Searches are being conducted along the Abbey River in Limerick city for a man who got into difficulty after going for a swim today.

A woman who suffered a fracture to her leg when she claims she was knocked to the ground as a Marks and Spencer employee allegedly came off a step ladder as she walked by has sued in the High Court.

A woman who claims she slipped on an alleged grease like substance in the food hall of Marks & Spencer in Dublin’s city centre has sued in the High Court.

A 22-year-old man has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after he tried to smuggle five people into the UK hidden in cabinets in a van.

A SMALL corner of Cork city’s venerable George’s Quay is slowly being rehabilitated and returned to a gem-like, Georgian era cluster.

A Limerick man involved in running a children's charity in Africa has been jailed for six years for the sexual defilement of a 13-year old girl.

A Waterford county councillor says “more colour” should be added to a town square renovation programme in the interests of public safety.

The days are getting colder, the evenings are getting darker and television listings are upping their game - let’s face it, it’s practically Christmas.

The lights will stretch over 4.5 kilometres and it will take over 200 hours for the lights to be installed throughout the city.

It’s time to snuggle-up and Esther N McCarthy shows you how to do it in style this autumn.

Described as a commercial development opportunity on a modest scale is the proposed sale of No 23 George’s Quay, in Cork city centre.

Over the past few fashion seasons I have been revelling in a world filled with nostalgic undercurrents.

Three-storey, two-bed townhouse in Cork is high-end, with a mid-floor kitchen and en-suites, says Tommy Barker.

A second multi-million euro Waterford sale — the AIB bank branch in the heart of the city for close to €2.25 million to a private investor - is imminent. It comes on the back of the just-concluded sale of the Fitzwilton Hotel, to an Austria-based investor, for €3.2m.

Billing itself as a top Waterford city four-star hotel, the modern-build Fitzwilton comes for sale with a €2 million price guide, just in time for the city’s 1100-year anniversary celebrations.

WHEN it came to writing novels, Laurence Sterne, born in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, 300 years ago this week, certainly enjoyed experimenting. Pages strewn with long dashes, asterisks and the odd hand sign; a torn out chapter; two pages completely smudged with printer’s ink; and a section playfully left blank for the reader to write their own character description.

Fears were expressed yesterday that the closure of a Garda station in a former Limerick crime blackspot could allow a feuding gang to reassert control.

A woman is in a serious condition after a collision on Mary Street in Dublin city centre.

MONDAY

CORK CITY €49,500

Cork travel company TravelAgent.ie is celebrating 12 years in business with the with the launch of its new online venture, BookHotels.ie

A 34-year-old Romanian woman has been sentenced to three months in prison for operating a brothel in Galway city.

TREES: Employ an expert if you intend to get garden trees reduced in their canopies.

THE country received some positive news yesterday with the announcement of almost 600 new jobs around the country, including 445 positions in 24 new start-up companies.

More than 500 new jobs have been announced at 24 home-grown businesses and a restaurant chain.

A total of 65 jobs are being created in Dublin, it was announced today.

Fashion retailer Penneys has bought the Chapel House on Parnell Street in Dublin.

Liverpool stars Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez have thanked the huge turnout who welcomed them on their flying trip to Dublin.

A MAN who died in a house fire in Limerick lost a sister in a hotel fire when she holidayed in Greece some years ago.

Two people in their twenties have been arrested in connection with a stabbing incident in Limerick City overnight, in which a man was seriously injured.

Gardaí are now appealing to a group of people who were in the vicinity of a stabbing in Limerick overnight to contact the garda investigation team.

An investigation is underway after a man was found with serious injuries in Limerick City.

War veterans will today be honoured at a second cross-border service.

GAA President Christy Cooney has offered his condolences to the family of Patrick Dinsmore who collapsed and died while playing minor football for St. Peter's GAA Club in County Down last Sunday morning.

DUBLIN’S chewing-gum black- spots have been named and shamed as the city council seeks a contractor to clean up the capital’s sticky problem.

NANDO’S, the popular South African restaurant chain which specialises in peri-peri chicken, is to open its first outlet outside Dublin at Mahon Point shopping centre.

SUCH was the success of their wedding dress range that Marks & Spencer have introduced a First Holy Communion range which, in these recessionary times, is likely to sell out in record time.

DUTCH-owned ACC Bank is continuing its disposal of Irish bank branches in 2010, it has just confirmed at year’s end.

SCOTTISH lock Nathan Hines, currently in South Africa with the British and Irish Lions, is to quit French side Perpignan to join Heineken Cup champions Leinster.

A man with addresses in Westmeath and Galway who stole money from an acquaintance at various banks has been remanded for sentence in October.

Four people were being questioned by gardaí tonight following the seizure of drugs with a street value of around €1m and a stash of guns and ammunition.

A Dublin businessman has gone on trial for allegedly running brothels in the city centre five years ago.

A LIMERICK couple, convicted of illegal money lending, will today fight a move by the Criminal Assets Bureau to seize almost €1 million from them.

GARDAÍ will set up a pilot project today aimed at encouraging more asylum seekers and immigrants to report incidents of racial abuse.

THE HSE has apologised to the users of a community welfare office that had to be shut down before Christmas on health and safety grounds and whose decaying condition was first raised in the Dáil almost seven years ago.

AN AFRICAN man who was attacked by a heavily armed gang at the weekend was the victim of mistaken identity, gardaí believe.

A MAN was assaulted by a gang armed with a shotgun, knives and a baseball bat, during a break-in at a house in Cork city yesterday.

Four men have been arrested in Cork in connection with an attempted armed burglary this morning.

Detectives were today questioning four men suspected of trying to break into a house while armed.