The more things change... Headlines from 50 years ago mirror recent news
The front page of the Cork Examiner on July 26, 1973
The budget, rising prices and war in the Middle East are making headlines today but 50 years ago, the same topics were also on the front pages.
With the CSO issuing a release charting the changes in Ireland from 1973 to 2023, we have taken a look at some of the headlines making news from 50 years ago.
The , or as it was known in '73, features a number of stories that would not be out of place on today's newsstands.
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The front page saw political correspondent Liam O'Neill report on the first budget of the National Coalition Government — a government consisting of Fine Gael and Labour, led by Liam Cosgrave.
The paper reported that 700,000 would see the benefit of social welfare increases, however, the "sting in the tail" came in the form of increased taxation.
VAT on cars and TVs was increased, as was road tax.
Budget 2024, announced last week, also saw a number of social protection rises, with weekly payments for working age recipients and the pension payment being increased by €12.
A front-page story reports on the National Prices Commission's recommendations to increase the prices of products, including petrol (by 1p per gallon), cream (by 38p to 40p per gallon) and television sets (by 5%).
In 2023, figures from the CSO showed the annual inflation rate go up to 6.4%, up from 6.3% in August, with food and energy prices seeing a particularly high rate of inflation compared to last year.
Food prices grew 7.5%, while electricity costs went up by 36.6% in the year with gas prices 23.5% higher.
In a story that saw parallels to this year's Titan submersible vessel explosion as it was attempting to see the shipwrecked Titanic, the reported on two men trapped on a submarine off the Cork coast.
The rescue of Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman in 1973 is currently the deepest sub rescue in history.
The men had been laying transatlantic cable when it failed to surface and was left stranded 1,375ft below the water line.
The reported that "hopes were high" that the rescue would be a success.
The main story on the paper's front page charts the war in the Middle East. Then it was the Yom Kippur War when Israel took up arms against Egypt and Syria.
The story reports on an Israeli military spokesman claiming they had destroyed bridges across the Suez Canal, cutting off Egyptian lines of retreat.
However, the claims were rejected by Egypt, claiming it was driving soldiers away from the canal as Syria announced it shot down 43 Israeli planes.
Transport Minister Peter Barry told the Dáil of "an alarming development in the oil crisis".
The front page report states that Mr Barry said Ireland "was very dependent on oil" and that it accounted for 69% of the country's primary energy source.
The Dáil debate came about after the president of the British Confederation of Industry warned that the country was "on the verge of collapse".
