Gulliver’s Travels at 300: Did Jonathan Swift predict AI?
Satirical masterpiece has been irresistible to illustrators, abridgers and adaptors since its sensational arrival - and its lessons on human nature remain prescient
Weekend
Stories that appear in the Weekend section of The Irish Times print edition
A generation late: 900,000 children have been denied treatment at the overdue Children’s Hospital
My concerns won’t go away once it opens, as it will be expensive to operate, staff and expand.
In pictures: Historic Dún Laoghaire racing yachts return to the waves
A project is under way to revive the entire fleet Dublin Bay 21-footer cruiser vessels, the older racing class in the world
The Waterford village revolting against a data centre: ‘The country has been sold out to big tech for profits’
A proposed new development in Kilmeaden village in Co Waterford has got local residents asking pointed questions including: who are data centres good for, and at what cost?
Vincent Browne: Haughey loved Terry Keane. She made his life miserable
Journalist says he shed tears on hearing of Haughey’s death in 2006 but says the former taoiseach would have hated his upcoming book and viewed it as a ‘betrayal’
From dereliction to Airbnb, the Gaeltacht is being destroyed by the housing crisis
Young families make communities – and if they have no place to live, the community dies
‘We all call him baby Jesus’: Welcome to Marty Morrissey’s Marty Party on tour in Alicante
Kindness and community are to the fore at the Alicante event hosted by Marty Morrissey and featuring six of Ireland’s seven Eurovision winners
What Paris can teach Ireland about clean water
We’re paying a lot to clean polluted water, while investing little in restoring the rivers, wetlands and farmlands that could keep it pure in the first place
Will Sally Rooney’s books now be removed from shops across the UK?
Rooney’s Normal People has sold one million copies in UK while her first and third novels have each sold over 500,000 copies
The brown bat’s ears are three-quarters the length of its head and body combined
Your notes and queries for Éanna Ní Lamhna
Tolkien: the original Greta Thunberg-style eco‑warrior or a proto‑Elon Musk?
Those who love what the writer really stood for despair at the misuse and misunderstanding of his works
Ireland vs Europe apartment living: ‘When family come over... this is not what they envisioned’
Irish people happily living in apartments on the Continent highlight a chasm in building standards, attitudes to communal living and sense of stability
‘They poked a bear’: The pro-Palestine Columbia University graduate still fighting deportation from the US
The Columbia University graduate, a green card holder, who still faces the threat of deportation, has written a book about his arrest by Ice and subsequent detention
‘Pablo doesn’t patronise’: The Irish animated show with an autistic star
Eleven-year-old Alexander Myles, from Co Antrim, takes over the main role for Pablo: Next Level, as the protagonist wrestles with the move to secondary school
‘An intelligent, nonconformist man’: Galway’s homeless millionaire
‘An intelligent, interesting, nonconformist man’ – we speak to the people he interacted with in the city
This man had found one of the scarcest craneflies around in Ireland
Most of us have encountered a daddy-long-legs, but that is just one of 211 known cranefly species in Ireland
We have just seen a perfect example of Ireland’s fiscal incontinence
The Irish State has become a monstrously bloated organisation that has lost all sense of value for money
The late photographer Colin Keegan’s best work
Keegan won awards through the Press Photographers’ Association of Ireland for work capturing news, politics and entertainment
Conor O’Clery: I forced myself to attend an execution in the US and came away sickened
The condemned man was truly evil but I found myself shaking after the experience
How to talk to your children about school strikes
While it might be tempting to air your frustrations, a better approach might be a clear, open discussion
Dear Éanna, have I spotted a penguin in Portmarnock?
Our readers bring their pictures and queries to wildlife consultant Éanna Ní Lamhna
Jack Rowan: It’s ridiculous how many people say I look like a Hollywood star who was huge in the 80s
The English actor on his Irish roots, filming in Connemara, and striving for happiness
How much protein should I eat in a day?
Q&A: Protein bars. Protein ice cream. Protein yoghurts. High-protein cheese ... but does the Irish public really need all of this protein-enriched food?
