One in six Irish very interested in news, significantly higher than UK and US
Irish people are more interested in the news and have better trust in mainstream media compared to the UK and US, a new study has revealed.
Some 56 per cent say they are extremely or very interested in the news, according to the Irish Digital News Report 2025 published on Tuesday. This is higher than the UK (39 per cent), the US (51 per cent) and ahead of the European average at 45 per cent.
While Irish people have a high interest in news, up 3 per cent on last year, it has fallen significantly from a peak of 70 per cent in 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Just 3 per cent of those surveyed in this country said they are "not at all interested" in the news.
Irish audiences also trust mainstream news outlets more compared with other countries, with 50 per cent saying they trust the news "most of the time". This compares to 35 per cent in the UK, 30 per cent in the US and 39 per cent for all of Europe.
Traditional news outlets continue to hold the most trust from the Irish audience. RTÉ News (72 per cent), local or regional radio (72 per cent), and local or regional newspapers (71 per cent) are the most trusted brands.
Some 70 per cent described the Irish Times and BBC News as trustworthy, followed by 66 per cent for the Irish Independent, Sky News, Newstalk and Today FM. However, Irish people remain concerned about misinformation with 68 per cent saying they worry about what is real and fake online.
Television and news websites are the most popular way that Irish people are consuming news. Some 58 per cent of respondents said they have watched TV or consumed online media in the past week to stay up to date on news, while 47 per cent said they used social media as a source of news.
A further 36 per cent said they listened to the radio, 22 per cent read a printed newspaper, 12 per cent listened to a podcast to get the latest headlines and 5 per cent used AI chatbots. Radio listenership remains high in Ireland, with 11 per cent of respondents saying they use radio as their primary source of news.
This is 3 per cent higher than the UK, 8 per cent more than the US and 4 per cent above the European average. Podcasts are also very popular in this country, with 12 per cent saying they used them as a source of news in the last week.
The number of Irish people willing to pay for digital news has significantly increased over the past decade. Some 20 per cent of the population are now paying for news, which is up from 7 per cent in 2015 and 3 per cent on last year.
Of those that pay for a digital subscription, 36 per cent are subscribed to the Irish Independent and 33 per cent to The Irish Times. Rónán Ó Domhnaill of Coimisiún na Meán said the Digital News Report shows that most Irish people "can't get enough of news".
He added: "It is encouraging to see that interest in news remains high in Ireland when compared internationally, even as the formats used to consume news continue to change.
"We are heartened to see the continuing trend of the Irish public's unique and longstanding relationship with radio, which remains a cornerstone of Ireland's media landscape. It is also important to see the trust Irish people place in local news sources, with local radio and local newspapers among the most trusted brands for Irish audiences."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
10 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Jennifer Horgan: Our obsession with youth is a way of denying death, but we should embrace it
Did you ever enter a contest to see who could lift a corpse? No? Not recently? Maybe you wrestled over a corpse then, or played cards, handing the deceased their own hand. No? Not that one either. Ok, last one - did you ever hide under a corpse, shaking it to scare the incoming mourners - especially the kids. No? Well, don't worry. It's not you, it's me. In truth, these questions would only make sense to someone who lived in Ireland 100 years ago. We called them wake games and right up until the middle of the last century, these farewells to our loved ones were packed full of mischief, merriment, and matchmaking. It was a time for divine madness, drinking and kissing and the presence of mná caointe, keening women, who wailed and sang, lamenting our dead. To give you more of a flavour, one game involved someone donning a collar and sitting in a corner to 'hear confessions'. The 'priest' would act horrified, imposing an embarrassing and severe penance, which had to be performed for all to see and enjoy. Things got so bad that in 1927, the Synod of Maynooth 'forbade absolutely' unseemly and lewd behaviour around corpses. It all sounds a bit mad, doesn't it? Sex and death – all deeply Freudian. If you've spent time over in England, you'll recognise that we've retained some of our ancestors' customs. Plenty of English people find our open coffin and open-door policies around death unsettling. Their upper lip seems to only get stiffer around stiffs. Nonetheless, compared with 1925, Irish deaths in 2025 have become sober and sanitised affairs. Children are generally left out. Last week, I went to a Seed talk with Marian Ó Tuama, a Psychotherapist, who warned that children are better off seeing dead bodies early, particularly the bodies of people they don't love. At the removals and funerals I've most recently attended, children were kept at home unless a part of the immediate family. Bereaved children no longer see their peers in their grief. It happens away from their everyday realities. And as for us adults, far from engaging in revelry, we