Year in review: Highs, lows, medal glory in Paris, and the takedown of Conor McGregor
When reviewing anything like the news of a calendar year, a good place to start is by revisiting one's own predictions by way of self-assessment and accountability.
Of course, it can be a sobering endeavour, realising your prophecy that Meath teenager Evan Ferguson would become the most coveted striker in world football in 2024 was a tad misguided and premature. But, by global journalistic standards, such a failed hot-take is an acceptable loss.
“Better be right than first” is a reporting principle that seems long forgotten amidst the cacophony of chaos that is social media, where the instantaneous sharing of (often incorrect) information on a growing number of platforms has only amplified the need for a responsible and ethical legacy news media.
The failures on that front have been far more egregious. Obedience to paymasters, sensationalism over facts, client journalism — each one has played its part in ethics-washing a genocide in Gaza, mis-calling a presidential election in the United States and failing to hold power the world over to account.
In a year where more people worldwide voted in elections (approximately four billion) than ever before, this promised to be a year of seismic change. Sadly, little of the change we saw was good.
Incumbents dominated the political landscape (with one heavily fake tanned exception), and within that stasis comes a rude awakening: most people agree the world is a broken place, just not broken enough to fix.
With the Russia/Ukraine conflict still adversely affecting the cost of living worldwide and the Middle East crumbling under the weight of Benjamin Netanyahu's despotic genocidal intent, legitimate issues such as climate change, immigration and xenophobia became veritable third rails for politicians and electorates alike.
Back to those predictions. Sometimes it’s good to be wrong. It’s with some relief this writer can reflect that Kosovo was not annexed by Serbia. On the flip side, a genocide that was in its violent infancy in December last year has evolved into a grotesque murderous adolescent, largely unchecked by a compliant international community, high on rhetoric, but depressingly low on action.
The Burke family is amazingly still a story. The Paris Olympics exceeded expectations. The political status quo looks set to prevail in Ireland, while the families of the victims of the Stardust tragedy finally felt some morsels of peace, as the State inquest returned a verdict of unlawful killing.
To say it was a year unlike any other is an understatement. Hereunder, prepare to be reminded, whether you want it or not.
The year began with a little-known story of a country called the Republic of Artsakh — a breakaway state in the South Caucasus — officially ceasing to exist, in accordance with a decree signed by former president Samvel Shahramanyan.
While Israel continued its siege of Khan Younis, Claudine Gay resigned as president of Harvard University following controversial remarks she made during a congressional hearing on antisemitism as a crackdown on students protesting genocide saw hundreds of arrests on American college campuses.
The first attempted political assassination of 2024 happened when South Korean opposition politician Lee Jae-myung was stabbed in the neck in Gadeokdo, Busan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree granting Russian citizenship to foreigners who fight for Russia in their war against Ukraine, and for their families, a move indicative of flagging morale as the invasion entered its 23rd month.
In another blow for legacy media, American sports publication laid off the majority of its staff after its publishing license was revoked.
The US and UK launched fresh airstrikes on what they claimed was Houthi military infrastructure in Yemen, in a very direct involvement in the Red Seas crisis, an offshoot of Israel's multiple military campaigns across the Middle East. Bloody civil wars continued across Congo, Sudan and Myanmar, killing hundreds.
Back home, homelessness figures showed a slight dip in numbers in recording 13,318 people, including more than 3,900 children, accessing homelessness services in December and over Christmas. The dip was not expected to be sustained and decisively wasn’t.
In a welcome distraction to all the war, death, and famine, Cork’s Cillian Murphy was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the guy responsible for developing the atomic bomb. How apt.
With spring, green shoots of hope. In an historic breakthrough Michelle O'Neill became the First Minister of Northern Ireland, marking the first time that the position is held by an Irish nationalist, while the DUP's Emma Little-Pengelly became deputy first minister. Several previous attempts to restart the devolved government had failed since the 2022 assembly elections.
In Washington, the US Court of Appeals ruled that former president Donald Trump does not have presidential immunity and can be prosecuted for allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Like almost everything else that fell out of Trump's first presidency, this ruling will receive huge coverage but achieve nothing by way of forcing accountability.
The US intensified airstrikes on Iran and Syria, with the UK joining them on further raids in Yemen. In a twist straight out of , a high-altitude balloon is detected over the Western US, prompting the deployment of fighter jets to intercept the object, whose origin remains unknown.
