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How did Ireland become Europe's second most expensive country?

We're near the top of this league table due to economic growth, rising demand, government policies and unique socio-geographic characteristics

A mining bee covered in yellow pollen. Photo: Claudia Barry

The secret life of the solitary bee

'First language loss can be caused by many distinct factors and usually occurs when a person moves into a new language environment'. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by model)

What does learning a second language do to your first language?

Hill 16 on All Ireland day 2013 as Dublin took on Mayo. Photo: David Maher/Sportsfile

How the Dubs put their stamp on Gaelic football

Hell For Leather

Petrol and diesel prices in Dublin on June 21st: are they about to go up again? Photo: RTÉ

Will Iran-Israel conflict mean a rise in Irish petrol prices?

A selection of non-alcoholic beers in Martin's Off Licence, Dublin

Is it possible to create a healthy, tasty beer with no alcohol?

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps speed boat near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images

How a Gulf nuclear incident could disrupt world's energy supply

Hup! Stonelifters take turns to lift the Cloch Bán on Annestown beach, Co Waterford in May 2025. Photo: Pat Shanahan https://www.instagram.com/shanahanpat11/

Why a 115kg stone from Waterford is finding a new home in Boston

Main street in Clontibret after the overnight visit by Loyalist leader Peter Robinson and friends in 1986. Photo: RTÉ

The night a small village in Co Monaghan was invaded by Loyalists

Scríobh Mac Liammóir i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla, agus tá cuid dá shaothar aiteach. Photo: RTÉ

10 queer novels, poems and plays as Gaeilge

'The traditional prestige hierarchy in hotels has proven remarkably resilient despite massive structural change in ownership and branding'. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by models)

Can a four-star hotel manager become a five-star hotel manager?

Mastery of basic movement skills at a young age sets children up to participate in a wide range of sports and physical activities later in life. Photo: Getty Images

Why summertime is the right time to help children move better

Leaving a job is difficult, but there are clearly times when it is much better to leave than it is to stay. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by model)

How to decide when it's time to leave your job

Work and careers

Dublin postal districts that had the highest proportion of residential consumption in 2024 at 19%. Photo: Getty Images

Which Dublin residential areas use the most & least electricity?

The wild anti-colonial boys: Kneecap's irreverent use of language and symbols help redefine and remodel once feared ideas.

Why Kneecap have become poster boys for Irish anti-colonialism

More Brainstorm

Work & Careers

'Hiring workers has become more unpredictable than I think it has ever been.' Photo: Getty Images

Are 'quiet redundancies' happening in your workplace?

Work and careers

Leaving a job is difficult, but there are clearly times when it is much better to leave than it is to stay. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by model)

How to decide when it's time to leave your job

Work and careers

'The traditional prestige hierarchy in hotels has proven remarkably resilient despite massive structural change in ownership and branding'. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by models)

Can a four-star hotel manager become a five-star hotel manager?

'Work is becoming increasingly complex, demanding, pressurised and ultimately unsustainable. As pressure intensifies, so too does the potential for burnout.' Photo: Getty Images

Why micro-retirement has become a new workplace trend for Gen Z

Work and careers

'The amount, size and quality of your office furniture is often a sure sign of power and status.'

The importance of having a desk in the office to call your own

Work and careers

Crank up the barbeque! Bank holiday weekends are good for you

Why three day weekends are good for you - and the economy

Work and careers

'As working lives extend, age diversity has become a great opportunity for organisations, but not all employers will get this right'. Photo: Getty Images

5 ways to deal with being the youngest in the workplace

Work and careers

Audio

It will take a lot more than elbow grease and warm weather to clean one of these.

How do you clean a wind turbine blade?

An Irish woman driving cattle on Achill Island, Co Mayo 1900-1920 (Reproduced courtesy of National Library of Ireland)

The lost art of 'booleying' in Ireland

Broadband is now a near-necessity in our modern world

How competitive is the Irish broadband market?

Cows chewing their cud on The Cnocán, Killinure North, Glassan, Co Westmeath. Photo: Westmeath Field Names Project

Why Irish field names and local placenames need to be recorded

'At a time of frugal diets, dominated by potatoes and buttermilk, a funeral offered a chance to feast on treats: tea with sugar, bread with jam, a glass of whiskey, good tobacco.' Photo: Laura Adai/Unsplash

'A good send-off': why food plays a major role in Irish funerals

More Audio

GAA

'That is why, as a football fan I love them and, as a Corkman, I have very mixed emotions.'

'Gaelic football owes a debt of gratitude to Kerry'

The record breakers: the 14 Kilcornan players who took part in the 60 hour football marathon in 1986.

The story of the Gaelic football match that lasted 60 hours

Down's Ruairí McCrickard competing in the 2018 GAA All-Ireland Poc Fada finals. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images

A short history of the All-Ireland Poc Fada competition

Mayo's Paddy Durcan and Stephen Coen are interviewed by RTÉ Sport after the Allianz Football League Division 1 match between Mayo and Dublin in February 2024. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Blood, sweat and milk: the changing world of GAA interviews on TV

'It's still the love of play, the love of the ball, the love of kicking the ball, the love of the challenge of taking on another person and the desire to win.' Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

The fascinating story of Gaelic football's historic roots

Gaelic football

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh commentating at a charity hurling match in aid of the Irish Cancer Society at St Conleth's Park, Newbridge, Co Kildare in August 2015. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh: 'he was the voice of home for me'

Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh

Shane Walsh of Galway during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 3 match between Armagh and Galway at Markievicz Park in Sligo. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images

How playing off left and right doubles your options in football

More GAA

Wild Irish Lives

A 1889 self portrait by Sarah Cecilia Harrison. Image © Hugh Lane Gallery.

Meet Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Dublin's first female councillor

Anyone got spare togs? Brendan Behan doing wild swimming in 1952. Photo: Daniel Farson/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The life and times of Brendan Behan

Huanta in Peru where George Ryan found himself in 1768. Drawing: William Lewis Herndon from Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon made under Direction of the Navy Department (Public domain)

Meet George Ryan, the Tipperary Don Quixote in 18th century Peru

Thom McGinty at the Macnas parade during the Galway Arts Festival in 1993. Photo: Macnas Archive/University of Galway Library

Thom McGinty: remembering the man behind the iconic Diceman

Dorothy Solomon with her husband Philip in 1966. Photo: R. McPhedran/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Meet Dorothy Solomon, the most influential woman in Irish pop

Editor's Choice

F. Scott Fitzgerald: 'he inherited a rich Irish heritage, yet he was often ambivalent about it.' Photo: Getty Images

Does The Great Gatsby reflect F. Scott Fitzgerald's Irish roots?

F. Scott Fitzgerald

'First language loss can be caused by many distinct factors and usually occurs when a person moves into a new language environment'. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by model)

What does learning a second language do to your first language?

'The traditional prestige hierarchy in hotels has proven remarkably resilient despite massive structural change in ownership and branding'. Photo: Getty Images (stock image - photo posed by models)

Can a four-star hotel manager become a five-star hotel manager?

Scríobh Mac Liammóir i nGaeilge agus i mBéarla, agus tá cuid dá shaothar aiteach. Photo: RTÉ

10 queer novels, poems and plays as Gaeilge

The wild anti-colonial boys: Kneecap's irreverent use of language and symbols help redefine and remodel once feared ideas.

Why Kneecap have become poster boys for Irish anti-colonialism

A selection of non-alcoholic beers in Martin's Off Licence, Dublin

Is it possible to create a healthy, tasty beer with no alcohol?