Ireland

DUBLIN, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The 30th European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) was opened by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins here on Saturday.

A total of 139 middle school students from 38 countries and regions have participated in the event which runs from Sept. 14 to 19, including a day for setting up their exhibition booths by participants.

DUBLIN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The number of British nationals becoming Irish citizens stood at 529 persons in 2017, more than five times higher than the figure of 98 recorded in the previous year, reported local media on Sunday.

The Irish Times, a local daily newspaper, quoted Senator Neale Richmon of the Irish parliament as saying that the 2016 number of British nationals giving up their citizenship for Irish passports was almost doubled than the 2015 figure which stood at 54.