Ireland

Wexford, Ireland – They cross the ocean floor between continents, carrying nearly all our data, from messages and calls to trillions of dollars in financial transactions each day.

Subsea cables underpin global communications and power economies, but they are also increasingly seen as vulnerable to sabotage.

About 75 percent of transatlantic subsea cables pass through or near Irish waters, according to the Irish government, connecting North America with Europe – giving the small European Union member outsized strategic importance.

Ireland is also a major hub for United States tech multinationals, including Google, Microsoft and Meta, with a growing concentration of data centres supporting the digital economy.

But increased activity by Russian vessels near undersea infrastructure in recent years has raised concerns that cables around Ireland could become targets of interference.

In November 2024, the Russian ship Yantar, officially an oceanographic research vessel but described by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence as a spy ship, was monitored near undersea infrastructure in the Irish Sea before being escorted out of Ireland’s exclusive economic zone by the Irish Navy.

Two months later, the UK’s Defence Ministry said the vessel had been “caught loitering over critical undersea infrastructure in UK waters.”

In late 2025, the British government accused Yantar of directing lasers at Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots monitoring its movements in the North Sea.

‘Ireland is absolutely Europe’s weakest link when it comes to defence’

Ireland has limited capability to monitor its waters – it has the lowest defence spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) in the EU, and its navy has no submarines. It is militarily neutral and not part of NATO.

Irish senator Tom Clonan, a strong supporter of Irish neutrality, argued that it should not be a barrier to boosting defence.

“Because of the end of the violence and the conflict in Ireland, and with the ceasefires and the peace agreement, we’ve had a peace dividend. So for the last 30 years, successive governments have really taken their foot off the accelerator when it comes to defence and security. And then, more broadly, Europe has enjoyed a peace dividend after the fall of the Berlin Wall,” he told Al Jazeera.

“So as a consequence of those two things, Ireland is absolutely Europe’s weakest link when it comes to defence in the air, maritime, ground and cyber domains,” he added.

The Irish government recently boosted its naval powers, allowing the navy to board and inspect suspicious vessels.

Ensuring defence against “emerging threats in our waters, particularly from vessels linked to the Russian shadow fleet” is a priority, Defence Minister Helen McEntee said in March, referring to the ageing, often uninsured tankers used to transport Russian oil and circumvent Western sanctions.

Their presence in Irish waters has raised concerns about both accidental damage and deliberate interference with undersea infrastructure. Moscow disputes the term “shadow fleet” as a political fabrication.

“Recent events in the Baltic Sea and the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet have highlighted the importance of ensuring that we have the legal framework necessary to respond to evolving threats,” McEntee continued.

In December 2024, a tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet was investigated after power and telecoms cables were damaged in the Gulf of Finland.

A year later, in December 2025, a cargo ship sailing from St Petersburg under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines damaged telecommunications cables between Finland and Estonia. A Finnish court convicted its Russian captain and Azerbaijani boatswain of aggravated sabotage, according to the Reuters news agency. Both denied wrongdoing, and the conviction can be appealed.

For Daniel Mulhall, Ireland’s former ambassador to the US, that much of the world’s digital infrastructure passes through Irish waters means the country can no longer assume that its geographical position offers protection.

“It’s the fact that there are 850 US multinationals that have operations in Ireland. Many of them have big data centres to manage their data in our country,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are an integral part of the Western digital economy. And therefore, any sort of cyber threat to that economy is going to be potentially aimed at Ireland, or at least we could be victims of it, even if we’re not the prime target. So I think the world has become a far more complex place. And I think Irish people are waking up to that fact.”

Mulhall argued that protecting the cables will require international cooperation.

“I don’t think anyone can guarantee that those cables will be safe, least of all Ireland. But I think with collective effort, we can make reasonable preparations to strengthen our ability to protect those cables from malign actors that might wish to interfere with them,” he added.

“They’re the bloodstream of our economy. And if that bloodstream is interfered with, the economy will have serious trouble.”

Ireland began their autumn series of Nations Championship matches by scoring six tries in a comprehensive 42-12 win over Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday night.

Afterwards on the Ireland Rugby Social podcast, BBC Sport NI’s Gavin Andrews spoke to Ireland second row Joe McCarthy about his thoughts on the game and then chatted to co-presenter and former Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray to break down the analysis of the home side’s performance.

With matches against Fiji and South Africa to follow over the next couple of weeks, there was much to dissect after the win over the Pumas and assess what may be to come for the remainder of November.

You can watch the podcast now on BBC NI YouTube, external or listen on BBC Sounds.

Here are a few highlights of what Murray had to say.

On Hugo Keenan, who scored a hat-trick of tries: “Hugo stood out but he’s always going to do that. He talks so much on the pitch and makes it way easier for the players around him.

“He’s always marshalling the wingers and that kind of back-field system. That’s Hugo in a nutshell. He’s the ultimate team player.

“He looked incredibly fit, incredibly quick, explosive. He looked back to his best.”

On fledgling half-back partnership Sam Prendergast and Craig Casey: “Craig and Sam marshalled the game really well. Not that there were question marks but they were a relatively new combination and it was their first time getting a big Test start together.

“Sam can forget what he’s been through, I suppose the rocky start to his international career and the public scrutiny on him.

“He looks like a player who has just soaked it all in and is using it as a weapon now. He looked really sharp. He looks like he has bulked up, which is great to see too.

“There’ll be a target on his back, there was already but there definitely will be now as he is such a big influence.

“We know what Craig Casey can do in terms of quick ball and magical moments but now in terms of the control of the game.

“His passing was on the money and his kicking is top notch. The overall control is probably the test that Andy Farrell gave him. He knows what he can do in loose play but in terms of controlling a Test game I thought the half-backs were brilliant.”

