Your top stories on Thursday: Ireland women claim silver medal; Catholic church cancels ‘incompatible’ concert by Dublin gay men’s choir (2024)

Ireland women claim silver medal in 4x400m relay

Ireland’s 4x400m women’s relay team took a brilliant silver medal on the last night of the European Athletics Championships in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome.

Once the baton was passed to Sharlene Mawdsley starting the anchor leg in second place, it was clear another medal was most definitely on, with just the colour in the balance, and the Tipperary runner pushed the Netherlands’ Femke Bol to the limit down the home straight.

News

• Catholic church cancels ‘incompatible’ concert by Dublin gay men’s choir: St Andrew’s Church on Westland Row in Dublin has cancelled a concert by the Dublin Gay Men’s Chorus on the grounds it believes the recital was to be “a Pride Festival event”, which it said “is not compatible with our mission”.
• Irish company behind world’s first solar-powered duck food dispenser for public parks: During the Covid lockdowns Matthew Knight started bringing his little boy to feed the ducks at his local park in Carrigaline on the outskirts of Cork city.
• Flight from Scotland to Spain diverts to Shannon and passenger arrested after incident on board: A flight from Scotland to Spain that was crossing through Irish air space diverted to Shannon Airport in Co Clare on Wednesday afternoon, after the pilot requested permission to land following an incident on board.
• Taxi driver accused of raping two women described in court as ‘predatory’: A taxi driver accused of raping two different women in his car has been described by prosecuting counsel as “predatory”, a trial has heard.
• Weather Forecast: A wet start to the day with rain becoming widespread, some of it heavy, especially in the southwest, with spot flooding likely. A clearance will move into the southwest later in the morning and will gradually extend to most parts through the afternoon. A few isolated showers will follow the rain, though the showers will start to become a little more frequent in western parts later in the day. A breezy day with moderate to fresh and occasionally gusty south to southeast winds. Highest temperatures of 13 to 18 degrees. Tonight will bring clear spells but with scattered showers spreading from the west. Lowest temperatures of 6 to 10 degrees.
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European Election results

• Green MEP’s hopes fade as party rounds on Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil: The Green Party’s hopes of salvaging sitting MEP’s Grace O’Sullivan’s seat in Ireland South were fading on Wednesday night, as the smallest of the Coalition parties faced up to an electoral mauling while its bigger partners in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil enjoyed much better election results.
• Miriam Lord: Roaring rural TDs came looking for Dáil insults and Simon Harris didn’t let them down: The Dáil temperature cooled on Wednesday as TDs slowly recovered from their election exertions.
• Winners and losers of the local elections: Elections, by their nature, create winners and losers, and there have been many on both sides in the local elections battle for 949 seats on city and county councils.

Thursday Restaurant Review

• Krewe South review: Dublin’s fun nod to New Orleans offers amazing midweek value: New Orleans was on my list, and I finally got there in May. It’s a city that is mesmerising in so many ways – the history, the jazz, the architecture, and of course the food.

Technology

• The best free software for staying safe online: Open-source software is usually available free of charge, offering users an option that is developed and maintained through collaboration. That means those with the skills to tinker about can adapt and customise the software to their needs.

Opinion

• Newton Emerson: Can Sinn Féin pull off its left-right, North-South balancing act?
• Eoin Drea: Far right’s European gains mean business-as-usual approach no longer tenable

Sports

• I love sport but hate watching my children compete: A balmy May Friday night in a hotel just south of Boston. Bored and restless in the room, my 17-year-old son Charlie and I adjourned to a discrete corner of the car park to ping a soccer ball around.

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