By DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish inquiry into alarming death rates among newborns at church-run homes for unwed mothers will hand down its final report on Tuesday, laying bare one of the Catholic Church’s darkest chapters and leading to demands for state compensation.Slideshow The Church’s reputation in Ireland has been shattered by a series of scandals over paedophile priests, abuse at workhouses, forced adoptions of illegitimate babies and other painful issues.Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the scandals during the first papal visit to the country in almost four decades in 2018.The...…By DUBLIN (Reuters) - An Irish inquiry into alarming death rates among newborns at church-run homes for unwed mothers will hand down its final report on Tuesday, laying bare one of the Catholic Church’s darkest chapters and leading to demands for state compensation.Slideshow The Church’s reputation in Ireland has been shattered by a series of scandals over paedophile priests, abuse at workhouses, forced adoptions of illegitimate babies and other painful issues.Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the scandals during the first papal visit to the country in almost four decades in 2018.The...WW…

By , LONDON/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Talk of a chaotic British split from the European Union grew on Tuesday with just three weeks left to break a deadlock in trade deal negotiations, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that the two sides may have to accept “no deal”.The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a meeting of the bloc’s ministers that he believed a no-deal scenario at the end of the year was now more likely than an agreement on trade ties, an EU official and two diplomats told Reuters.Deepening the gloom, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that unless there was a...…By , LONDON/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Talk of a chaotic British split from the European Union grew on Tuesday with just three weeks left to break a deadlock in trade deal negotiations, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that the two sides may have to accept “no deal”.The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, told a meeting of the bloc’s ministers that he believed a no-deal scenario at the end of the year was now more likely than an agreement on trade ties, an EU official and two diplomats told Reuters.Deepening the gloom, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said that unless there was a...WW…

Crunch time for Apple in fight against $21b EU tax ordercloseAdvertisementBy Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeApple's clash with EU competition regulators comes to a head tonight as Europe's second-highest court rules on whether it has to pay €13 billion ($21 billion) in Irish back taxes, a key part of the EU's crackdown against sweetheart tax deals.In its order four years ago, the European Commission said Apple benefited from illegal state aid via two Irish tax rulings that artificially reduced its tax burden for over two decades - to as low as 0.005 per cent in...…Crunch time for Apple in fight against $21b EU tax ordercloseAdvertisementBy Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeApple's clash with EU competition regulators comes to a head tonight as Europe's second-highest court rules on whether it has to pay €13 billion ($21 billion) in Irish back taxes, a key part of the EU's crackdown against sweetheart tax deals.In its order four years ago, the European Commission said Apple benefited from illegal state aid via two Irish tax rulings that artificially reduced its tax burden for over two decades - to as low as 0.005 per cent in...WW…

United States DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s parliament picked veteran opposition leader Micheál Martin as prime minister on Saturday to head the first ever coalition uniting the two parties that have battled each other for power since a civil war nearly a century ago. He pledged to rescue Ireland from the “the fastest-moving recession ever to hit”, brought on by the coronavirus crisis. Martin’s Fianna Fail party was forced to join forces with its foes Fine Gael, after a surprise election surge for leftist Irish nationalists Sinn Fein left neither of the traditional centrist parties with...…United States DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s parliament picked veteran opposition leader Micheál Martin as prime minister on Saturday to head the first ever coalition uniting the two parties that have battled each other for power since a civil war nearly a century ago. He pledged to rescue Ireland from the “the fastest-moving recession ever to hit”, brought on by the coronavirus crisis. Martin’s Fianna Fail party was forced to join forces with its foes Fine Gael, after a surprise election surge for leftist Irish nationalists Sinn Fein left neither of the traditional centrist parties with...WW…

United States DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Fine Gael party of Irish acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar became the first of three potential government partners on Friday to ratify a coalition deal, with the votes of Fianna Fail and Green Party members still being counted. Lawmakers from Ireland’s two dominant centre-right parties agreed to govern together for the first time in a deal that will put the Greens at the centre of policymaking and end a political stalemate triggered by an inconclusive election in February. The smaller Greens require two-thirds support, a higher bar than the larger...…United States DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Fine Gael party of Irish acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar became the first of three potential government partners on Friday to ratify a coalition deal, with the votes of Fianna Fail and Green Party members still being counted. Lawmakers from Ireland’s two dominant centre-right parties agreed to govern together for the first time in a deal that will put the Greens at the centre of policymaking and end a political stalemate triggered by an inconclusive election in February. The smaller Greens require two-thirds support, a higher bar than the larger...WW…

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The people of Ireland are set to liberalize some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws by a landslide, two exit polls from a referendum showed on Friday, as voters demanded change in what two decades ago was one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries. An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll suggested that voters in the once deeply Catholic nation had backed change by 68 percent to 32 percent. An RTE/Behaviour & Attitudes survey put the margin at 69 percent to 31 percent. If confirmed, the outcome will be the latest milestone on a path of change for a country...…DUBLIN (Reuters) - The people of Ireland are set to liberalize some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws by a landslide, two exit polls from a referendum showed on Friday, as voters demanded change in what two decades ago was one of Europe’s most socially conservative countries. An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll suggested that voters in the once deeply Catholic nation had backed change by 68 percent to 32 percent. An RTE/Behaviour & Attitudes survey put the margin at 69 percent to 31 percent. If confirmed, the outcome will be the latest milestone on a path of change for a country...WW…

United Kingdom DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will shut schools, universities and childcare facilities until March 29 and restrict mass gathering to slow the spread of the coronavirus, acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday, as the country registered a 60% surge in cases. Ireland’s chief medical officer said the government had turned to measures to try to delay the spread, rather than simply contain it, following a jump in case numbers in nine clusters across the country. Ireland confirmed its first death of a patient diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday and on Thursday the number...…United Kingdom DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will shut schools, universities and childcare facilities until March 29 and restrict mass gathering to slow the spread of the coronavirus, acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday, as the country registered a 60% surge in cases. Ireland’s chief medical officer said the government had turned to measures to try to delay the spread, rather than simply contain it, following a jump in case numbers in nine clusters across the country. Ireland confirmed its first death of a patient diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday and on Thursday the number...WW…