Ireland paid tribute on Wednesday to a group of Irish shop workers who staged a landmark two-and-a-half-year long anti-apartheid strike in the 1980s.
A landmark international convention banning cluster munitions was formally adopted by 111 countries in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday in a move supporters hope will stigmatise the lethal weapons as much as landmines. There were no objections to its adoption, which came after 12 days of robust negotiations.
Dublin Zoo appealed to the public on Thursday not to be taken in by hoax SMSs that have led to its switchboard being jammed by an estimated 100 000 calls in two weeks. People are receiving SMSs to their cellphones asking them to ring the zoo’s number for an ”urgent message”. The texts are signed with names like G Raffe and C Lion.
Bertie Ahern will step down as Ireland’s Prime Minister on May 6, bowing to pressure for him to go early following a series of embarrassing appearances in the witness stand at an anti-corruption tribunal. Ahern, flanked by his Cabinet colleagues, announced his intention to resign to reporters in Dublin.
Eddie O’Sullivan has resigned as Ireland coach following a disappointing Six Nations campaign and the side’s early exit from last year’s World Cup. Ireland finished fourth in the Six Nations, winning two matches out of five. They were knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages.
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/ 21 February 2008
The owner of the Irish castle containing the famed Blarney Stone has dismissed claims that thousands of tourists are kissing the wrong stone every year, the Irish Examiner newspaper reported on Thursday. A new book questions the authenticity of the stone.
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/ 24 September 2007
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In the measured tones of the schoolmaster he once was, New Zealand coach Graham Henry gave his half-term assessment of the All Blacks on Sunday evening. ”We are pretty happy really,” Henry told a news conference after his team had defeated Scotland 40-0 at Murrayfield.
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/ 13 September 2007
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who admits receiving a string of cash payments from businessmen, denied doing anything wrong when he began testifying on Thursday to an anti-corruption judge probing his foggy financial past. At stake are the reputation and legacy of Ahern, Ireland’s popular leader since 1997.
South Africa stuttered to a narrow 18-3 win over Irish provincial side Connacht on Tuesday. Fresh from last week’s 105-13 hammering of fellow World Cup team Namibia, the Boks laboured against the weakest of the four Irish teams, who won only four games from 20 in last season’s Celtic League.
Ireland hailed its new sporting hero, golfer Padraig Harrington, on Monday after he won the British Open by one shot at Carnoustie in a thrilling play-off with Spain’s Sergio Garcia. ”Harrington’s victory — the first by an Irish player since Fred Daly’s at Hoylake in 1947 — was the stuff of supreme sporting drama,” said the Irish Times.
South Africa stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis said the way in which younger players had made their mark eased some of the pain involved in a 2-1 one-day international series defeat against India. Three close matches at Stormont ended on Sunday with India’s second successive six-wicket win, this time with four balls to spare.
Sachin Tendulkar’s 99 was the centrepiece of India’s 242 for eight in the first one-day international against South Africa at Stormont here Tuesday. But India might have expected to finish with a higher total, having been 181 for two heading into the final 10 overs.
South Africa beat Ireland by 42 runs in a one-day international at Stormont on Sunday. Australian-born Alex Cusask took three wickets on his one-day international debut as Ireland held South Africa to 173 for four in a match reduced by rain to 31 overs per side.
Australian-born Alex Cusask took three wickets in his one-day international debut as Ireland held South Africa to 173 for four in a match reduced by rain to 31 overs in Stormont on Sunday. The 26-year-old all-rounder, recently qualified for his adopted country, took three for 15 in four overs to restrict the Proteas, who had been on course for a score in excess of 200.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern’s long-dominant Fianna Fail party marched toward its sixth straight election victory on Friday as voters opted to stick with a popular leader who has presided over unprecedented economic success. ”It’s a great night for Fianna Fail, and it’s a great night for the party machine,” said Ahern.
Padraig Harrington became the first native to win the Irish Open in 25 years on Sunday, parring the first extra hole of a play-off to beat Welshman Bradley Dredge. The 35-year-old Dubliner prevailed when Dredge became tangled in heavy rough alongside the 18th fairway beside the River Maigue and ended up in shallow water.
The cries of a parrot stolen from a house in the south-western Irish city of Limerick led police to the door of his thieves, a report in the Irish Examiner said on Friday. The thieves had stolen 13-year-old Cheeky from his owners further up the same street in the city on Saturday night.