stick to a very specific script. Lining up in perfectly managed and curated funeral homes we say we are 'Sorry for your loss' on repeat. Hands are held and hands are dropped, and then out the door we go again. What's crazier? Playing games over a corpse or paying doctors and dentists to give Botox injections? Death has become a sober, serious, adult-only affair. The madness of grief has drained from our communities, our practices. Stories and tributes are typed online rather than shared in person, in letters, or in our chat. But before we start to think we're evolving towards sophistication, let me address our ancestors with questions us modern urbanites understand. Tell me, great-grandmother Horgan, did you ever inject poison into your face? No, seriously, did you ever inject your face with something that would make you look younger than you are? Ancestor of 100 years ago, your doctor or your dentist – did they ever put something in your face, Botox or fillers, to make you appear younger than you are? What's crazier? Playing games over a corpse or paying doctors and dentists to give Botox injections? Or put it another way – What's crazier? Accepting death as an inherent part of living and marking it as a whole community, or denying we age and die at all. What's more concerning, the cheeky sneaky Botox or the obvious Botox? According to a Women's Health and Wellbeing Survey, commissioned by the Irish Examiner, and involving over 1,000 women, 'one in 10 women states their GP offers cosmetic treatments and one in seven that their dentist does'. What do you think? Might the people lining up for Botox be better off drinking and having sex around corpses? I know it sounds facetious but I'm deadly (pardon the pun) serious. We used to mix sex and death freely. Now we accentuate one and deny the other. I'm convinced that our ancestors were onto something – that it's healthier to put death front and centre, to literally place the corpse at the centre of the party. Increasingly, we hide death away, pretending it is not coming closer and closer the longer we live. Another study, this time carried out by University College London last year, found anxiety was the most reported problem among 511 Botox patients surveyed, with 85 people claiming they suffered it after the jab. I'm eager to know if they also suffered it before the jab. A woman explaining why she gets Botox said to me recently that she does it to look less tired. The thing is – she is tired. Her body and face are tired from being a body and a face for over 40 years. It's a tiredness that's different from a phase, a mood, an episode. Generational differences The differences in attitudes to aging and dying are not only between us and our ancestors, however. Changes are also taking place between generations. I chatted with a beautician this week about who comes into her salon. 'There's a huge difference between the attitudes of younger and older women when it comes to Botox and fillers,' she says. Younger women want to look like they've had work done. 'They're proud of it. It's a sign of success – a badge of honour, that they can look like they've had their lips done.' I must assume that the same goes for their foreheads, shined and buffed and glistening. We all know, I mean rationally, that human skin has never been so shiny. We see it happening in front of us - these young women becoming the shiny plastic dolls they once played with as children. Older women, and men, want to look natural, just not as tired. What does that tell us about how we're evolving? What's more concerning, the cheeky sneaky Botox or the obvious Botox? Is it possible we're moving from mild death anxiety (where on some level we know it's nonsense) to absolute death denial – where to look good, or cool, or current, is to look like something unhuman, something like AI. There is no suggestion that Madonna is trying to look her age anymore. File photo:) Madonna's face is a good example – there is no suggestion that she is trying to look her age anymore. She's not even trying to look like a person anymore. She has a mask on, and it's completely unrelated to her biography. The Irish Examiner Women's Health and Wellbeing Survey surprised me in one thing. It suggests that fewer women, fewer of our peers, are getting Botox than we think. The survey reveals that 10% of the women interviewed had Botox, 6% fillers and 12% either treatment. However, most women (45%) believe that 'most women my age have undergone some form of cosmetic treatment'. I wonder how interviewees interpreted the words 'cosmetic treatment'. Death anxiety Read between the lines, if the lines are still there, and it may be true that a lot of women are getting cosmetic treatments, just not Botox or fillers. A lot of people, particularly people with money, are going for less invasive services like skin peeling, micro-needling and laser resurfacing. I suppose you might call it death anxiety light, or death anxiety for beginners. But it's still death anxiety, right? You know, looking your best, looking less tired – covering up or reversing excessive living to stay sexy. And I'll pre-empt the comments about dying your hair if I may. Death anxiety is not something new. We have always tried to look younger. The earliest documented use of hair dye can be traced to Ancient Egypt, over 4,000 years ago. It's just that our death anxiety is ramping up, and it's not necessarily good for us. For anyone who cares, corpse-me is all for a party. Feel free to enjoy a smooch and a tickle around me; give me an old shake too if you fancy. I won't be looking. And if I am – I'm smiling.