In the largest drugs haul in the history of the Irish state, gardaí seized 546 kg of crystal meth worth a whopping €32.8 million at Cork harbour. The haul, reportedly destined for Australia, was believed to belong to the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel.
In Gaza, the siege of Khan Younis continues.
With Russia’s offensive in Ukraine causing existential anxiety across northern and eastern Europe, Sweden officially joins NATO, becoming the alliance's 32nd member.
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin was unsurprisingly re-elected for a fifth term, his coronation overshadowed by the brutal murder of at least 145 people by ISIS-affiliated gunmen in the Russian city of Krasnogorsk.
Amid spiralling tensions in Islamabad, Shehbaz Sharif was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan for a second term while his political rival and sporting idol Imran Khan continued his campaign of opposition from his prison cell.
In a move that caught everybody (including cabinet colleagues) by surprise, Leo Varadkar announced his resignation as taoiseach and Leader of Fine Gael, citing political and personal reasons.
With his party floundering in the polls, the 45-year-old said that another leader — and therefore another Taoiseach — would be “better placed” to tackle the next Irish general election. His resignation followed a failed attempt by his coalition government to modernise references to family and women in the Irish 87-year-old Constitution in one of the most poorly run referendums in the country’s history.
As another month of slaughter ends in Gaza, the United Nations Security Council passes a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, as well as demanding the unconditional release of all hostages.
On a visit to Galway, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese tells the about Ireland's inaction regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza. “There’s this tendency to be very supportive with rhetoric, as Ireland has, but when it comes to taking concrete actions, there is zero. Not a little. Zero.
"The countries that have been most outspoken — like Ireland — what have they done in practice? Nothing. And this is shameful. It is disgraceful.”
Cillian Murphy confirms his status as Cork's third most beloved son (after Roy Keane and Jimmy Barry Murphy) when he collects the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer. In an unprecedented reaction consistent with the esteem in which he's universally held, absolutely nobody begrudged him.
On the very first day of April, Israel targeted the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, killing 16 people. No significant response is forthcoming from either Bashir Al Asad or the IRGC in Tehran.
Simon Harris succeeds Leo Varadkar as taoiseach, becoming Ireland's youngest ever leader. In one of his first acts as premier, Harris delivers a formal state apology to the victims of the Stardust fire and their families following the verdict of unlawful killing which was delivered by the tragedy’s long-running inquest.
Floods in Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania claim hundreds of lives and displace hundreds of thousands.
May began with President Joe Biden insisting that any Israeli invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza would be a (new) ‘red line.’ The thinking on red lines heretofore was that to cross them was a crime punishable by some sort of action, in Biden’s case, the turning off of the money tap which had flowed so freely from Washington to Tel Aviv under his administration.
Days after issuing the warning, Israel not just invaded Rafah, but decimated the tent city that had become home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Palestinians, killings hundreds in the onslaught.
The Rafah crossing — a lifeline for humanitarian aid and evacuation of saveable casualties — was disastrously closed following its capture by Israeli military forces. The Rafah offensive remains by far the most graphic and brutal assault of Israel's campaign in Gaza. Any trust in Biden’s red-line rhetoric was incinerated with hundreds of Palestinians.
In Dublin, an art installation connecting the Irish capital and New York called The Portal is opened and promptly shut, following inappropriate behaviour by some late-night revellers. It re-opens a week later, but tellingly, only during daylight hours.
Following arrest warrants for alleged war crimes issued by the ICC for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and members of Hamas's leadership, the UN's highest court - the ICJ - rules that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah. Israel ignores the ruling.
The Irish governments join Norway and Spain in officially recognising the State of Palestine. While the move is broadly welcomed, it is criticised by both the Israeli ambassador and by commentators who view the announcement as gesture politics, far too little far too late.
In New York, former President Donald Trump is found guilty on 34 counts in a hush money trial. His indictment makes history, as it is the first time a US president is found guilty of a crime.
The Indian general election, which began in mid-April, concludes with a victory and third consecutive term for Shri Modi, further solidifying his leadership despite his BJP party losing their outright majority. Europeans, too, go to the polls in EU and local elections, with far-right candidates making significant gains across the continent.
As hundreds of thousands of Irish people cement their summer plans, Aer Lingus confirms it is to cancel up to 20% of its flights in late June in response to industrial action by pilots.
Following a suspended sentence received by serving soldier Cathal Crotty for the vicious, unprovoked assault of Limerick woman Natasha O'Brien, Taoiseach Simon Harris condemns the attack as part of “an epidemic of gender-based violence.”
