Irishblogs.ie
Observing the Irish blogosphere since 2005
Observing the Irish blogosphere since 2005
In an age of artificial shine and digital silk, the world is once again searching for truth you can touch.
A fabric that smells of rain, time, and patience suddenly feels like the rarest luxury.
Irish tweed returns not as nostalgia, but as an answer — to exhaustion from plastic, disposable trends, and the hollow speed of fast fashion, where meaning dissolves.
Tweed isn’t a trend. It’s a form of memory.
In Ireland, gatherings have always mattered more than the stage.
Whether in the back room of a pub, a windswept field, or a shared Google Drive — creation here is collective.
The old céilí, a traditional get-together filled with songs, stories, and dance, has quietly found its digital echo: a crypto céilí, where artists, coders, and dreamers meet not in person, but on the blockchain.
Ireland has never simply preserved its past — it has reincarnated it.
From spiraling carvings on Celtic crosses to the glowing geometry of digital screens, the island’s artists keep re-translating their heritage into new forms of expression. The rhythm that once pulsed through stone and vellum now hums through pixels, algorithms, and blockchain code.
From the moment humans learned to tell stories, they began to talk to chance as if it were a god.
From ancient Greek dice to Chinese oracle bones, from Renaissance tarot cards to today’s digital casinos, luck has always been a language — a symbolic dialogue between risk, hope, and control.
Ireland’s dating scene in 2025 is a study in contrasts: a country with a proud, analogue tradition of matchmaking and music-filled socials that also happens to be one of Europe’s most app-savvy markets.
Every generation has its own way of believing in luck.
Once upon a time, people whispered prayers before rolling dice. Then came lottery tickets and the familiar promise: “This time I’ll win for sure.” Today, luck lives inside an app interface — bright, tokenized, and glowing on our screens. The impulse, though, hasn’t changed. Humans still want to bargain with fate. Only now we do it with a phone in one hand and a latte in the other.
Ireland’s gambling landscape is shifting once again — and this time, the change is digital, decentralized, and denominated in tokens. As the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) moves forward with its phased licensing rollout, early drafts of its innovation and technology compliance framework hint at new rules for platforms that allow crypto deposits, blockchain-based betting, and tokenized gaming rewards.
One tweet.
Not a document, not a law, not a sanction — just a phrase, released into the digital sky where millions of algorithms catch every comma.
And yet that’s enough for markets to tremble, for an electric pulse of fear to run through the veins of the global economy.
The irony is that the 21st-century economy has become a living organism that reacts not to facts, but to tone.
Not to events, but to the mood of the one who speaks.
It takes only one person — standing at a podium of power or posting on X — to say, “We’re reconsidering trade with China,”
and billions of digital nerve endings across the planet begin to twitch.
Every trader in London, every investor in Warsaw, every neural network on Wall Street hears that phrase as a command.
And in that instant, as if from the pulpit, the god of modern markets declares:
“Let there be panic.”
And panic comes — not because the world has fallen,
but because it believed it could.
In the shadow of the MacGillycuddy Reeks, a rare stretch of Irish countryside has come onto the market — 266 acres of scenic farmland at Derrynafeana, Glencar, Co Kerry.
Here, where the ancient paths of shepherds have become part of the famed Kerry Way hiking trail, every bend of the road opens to views of Lough Acoose and the rugged, weather-carved hills of southwest Ireland.
The guide price is €550,000, making it one of the most talked-about rural listings this autumn. The sale is being handled by Tom Spillane & Co., a long-established auctioneer based in Killarney.
Community Connect receives boost from the Benefact Group’s Movement for Good Awards
Families across Ireland will benefit from a major act of generosity, as Community Connect, the country’s first Baby Bank charity, has been awarded €5,000 in the latest Movement for Good Awards draw, supported by Ecclesiastical Insurance Ireland.
The charity, with hubs in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, and Athlone, is dedicated to helping expectant mothers and new parents by providing practical support and essential baby supplies. From nappies and clothing to prams, blankets and hygiene products, Community Connect ensures that no child is left without the basics needed for a safe and healthy start in life.
National Heritage Week 2025 is here — and it’s more than a festival, it’s a reminder of who we are.
When you walk past a ruined abbey in the mist, hear fiddle music spilling from a pub, or see schoolkids trying a céilí for the first time, you don’t need statistics to know that Irish heritage runs deep. But numbers can still surprise: a new survey by Ecclesiastical Ireland has found that 88% of people across the country feel a strong personal connection to our heritage.
That’s not nostalgia — that’s identity.
The conflict in Gaza, now nearing its second year, may be entering a decisive phase. US President Donald Trump has delivered his starkest message yet, warning Hamas that it has until Sunday evening, 6 p.m. Washington D.C. time (11 p.m. Irish time) to accept his peace proposal or face what he described as “all HELL, like no one has ever seen before.”
