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Life
Local bus service proving a lifeline in rural Ireland
Jacqueline Hogge
As passenger numbers continue to increase on Transport for Ireland’s Local Link buses, communities in rural parts of Waterford and Donegal talk about their efforts to secure the service.
2 April 2025 Features
Niall McNamee: ‘betting companies need to do better in their duty of care’
A report by Jacqueline Hogge and Rosalind Skillen examines problem gambling, and the role the new Gambling Authority of Ireland and addiction treatment centres have to play in tackling the issue.
26 March 2025 Features
Opinion: still no answers on when rural Ireland will get a planning break
Despite repeated requests for interview, Minister for Housing James Browne declines to discuss the issue of planning for rural homes.
Building a home: modular homes can help to ease rural housing crisis
Proposals to ease planning restrictions on modular homes have been broadly welcomed by those who have opted for such housing, as they see it as their only way of securing a place of their own.
26 March 2025 Features
Brass tacks to know when building a rural home
From securing planning permission to ensuring you have all your ducks in a row for a mortgage application, these are the essentials when it comes to building a home in rural Ireland.
19 March 2025 Features
Frustration over delays and price inflation tainting VPRG support
As interest grows in grants offered for the renovation of older homes in rural Ireland, there is concern over alleged price inflation applied by approved providers, writes Jacqueline Hogge.
12 March 2025 Features
Roads policy leaving farm families out in the cold
With safety issues being cited as a reason for rural housing development being stifled, we talk to a farmer who was refused planning permission, writes Jacqueline Hogge.
5 March 2025 Features
Progress being made on probate delays
The Law Society and IPAV say work is progressing to reduce delays in dealing with probate, writes Jacqueline Hogge.
26 February 2025 Features
Farmers’ bid to downsize family home rejected
The decision to sell their farmhouse to a local family has cost a Co Wicklow farming couple dearly as they have been denied permission to build a smaller home on their land by the local authority.
26 February 2025 Features
Is pre-planning the key to helping ease frustrations?
In week three of our series, we look at the mixed feelings about the need for pre-planning meetings when trying to build a rural home which suggest greater transparency and consistency is important.
19 February 2025 Features
Tag team: Ursula Kelly challenges the status quo
Building a company that supplies over 2.5 million tags to Irish farmers has not been an easy task, but Cormac Tagging’s MD thrives on a challenge.
19 February 2025 Features
Storm damage leaves Cong residents offline in road survey
Plans to build a relief road around Cong village anger residents who are unable to respond to a council survey on the project, as they remain without internet and phone connections after storm Éowyn
19 February 2025 News