On an impressive performance by the forwards: “[Tadhg] Furlong went really well, he’s always a standard-bearer anyhow and you get top-notch performances from him, but [Andrew] Porter, another player who came back from an extended period out with injury, he’s come back and showed what he’s about.

“His explosiveness in open play and his fitness, he’s like another back row on the field.

“Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne, Joe McCarthy, Ryan Baird, the back row, across the board, all really good. I think Nick Timoney and Josh [van der Flier] are in a real battle as regards that number seven jersey.”

Beirne said that Argentina “came out firing” in Dublin as they chased a first away win over Ireland, something that came as no surprise to the Irish pack.

“We weathered the storm and got into how we wanted to play the game,” said Beirne.

“What was pleasing about that was some of those tries were proper team tries and everyone was involved with them. That was the biggest takeaway from the game that.”

But, like Farrell, the second row believes there is more to come at the attacking end of the pitch.

“We probably came away a little bit frustrated because we felt we didn’t capitalise on a lot of the territory at the end of the game and the chances we had.

“That shows how good a performance it was to come away feeling like that.”

After a bruising opener, Farrell will be forced to assess his squad ahead of Fiji’s visit to Dublin on 14 November.

After that, world champions South Africa will be a stern test before the finals weekend in London to round out the international window.

He had offered Craig Casey a chance to impress at scrum-half as first-choice Jamison Gibson-Park returns to full fitness, and he impressed after a slow start.

Ulster back row Nick Timoney also put in a big performance, while Prendergast’s showing at fly-half was also largely positive as he put his stamp on the 10 jersey.

When asked if the performances gave him food for thought for selections for the rest of the window, Farrell said: “Definitely, 100%.

“That’s exactly what you are after going into next week.

“Having some good competition, we’ve had it for 10 days in training so how they performed highlights how they have been training.

“Whatever side we pick next week, they’ll be competing to play the following week.”

A string of hoax alerts causing flight diversions across Europe this week have broadened to include newsrooms.

A new series of bomb threats caused more flight diversions across Europe on Friday, while also expanding to target a number of media organisations.

British broadcaster Sky said it was one of a number of newsrooms that received a bomb threat. “We have carried out a security assessment and reported the matter to the relevant authorities,” a spokesperson said.

Bulgaria’s Nova TV and the Irish public broadcaster RTE received emailed bomb threats from a purported “Mikhail Andropov”, headlined “Message to the West”, portraying the threats as a prelude to more disruptions across Europe.

RTE briefly evacuated staff, including radio and television presenters, in Dublin after an email was received on Friday morning. RTE Radio One presenter David McCullagh later told listeners that the threat warned that a bomb would explode within 45 minutes.

The Irish government said hoax bomb claims were also sent to Virgin Media, Newstalk radio and The Irish Independent newspaper and that it was unclear who was behind them.

“However, these threats come on the heels of the ongoing disruption to aviation around Europe caused by similar threats, and it seems likely that this is a coordinated campaign of disruption,” it said in a statement.

The incidents come a day after hoax bomb threats disrupted more than two dozen flights across Europe on Thursday, and days after other aircraft and a cruise ship received bomb alerts.

‘Hoax threats’ increasing

On Friday, jets escorted airliners flying from Brussels to Sofia and from Prague to Bucharest and Cyprus through Hungarian airspace due to bomb threats, Hungarian Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said.

He also said NATO had ordered an air patrol near the Hungarian-Romanian border, the first report that the Western defence alliance had become involved.

Danish police said threats were directed at traffic at Copenhagen airport but that there appeared to be no danger to passengers. The airport said it was “operating normally”.

Czech police registered bomb threats to nine flights departing from or arriving in Prague. An airport spokesperson said no flights had been ⁠⁠cancelled as a result.

France said four new bomb threats were made to aircraft flying over French territory, and that all landed safely.

A Ryanair flight from Rome landed as scheduled in Lisbon, CNN Portugal reported.

About half a dozen ‌‌flights were disrupted on Tuesday and more than two dozen on Thursday, some of them making unplanned landings or being escorted to their destinations by fighter jets.

Al Jazeera’s Frances Read, reporting from London on Friday, said that while the threats have not been credible so far, disruptions appear to be widening.

“The number of hoax threats this week is making governments sit up and take notice about where this might be coming from and also think of solutions for how to deal with it,” she said.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Robert Baloucoune, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, Mack Hansen; Sam Prendergast, Craig Casey; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan (capt), Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, Tadhg Beirne; Ryan Baird, Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen.

Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Tom O’Toole, Sam Illo, James Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ciaran Frawley or Jamie Benson, Bundee Aki.

Argentina: Juan Cruz Mallia; Bautista Delguy, Justo Piccardo, Santiago Chocobares, Mateo, Carreras; Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Boris Wegner, Julian Montoya (capt), Francisco Moreno; Guido Petti, Pefro Rubiolo; Juan Martin Gonzalez, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera.

Replacements: Leonel Oviedo, Mayco Vivas, Joel Sclavi, Efrain Elias, Juan Martin Scelzo, Simon Benitez Cruz, Geronimo Prisciantelli, Lucio Cinti

Ireland cricketer Rebecca Stokell said she will “fully accept” responsibility for an inadvertent breach of reporting requirements regarding the use of prescription medication and has begun a “voluntary suspension”.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the 26-year-old was drug tested and “returned an adverse finding for a specified substance” after her side’s defeat by Sri Lanka at the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in June.

Although the substance was not performance-enhancing, Stokell has acknowledged she did not adhere to reporting requirements over the use of prescription medication and has started a voluntary period of suspension while waiting for the outcome of an ICC investigation.

“I fully accept my mistake and have voluntarily entered into a period of suspension ahead of the findings being returned,” said Stokell in a statement.