The Defence Forces come under scrutiny for the number of active service members who have criminal convictions.
With the Republic of Ireland — perhaps judiciously — absent, Euro 24 kicks off in Germany, with England hotly tipped to win their first international trophy since 1966.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange finally leaves the UK for his native Australia after being released from prison following a plea deal with the United States. His release concludes a 14-year saga that will undoubtedly be made into an Oscar-winning movie directed by Christopher Nolan and starring the inevitable Cillian Murphy.
High summer in Dublin was pockmarked by a series of anti-immigrant protests in Coolock with Garda cars set ablaze, petrol bombs thrown and dozens arrested. These incidents were indicative of growing far-right sentiment in Ireland, much of it fuelled on social media by misinformation and influence of external actors in the UK and Europe. In England, far-right riots break out following a mass stabbing in Southport.
Bookending one of the most shambolic periods in British political history, Keir Starmer leads the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the general election there, returning the party to government for the first time in 14 years. In France, meanwhile, the left-wing New Popular Front party causes an upset and wins the most seats in the National Assembly, but fails to achieve a majority.
On July 13, presumptive nominee of the Republican party Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who fired eight rounds from an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building. It proves to be a turning point in Trump's campaign, his raised fist of defiance becoming a totem for his resurgence.
Armagh footballers bridge a 22-year gap by beating Galway to claim Sam Maguire, managed by Kieran McGeeney, the same man who led them as captain in 2002. With Limerick's hurlers out of the picture, neighbours Clare recapture Liam McCarthy with a dazzling extra-time win over Cork.
On the most Irish of wet evenings on the River Seine in Paris, Golfer Shane Lowry and athlete Sarah Lavin carried the tricolour for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris. Almost 3,000 athletes from 206 countries participate in the three-week sporting bonanza one hundred years on from Jack B Yeat's winning Ireland's first Olympic medal (in art, of all things) in the same city for painting 'The Liffey Swim.’
In an historic week for Irish sport, Ireland secured medals of varying colours on seven consecutive days, with Mona McSharry (bronze), Daniel Wiffen (gold and bronze), Kellie Harrington (gold), rowers Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle (bronze), all followed by another gold for the imperious Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan.
An epic week was capped off by Rhys McClenaghan's gold in gymnastics. While the track saw heartache for Rashidat Adeleke and her fellow 4 x 400m sprinters, this was an Olympic Games beyond the wildest dreams of athletes and fans.
In Galway, an Irish Army chaplain was seriously injured after being stabbed a number of times outside Renmore military Barracks. A terror motive was investigated and a 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged.
In the largest prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia since the Cold War, 26 prisoners are released. Among them are journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine and Irish citizen Paul Whelan.
In Barsalogho, Burkina Faso, 600 civilians are victims of a massacre by Islamists associated with Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile, in an escalation of its military campaigns across the Middle East, Israel began a series of pre-emptive strikes against targets in the south of Lebanon, drawing Hezbollah into retaliatory rocket fire.
With the Dáil still in summer recess, figures for homeless people living in emergency accommodation reached another record high, with 10,028 adults and 4,401 children living in emergency accommodation in July — the seventh consecutive month which broke homelessness records.
A government-appointed inquiry revealed that over 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse had been made in 308 primary and secondary schools run by religious orders across Ireland, spanning a 30-year period. Minister for Education Norma Foley said the level of abuse was "truly shocking" and a commission of investigation would be established.
In one of the most bizarre legal cases involving the State, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that Apple must pay €13 billion to the government of Ireland as compensation for extraordinarily low taxes levied by Ireland against the tech giant. The government reluctantly takes the money, and is even slower to discuss how it is going to be spent.
Torrential rainfall in Central Europe triggers the worst flooding in over a decade, with the south of Spain experiencing the worst of the deluge.
International news is dominated by Israel bringing its bloody war to Lebanon. Over the course of two days, 32 people are killed and more than 3,200 are injured after pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah militants, medics and party members explode in two massive cyberattacks. The attacks rock Lebanon, but are only the beginning of what would become a two-month bombardment of the country, and its capital Beirut.
23rd marks the deadliest day in Lebanon since the 2006 war, with 569 people killed and 1,835 wounded by Israeli airstrikes. Things would get much worse.
Four days later, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly in New York, the Israeli Air Force bombs the central headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut, killing dozens, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah October
The month begins with Israel conducting a ground invasion into South Lebanon.
