Here's What Happened Today: Sunday

17 May 2026, 19:00 by Emma Hickey, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/emma-hickey/ · TheJournal.ie

NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

The Taoiseach was in Portumna in Co Galway for the 19th National Famine Commemoration. Government Information ServiceGovernment Information Service

IRELAND

A young Irishman and a woman died in a road crash in Thailand.
Four people died following separate road traffic collisions in Donegal and Dublin on Saturday.
A man in his 50s was injured when a firearm was discharged at a home in Wexford town on Saturday night.
Police in Northern Ireland launched a murder investigation following the death of a man in east Belfast.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a Sinn Féin TD’s appeal against a decision in a case which sought to quash the appointment of so-called ‘super junior ministers’.

INTERNATIONAL

Dara representing Bulgaria after winning the Eurovision Song Contest at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria. Alamy Stock PhotoAlamy Stock Photo

#RUSSIA: Russia said a huge wave of almost 600 Ukrainian drones attacked the country overnight, killing four people.

#UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A drone strike triggered a fire near a nuclear power station in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, authorities said, reporting no injuries or impact on radiation levels.

#WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION: The World Health Organisation declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern”.

PARTING SHOT

Philip Stokes, his mother Sally, and his son Robin. LED Photography - Lieke DirkzLED Photography - Lieke Dirkz

FOR THOSE FAMILIAR with Cork city, the restoration of the Shandon clock – or the Four-Faced Liar – wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.

The work on the clock was undertaken by a small team of three: Cork horologist Philip Stokes, his son Robin, and his 92-year-old mother Sally. Their work on the restoration has been documented in an episode of RTÉ series Masters: Keepers of Tradition, which is to air on Monday evening.

Stokes chatted to The Journal ahead of the programme airing – you can read the interview here.

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