“While this was not performance-related in any way, I understand that I am responsible for following the anti-doping guidelines and I hope that I can be back playing for Ireland as soon as possible.”

Graeme West, the director of high performance at Cricket Ireland, added: “While we feel very sorry for Rebecca and have provided the level of support appropriate in these circumstances, this incident does serve as a reminder to all our international players that the anti-doping rules are in place to protect both the sport and the athletes themselves.

“All players must adhere to the standards and responsibilities expected, and we will continue to educate our players regularly on these matters and why they are important.”

Stokell made her international debut in 2017 and has featured 109 times for Ireland across all formats.

Argentina have never beaten Ireland in Dublin but stunned the British and Irish Lions on their most recent visit to the Aviva Stadium last year.

Pumas head coach Felipe Contepomi has made three changes to his original 33-player squad as Facundo Isa, Rodrigo Martinez and Mateo Soler are late call-ups.

Captain Julian Montoya is one of a number of experienced players to return after missing out on the home defeats by South Africa and Australia in August, plus September’s draw away to the Wallabies, but they will be without the injured Santiago Grondona, Ignacio Ruiz and Joaquin Oviedo.

Argentina are also without prop Thomas Gallo and utility back Santi Carreras, who impressed in the win over the Lions.

Those recent Tests saw Contepomi preside over a depleted squad, while in the summer, they suffered home defeats by England and Scotland, but did account for Wales.

Argentina play enterprising, free-flowing rugby but their form has been mixed, making them an intriguing opening opponent.

Fiji were beaten by Scotland, England and Wales during the southern hemisphere leg, but a Test win over Japan in October marked the first game in charge for new head coach Jake White, who led South Africa to World Cup glory in 2007.

White named a 35-strong squad which includes former England number eight Nathan Hughes as one of four uncapped players, while Josua Tuisova, Jiuta Wainiqolo and Caleb Muntz are also included.

Farrell has experimented with his line-up in previous meetings. In 2024, he gave Test debuts to Gus McCarthy and Cormac Izuchukwu in a 52-17 win.

As for South Africa, they may have lost their most recent Test against Australia, but the Springboks are far from crisis mode.

A 3-1 series win over New Zealand and three impressive summer Nations Championship victories on home soil have helped them remain at the world rankings summit.

The world champions will be without some key figures in November with Cheslin Kolbe, Eben Etzebeth, Handre Pollard and Andre Esterhuizen all ruled out through injury.

However, head coach Rassie Erasmus will have captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damian de Allende at his disposal.

He has also included six uncapped players in his squad as preparations for next year’s World Cup defence intensify.

DUBLIN — Limerick, first settled by Vikings nearly 1,100 years ago, is a verdant sprawl of lush forests, rolling hills and liminal bogs.

But this region in midwest Ireland, steeped in folklore, where the River Shannon meets the estuary’s tidal waters before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, is also the unlikely site of bustling production activity.

In a technology park, not far from 13th century castles, medieval ruins and picturesque villages, stands Troy Studios. Opened nine years ago in a former Dell Computer factory that shut down when it shifted manufacturing to Poland, Troy is Ireland’s biggest and newest soundstage complex.

It is here that Apple TV’s science fiction series “Foundation,” based on the Isaac Asimov masterpiece, was filmed, as was the SyFy horror series “Nightflyers,” adapted from the works of George R. R. Martin. It’s also where four prime-time American game shows are produced.

“It’s cheaper to bring 100 American people to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox,” actor Rob Lowe cracked on his podcast last year. Lowe is also the host of the trivia face-off show “The Floor,“ which relocated to Troy for its sixth and upcoming seventh seasons, after previously shooting at a studio south of Dublin.

Film activity in Los Angeles has plummeted to historic lows, with devastating consequences for crews and vendors. This series examines how L.A. lost its dominant perch as a film and TV destination and what can be done to bring Hollywood back home.

While some in Ireland’s fiercely proud film industry bristled at Lowe’s comments, they were, in fact, a razor-sharp distillation of the pent-up frustration runaway production has engendered across the industry in Los Angeles.

Last year, 45% of all U.S. films and scripted television shows were shot internationally, up from about 33% in 2022.

As Hollywood productions have turned away from L.A., spanning the globe chasing tax credits and rebates, Ireland increasingly has become a destination for American movies, television series and the once-quintessentially L.A. creation: the game show.

Ireland’s mix of dramatic landscapes, diverse architecture and modern and historic scenery has long been a draw for international filmmakers. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi” turned the UNESCO World Heritage site Skellig Michael, a rocky island once occupied by a 6th century monastery, into the fictional planet Ahch-To. It was Ballinesker Beach’s soft sand dunes in County Wexford that stood in for Omaha Beach in “Saving Private Ryan’s” epic opening scene.

Now, the country is increasingly a magnet for a diverse slate of American productions. In the last year alone, the USA Network’s series “The Rainmaker” wrapped its second season in Dublin; the Netflix hit series “Wednesday” shot its third season around Dublin and Wicklow; and the A24 film “The Riders” starring Brad Pitt filmed across the country over the summer. L.A.-based Blumhouse Productions has shot a slew of movies and TV shows here, including the newly released American suburban nightmare flick “Other Mommy” and the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios horror movie “Seasons,” which is set in Idaho and filming in County Wicklow.

The hit Netflix series “Wednesday” starring Jenna Ortega shot its third season around Dublin and Wicklow in Ireland.

(Netflix)

While filming in the L.A. region remains at historic lows, production spending in Ireland has soared, hitting a record $632.7 million last year, up 26% from the previous year, according to Screen Ireland, the national agency for film and television. In a survey conducted by ProdPro this year, Ireland was ranked in the top five preferred filming spots globally behind New York, the United Kingdom, California and Georgia.

