Record 4,600 submit applications for south Dublin cost-rental apartments
More than 4,600 people have applied to become tenants of just 195 cost-rental apartments at Shanganagh Castle in south Dublin, the highest number for any of the State-subsidised rental schemes to date.
The high number of prospective tenants seeking to be selected for one of the Land Development Agency (LDA) apartments demonstrates the popularity of the new rental model which offers long-term tenures and stable rents typically 25 per cent below local rates.
However, it also indicates the acute dearth of homes to rent, particularly in the Dublin area.
News in Ireland
- Left-wing parties planning ‘strategic co-operation’ as Dáil opposition: The main Opposition parties on the left are expected to ramp up co-ordination in advance of the likely formation of a new government propped up by Independent TDs.
- Michael D Higgins gives last Christmas message as president: ‘We are a country of which there is much to be proud’: President Michael D Higgins has raised the suffering of people living through homelessness, war and displacement in his Christmas message, saying it is “a difficult and emotional time of the year” for many.
- Kyran Durnin case: Last known photographs of missing schoolboy released by gardaí: Gardaí investigating the suspected murder of Irish schoolboy Kyran Durnin have released photographs of what they believe are the last known images of him before he disappeared.
- Holyhead closure can’t stop exiled Irish - and their dogs - making it home for Christmas: For much of the last week Rachel Forde was worried that she and her dog Ralph wouldn’t make it back to Naas for Christmas.
- Public ethics watchdog rules out inquiry into Leo Varadkar’s leak of confidential document: The public ethics watchdog has ruled for a second time against an inquiry into Leo Varadkar’s leak of a confidential document when he was taoiseach, after a new review ordered by the High Court.
- Weather forecast: Rain will spread eastward across Ireland and will clear to the southeast by midday. Sunshine and scattered showers will follow. Showers will become isolated this evening. Highest temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees.
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The Big Read
- Elf doors, carriage rides and boat cruises: Christmas in Ireland’s five-star hotels: Christmas and home comforts go together like partridges and pear trees and, for many, the idea of leaving even their postcode over the period is anathema to the festive sensibility. For one, seemingly growing cohort of Irish people, however, it’s a time to retreat – and what better way to reset the batteries after a busy lead-in than to luxuriate in one of Ireland’s five-star hotels?
Opinion
- Justine McCarthy: Irish Government needs to stay resolute in the face of Israel’s slanderous claims of anti-Semitism
- Gerard Howlin: Verona Murphy getting the Ceann Comhairle job was a sign of Michael Lowry’s political savvy
Business
- Typical price paid for home by first-time buyer up €88,000 on five years ago: First-time buyers are typically paying €88,000 more for a house now than they did five years ago, according to a new report by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). It attributes the rise to “a general increase in property values” and “a notable shift to new properties”.
Sports
- Munster could do more damage to confidence of injury-hit Ulster: As is often the case, but perhaps more so than normally, the consequences of this interpro are as much about who loses as who wins it. That might seem a bit negative, but this is due to Ulster and Munster sitting 10th and 11th in the URC table respectively. So, whoever loses is destined to be bottom of the Irish tree come Christmas.
World
- Gisèle Pelicot has rewritten her story – and electrified women all over the world. But what about men?: Women who are raped are in many countries – perhaps in most – violated and abused again by the legal system. And yet during her reckoning with the crimes of her husband and 50 other men, all now found guilty in a historic set of verdicts, Gisèle Pelicot seized control of the narrative, becoming a hero in France and around the world.
READ MORE
Elf doors, carriage rides and boat cruises: Christmas in Ireland’s five-star hotels
The seven deadly things you should never buy a child at Christmas
What should I buy in 2025 if I need … a car for regular longer drives?
I wrote a letter to Madame Pelicot as one woman to another in solidarity and support
- Radio review: When Claire Byrne confronts Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary on RTÉ, the atmosphere is seriously tetchy: The season of goodwill is upon us, when even the flintiest of hearts is supposedly flooded with kindness. And so, as Claire Byrne contemplates the plight of festive travellers stranded by the closure of Holyhead port, it’s natural that she should appeal to this spirit of generosity on the issue of getting people home.
Podcast Highlights
Gisèle Pelicot case: How the trial that shocked France unfolded
Listen | 41:41
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