from the Irish and Israeli governments, the city council said on Sunday. The park, located near Dublin’s sole Jewish school, is named after Ireland-born Chaim Herzog, Israel’s sixth president. Ireland, home to about 3,000 Jewish people, has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and the move to rename “Herzog Park” followed a campaign by anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists, but official council documents did not disclose a reason for the proposal. The proposal had been scheduled for...

In idle moments on our shows, I occasionally warble the presidential campaign song from the 1931 Gershwin musical Of Thee I Sing:Wintergreen for President!Wintergreen for President!He's the man the people chooseLoves the Irish and the Jews!That's a more fractious coalition than you might think. Across the sea in Erin itself, the Irish do not love the Jews. But they used, publicly, to moderate their hostility into mere antipathy. Not anymore. In Dublin it is now proposed to rename Herzog Park in Rathgar - a neighbourhood I know rather well. Herzog Park honours Chaim Herzog, born in Belfast, raised in Dublin,...

A tape apparently recorded by murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko a year before he was poisoned has revealed he was digging up links between Vladimir Putin and one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. A Telegraph investigation uncovered the audio recording, in which the dissident claims from beyond the grave that Russia’s president had a “good relationship” with Semion Mogilevich - a Ukrainian crime boss who was on the FBI's most wanted list and whom Mr Litvinenko believed was selling weapons to al-Qaeda. The apparent recording of Mr Litvinenko is published for the first time ahead of a public inquiry...

A new “grass to gas” agricultural biomethane plant is set to provide enough energy to heat two pharmaceutical manufacturing sites by the end of next year. The state-of-the-art plant is being launched by Carbon AMS in Duleek in County Meath today. The plant is a partnership between the anaerobic digestion company, local farmers and biopharmaceutical company Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. Carbon AMS is focused on the production of biomethane in Ireland by converting “grass to gas” through anaerobic digestion. When operational, the plant will cover 100% of the heating needs of Alexion’s two manufacturing sites in Dublin and Athlone by...