Hotel room prices in Dublin have risen by 7.8%, according to business advisory firm Deloitte.

In her recent article, Martin needs to offer hope and solutions (Jul 27), Patricia Casey — commenting on his recent MacGill Summer School address — criticises the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, claiming he “seems to find it very hard to talk about the Catholic Church in an upbeat way”.

The age-old national pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick got Vatican approval yesterday when Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Charles J Brown completed the climb and afterwards declared himself delighted by the experience.

Last Sunday week, the closing mass of the Eucharistic Congress was held in Croke Park.

I’ve heard a number of people give their views on the Eucharistic Congress over the weekend, and some I do have to say I found extraordinarily curmudgeonly.

How astonishing it was to see top RTÉ broadcasters profess support for the Catholic Church at the Eucharistic Congress.

A river of ink has been used to tell us about the abuse scandals, Vatican leaks, and failings of Pope Benedict XVI in recent times.

Road users are being advised that there will be significant traffic restrictions around Croke Park in Dublin today for the closing ceremony of the Eucharistic Congress.

I picked up my “pilgrim pack” at the RDS on Saturday and was impressed by the many helpful volunteers on duty and the splendid arrangements and preparations at the Eucharistic Congress.

I WATCHED some of the opening ceremony of the Eucharistic Congress on Sunday afternoon.

The eight days of the 50th Eucharistic Congress opened in Dublin yesterday.

The 50th International Eucharistic Congress gets underway in Dublin today.

The "spiritual Olympics" of the Catholic Church will be staged in Ireland next week, attracting thousands of pilgrims from around the world.

Using the most sophisticated technology of the time, the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 captivated the country, writes Dan Buckley

Our interest in this year’s event is at odds with the pomp and piety of 1932, says Gerard Howlin

The Priests will be headline performers at the climax of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress.

This weekend the Eucharistic Congress is being held in Dublin.

It may just be too late to relax the licensing laws to allow pubs stay open longer to allow next week’s Eucharistic Congress be celebrated with a peculiar Irish gusto — as was done at the last congress held in Ireland 80 years ago.

THE hope expressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, that next weekend’s Eucharistic Congress will begin a process of healing for a deeply divided Irish Catholic Church is likely to prove a vain one.

Survivors of child abuse are still considering a walk in protest from Cork to Dublin during the week of the Eucharistic Congress — even though the Church has offered to hold a national day of atonement.

The Central Statistics Office have released figures that show that visitor numbers to Ireland for the period of February to April 2012 remain unchanged compared to the same period in 2011.

Survivors of industrial abuse have accused the Irish Catholic hierarchy of “trying to cut us dead” in the past year and have threatened, in a protest action, to walk 253km from Cork to Dublin during the week of the Eucharistic Congress.

Cardinal Seán Brady insisted yesterday he had no intentions of stepping down, although he issued a public apology to Brendan Boland, a survivor of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

SEAN BRADY has had some interesting things to say in the past about the exercise of conscience, about being required to do something in the course of a person’s job that went against their beliefs.

It seemed incredible in 1994 that the cover-up involving the paedophile activities of Fr Brendan Smyth had been going on for 19 years by the time it brought down the government of Albert Reynolds.

The Irish priest muzzled by the Vatican for his liberal views has received overwhelming support from colleagues worldwide, with a senior member of the Irish Redemptorist order saying liberal priests are being subjected to FBI-like attention from ultra-orthodox “Catholic agents”.

An Irish bishop has said the relationship between the Vatican and the Government has been strained and that may have contributed to Pope Benedict XVI’s decision not to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin this June.

Ireland’s embassy to the Vatican was closed to satisfy “Godless men” in the Labour Party, a rebelFianna Fáil councillor claimed last night.

Eight out of 10 priests believe they should be allowed to marry.

Claims that keeping the Irish embassy in the Vatican open would help combat clerical child abuse were dismissed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has millions of euro to spend on the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June but not on education, health, special needs for the elderly and children, and support services for the homeless.

IRELAND will reopen its embassy to the Vatican “within the next year or two if economic conditions allow”, European Affairs Minister Lucinda Creighton has predicted.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said that the Government may review its decision to close the Irish embassy in the Vatican, economic considerations permitting.

If both teams or participants are praying to God before a game or contest, and only one wins, doesn’t that prove that God is on one side but not on the other?

The number of overseas visitors to Ireland increased in 2011 for the first time in four years.

THE Government will “respond positively” if Pope Benedict expresses an interest in visiting Ireland, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

IT was a case of the Plough and the Pilgrims in Athy when the logistics of organising the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin next June were compared with those for the ploughing championships.

AS our Government struggles to restore some sanity to our cost structure, they are encountering pretty formidable opposition.

Pope Benedict has met with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and members of the organising committee of the 50th Eucharistic Congress, which will be held in Ireland in 2012.

The Pope has been officially invited to visit Ireland in two years' time.

YOU reported (August 24) the suggestion by Fr Iggy O’Donovan OSA that the 30th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland should be marked by a day of atonement and that “it would be inappropriate for the day to be one of celebration because of all that was happening in institutions at the time of the papal visit”.

DURING the closing session of the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI announced that the next Eucharistic Congress — the 50th — will be held in Dublin in 2012.

Dublin is to host the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced today.

I AM researching a book on the Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in 1932.