Irish peacekeepers close to the Blue Line are thrust into the spotlight as IDF infantry commandos take up positions close to where the Irish troops are deployed. Israel demanded the peacekeepers retreat for their own safety. In a stand-off lasting several days, the Defence Forces receiver worldwide commendation for their resolve eventually resulting in an Israeli withdrawal from the area.
The bombardment of Beirut and the south of the country continues, with hundreds of fatalities reported daily.
Back home, joint money ministers Jack Chambers and Paschal Donohoe unveil Budget 2025 when bonus social welfare payments, energy credits, a higher minimum wage and tax changes are announced.
With an election in the offing, Sinn Féin become embroiled in a scandal the undermines the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald, as Sinn Féin Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile is suspended for sending inappropriate messages to a teenage boy and an adult in September 2023. McDonald draws fire for incorrectly stating the minor in question was 17 at the time of the exchange, not 16 which he actually was.
In Gaza, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is killed in a gunfight with Israeli forces in Rafah.
In another metaphor for a muddled year, an internet rumour that a Hallowe'en parade would take place on O'Connell Street in Dublin attracted hundreds of people into the city. The hoax led to brief public transport disruption and gardaí asked the crowd to disperse.
As the month draws to a close, Spain experiences its worst flooding in half a century, with over 200 killed and hundreds more missing, as a year's worth of rain falls in eight hours.
In Dublin, a civil sexual assault case taken by Nikita Hand against fighter Conor McGregor commences in the High Court. The rape was alleged to have taken place in December 2018. The case would see McGregor take the stand and attempt to discredit Hand. A jury would go on to find the mixed martial arts fighter did in fact assaulted Ms Hand in a Dublin hotel.
McGregor was ordered to pay her more than €248,000.
The US presidential election sees Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance coast to victory, securing a second term for Trump, becoming only the second president to secure a non-consecutive stint in the White House. The election is a disaster to Democrat nominee Kamala Harris who is criticised for alienating the Arab vote by refusing to engage with Palestinian voices, not to mention her involvement in the Biden presidency so directly involved in the Israeli led genocide in Gaza.
Taoiseach Simon Harris publicly says the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, would be arrested if he set foot in Ireland. This followed the issuance of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
As November draws to a close, the General Election see the lowest voter turnout in the history of the state, with only 59.7% exercising their right to vote. Fianna Fáil emerges as the largest party with 48 Dáil seats, followed by Sinn Féin with 39 and Fine Gael with 38. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is the most high-profile incumbent to lose his seat.
In Syria, opposition forces seize control of most of Aleppo, prompting the first Russian airstrikes on the city since 2016.
Michel Barnier makes some unwelcome history as he becomes the first prime minister of France to lose a motion of no-confidence since Georges Pompidou in 1962 bringing an end to the shortest premiership in French history.
After a week of remarkable rebel gains around the country, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad flees Damascus for Moscow after being overthrown, ending his presidency and the Ba'athist Syria regime after a total of 61 years. The Syrian opposition forms the Syrian Transitional Government as a provisional government as Syrians rejoice the world over. Tens of thousands pour across the Lebanese border, many returning home for the first time in over a decade.
FIFA announces that Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will jointly host the 2030 World Cup, while Saudi Arabia is confirmed as the host for 2034, despite NGOs reporting recently that over 21,000 Indian, Bangladeshi, and Nepalese workers have died in Saudi Arabia working on Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salam’s Saudi Vision 2030, while 100,000 migrant workers have “disappeared.”
Over 20,000 indigenous have been forcibly removed. There is no mention of this during FIFA's announcement.
Storm Darragh brings havoc to the northwest of Ireland with gusts of up to 141 km/h ensuring weather warnings of various colours and a busy few days for the ESB as hundreds are left without electricity.
In a month of geo-political entropy, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's powers and duties are suspended after MPs vote to impeach him, following his disastrous martial law declaration in early December.
With no government due to be formed before Christmas, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris hold "constructive" talks aimed at forming the next coalition.
Finally, Israel announces that it will close its embassy in Ireland because of what was described as "the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government". The taoiseach says the decision is "deeply regrettable" while the Tánaiste says Ireland does not intend to respond in kind. President Michael D Higgins comments that it is a “gross defamation” and “deep slander” for the Israeli government to describe the Irish people as anti-Semitic.
“I think it is very important as President of Ireland to say that [for Israel to say] the Irish people are anti-Semitic is a deep slander,” he says.