With outsize interest in this small country, its sound stages are frequently full, and filmmakers say there is often a run on everything from lenses to edit bays to left-driving cars.

“Definitely post-COVID, it’s gone absolutely crazy in terms of the number of productions happening here,” said Ruth Treacy, producer and co-founder of Dublin-based production company Tailored Films, which served as co-producer on the 2024 biographical drama “The Apprentice.” Treacy and others in the industry call it a “green wave.”

“Obviously these projects are not necessarily shooting as if they’re supposed to be in Ireland,” Treacy told The Times. “It’s shooting the U.S. in Ireland, and that’s working quite well.”

The green wave grows

The seeds of the green wave were sown decades ago.

Ireland is a nation of storytellers. Over generations, it has maintained its ancient oral traditions, preserving its history, language and mythology, memorializing them on the page and eventually the screen.

Towering literary figure James Joyce helped to open the country’s first cinema, the Volta Electric Theatre, in a former metals shop in Dublin in 1909. Today, the country is said to have the highest per capita rate of moviegoers in Europe.

Ireland’s current course was set in 1980, when the government established the Irish Film Board to champion and fund domestic movies. Tax credits were introduced in 1987 to spur economic growth, but the prime minister suspended the program that same year.

Still, a small but influential group of Irish filmmakers came of age. Acclaimed movies such as “My Left Foot” and “In the Name of the Father,” directed by Jim Sheridan, and Neil Jordan’s “The Crying Game” found outside funding and became international hits. Their success and lobbying efforts prompted Michael D. Higgins, the country’s culture minister at the time, to relaunch the film board in 1993, now called Screen Ireland.

Since then, Screen Ireland has embarked on a dual strategy: to create a destination for international filmmaking and foster Irish culture on screen.

The effort has spurred a creative renaissance. In recent years, the country’s global profile has grown with a surge in homegrown talent featuring a range of actors, from Cillian Murphy to Jessie Buckley, along with projects such as “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Normal People.” In 2023, the Irish-language film “The Quiet Girl” earned the country’s first international feature Oscar nomination. Co-production partnerships with the U.S., U.K. and other countries have flourished.

A surge of Irish films, like “The Banshees of Inisherin,” in 2022, starring Colin Farrell, has raised the profile of Irish talent internationally.

(Jonathan Hession/Searchlight Pictures)

“Across Ireland, you see a real value put on arts and culture,” said Désirée Finnegan, chief executive of Screen Ireland. “For us, the investment in talent is a strategic priority. We are filmmaker-driven, artist-led.”

In the last five years, Screen Ireland has invested nearly $170 million across film, television, animation, documentaries and game design, as well as training and early talent development, Finnegan said.

In 2021, the agency established an office in the same building as Ireland’s Los Angeles consulate to further build relationships with the U.S. entertainment industry.

Ireland’s tax incentives program has evolved into one of Europe’s most stable. It provides a 32% refundable tax credit on eligible expenditures, including salaries of cast and crew (Irish feature films qualify for more), and the per project cap has increased from $81 million to $145 million.

This year, Ireland sweetened the pot, adding VFX and post-production uplifts to the incentive program. It also became the first European country to support dedicated unscripted content, for which it offers a refundable credit of 20% on eligible Irish production expenditures, capped at $16.8 million per project.

Jake Walshe, president and CEO of Screen Scene Post Production Group and chair of the trade association VFX Ireland, helped spearhead efforts for the new post-production enhancement.

Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” The fictional planet of Ahch-to was shot on Skellig Michael, an UNESCO World Heritage site off the Irish coast.

(Jonathan Olley / Lucasfilm Ltd.)

“You’re going to see more growth in this area with this tax credit,” he said.

Another catalyst was the global success of HBO’s series “Game of Thrones,” which filmed its first season in Northern Ireland in 2010.

“We didn’t know how big ‘Game of Thrones’ was going to be,” laughed Walshe, whose Dublin company did post-production work on the project.

Since then, the visual effects studio has worked on “Shōgun,” “The Penguin,” “The Irishman” and Marvel’s “Black Widow.”

“A lot of high-level Irish crews today got their start on big productions like ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Penny Dreadful,’” said Michael Byrne, a former location manager here, now a Screen Ireland executive.

The green wave triggered a homegrown cottage film industry.

Model and prop maker Mark Maher returned to Ireland in 2012 after working in New Zealand.

“I did notice there was a gap there with the prop and prosthetics and no company to feed into the film studios here,” said Maher, who worked on the Showtime series “Penny Dreadful.”

AppleTV’s science fiction series “Foundation” was filmed at Troy Studios in Limerick.

(Apple TV)

In 2017, he opened Odyssey Studios in Limerick and has supplied miniatures and props to such projects as “Foundation” and “Wednesday” and also operates a training academy.

“There is a surge here in Ireland,” he said. “We were very lucky.”

An animation boom

The expanded credits have been a boon to Ireland’s once-fledgling animation industry, which now has nearly 50 studios employing about 2,500 staffers. Many partner with Disney, Netflix and Nickelodeon.

Cartoon Saloon, one of the country’s first animation studios, founded in 1999, got its start in Kilkenny, a medieval city in southeast Ireland. Its founders, Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Nora Twomey, met while studying animation at Ballyfermot College, a vocational school in a working-class Dublin suburb.

Instead of making computer animated movies like Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story,” Cartoon Saloon decided to focus on hand-drawn Irish folklore. Its first feature, “The Secret of Kells,” released in 2009, was about manuscript-making monks. It was nominated for an Oscar, as were three other of the studio’s films, including “The Breadwinner,” executive produced by Angelina Jolie, and “Wolfwalkers,” which ran on AppleTV.

