Flares burned and horns sounded as one of Ireland’s busiest lifeboat crews sailed their new hi-tech vessel into its new harbour home yesterday.

THE institutes of technology in Limerick and Carlow could be moving towards a technological university application after signing a collaboration deal.

A NUMBER of institutes of technology are already discussing possible mergers which are to be urged in the long-awaited higher education strategy being published this morning.

THE businesspeople of Kerry are celebrating after the county was awarded the prestigious title of European Entrepreneurial Region of the Year for 2011.

A BUSINESS Boot Camp will see 600 students from Kerry and Limerick put their ideas to the test in front of a panel of leading Irish entrepreneurs and business people, as part of the annual Young Entrepreneur Programme and Awards.

THE introduction of college fees could lead to students flocking over the border to Northern Ireland, third-level bosses warned yesterday.

THE expression on his face as he powered his way up the home straight said it all as Drogheda athlete, Keith Kelly, buried 10 years of frustration at Santry Park yesterday by claiming the National senior cross-country title for the first time at the age of 31.

MICHAEL CARMODY (Castletroy College, Limerick) led all the way to win the senior boys title at the Munster Schools Cross-Country Championships at Tramore Racecourse yesterday, when the lack of teacher cover due to the cutbacks was reflected in much smaller entries.

THIRTY students from 14 sporting disciplines were awarded scholarships by the Institute of Technology, Tralee (ITT) this week.

THE Institute of Technology, Tralee (IT, Tralee) has confirmed details of a €10.8 million infrastructure development on campus.

LEADING environmentalist Eanna Ní Lamhna yesterday hit out at “silly nonsense” spoken by people who had no environmental education and who thought humans were the only species on Earth.

FORTY students will take to the wilds all over the south-west of Ireland as part of two new courses launched yesterday in Muckross House, Killarney by the Institute of Technology, Tralee.

AN 18-year-old student died yesterday and his life-long friend, also 18, is in intensive care, following what is believed to have been a gas leak in a house in Tralee, Co Kerry.