Ireland is bracing itself as Storm Amy sweeps across the country, bringing dangerous winds, heavy rainfall and widespread disruption. Met Éireann has placed a Status Red wind warning for Donegal from 4pm to 6pm, while an Orange warning covers Clare, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo until 10pm. A nationwide Yellow warning for wind is also in force until midnight, with Galway and Kerry additionally under a Yellow rain warning. A Red marine alert is active from 2pm to 8pm, forecasting “violent” storm force 11 winds along the Atlantic coast. The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management has warned of a significant flooding threat in Kerry’s mountains, west Cork, west Limerick, as well as Donegal, Galway, Leitrim and Roscommon. Keith Leonard, director of the NDFEM, urged people to stay cautious, pointing out that even after the storm passes roads may remain flooded and trees could be down.
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail toward Gaza in 2025, carrying not only boxes of food and medicine but also the heavy burden of the world’s conscience. This mission, envisioned as a lifeline for the besieged enclave, has triggered diplomatic storms, military threats, and deep emotions across the globe.
For the 2.3 million people trapped inside Gaza, this convoy is more than ships on the horizon. It is a symbol of hope breaking through the endless cycle of blockade, bombardments, and deprivation.
Ireland is a country where food and hospitality are not just services, but stories. Behind every plate of seafood chowder, every slice of brown soda bread, every pint of Guinness poured in a creaking pub lies history, pride, and a sense of welcome.
On 30 September 2025, Dublin’s InterContinental Hotel hosted the Georgina Campbell Irish Food & Hospitality Awards, Ireland’s longest-running independent hospitality awards. Winners are chosen after year-round anonymous visits, making them not just polished showpieces, but places that deliver genuine excellence every day.
For tourists, these awards are the perfect map of where to eat and stay in Ireland in 2025. For locals, they shine a light on gems worth celebrating — from five-star castles to neighbourhood cafés, from fine dining experiments in Dublin to farmhouses in Connemara.
Here is your full guide to Ireland’s best restaurants, hotels, pubs, and producers for 2025 — and why you should visit them.
US President Donald Trump has said that America’s major cities could be used as “training grounds” for the military, describing unrest at home as the nation’s “enemy from within.”
Speaking at a tightly guarded gathering of hundreds of senior officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Trump argued that deploying troops in cities would help restore order and “straighten out unsafe places.”
Wexford Festival Opera 2025 runs from 17 October to 1 November and once again Ireland’s south-east will become a stage for rare operatic treasures. For audiences unable to travel, RTÉ will broadcast the main productions live on RTÉ lyric fm and stream them on RTÉ Culture. This combination ensures that the magic of Wexford reaches both local listeners and opera fans across Europe.
Ireland has launched a new public consultation on its Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy 2026–2028, inviting citizens, businesses, and organisations to contribute ideas on how the country can accelerate its transition from a “take–make–waste” model towards a sustainable circular economy.
President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have confronted America’s top generals and admirals, attacking diversity measures and ordering stricter fitness standards during a surprise summit in Virginia.
Childcare in Ireland has long been a topic of debate — not only for parents struggling with rising costs, but also for policymakers trying to balance public funding and private provision. From Dublin to Galway, Cork to smaller towns, families face very different realities depending on where they live and which type of service they choose.
The trial now unfolding in Belfast is already being described as the courtroom drama of the decade. It’s a story where billions, politics, and personal ambition collide. At its heart are two men once considered pillars of Northern Ireland’s professional and business elite: Frank Cushnahan, 83, a trusted adviser with deep political connections, and Ian Coulter, 54, a solicitor whose career had long been seen as unshakable. Both now stand accused of orchestrating dishonesty in one of the most controversial deals in Ireland’s financial history — the £1.1 billion (€1.26 billion) sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland loan book, known as Project Eagle.
A New Start for Gucci
September 2025 marked an unexpected turning point for Gucci. While the fashion world was waiting for Demna Gvasalia’s debut only in March, the brand suddenly dropped a 28-look collection and the short film The Tiger. This surprise instantly turned the launch into a cultural event: everyone was talking about Gucci again — from fashion insiders to the wider public.
For Gucci, it was a matter of survival. After the departure of Alessandro Michele, the house was searching for a new language. Demna, known for blending shock, irony, and social commentary, offered a solution: pulling Gucci out of crisis through radical reinvention.
Nearly half of US companies in Europe expect worsening relations, but Ireland sits at the very heart of the debate
Michaelmas in Ireland: how the traditions of St Michael faded and why they still matter to us today
September 29 has long been marked in Ireland as the Feast of St Michael and All Angels — Michaelmas. Today it may seem like just another autumn day, but for centuries it was one of the most important markers in the Irish calendar: a time of payments, contracts, fairs, food and folklore.