“We found that through our own authentic voices, [that] not necessarily every story has to be set in Ireland, it’s just every story that we tell has to have something that really resonates with us as a company of animators,” Twomey said.

The rise of co-productions

Many of Ireland’s best-known productions got their start at Ardmore Studios, just south of Dublin in the seaside town of Bray. It’s the country’s oldest studio, opening in 1958.

From the outside, the 18-acre campus of soundstages and back lots, nestled among the forests and mountains of County Wicklow, looks like a historic village. It was here that movies such as “The Spy that Came in from the Cold” and “The Commitments” and TV series like “Penny Dreadful” and “The Tudors” were filmed.

“Angela’s Ashes,” the 1999 adaptation of Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, also was made at the studio. More recently, Ardmore has been one of the main locations for the hit Netflix series “Wednesday,” the dark supernatural comedy starring Jenna Ortega.

David McLoughlin, the co-CEO and producer at Metropolitan Pictures, which is “Wednesday’s” Irish co-producer, has witnessed dramatic changes firsthand.

“Compared to 25 years ago, it’s obviously just a huge difference,” said McLoughlin, whose company is based at Ardmore Studios. “But that’s not just in terms of international production. There’s been an awful lot of Irish producers developing projects, and then they’re bringing in outside production partners.”

On Dublin’s north side, where the city center is divided by the River Liffey, Element Pictures operates its award-winning production company above a busy commercial street. Its conference room is filled with BAFTA awards, Golden Globes and posters from its acclaimed films such as “The Favourite” and “Room,” which each won best actress Oscars, and “Bugonia,” which was nominated for best picture.

Founded in 2001, Element is one of Ireland’s leading production companies and owned by London-based TV producer and distributor Fremantle. Founders Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe began as the local producer for BBC series shot here and cultivated relationships with European and American filmmakers and distributors to develop their own projects.

It’s a successful model others have adopted.

“We’ve seen that change from something that was a kind of weird, little curiosity making strange, small films to something that actually has a kind of profile on the international stage,” Guiney said.

Not far from Dublin’s Trinity College are the offices of Wild Atlantic Pictures, named after the 1,500-mile stretch of western Ireland’s rugged coastline. The company began by co-producing with various American and British studios, emerging as a force in the industry here and abroad.

Timothy Dalton and Eva Green in “Penny Dreadful,” the Gothic psychological drama set in Victorian London but filmed in Ireland.

(Jonathan Hession/SHOWTIME)

In recent years, Wild Atlantic served as a co-producer or the Irish production company on such films as Richard Linklater’s Oscar-nominated “Blue Moon,” “Cocaine Bear” with Universal and “The Green Knight” with A24, as well as Apple TV’s “Foundation” and the Netflix dark comedy series “Bodkin.”

“Every film I’ve made is a co-production of some description,” said Macdara Kelleher, the company’s co-CEO and founder. “It’s not an unusual thing for Irish people, for a small country. There’s just a limit to the amount that you can raise in Ireland, and U.S. films dominate our box office.”

Kelleher points to Wild Atlantic’s relationship with Santa Monica-based Blumhouse Productions.

“They’re a great partner and they give us access,” he said. The companies have a number of projects in various stages of development, including the horror film “Seasons” and the TV adaptation of John Grisham’s “The Rainmaker.”

Doubling for America

As Ireland has emerged as a major film hub, it increasingly has become a double for America.

About 15 miles south of Dublin in County Wicklow lies the Powerscourt Estate, with its 47 acres of gardens and the iconic waterfall featured in the 1981 Arthurian legend film “Excalibur.” The area also was transformed into the fictional seat of power for the “Vikings” series commissioned by the History Channel.

The iconic waterfall in Powerscourt Estate has served as the backdrop for a number of films including 1981’s “Excalibur.”

(Stacy Perman/Los Angeles Times)

More recently, the same expanse of forest and lakes masqueraded as Appalachia in the film “Cocaine Bear,” Elizabeth Banks’ dark comedy and true story about a black bear that ate a massive amount of cocaine dropped by a drug smuggler in Georgia.

Beginning in 2024, veteran Irish production director Susie Cullen worked back-to-back on four movies all set in America but filmed in Ireland, including “Abigail,” the Boston-based vampire horror-comedy, and “Blue Moon,” a movie set in 1943 Manhattan about troubled lyricist Lorenz Hart, played by Ethan Hawke.

“Part of being a production designer is to create something, to create a fantasy or period, and that part of the challenge is kind of great,” Cullen said.

Cullen re-created the historic Broadway haunt Sardi’s on a soundstage at Ardmore Studios. A local artist mimicked the restaurant’s famed caricatures of celebrities, using the faces of the crew.

For the scene showing the Broadway opening of “Oklahoma!” set at St. James Theatre, Cullen said they filmed at the Gaiety, a 155-year-old opera house on Dublin’s South King Street near St. Stephen’s Green. At the time, “Riverdance,” the traditional Irish step dance troupe, was performing at the theater.

“We just had a little mini-version of ‘Oklahoma!’ in the theater, on ‘Riverdance’s’ day off,” Cullen said. “We got there in the morning and put our set in front of theirs and they shot that evening and we took ours down and ‘Riverdance’ was back the next day.”

The soundstages of Ardmore Studios hosted another production, the TV adaptation of the John Grisham’s 1995 bestselling novel “The Rainmaker” for USA Network.

While the book takes place in Memphis, Tenn., the producers wanted to update the legal thriller, setting the story in present-day Charleston, S.C.

“I was thrilled,” recalled Dan Rogers, a senior project manager with the South Carolina Film Commission, and he said that “we’d love to bring it here” after a production executive told him the series was expressly written for Charleston.

