Top Stories

Agriculture department greenlit peat exports despite EPA concern over “illegal” extraction 

The EPA says commercial extraction without licensing or planning permission is “widespread”. It will now follow up with "appropriate authorities" about the department’s approval of phytosanitary certs following The Currency’s findings.

Diary of an Irishman, featuring Vincent Browne, Dermot Morgan and The General

Frank McNally has been the chief writer of the Irishman’s Diary in The Irish Times for nearly 20 years. In a new memoir, he recalls growing up in Monaghan and why he felt the column should have been retired after Kevin Myers left the paper.

Retailers fail in bid to cross-examine top health official on tobacco licensing

The Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association is challenging the Minister for Health's new tobacco licence fees, claiming that "exorbitant figures were simply plucked out of the air and are inherently arbitrary”.

Another $30m write-off to close Glanbia’s Slimfast chapter

The Kilkenny-headquartered group has completed its exit from its largest-ever acquisition. The exact value lost in this weight-loss adventure may never be fully known.

Wind turbine

High Court deems wind turbine quieter than “a washing machine” as judicial review quashed

In a High Court judgement, Justice Richard Humphreys found that low-level noise should not be “the sort of impact that public policy should accept as precluding the grant of permission” in a wind farm case.

“Picking a fight with average”: How Lisa Clarke built Rowdy Studio

Made redundant during the recession, Lisa Clarke founded her own branding agency in London - and built it into an award-winning studio now expanding into Ireland.

M6 deal post-mortem: Valuing and refinancing a motorway

A series of transactions initiated two years ago saw the Galway toll road change owners and debt providers. Who are its new backers, and how much did they invest?

Family-owned equipment distributor acquired by Japanese multinational Komatsu

McHale Plant Sales Ltd has been the Irish distributor of Komatsu equipment for 30 years.

Top Voices

Big pharma is back: Rewinding the week that was

What does Donald Trump’s former commerce secretary Wilbur Ross mean when he says in Dublin that pharmaceutical companies “gradually come around”? The answer, if correct, is reassuring for Ireland.

When the referee isn’t in charge: The crisis at rugby’s core

Tadhg Beirne’s rescinded red card wasn’t just a mistake — it was a symptom of a deeper problem. Referees are no longer judging the game; they’re taking instructions from invisible voices.

Siobhán Brett: For an off-year, it felt awfully on

The elections that weren’t meant to matter suddenly did. From New York to Maine, voters turned routine ballots into a referendum on fatigue, frustration, and what democracy feels like when you can’t quite name what you’re voting for.

Ireland is getting an AI Office, but what should its true role be?

The long-mooted AI Office was namechecked in last month’s budget. Now indigenous businesses want to see meat on the bones and understand how it will work in practice.

Reflections on The Entrepreneur Experience 2025: From breezy elevator pitches to brutal honesty

It was exhausting but also energising: emerging entrepreneurs laid themselves bare and business veterans supporting them talked about the many ways in which they had screwed up before finding success.

There’s a bubble in all these fearful musings and public-sector warnings about a tech stock bubble

Predicting the direction of stock markets has arguably never been more challenging. All we can be confident about right now is that there will be a correction – eventually.

Joe Gill: Aircraft technology is changing how airlines operate

The lines between long- and short-haul, trunk and point-to-point routes are blurring as more efficient jets redefine the economics of each seat – and the rules of competition.

Postcard from Astana: Capacity, not ideology, will shape Ireland’s future

From housing to energy to reunification, Ireland’s challenge is no longer what to believe in, but how to build it. Astana’s story shows that state capacity — not politics — is the true test of national ambition.