‘There’s so much change’: Young Spencer on finding common ground with Kneecap in Belfast
Rapper says music is bringing young people together in Northern Ireland and talks about how his association with nationalist rap trio ‘divides opinion’
Swapping an office job for the Great Blasket Island: ‘It drove me to a remote island’
Working as caretakers on the island off the Co Kerry coast was a transformative experience for Conor Jones and Aisling Costello
Ireland is the last stand for rare coastal machair habitats in the EU – but it’s failing
Funding nature restoration looks like an easy line to leave blank in the budget. That would be an expensive mistake
In pictures: All-Ireland Hedge Laying Championships
‘There’s something really ancestral about staying in touch with the land, staying in touch with the old ways’
Back on the Garvaghy Road, people are wary and rather worried
More than 20 deaths have been linked to Drumcree, a problem most people thought was settled. On Portadown’s Garvaghy Road, its resurrection is causing deep apprehension
What terrifies me most is a fear that I am inherently not good enough
I’d prefer a politician who occasionally gets it a bit wrong but at their core is evidently a decent person
Irish house prices are simply too high, and potential buyers have hit a price ceiling
The current easing is not driven by new supply - buyers have reached the limit of what they can afford and the homes available don’t match what people want
Gathering at John McGahern’s grave became a ritual for my friends
Writing a biography of an author with quiet, unshowy charisma has been a humbling and exciting experience
Ardmore village named as Ireland’s Greenest Place
The judges recognised the Co Waterford community’s broad and innovative range of green initiatives, working together for a more sustainable future
Irish schools are world leaders in a green initiative. So why are most covered in tarmac?
Nature education here has been described by one expert as ‘dismal’. What could be done better?
‘My youngest child will probably be bearded before the national children’s hospital opens’
A lot has happened - and a lot hasn’t happened - since Michelle Gallen and her husband decided to move from London to Dublin a decade ago
My SpaceX moon trip was cancelled when the funder pulled out. How could I return to ordinary life?
After months of being whittled down from a million applicants to eight, I got the call: ‘Will you go to the moon with me?’
Letters from America: ‘I would not advise anyone to come here that can live comfortable at home’
From tenements to wagon trains, a book comprised of letters sent from the US between 1818 and 1972 illuminates the history of Irish emigration in an intensely personal way
Naomi Klein: The super rich need to be abolished and ‘prescribed a middle-class life’
End Times Fascism by noted author and her collaborator Astra Taylor contains a hopeful prescription for neighbourly resistance
Is Ireland ready for a monster El Nino? Expect ugly potatoes, transport chaos and widespread disruption
Climate scientists warn the impending super-strong El Niño will have ripple effects worldwide and have implications for more than just the national weather
This creature sways menacingly from side to side looking like a small snake
Biologist and environmentalist Éanna Ní Lamhna answers your notes and queries
The writers behind Blue Lights: ‘I think I fell in love. I thought, I have to work with this guy’
Writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson say that despite the ‘love’ in the North for their hit PSNI-centred drama, they were petrified to take on such a ‘hot potato’ topic
Revealed: Ireland’s Greenest Places 2026 shortlist
Eleven entries have made it to the final stage of deliberation in this year’s competition
Ireland is experiencing a surge in immigration. This raises questions for our tax and welfare system
If we want to take in lots of low-skilled migrants – to do the jobs the Irish won’t do – financial realities must be addressed
Could the Australian health service website hack happen in Ireland?
The incident is the first publicly reported breach of a government website by an AI ‘agent’
‘I’d say it will only cover part of a Harry Styles ticket’: Teenagers on proposed Budget 2027 culture cards
Teens have their say on Budget 2027’s proposed €100 ‘culture card’ for 16-year-olds
I’ve lived in city centres for 20 years, and my dream of planting a native Irish forest is getting urgent
Manchán Magan and Eoghan Daltun have shown us we can improve the world right here on our doorstep, acre by acre
My father didn’t believe there was a God. Where I grew up that seemed perverse
Religious institutions organised my sports, my education, even my summer holidays
This red squirrel keeps visiting my flower box. It’s not doing what I thought it was
Eanna Ní Lamhna on reader encounters with a cheeky squirrel, a giant caterpillar and Ireland's only native lizard
Living with breast cancer: ‘I’ve possibly had one of the best years of my life. I’ve got rid of anything that didn’t matter’
A farmer tells of how astonishingly beautiful seemingly ordinary things can be after a hellish year coping with cancer
Ireland’s largest freshwater lake is dying before our eyes
A perfect storm of problems is leading to a near-collapse in Lough Neagh’s ecosystem
Remember the iodine tablets? A look back at emergency advice over the years
A nationwide distribution programme will see approximately 2.2 million households receiving the Be Emergency Ready booklets soon
Manchán Magan’s final part of his trilogy: Ireland was believed to be the outer limit of the known world
The book the late author was working on when he died has been published
Ireland’s falling reading rates: ‘There’s a crisis of literacy. There’s a crisis of reading’
Teenagers, both in Ireland and globally, are much worse at reading than they were 10 years ago, OECD finds
Students are screen hostages. They’re losing the ability to switch off and knuckle down
By our own high standards, educational results in Ireland are slipping. But not all the problems are technology-related
Mark Little: ‘Protests against data centres is the biggest wave of civic activism since the 1960s’
The broadcaster turned entrepreneur on messianic tech billionaires, and his new book tracking his journey from tech-optimism to disillusionment to a new cautious hope
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices