The kidnapped Irish Catholic priest, Fr Michael Sinnott, has been released without injury in the Philippines. Arriving at Manila Airport, the 79-year-old Wexford priest even tried to make light of his experience. "Because I am a bit old and I found hiking a bit difficult at times, I think that they'd be glad to kidnap a younger man the next time," he said.

Threats by Ryanair bosses have sparked fears that Shannon Airport in Ireland’s west will become deserted.

An Irish politician has claimed that he is taking a stand for the traditional Irish farmer who wants to have a pint on his way home.

Fears are growing for the safety of an Irish mother who has disappeared in the U.S. with her 11-month-old son. Josephine Cuskelly, 42, from County Offaly, has not been seen since July 25 when she left her partner of three years taking their 11-month-old son with her.

The Irish Government has despatched the government jet to bring Sharon Commins home from the Sudan after she was released

Fr. Aengus Finucane, an African aid pioneer and founder of the Third World charity Concern, has died. The 77-year-old passed away in the Spiritan Fathers’ nursing home in Kimmage in Dublin after a short illness.

An Irish Government-sponsored Web site certificate service can send any user an official long form birth, death or marriage certificate from the Republic of Ireland to anywhere the world in one to two working days.

Just as the slide in the reduction of Ireland’s GDP stalled, suggesting the slightest glimmer of hope for the Irish economy, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) has said that it is advising its members to prepare for industrial action.

Former Irish Taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald has claimed that the IRA scuppered a deal which would have ended the Maze Hunger Strikes in 1981. Fitzgerald said he was convinced that the IRA refused a deal which would have prevented the last six of 10 deaths.

The last six months have shown small but significant signs that the Irish economy could be pulling itself off the canvas. There was a slackening in the reduction of Ireland’s GDP in the second quarter, and this might hint at possible improvement in economic conditions.

  Introduction Ireland is an island on the western fringe of Europe between latitude 51 1/2 and 55 1/2 degrees north, and longitude 5 1/2 to 10 1/2 degrees west. Its greatest length, from Malin Head in the north to Mizen Head in the south, is 486 km and its greatest width from east to west is approximately 275

It is quite an image... Maureen Dowd, scourge of every president since Poppy Bush and, arguably, the most powerful journalist in America thanks to her must-read column in The New York Times, talking of the road not taken, living a quiet life as a barkeep's wife back in Clare. Maybe that image isn’t so fanciful, though.

A prisoner on Death Row in California has written to the Irish Government in a bid to save his life. While in prison, Scott Collins has cultivated an abiding interest in his Irish heritage and says that he adores “Irish history and politics, Irish culture and language, all things Celtic.” He has appealed to the Government because the Republic is opposed to the penalty.

A big business effort is underway in Ireland to convince Irish people to back the same European treaty they rejected last year. Employers such as Intel and Ryanair have lined up to lobby Irish voters to say yes to the Lisbon treaty. They say that Ireland risks creating an even bigger economic crisis if voters say no.

The Irish Government has banned samurai swords in Ireland, and anyone caught importing or selling the weapons could face a jail sentence of seven years.

Ken Carroll wants to change your world. He wants you to learn Chinese, and he is going to teach you for free. If you are from the Republic of Ireland, that is.

Irish immigration centers in New York are feeling the pinch of the recession and are concerned about the future of their services.

The British Government has declassified secret files from its Ministry of Defense which have revealed a top-secret investigation into two sightings of UFOs in Ireland in 1993 and 1996. The UFO reports are part of a three-year project to release Britain's classified UFO files.

I take very strong issue with the piece by Niall Stanage – “Clinton saga highlights ludicrous notions about importance of Irish in America” in the August 8th edition of The Irish Times.

The Irish Government is on the brink of collapse after two Sligo/Leitrim politicians resigned from the Government. Fianna Fail representatives Eamon Scanlan and Jimmy Devins both resigned in protest after cancer services in Sligo were axed.

Overwhelmed Dublin agencies have pleaded with the Irish Government to delay the release of a new report into MORE child sex abuse.

The mother of Irish kidnap victim Sharon Commins is praying for her release. Speaking from the family's home in Clontarf, Agatha Commins said: "We're just hoping and praying that she will be safe. We've heard absolutely nothing about her situation, but we've been told the Irish Government jet flew out there and the best people in the country were on it."

