Storms, GAA clashes and crime: The stories that caught readers’ attention in 2025
Breaking down the stories readers were most interested in, there was a clear winner in 2025, and it was not the presidential election
Top Stories of the Year
A selection of some of the best reads and popular articles from the year
Seán Moncrieff: Visiting from France, my daughter found Ireland hard to love
My daughter and her family have a quality of life in rural France they could only dream of having here
‘Disgraceful’ Ronaldo and Ireland’s ‘racehorses’: Portuguese media react to Aviva upset
The red-carded Portugal captain got a 2/10 rating while two-goal Troy Parrott was named man of the match by several outlets
Miriam O’Callaghan: ‘I’m lucky to have eight children after suffering secondary infertility’
Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen Hogan
Why did the Irish Constitution not recognise our third language?
You can’t go anywhere in Ireland – Gaeltacht or ‘Galltacht’ – without hearing it spoken
Patrisha McLean on her marriage to Don McLean: ‘For 29 years I was controlled’
The Women’s Podcast with Róisín Ingle
100 great restaurants, cafes and places to eat around Ireland for winter 2025
From Michelin dining to casual bites and new openings to beloved classics, this is a list to bookmark
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: ‘We were going out six weeks when we found out I was pregnant’
Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen Hogan
The Italian restaurant in Dublin that takes bookings 90 days in advance
Grano is built on simplicity, strong family bonds, a sense of social solidarity and community
‘It’s crazy. It’s not worth €425k’: How an ‘insane’ profit on a sale helped a couple move home
Stacey Hawkes and her partner moved out of Cork city due to ‘extortionate rent’ and lack of services near new-builds
The Queens restaurant, Dalkey: One of the most bizarre finales to a meal I’ve had in years
The star turn promise of Sunday lunch comfort food is not quite delivered
‘There’s no other option’: Leitrim woman’s commute went from six minutes to six hours
The Housing Crisis & Me: Martha Gilheaney did not think it would be possible to buy anywhere in the country, let alone Dublin
Who will be Ireland’s ‘first gentleman’? The man behind Catherine Connolly
Brian McEnery, and Heather Humphreys’ husband Eric, are media-shy but supportive of their wives’ careers
‘You need to pull it down, your whole bottom is on show,’ the woman said. ‘It’s a disgrace’
The transference of shame, particularly in Ireland, seems to flow from woman to woman
‘Bondi is crumbling under the weight of Irish accents, I’ve heard more than I can count’
‘Nobody pays attention to how naked everybody is. Being Irish, I’m wearing jeans’
Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin: ‘My mum was mortified I was breastfeeding in a restaurant’
Conversations with Parents podcast with Jen Hogan
‘In the loneliest country in Europe, I’ve started chatting to strangers’
There are ways to create feelings of happiness and belonging
Ciara Kelly: ‘A consultant shamed me for being an unmarried, pregnant junior doctor’
The doctor-turned-broadcaster on raising four children, loving the teenage years and how her career has influenced her parenting
‘My husband’s family operate like a cult, with my mother-in-law as leader’
Ask Roe: ‘How do I cope with this domineering and manipulative woman?’
Weight-loss injections: ‘Two years ago I had to use a mobility scooter, this year I am hiking’
High costs are a common worry among users of Ozempic, Mounjaro and other weight-loss drugs, who report varying levels of success
Prof Donal O’Shea: ‘I’ll be advising my girls to go on HRT’
On this episode of Conversations with Parents, Jen Hogan speaks to the consultant endocrinologist and HSE clinical lead for obesity
Muireann O’Connell: ‘There are people in this country who hate me with the fire of a thousand suns’
The TV presenter on breaking into radio in her 20s, buying her first home, and her new show The Assembly
‘At our engagement party, my partner’s sister announced she had gotten engaged too’
Tell Me About It: ‘I now have questions about the rest of his family and their casualness about how she usurped our day’
‘Throw out the Irish trash’: I’ve been to 15 Ryder Cups but this was a new low
‘Throw out the Irish trash’: Much of the nastiest stuff was directed at Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry
The couple who bought a Wicklow golf course and turned it into a native woodland
The former Glen of the Downs Golf Course greens are now covered in 80,000 native trees, planted by Anke and John Moran
‘My lovely husband has changed . . . and I am one of the people he has pushed away’
Tell Me About It: ‘Our life together has been replaced by distance, with a deliberate decision on his part to engage in new activities’
Eir refuses to refund 91-year-old for a service her family says was cancelled a decade ago
Utility has marked complaint taken by customer’s daughter as closed
The modern Irish GP: How a new kind of doctor is reinventing general practice
Family doctors were traditionally male, but women now represent 52% of GP workforce
Want to retire early in Ireland? These are five habits of people who do
Planning ahead is critical as is taking a realistic approach to your likely income and expenses if you are going to quit working early
‘My wife and I had the TV on and we saw the Angelus. I’m like, Oh God, they’re still doing that’
Tony Cantwell on comedy, ADHD and learning to love his home country
Houses are being built in Ireland, so why can’t ordinary people buy them?
Prices are rising because the biggest buyer in the market is pushing them up. Who will benefit?
‘I was commuting from Meath for three hours a day, so I know that it can be hard’
Health students are getting involved in programmes which help their work life balance
Ryanair: ‘We don’t have time to waste with stupid follow-up questions from your readers’
The airline says under-16s now need to be accompanied by an adult when flying. Readers say it’s not that simple
‘He put a gun to my head’: An Irish GP on his traumatic years treating Qatar’s elite
Tipperary GP Paddy Davern worked with a medical team treating the country’s royals and other VIPs, and wants to tell people ‘what is going on’
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