A woman has given her partner a Leap Year surprise by proposing on live TV.

Darren Murphy, 42, with an address at Dan Desmond Villas, Passage West, County Cork, denied murdering Olivia Dunlea

Sorting out Cork people for ages

In March 2016, I received an email from Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith of the essential arts anthology Winter Papers, asking me if I’d write an essay about ‘girls in the gaah’.

IT’S that time of year again as artists, canvases in tow, start to crisscross county borders across Munster and beyond.

Ireland's first ever children’s garda station was officially opened today by the head of the force, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

His morning radio slot ended earlier this year – but Bernard O’Shea has never been busier, starting with his debut book, writes Esther McCarthy.

An Irish aid worker who died earlier this year is among those to be recognised by the Presidential Distinguished Service Awards for the Irish Abroad.

So that’s nearly Monday wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Jack & Jill help normalise family life for those caring for children with serious health issues, says Helen O’Callaghan.

Atiyah will be the first storm to blow across Ireland, Britain, and the Netherlands this winter, with Brendan, Ciara, and Dennis set to among those that will follow.

Any week in Kerry is a football week, but when the Sam Maguire Cup is up for grabs, that applies to every second of every day.

The boy who drowned in Co Louth yesterday has been named locally.

RTÉ broadcaster Olivia O’Leary will be at the Amergin Solstice Poetry Gathering in Waterville, Co Kerry, over the next few days. Originally from Borris, Co Carlow, Olivia also presents The Poetry Programme on RTÉ Radio 1 and does a radio column every Tuesday for the Drivetime programme.

A mother who lost her daughter and niece when a balcony collapsed in the US paid a touching tribute to them.

Kevin Barry’s latest novel flits between the seamier side of Spain and his old haunts on Leeside, writes Marjorie Brennan.

Olivia, 3, has dislocated her elbow two or three times, but was able to pop it back in to place herself.

Vialli had undergone eight months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiotherapy, and had done his best to hide his condition until now.

Olivia Kinsella has not let fat-shaming trolls get in the way of her blogging.

Former athlete David Gillick talks with the kind of startling honesty that will give hope — and inspiration — to anyone who has ever taken comfort in binge eating to dampen down emotions, writes Clodagh Finn.

This week's most fashionable on the red carpet...

For Ann Dunlea, the night times are the hardest — replaying over and over the nightmare of what happened to her daughter, Olivia, at the hands of murderer Darren Murphy.

A Corkman who tried to smother his girlfriend before stabbing her in the neck when she asked “what about my kids?” has been convicted of her murder.

A man who denies murdering his girlfriend was categorised by the prosecution as a controlling individual who committed murder in a jealous rage but the defence claimed he felt provoked and lost control.

The Cork man who admitted stabbing his girlfriend denied to gardaí that his motive for setting fire to her house was to conceal the killing and said he burned it so that the victim’s three children would not find her.

The Passage man on trial for murdering his girlfriend confessed to gardaí that he stabbed her with a kitchen knife and she did not even think it was coming.

The man accused of murdering his girlfriend at her home in Passage West, Co Cork, more than five years ago told gardaí that he snapped, stabbed her in the neck, and set fire to the house.

An MRI scheduled for 2019 for a little girl with a profoundly curved spine has been brought forward to next month after her mother wrote a heartfelt letter in the Irish Examiner, pleading for Health Minister Simon Harris to intervene.

Monica White’s nine year old daughter Olivia can’t walk or talk and has severe spinal curvature. She can’t get on a waiting list until deemed to require surgery — for which she needs an MRI. She’s been offered a date of April 2019. She’s currently in hospital. In today’s Irish Examiner, Monica says her daughter can’t afford to wait.

A nine-year-old girl who cannot walk or talk and who has a profoundly curved spine cannot get on a waiting list for spinal surgery until she undergoes an MRI, scheduled for April 2019.

“I’ll do home economics,” our youngest said when asked about her final subject choice for the Junior Cert.

“She’s never going to know her sister, that’s what gets me the most. And the fact now that there’s no answers, it makes it 100 times worse.”

Ella Martin suffered nothing more than routine minor childhood illness until her sudden death, aged 3. Her distraught family is hoping an inquest this week can clarify what happened on that fateful day in 2015, writes Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan.

His teammate Seamus Coleman says he’ll be with McCarthy “every step of the way”.

Many tears of joy and a surprise proposal were among the reactions as the crew of a naval ship returned home just in time for Christmas.

A selfless daughter who took her parents into her home to care for them full time is Ireland’s Carer of the Year.

A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit following the Berkeley balcony collapse.

Olivia O’Leary is about to begin the latest installment in her broadcasting career as the new presenter of The Poetry Show, writes Marjorie Brennan

The best friend of a 15-year-old girl killed in the Manchester Arena bombing will walk her mother down the aisle later this year.

Sorcas an Ghrá is a singles weekend with a difference.

San Francisco Rose Amanda Donohoe tells Catherine Shanahan that being part of the Rose of Tralee festival has a very special meaning for her and her family.

A man in remission from a rare form of cancer is among the thousands of people affected by the water outage in Louth and Meath.

July’s beauty launches include a contender for Double Wear’s crown and a red carpet-worthy bronzer. Rachel Marie Walsh reports

The family of a teenage victim of the Manchester terror attack in England have urged people to choose love over hate in her memory.

A man who admits stabbing his girlfriend but denies her murder told gardai she asked, "what about my kids?" before he stuck a knife in her neck.

Hundreds of people are still desperately trying to trace loved ones in the aftermath of the terror attack at Manchester Arena which left 22 dead and at least 59 injured.

A murder accused started crying and admitted to stabbing his girlfriend when gardaí confronted him about inconsistencies in what he had told them.

The sister of a woman who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend has told his murder trial that he wanted to be alone with her all the time.