Ireland | featured news

The Irish Labour party's Michael D Higgins has been confirmed as the ninth president of the republic after winning a landslide victory in the most fractious campaign in the country's history. The poet and campaigner gained a 56.8% share of the vote, putting him comfortably ahead of his rivals – Dragons' Den star Seán Gallagher, who came second, and former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, who ended in third place.

The 23-year-old switched from a flannel checked shirt into a stars-and-stripes bikini, a red bra, a mesh black top, and finally went topless before Graham climbed off his tractor to protest. "The state of undress was becoming inappropriate," Graham says. "I had a conversation with Rihanna. I hope she understands where I'm coming from. We shook hands."

U.S. treasure hunters have found a 1941 shipwreck containing an estimated $230 million in silver, the largest cache of precious-metal booty ever, ...

The Vatican on Saturday vigorously rejected claims it sabotaged efforts by Irish bishops to report priests who sexually abused children to police and accused the Irish prime minister of making an “unfounded” attack against the Holy See. The Vatican issued a lengthy response to the Irish government following Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s unprecedented July 20 denunciation of the Vatican’s handling of abuse, in which he cited the “dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.”

DUBLIN, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A gay senator who was the front-runner to win Ireland's figurehead presidency quit the race on Tuesday after admitting he used his office to plead for clemency for a friend convicted of having sex with a minor.

Ireland's government summoned the Vatican's ambassador Thursday for a rare face-to-face confrontation to respond to a report showing Rome secretly discouraged Irish bishops from reporting pedophile priests to police.

The spread of dense ash from the erupting Iceland volcano could force the cancellation of up to 500 commercial flights in Northern Ireland, Scotland and parts of Scandinavia, the European air traffic agency said Tuesday.

An explosive device was discovered ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's arrival in Dublin on Tuesday, according to Irish authorities and media reports.

A Moody's downgrade and growing speculation Greece may eventually restructure its debt took the shine off Ireland's thumbs-up from the EU and the IMF on Friday for its efforts to claw its way back from crisis.

Ireland's ailing banks need another euro24 billion ($34 billion) in cash in a move that will leave all of them under state control and facing a complete overhaul, officials announced Thursday in a long-awaited effort to cap a 3-year banking crisis....