Dublin is now one of the gang murder capitals in Europe. In just 10 years, Dublin has achieved the dubious distinction of being home to some of the most violent gangs in

The Irish Government has been cheated out of millions of euro by immigrants who flew in and out of Ireland every month to collect their benefits. A shocking report showed that thousands of immigrants, mainly Eastern European, cheated the Irish Government out of millions of euro between October 2007 and February 2008.

The Ulster Volunteer Forc and the Red Hand Commando in Northern Ireland have decommissioned their weapons ahead of an August deadline which would have seen an end to the amnesty they currently enjoy on the handling of illegal weapons. The secretary of state for Northern Ireland had warned the three groups that he was tired of their "foot-dragging" on the issue.

Gay couples in Ireland now have the Irish Government's blessing to be protected by new civil-partnership laws granting their unions legal recognition.

It seems as if the bad old days have returned with a vengeance in Ireland. Emigration is back — and it looks like it could be official government policy.

A third of all of Ireland’s gay and lesbian couples are living with a same-sex partner in the United States, according to a new study based on U.S. Census data.

Fine Gael is embroiled in a row in Ireland over whether or not it would form a partnership with Sinn Fein. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny (FG-Mayo) said his party has no intention of such a partnership after a British newspaper quoted Fine Gael's Director of Elections Frank Flannery saying his party would indeed consider such an arrangement to form a government.

And finally! Some good economic news for Ireland. Accenture, the outsourcing and consultancy giant, is switching its headquarters from Bermuda to Ireland. Accenture is joining an exodus of large multinational companies to Europe as the U.S. government plans to tighten tax rules.

During this tough economic time, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is doing exceptionally well. Now, Ireland’s biggest betting Web site is capitalizing even more on the recession by inviting users to place bets on the economy.

Satisfaction with the Irish Government has plummeted to a new low of 10%, according to a new Irish Times /TNS mrbi poll.

The Irish Government is calling on the Diaspora for help in getting Ireland on the road to economic recovery

Three Irish women are taking their case against Ireland’s anti-abortion policies to the European Court of Human Rights, and the Irish Government is ready to fight back. The anonymous women, known as A, B and C, with the support of the

Economics, they say, is the dismal science. And, it becomes dismally gloomy in the hands of someone like Paul Krugman whose opinion piece on Ireland’s economic challenges (Erin Go Broke - April 20, 2009) contained egregious errors which clearly compromise the conclusions he allows himself to reach.

The Irish undocumented have warmly welcomed the news that the Obama administration will address the issue of immigration reform in the next couple of months. Many of them have been living in the U.S. for many years and haven’t been home in a very long time.

The tax on alcohol is going to go up in tomorrow's budget, as the government struggles to raise revenue.

The CEO of the Irish airline leaves the company at a very difficult time.

Ireland's restaurant industry has seen a big drop off in business, according to the Restaurant Assocation of Ireland

The Economist magazine has pronounced Ireland dead. The official diagnosis cites injuries sustained as the result of a collision with a runaway construction boom. But the results are still the same; the magazine reckons the country is dead.

Grow your own fruit and vegetables to rescue the Irish economy! That's just one of thousands of suggestions being e-mailed to an Irish Web site as a a possible solution to the Irish crisis. The site, ideascampaign.ie, has been bombarded with more than 2,000 suggestions since it was set up on March 5 by Internet consultant

Niall O'Dowd: Somewhere in Australia there's an Irish lad called Rowan McCormick who broke Maureen Dowd's heart. When she went back in the early 1970s to visit her homestead in County Clare, hard by the majestic Cliffs of Moher, she met him and fell madly in love.

Ireland could be about to make "Da Vinci Code" history with a new claim that Jesus spent his "missing years" there. Irish American scholar and film-maker John McCloskey says he has found evidence that Jesus studied in Ireland.

  Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen will use his forthcoming trip to New York and the White House to promote Irish trade and investment and to highlight the plight of the Irish undocumented living

The Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) met with Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern on Thursday, May 1 in an effort to heal a recent rift between the parties on the issue of the Irish undocumented immigrants The meeting, which took place at 8 am, comprised of ILIR chairman Niall O'Dowd, Vice-Chairman Ciaran Staunton, Executive Director Kelly Fincham, former Congressman Bruce Morrison, San Francisco board member Bart Murphy and ILIR President Jeff Cleary. From the Irish Government there was Ahern, Secretary General of the Department Dermot Gallagher Irish Ambassador to the U.S.