Australia

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Fiona O’Connell Opinion Lay of the Land: It's time we got behind all our essential evergreen grafters

My lovely old landlord, Chris, may have hung up his cleaver in his butcher shop on Dublin’s Wexford Street, but the aptly named Evergreen greengrocer a few doors up is still in business, its cornucopia of customers spilling through the door and milling around shelves packed to the hilt with every conceivable fresh produce.

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Great Barrier Reef corals burst back to life, but scientists warn more conservation is needed

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is bursting back to life in remarkable fashion after being damaged by warming waters, an investigation has revealed.

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Obituary: Robin Dalton, author, literary agent and producer, whose father-in-law tended the dying Michael Collins at Beál na Bláth

Robin Dalton, who has died aged 101, was an Australian-born socialite, author, literary agent and film producer. She arrived in London 76 years ago, and for decades was prominent in the city’s social and cultural life.

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Letters to the Editor Opinion Watch out for subtle signs of coercive control and get help

Sir — Coercive control has recently been highlighted in a much-needed public way.

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Mystery of body found on Australian beach 73 years ago is finally solved thanks to DNA

He was found dead on an Australian beach, with nothing to identify him and a scrap of Persian poetry in his pocket.

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Shane Ross Opinion Mary Lou works her wizardry in Oz

What is Mary Lou McDonald up to in Australia? The Dáil had hardly adjourned for the summer recess before the Sinn Féin leader was jetting off to Oz. She never paused for breath; there was no weekend off after a tiring session, not to mention a family holiday in her beloved Spain. Mary Lou embarked on a punishing schedule on the other side of the world.

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Obituary: Dr Vicky Conway, accomplished academic and policing expert who campaigned for social justice

Widespread tributes have been paid to Dr Vicky Conway, whose death at the age of 42 was announced last Wednesday by the school of law and government at Dublin City University (DCU) where she was an associate professor. In the course of an active career, she took a close interest in police accountability and was a member of the Policing Authority as well as the Commission on the Future of Policing.

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‘Tweet apology or go to jail’ – Taliban threat to foreign journalist

Taliban intelligence officials threatened an Australian journalist with jail unless she publicly apologised for reporting on alleged abuses by the group, she has said.

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Fresh Covid variant on way as nation prepares for ‘winter virus storm’

The new Omicron variant, nicknamed Centaurus, which it is feared could fuel the next Covid surge, has been found in 15 countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

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John Connell Opinion From deluges Down Under to drought in Europe, the weather has just gone wonky

A scene in Peter Weir’s brilliant mystery drama film The Last Wave depicts strange weather phenomena in rural and urban Australia, from mighty hailstones falling in the desert to torrential rain in city streets. The poster for the film poses the question: “Hasn’t the weather been strange? Could it be a warning?”

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Flooding ‘far from over’ as 50,000 told to evacuate Sydney

Australians are bracing for more floods, with more than 50,000 people told to evacuate from Sydney as 800mm of rain fell in New South Wales in four days .

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Letters to the Editor Opinion How would we feel if the US put a cap on Irish immigrants?

Sir — While in my local library recently, I witnessed an exchange between a middle-aged Ukrainian man and one of the librarians.

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Miriam O’Callaghan Opinion If we believe Covid is over and done with, we really do need our heads looking at

“God, they take Covid so seriously, don’t they? It’s still a big deal for them.” This was the verdict of some of the Irish side of the family about the Italian side when my daughter turned 21 last week.

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New PM Albanese raises prospect of removing Queen Elizabeth as Australia’s head of state

Australia’s newly elected leader yesterday created the role of “assistant minister for the republic”, raising the prospect of a referendum on whether to replace Queen Elizabeth as head of state.

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John Connell Opinion Our expats Down Under may well decide make-up of the next Australian government

I am seven years at home now. Seven years back in Ireland. In that time I’ve settled myself into Irish life and grown used to the ways of this country, but there’s a part of me still invested in my old home of Australia. The land down under is part of the Irish global community – more than 74,000 Irish people live there as of the latest available figures, from 2016.

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Lovers again: Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan reunited for Neighbours finale

Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan will return to Neighbours as much-loved characters Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell for the show’s series finale.

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Gallery

€10 flights to Australia in bid to attract Irish working holidaymakers

Fancy escaping to Australia for the working holiday of a lifetime?

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‘Funerals are getting fancier — they’re like weddings now,’ says undertaker

Funeral directors are reporting a trend for increasingly elaborate funerals, a study has shown.

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Mystery as ‘alien’ creature pictured washed up on Australian beach after floods

A mysterious "alien-like" creature with four limbs and a "reptile" skull has washed up on a beach in Australia.

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‘I forgive those who sent me to Australia’, says Irish woman taken away from her family when she was five years old

One morning in 1950, five-year-old Ann McVeigh was woken by one of the nuns looking after her at a children’s home in Belfast and taken on a journey that would change her life forever.

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Visa rules scupper Hong Kong developer’s plan for a new city between Dublin and Belfast

A Hong Kong real-estate businessman who had proposed to build a city in Ireland to host 50,000 emigrants has said he has abandoned the project over the State’s immigration laws.

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Swimmer dies in first fatal shark attack off Sydney beach in nearly 60 years

A swimmer died from “catastrophic injuries” after being mauled by a great white shark at a Sydney beach yesterday, in the Australian city’s first such fatal attack in nearly 60 years.

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Irishwoman jailed in Australia for killing her fiancé is to be freed and deported this week

A woman who killed her fiancé during a row at a house in Sydney is to be released from prison this Thursday and then be deported from Australia straight away.

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Supertrawler in 100,000 dead fish row now fishing off Mayo coast

The world’s second-biggest fishing vessel has moved up the west coast of Ireland after a huge spillage of dead fish off the French coast.

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50 hotspots for 2022: plan your holiday now

So, where will we holiday this year?’ was the question on many lips before Micheál Martin had even finished his landmark ‘Today is a good day’ speech.

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Conor Skehan Opinion Stop blaming climate change for predictable natural disasters

Ambitious environmental policies come at a cost — of activists’ principles or of tax payers’ money. Last week we saw this happen, twice. First, the Friends of the Earth described Environment Minister Eamon Ryan’s latest energy policies as “hugely concerning”. These allow use of gas-fired plants as a much-needed back-up for the intermittency of wind and solar energy.

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Fiona Sherlock Opinion If we cherish our children, then every Cleo and Parwana must be rescued

Waking up in the morning to find your child’s bed empty is every parent’s worst nightmare, so the discovery of Australian four-year-old Cleo Smith alive 18 days after her disappearance is a testament to the triumph of good over evil. Though we live in an age of uncertainty, there are some things we hold sacred.

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Paul Howarth’s Dust off the Bones excavates colonial violence in 19th century Australia

Dust Off The Bones Paul Howarth Pushkin Press, €17.99

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Australia anger as UN committee brands Great Barrier Reef ‘in danger’

The Great Barrier Reef should be added to a list of "in danger" World Heritage Sites, a UN committee recommended on Tuesday, prompting an angry response from Australia which said it had been blindsided by the move and blamed political interference.

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Mairead McGuinness warns UK not to roll back on food safety

Ireland’s EU commissioner has warned the UK not to roll back food and safety standards in a “race” to sign new trade deals.