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RTÉ and Galway among those left rattled during a stormy week

Emotional statements at Ashling Murphy murder sentencing and Irish citizens being evacuated from Gaza among week’s other events

A fallen tree by Leeson Park, Ranelagh after Storm Debi, which swept through the country on Monday morning. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho

Sun Nov 19 2023 - 08:33

Welcome to this week’s IT Sunday, a selection of the best Irish Times journalism for our subscribers.

This week saw Storm Debi arrive in Ireland, resulting in damage that led to the extension of the flood relief scheme to Co Galway and which revealed the imperfect defences of our vulnerable coastal communities. The heartbreaking stories and images from the crisis in Gaza continued to dominate politics at home and abroad, with the first Irish citizens being evacuated from the embattled enclave and the defeat of motions in the Dáil calling for the removal of the Israeli ambassador and for the Government to refer the Israeli attacks in Gaza to the International Criminal Court for investigation. It was also a tumultuous week in UK politics, with the shock return of former prime minister David Cameron to the British government and the sacking of home secretary Suella Braverman in a dramatic cabinet shake-up by PM Rishi Sunak.

Among the other big events of the week was the sentencing of Jozef Puska (33) on Friday for the murder of teacher Ashling Murphy in Tullamore in January 2022, following his conviction last week. In an emotional victim impact statement read in the Central Criminal Court on Friday, Ashling’s partner Ryan Casey said she was “quite simply heaven on earth” and “simply everything to me”. Turning to Puska, he said: “Because of you I have lost my Ashling, because of you, I will never get to marry my soul mate, because of you I will never see her smile again, because of you I have to somehow carry on without her.” Puska has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder. Ashling Murphy’s life and the positive impact she had is recalled in a profile by Shauna Bowers. Even almost two years after her death, Ashling is still described as “our shining light” by those who knew and loved her.

The continuing crisis at RTÉ following the controversy over misreported payments to Ryan Tubridy took further twists and turns this week. Firstly, it emerged that RTÉ told the Government it would reduce staff numbers by 20 per cent, or 400 people, sharply increase spending on independent productions, cut some services and examine the sale of part of its Donnybrook campus, all as part of a new strategy plan. This was followed by the Government confirming it would give the broadcaster an additional €56 million in funding to overcome a short-term cash crisis. Later in the week, it emerged that minutes of RTÉ board meetings showed that a “lapse of control” around the ill-fated Toy Show the Musical and a failure by the board of RTÉ to halt the project had been raised by RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh. Amid the latest developments, Pat Leahy examined the future of funding for the broadcaster amid the collapse of licence fee income following the Tubridy revelations, while RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst spoke to The Irish Times on plans for the broadcaster’s Dublin and Cork bases, whether Fair City should be outsourced and his relationship with the Government.

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Tubridy himself was back in the headlines with the news that he will be hosting a midmorning show on UK station Virgin Radio. Laura Slattery wrote about what the new show is likely to look and sound like, as well as Virgin Radio’s possible motivations for giving him the gig in the first place. Tubridy’s successor Patrick Kielty has also spoken to us about hosting the hallowed Late Late Toy Show for the first time, and offered a hint of what we can expect from this year’s extravaganza.

The findings of the latest investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists were released this week. This latest investigation honed in on the activities of a handful of financial services providers based in Cyprus. Almost 70 media organisations – including The Irish Times – spent eight months poring over the 3.6 million documents involved, which revealed how the small European country powered the Kremlin’s financial machine, among other things. You can read full coverage of the Cyprus Confidential findings, including the role played by Ireland, here.

Census 2022 shone a light on several underexplored aspects of modern Ireland, among them the fact that, according to the statistics, one in five people living in Ireland was born elsewhere. In his latest column, Fintan O’Toole wrote about this phenomenon, and official Ireland’s relative silence on the matter. He says that immigration is one of Ireland’s success stories, one that has turned us into one of the world’s great melting pots. However, despite this, “this level of immigration is not talked about very much in official discourse”, even though it has pressing implications for infrastructure. He says that “there’s every reason to think that Ireland is perfectly capable of talking about immigration sensibly”.

In the latest edition of Tell Me About It, a reader seeks guidance from our advice columnist Trish Murphy about their conflicted feelings about their inheritance from their parents. The reader writes: “I was an only child to fairly elderly parents. Growing up, I felt that I was smothered by them and was also too close to their troubled relationship ... I left the country as soon as I could as I could not bear to be the sole carer for both my parents, whom I had come to resent as I grew older.” The reader has now been left with a generous inheritance that could provide a great life for their own family, but which has also left them with feelings of guilt. Read what Trish Murphy has to say here.

It is a reflection of the times that news this week suggesting grocery inflation now stands at just below 10 per cent was greeted with a sense of relief. Although food price inflation is dropping, it remains at a high level, adding to cost pressures for Irish households. With this in mind, in this week’s On the Money newsletter Conor Pope gives five tips to take control of your grocery shopping bills, from becoming a “supermarket ninja” to avoiding two-for-one deals. Sign up here to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox every Friday.

In her latest advice column, Roe McDermott responds to a reader trying to navigate a recent break-up with her girlfriend of 3½ years. The reader writes that the two had planned to remain close. However, “since the break-up I’ve been really hurt by my ex’s behaviour ... The fact that she’s already sleeping with someone a few months after ending our relationship where we discussed marriage and children is also making me doubt that she ever loved me.” The reader’s predicament prompts some tough love from Roe McDermott. Read what she has to say in full here.

Food Month is continuing all November at The Irish Times, where you’ll find features, restaurant reviews, recipes and everything else food-related. Read more here.

As always, there is much more on irishtimes.com, including rundowns of all the latest movies in our film reviews and all the latest in sport. There are plenty more articles exclusively available for Irish Times subscribers here.

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