But months later, Rogers was informed the studio decided to film elsewhere. Much to his surprise, the location wasn’t L.A. or even another Southern U.S. city — but Ireland.

Showrunner Michael Seitzman said it was a matter of money.

“You’re trying to maximize that budget, make the biggest show you can, make a show that looks like the one that you wrote on the page,” he said, adding, “every producer is having the same conversation right now.”

Seitzman estimates he saved about $10 million for a 10-episode season because of the tax credits and lower costs for labor and other production expenses. Another bonus: He could cast supporting local actors adept at shifting to an American accent.

The series has shot at locations around Dublin, including a former 18th century military school, St. Mary’s Hospital, that became the fictional North City Hospital. Ireland’s oldest school of law was transformed into various institutions in Charleston.

The King’s Inns, Ireland’s oldest school of law, has doubled for various institutions in Charleston, S.C., in the TV series “The Rainmaker” and the Explorer’s Club in “Penny Dreadful.”

(Stacy Perman/Los Angeles Times)

For Season 2, which wrapped in August, Seitzman had become so familiar and enthralled with Dublin that he created a storyline in Ireland over a few episodes.

“We could really shoot Ireland for Ireland, which was fantastic,” he said. “Suddenly we could stop hiding all the beautiful things we were seeing.”

Despite taking place in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia, “Cocaine Bear” was filmed in County Wicklow.

(Universal Pictures)

Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon” stands outside the iconic Manhattan restaurant Sardi’s recreated on an Irish soundstage.

(Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics)

Game show mecca

Perhaps the biggest wave to crash on Irish shores is the American game show.

In January, BiggerStage — the television production company that has co-partnered with Fox Entertainment and produces six shows in Ireland for American prime time — invested a reported $11.2 million in a deal to create a global, unscripted production hub at Troy Studios in Limerick.

“We did it because we see a real opportunity to increase the amount of work here, and that’s both work we create as much as it is work that we partner with other producers around the world,” said Sean O’Riordan, BiggerStage’s chief creative officer.

Pat Kiely, a former managing director of Virgin Media Television, launched the Dublin-based company five years ago to develop original content — particularly in the unscripted segment for the global market — and position Ireland as an international television center (hence the company name).

Meanwhile, Fox Entertainment had launched something called the international fund. The idea was to pilot an idea for a show and see how it could be produced for less money, partnering with international networks or production companies.

Rob Lowe hosts the Fox trivia game show “The Floor” from a soundstage in Ireland.

(Dan Smith/FOX)

The first was a singing talent show called “The Big Deal” that BiggerStage produced for an Irish audience.

Impressed by the quality and cost-effectiveness of the show, Fox quickly began discussing collaborating on other productions with BiggerStage.

“They were incredible partners creatively. And so from there we were able to know we had a trusted production partner in Ireland,” said Allison Wallach, head of unscripted programming at Fox Entertainment Studio.

In 2022, Fox relocated “Name That Tune” from Australia to Dublin. That same year, “Beat Shazam,” the game show hosted by Jamie Foxx, relocated from Television City in Los Angeles to Ireland, where Fox also launched a series of shows including “The Floor” hosted by Lowe and “Next Level Chief.” In all, BiggerStage produces about 100 hours of American prime-time shows in Ireland.

BiggerStage leveraged its success with Fox to lobby the Irish government for the unscripted tax credit to attract even more growth.

“Hubs are going to be more crucial than ever to make things work at a price point,” Wallach said. “And I think that BiggerStage and actually Ireland is really well suited to be that hub for Europe and for the U.S.”

Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong has been cleared by a disciplinary committee of grabbing Gavin Coombes in the groin during Leinster’s United Rugby Championship win over Munster.

Munster back row Coombes raised the allegation with match referee Andrew Brace in the first half of Leinster’s 24-18 win at Aviva Stadium, but television match official (TMO) Colin Stanley could not find conclusive video evidence.

However, three-time British and Irish Lions tourist Furlong was subsequently cited over an act of foul play under Law 9.27, which says “a player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship including but not limited to grabbing, twisting or squeezing the genitals”.

The disciplinary panel, comprised of Simon Thomas (Wales), Attie Heyns (South Africa) and Pamela Woodman (Scotland) met on Thursday and “unanimously concluded the citing complaint against the player should be dismissed, on the basis that he did not commit an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.27”.

While they dismissed the complaint, the disciplinary committee concluded Coombes had given “an honest account of his recollection of events surrounding the incident”.

Having avoided a sanction, Furlong, 33, will be available for selection for Ireland’s Nations Championship home matches against Argentina, Fiji and South Africa and the finals weekend fixture at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

Dutch withdrawal is the latest in a number of boycotts by countries unhappy about Israel’s inclusion.

The Netherlands has withdrawn from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, its public broadcaster NPO has confirmed, citing “sensitivities” over Israel’s participation.

“We have known for some time that Israel’s participation elicits various reactions in society and causes discussion and division,” the NPO’s media director Jurre Bosman said in a statement.

“Therefore, after consultation with the board of broadcasters, the NPO has decided to forgo participation in 2027.”

The announcement follows a decision in August by Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS to boycott the competition. AVROTROS, which usually selects the Netherlands’ entry and broadcasts the show, said the event could “no longer be considered neutral”.

NPO stepped in last month, saying it would take responsibility for the Dutch entry to the competition, before reversing course on Tuesday.

Jet de Ranitz, NPO’s executive chairman, acknowledged that the decision would disappoint fans but stressed that the contest would still be aired on public channels.

“Due to the sensitivities surrounding the themes currently at play, we have decided to take a step back for the time being,” De Ranitz said.

The announcement follows the Netherlands’ boycott of the 2026 edition. Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia all pulled out, with the latter three refusing to broadcast the show at all.