Irish Independent
15 hours ago
- Irish Independent
The benefits of kitchen rescue, from cost savings to sustainability
When it arrived, the builder shook his head. The kitchen units weren't strong enough to support the heavy countertop. If he installed it, there was a risk of collapse. Somewhere amid the complexities of purchasing the kitchen, the discrepancy had been missed. Fortunately, the builder had the experience to spot the problem and the skill to reinforce the units, making them up to the job. This is not an isolated incident. According to new research from The Panelling Centre, 96pc of tradespeople have stepped in to fix or complete a homeowner's DIY attempt at fitting a kitchen. Common mistakes include incorrect measurements (48pc) and failing to consult a professional for advice on design and layout (42pc). 'The measurements are the big one,' says Gary Higgins of the Panelling Centre. 'We've seen people measure a 3.2 metre wall, but write it down as 2.3 metres.' The research, which consulted 750 homeowners and 100 tradespeople, was commissioned by The Panelling Centre and conducted by 3Gem in April 2025. Its purpose was to explore attitudes to DIY fitting versus hiring a professional to do the job. An overwhelming majority (96pc) of tradespeople said they'd had to fix a DIY-fitted kitchen and almost half (40pc) said that 'only some' kitchens fitted by homeowners adhere to the correct safety standards. 'We've seen everything from upside-down cabinets to sinks with no plumbing,' Higgins says. 'We had one client complain that his units were much too low. He'd forgotten to install the legs. I was crying laughing at that!' Luckily, the client saw the funny side of it too. 'At the end of the day, you can't learn to install a kitchen from watching TikTok videos. There are too many moving parts.' On the other hand, 42pc of homeowners who'd installed a kitchen themselves, or knew someone who had, believed the job was done correctly. Just under half admitted to misjudging the measurements, plumbing, and electrical work when installing their kitchen. Two thirds (66pc) of homeowners said they'd rather hire a professional. They perceived that hiring a tradesperson would save time (48pc), avoid mistakes (44pc), and ensure that the plumbing and electrics were correctly and safely installed. 'Another client thought he'd been sent European sockets because he couldn't fit a three-pin plug in the socket,' says Higgins. 'We went out to the house and found the plastic protectors were still in the sockets!' Most customers spend between €6,000 and €8,000 on a kitchen from The Panelling Centre (excluding appliances). Flatpack kitchens are cheaper (from €2,000) but Higgins recommends that you buy the units preassembled, which costs about 20pc more than the price of the flatpack units. 'Once we've assembled them, they fit together like Lego,' he says. 'But we still recommend having the kitchen installed by an expert fitter.' The Panelling Centre doesn't employ fitters, but can put you in touch with professionals in your area. ADVERTISEMENT Installing a new kitchen usually involves getting rid of the old one. Many of these are in good working order – their owners just don't like them any more – but too many go to landfill. 'Most people would love the idea that their old kitchen could be reused by someone else,' says Jenny Williams, CEO of Habitat for Humanity. 'It's difficult to find someone who can dismantle an old kitchen, fix it up, then reinstall it in a new home.' Habitat for Humanity's Kitchen Rescue scheme does precisely that. 'If you're getting rid of a kitchen, our construction supervisor will come out to the house with a team of volunteers,' Williams explains. 'They'll take the kitchen away for basic refurbishment, then we'll display it for resale in one of our Habitat ReStore shops.' There are five stores in Northern Ireland and one in Drogheda, where kitchens sell for between €200 and €600. 'We were offered an exceptional kitchen in Belfast – it had granite worktops and top-of-the-range appliances. We priced it at £2,000 and it sold immediately!' Future plans for Habitat ReStore are focused on opening new outlets. A store in Glasnevin, Dublin, will open later this year. 'At the moment it's not cost-effective for us to rescue a kitchen in Co Cork. But we hope to have four ROI stores up and running in two years' time.' The Kitchen Rescue scheme has recently partnered with Kube Kitchens, who are promoting the scheme to customers who'd like their old kitchen removed and recycled. 'We've been running the scheme for several years, but it works better in partnership with a kitchen company,' Williams says. 'Our aim is to help low-income people improve their homes. We want to offer a steady supply of kitchens for families who simply couldn't afford a new one.' If you're donating a kitchen, expect to pay a token €175 to have it dismantled and removed. It would probably cost more to bring it to landfill. On average, a new kitchen from Kube costs between €15,000 and €25,000, including appliances. Once the old kitchen has been repaired, it is put on display at the Habitat ReStore shop in Drogheda and advertised on Facebook. Where the appliances come with the kitchen, these are resold too. At the moment, demand far exceeds supply. 'There are a lot of people looking for good quality used kitchens,' Williams says. 'Most are low-income families who can't afford a new kitchen – they're choosing a used one because it's cost-effective – but an increasing number of environmental champions and bargain hunters are buying a used kitchen as their first choice.' Not every kitchen is suitable for rehoming. 'When a kitchen is done, it's done!' Kitchen rescue doesn't include delivery or installation, but can recommend a delivery service. Since most of the people who buy a used kitchen are doing so to save money, it's likely that most are installing it themselves or with the help of local handyman. 'When people come to volunteer with us, they learn how to dismantle and repair kitchens and are learning basic joinery skills,' Williams explains. 'It's a win win for everyone!' See and
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
Dubliner's Tel Aviv diary: My wife squeezes my hand in the bunker as bombs explode
One day, John Costello was celebrating at a wedding. The next he was sheltering from bombardment as war broke out between Israel and Iran. He saw the devastation as an Irish friend's flat was destroyed I am sitting in the crowded bomb shelter in the bowels of my apartment building in the heart of Tel Aviv. It is filled with a vague smell of damp, putrid air. It is 7:30pm. All around me people are crammed together seeking sanctuary.