The youth of Ireland are becoming increasingly poor spellers and writers, and their love of SMSing on cell phones is a major reason why, according to the Education Department, which says cutting-edge communications technology has encouraged poor literacy and a blunt, choppy style at odds with academic rigour.
South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, England, Australia and France recorded wins on the opening day of Division A action at the IRB Under-19 World Championship. South Africa — champions in 2005 — defeated newly-promoted Fiji 36-5 at Belfast Harlequins.
Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner Bono was made an honorary British knight at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday, the British embassy said. Presenting the insignia on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II, ambassador David Reddaway said it was awarded in recognition of his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work.
Hundreds of thousands of revellers throughout Ireland and across the world celebrated St Patrick’s Day on Saturday with colourful parades and other festivities. The feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, when much Guinness and other alcohol is traditionally drunk, showcases the country to give an early kick-start to the country’s tourism season.
Irish leaders will jet off around the world this week to promote the Emerald Isle ahead of this weekend’s annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations, an increasingly global excuse for a party. Helped by the country’s ubiquitous expatriates St Patrick’s Day brings the <i>craic</i> (having fun) to the world — and Dublin is keen to make the most of it.
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/ 23 February 2007
In rugby terms, the Six Nations match that takes place in Dublin on Saturday is all about the short-term future: the next four weeks that will decide this season’s tournament. But when it comes to Ireland and England clashes, it has always been hard to ignore the past, and that will be the case when the strains of God Save the Queen echo around Croke Park.
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/ 12 February 2007
France winger Vincent Clerc scored a try one minute from time to clinch a nerve-rattling 20-17 win over Ireland in a Six Nations clash at Croke Park in Dublin on Sunday. Ireland flyhalf Ronan O’Gara had landed a penalty with two minutes to play but from the resulting kick-off, the ball went loose and fell to French hands.
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/ 9 February 2007
For nearly a century, Ireland’s patriotic guardians of homegrown Gaelic games observed an inflexible rule: No British sports permitted on the hallowed ground of Croke Park. That era ends on Sunday when Ireland and France take to the field of the sold-out, 82 300-capacity stadium for a Six Nations rugby clash.
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/ 17 January 2007
The economic boom that has turned Ireland into the ”Celtic Tiger” is now threatening up to 150 species of animals and plants with extinction, a new government campaign warned recently. The Notice Nature campaign said species included the red squirrel, several types of bats, the otter, the barn owl, the corncrake, the nightjar and the salmon.
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/ 28 November 2006
It was cramped, often bitterly cold, and had a railway line running through it yet Ireland’s Lansdowne Road — the world’s oldest rugby union Test venue — will be much missed. Ireland played their last Test at the Dublin stadium on Sunday, bidding the ”grand Old Lady” farewell in fine style.
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/ 27 November 2006
Ireland brought the curtain down on Lansdowne Road by thumping the Pacific Islanders 61-17 on Sunday. Flyhalf Paddy Wallace, making his first start, scored 26 points, and flanker Simon Easterby scored two of Ireland’s eight tries in the last match at Europe’s oldest rugby stadium before it is redeveloped.
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/ 24 November 2006
Northern Ireland’s Stormont Parliament buildings were evacuated on Friday after a man threw a package at security staff at the entrance to the building where politicians were meeting to discuss self-rule. The man, identified in media reports as notorious former Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone, was wrestled to the ground by security staff and the building evacuated.
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/ 20 November 2006
Ireland’s impressive 21-6 defeat on Sunday of two-time world champions Australia came about because the hosts out-foxed their rivals, claimed talismanic captain Brian O’Driscoll. O’Driscoll had said before the match that he thought the Wallabies were the smartest team in world rugby.
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/ 18 November 2006
Two-time world champions Australia were hit late on Friday by the withdrawal of 2003 World Cup finalist hooker Brendan Cannon from their starting XV for the one-off Test on Sunday against Ireland after he failed to recover from a neck injury. Wallaby coach John Connolly said that the 33-year-old 42-times capped Western Force star had not satisfied the medical team that he was fit enough.
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/ 14 November 2006
Irish football bids farewell to Lansdowne Road, its rickety home stadium of 35 years on Wednesday in what could hardly be less auspicious circumstances. A team in gradual decline since the Charlton era of the 1980s takes on San Marino, the smallest country participating in the Euro 2008 qualifiers — and officially the worst team in the competition.