More withdrawals

In August, the organisers announced that countries would be unable to host the competition if “an armed conflict, a sensitive geopolitical situation, or any other situation materially affects the security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region.”

But that has not prevented withdrawals, with Ireland already having announced that it will not be participating in next year’s contest for the second year in a row.

Earlier this month, the Czech broadcaster also pulled out of next year’s event, but cited spending cuts as the reason.

Bulgaria will host next year’s edition of Eurovision for the first time in the Black Sea city of Burgas, after Bulgarian singer Darina Yotova, known as Dara, won this year’s contest in Vienna, Austria, with her catchy floor-filler ‘Bangaranga’. 

Since its first edition in 1956, Eurovision has become the world’s biggest live televised music event. It catapulted Swedish icons ABBA to worldwide fame, as well as boosting artists such as Celine Dion and Olivia Newton-John. 

On the gable walls of the tough, working-class streets of east Belfast, the mystical beasts of Narnia vie for brick space with balaclava-wearing loyalists. The murals of the city have long projected the power of paramilitaries, but in recent years they have also begun to reflect the more positive contributions made by other local people, including the author CS Lewis.

Lewis was born in Dundela in 1898 in an attractive terrace house that has sadly since been demolished to be replaced by rather unattractive flats. But elsewhere in this part of the city, the Lewis connection is being built on and celebrated. CS Lewis Square is in the Holywood Arches neighbourhood and has a short walking trail featuring metal sculptures of Mr and Mrs Beaver, Mr Tumnus and other beloved characters from The Chronicles of Narnia. The centrepiece is a gigantic Aslan, towering over all from atop a circular mound.

About 15 minutes’ walk away, St Mark’s church on the Holywood Road is the proud custodian of a much smaller lion that may have inspired Lewis’s creation of Aslan. His grandfather, the Rev Thomas Hamilton, ministered here, living in the rectory for 13 years, and his front door was decorated with a beautiful brass lion’s head doorknob. The original has been removed for safekeeping, but an exact replica attracts thousands of Lewis pilgrims each year.

Leafy Circular Road, half a mile away, is where the Lewis family moved in 1905 to a large, redbrick house that, back then, was on the outskirts of the city. The road has since been subsumed by the growth of the town, but remains the realm of the prosperous. The house, called Little Lea, is privately owned, but can be seen from the iron gates at the end of the drive.

“To a child, it seemed less like a house than a city,” Lewis wrote of the family home in his autobiography, Surprised By Joy. “I am a product of long corridors, empty sunlit rooms, upstairs indoor silences, attics explored in solitude.”

Little Lea appears in the opening two Narnia books, first when a boy exploring a large attic in The Magician’s Nephew finds a way into another world, and then in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when a game of hide and seek leads a group of inquisitive children to that same magical world a generation later.

Although it was close to east Belfast’s industrial heartland, it was also just a fence clamber away from the fields, hills and woodland glens that fringed the city like a vast adventure playground. As children, Lewis and his elder brother Warnie seem to have had a freedom to wander that would terrify modern parents. They would trek for hours up into the hills between Belfast and Strangford Lough, and travelling that way today still evokes a sense of romantic escapism.

The Belmont Road takes you up, climbing dramatically out of the city and into the expansive high ground that towers over Belfast, Bangor and Newtownards. There are many viewpoints up here. Lewis didn’t record the exact spot that inspired the following ethereal description of the views he loved, but for this writer, the crags of the Whitespots country park on the hill above Newtownards are a pretty good bet, especially as this place also chimes loudly with his descriptions of the stone table on which Aslan was sacrificed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

“Looking south with a little east in it, a different world,” he writes in Surprised By Joy. “And having seen it, blame me if you can for being a romantic. For here is the thing itself, utterly irresistible, the way to the world’s end, the land of longing, the breaking and blessing of hearts. You are looking across … the plain of Down, and seeing beyond it the Mourne Mountains.”

Lewis once told Warnie that the view from the Mournes above Rostrevor looking down over Carlingford Lough was his idea of Narnia. The statement is now stencilled on a bench at a viewpoint in the town’s Kilbroney forest park. Sitting there, in the majesty of this area, it is easy to imagine, as Lewis later wrote in an essay, that a “giant might raise his head over the next ridge”.

Rostrevor is an hour’s drive south of Belfast, and an hour’s drive in the other direction will take you to the equally spectacular north coast, where Lewis holidayed with his mother as a young child. There’s an ongoing debate among Lewis scholars and his many passionate fans about whether it was Dunluce Castle or Downhill Demesne that inspired Cair Paravel, the castle capital of Narnia.

The ruins of Dunluce perch precipitously on the coast east of Portrush, while Downhill Demesne, near Castlerock, contains what remains of the old Downhill House but also the iconic Mussenden Temple, which much better fits the description of Cair Paravel looking “like a great star resting on the seashore”.

Lewis was writing his autobiography at the same time he was producing the seven Chronicles of Narnia. The experiences and landscapes he was remembering for his memoir very likely bled into the creation of his magical kingdom. And so the heavenly, pastoral landscapes of Narnia on the murals of east Belfast might feel familiar even to those locals who haven’t read the books or watched the screen adaptations. The wholesome images of his imagination being sandwiched between paintings glorifying terrorism is an unusual setting for a tribute to the world’s most famous Christian apologist, but perhaps in Belfast, as in Narnia, good will win in the end.

The first of Netflix’s new The Chronicles Of Narnia adaptations, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, will be released in cinemas on 12 February 2027 and on Netflix on 2 April. Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis © 1955 CS Lewis Pte Ltd, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis © 1950 CS Lewis Pte Ltd

The alleged incident happened in the final minute of the Group C match in Baku.

Immediately following the allegation, England head coach Matt Thorpe was seen on the match coverage on DAZN asking for the referee to come over, before calling his players off the pitch.

After an initial report from Thorpe, the referee told England’s coaching staff, “I cannot hear”.

One of Thorpe’s assistant coaches can then be heard telling the referee “we are reporting racism”, before adding “we do not want to play”.

When another official came over, talking about what would happen after the match, the assistant told him: “No, our players do not want to play”.

He was later heard saying that a player was “upset”.

Heated words were then exchanged between each set of coaching staff, with both saying they were trying to protect their players.

This is the first time the U15 World Cup and Festival has been played, and involves 189 countries and territories.

Matches are played in an eight-a-side format, on smaller pitches, with 20-minute halves.

England are scheduled to play their next match against Zimbabwe at 20:45 local time (16:45 GMT) on Monday, with Republic of Ireland facing Cambodia at the same time.

Former Northern Ireland Open champions Kyren Wilson and Mark Williams remain on course for a potential meeting in the final of this year’s tournament in Belfast after winning their respective quarter-finals on Friday.

World number nine Wilson ran out a convincing 6-1 winner over Anthony McGill in the afternoon session at the Waterfront Hall, while Williams, who sits one place higher in the rankings, defeated David Gilbert 6-4 during the evening’s play.

Wilson, who claimed both the world title and the NI Open crown in 2024, established a 4-0 lead over his Scottish opponent with the help of breaks of 77, 75 and 122.

McGill took the next with a run of 66 but the Englishman eased home to progress and secure a first semi-final appearance at a ranking event since March 2025, with compatriot Sam Craigie his next opponent.

Craigie advanced to only his second-ever ranking event semi-final by beating Elliot Slessor 6-2.

Slessor took an early lead after compiling an 82 but Craigie reeled off five frames in a row and ultimately clinched a comfortable passage to the last four.

Gilbert built a 3-1 lead over Williams with the help of breaks of 62, 95 and 60, but after they shared the next two, Williams scored three centuries in consecutive frames as he took the next four to seal victory.

The 51-year-old three-time world champion and 2017 NI Open winner will take on fellow Welshman Jak Jones in Saturday’s second semi-final.

Jones, who has already collected the British Open and Championship League titles this season, edged out Scott Donaldson 6-5 in a late-night thriller, a break of 84 in the decider proving decisive in booking his berth in the last four.

Neve Jones will win her 50th Ireland cap as Stacey Flood and Dorothy Wall return for the first of two WXV Global Series Tests against South Africa in Cape Town.

Gloucester-Hartpury’s Jones is named at hooker, while Flood and Wall are reinstalled at full-back and lock for Saturday’s game at Athlone Stadium (14:00 BST).

Wall’s return to partner Jane Clohessy in the second row means Fione Tuite-O’Sullivan switches to blind-side flanker, while Brittany Hogan starts at number eight to deputise for injured star Aoife Wafer.

Jemima Adams Verling, who filled in for Wafer in the 43-19 win over Japan in Cork on 3 October, drops to the bench.

Flood, who replaces Niamh Gallagher in the 15 jersey, is joined by Beibhinn Parsons and Robyn O’Connor in the back three. Anna McGann and Aoife Dalton are again paired in midfield, while Dannah O’Brien and Emily Lane continue their half-back partnership.

Linda Djougang continues at loose-head prop with Eilis Cahill at tight-head either side of Jones, while Erin King captains the team from open-side flanker.

Kate Jordan, who made her debut as a second-half replacement for King in the win over Japan, is one of six forwards on the bench alongside Beth Buttimer, Niamh O’Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Grace Moore and Adams Verling.

Aoibheann Reilly and Eve Higgins provide backline cover from the bench.

Ireland’s only previous meeting with South Africa was a 2006 Women’s Rugby World Cup match in Canada, which the Irish won 37-0.

Scott Bemand’s side opened their WXV campaign with defeat by the United States before bouncing back to beat Japan in Galway. They also defeated Japan in Cork in a non-WXV Test match in Cork.

After Saturday’s first meeting, Ireland face South Africa again in Cape Town on 31 October.

Ireland: Stacey Flood; Beibhinn Parsons, Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Robyn O’Connor; Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Eilis Cahill, Jane Clohessy, Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite-O’Sullivan, Erin King (capt), Brittany Hogan.

Replacements: Beth Buttimer, Niamh O’Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Kate Jordan, Grace Moore, Jemima Adams Verling, Aoibheann Reilly, Eve Higgins.

McArdle has shown throughout his tenure so far that he is keen to expand Northern Ireland’s squad depth and gave four players their debuts during the Portugal double header.

One of those debutants, Elmore, scored Northern Ireland’s only goal of the tie and became the second player to score on her debut under McArdle after Emily Cassap netted during the 2-1 defeat by Switzerland in June.

“I’m delighted for Kess,” McArdle continued.

“I knew she could bring that, and it’s just great that she has had that impact in Larne and also got the reward with a goal tonight.

“She’s going to add so much to the group moving forward, but so will a lot of the debutants this week, which was exciting.”

It has been a challenging window for McArdle’s side with key players such as captain Simone Magill and the experienced Laura Rafferty, Nadene Caldwell and Caragh Hamilton missing.

However, the Scot still thinks the side have set “a real enthusiastic marker” down during the tough Portugal tie.

“There have been those moments that have went against us, moments of misfortune. We’re playing a risky style of football,” he continued.

“We were on the front foot from the first whistle, and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls. This is a real enthusiastic marker for moving forward. This is getting closer to the identity that I would like for us moving forward.

“We want more energy, we want more mobility, and we want to be a lot more versatile as well. I’m really proud but also really frustrated with the scoreline.”