A study led by experts in human genetics at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland reveals a strong genetic connection between Icelanders and residents of Donegal and the western isles of Scotland.

What is believed to be the largest childcare facility ever built in Ireland is set to open in a town in East Cork this summer.

What do you give the woman who has everything? If that woman is Queen Elizabeth II then anything involving horses would be the best bet, writes Brendan O'Brien

Archaeologist Enda Flaherty has been documenting abandoned schoolhouses, thus providing a snapshot of those forgotten places where many of our predecessors were taught, says Dan MacCarthy.

Motorists in the UK have been warned of dangerous conditions on the roads and air travellers of potential disruption as snow and ice hit large swathes of the country.

TIME was when motor companies offered us cars that came in three sizes — small, medium and large.

Here's your morning news bulletin...

A ‘mega rare’ sighting of a seal usually found on Arctic sea ice has stunned wildlife observers after being spotted in Ireland for only the second time on record, writes Linda McGrory.

A ‘mega rare’ sighting of a seal usually found on Arctic sea ice has stunned wildlife observers after being spotted in Ireland for only the second time on record.

A search is ongoing in the North Sea to trace a missing man who could not be found on board a rig.

An oil exploration firm has uncovered what it describes as the largest undeveloped discovery on the UK Continental Shelf.

Parts of Scotland are experiencing heavy snow showers and winds of more than 125km/h as Storm Conor makes its presence felt across the north of the UK.

SPAIN: A priest says he has given up hope that local authorities in his parish of Xestoso in the northwest of the country will fix the potholes in the roads so he has asked for divine intervention.

Dog should not be given as presents for Christmas — the time of year when no one as the time or energy to look after them properly, writes Terry Prone

As Cork Folk Festival remembers Séamus Creagh, Richard Fitzpatrick hears about a brilliant musician who was also a much-loved man

David Cameron is preparing for another term as the UK's Prime Minister, as the General Election put his Conservative Party on the brink of securing an absolute majority in the House of Commons.

A factory worker has been jailed for four years after he was cleared of having sex with a Shetland pony but convicted of outraging public decency.

Lifeboats involved in the search for the crew of an overturned cargo vessel have been stood down for the night.

A major rescue operation has been launched after a cargo vessel believed to be carrying eight people overturned off the north of Scotland.

Plans to bring mobile internet to remote areas of the UK for the first time have been announced by telecoms giant Vodafone.

THE Old Man of Hoy, in Orkney, is a spectacular sight. This vertical pillar, rising from the sea, 60m out from a sheer cliff-face, is 137 metres high and about 30m thick.

Bedrooms: 3 Bathrooms: 1

Around a million Britons can claim direct descent from Vikings, according to a new DNA study.

Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifying draw may have been the first time most football fans in Ireland realised Gibraltar had an international team which actually played in qualifiers.

IN May, this column celebrated the extraordinary lifestyle of the red-necked phalarope. After years of research, ornithologists thought they knew almost everything about the strange ways of this little wader but they were wrong. A phalarope from Shetland has confounded everybody by travelling 16,000km on migration. It’s not just the distance covered which is astonishing but the bird’s destination.

A man who ignored his wife’s request to bin a dirty piece of metal he found in a field has been toasting his instincts after it was declared to be a rare silver Viking ring.

The bodies of three of the four oil workers who died when a helicopter plunged into the North Sea have been brought back to the mainland.

Three bodies have been found after a helicopter carrying 18 people ditched in the North Sea off the Shetland islands following an apparent “catastrophic loss of power”.

Pagan Vikings, who ransacked early Irish churches, melted and transformed sacred objects into jewellery.

Brad Pitt has built a petting zoo for his six children.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's wedding guests will be greeted by "leaping" Shetland ponies.

The highest rate of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world has been found in a small group of islands in Scotland, researchers have said.

As a child, Clare Balding ‘assaulted’ the queen with a sausage, but this year she was the TV queen of the Olympics, writes Sue Leonard

Waterford Castle, The Island, Waterford; tel: 051-878203; waterfordcastle.com

SUCH may have been the sentiments of Conor Ryan of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group when he spotted a black-browed albatross from the deck of the Celtic Explorer on the Feb 29.

The biggest strike in Britain for over 30 years got under way today with schools, hospitals, courts, transport and government hit by a walkout involving up to two million workers.

AN IMAGE of a jellyfish captured off a small uninhabited Scottish island has scooped the top £5,000 (€5,727) prize in this year’s British Wildlife Photography Awards.

SOME birds are more often heard than seen.

Scottish MEPs this afternoon hailed a major victory when a call to end all new drilling for oil in European waters was overturned in the European Parliament.

Environmental activists swam in front of an oil drill ship today in a fresh attempt to halt its operations.

Embattled BP boss Tony Hayward defended the firm’s safety record tonight as he was grilled by a committee of MPs over the implications of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

ACCORDING to ornithologist Eric Dempsey, three red-necked phalaropes visited a site in the midlands this summer.

Sweeping reforms to parliamentary constituencies in Britain will be introduced alongside moves to change the voting system, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced today.

Flight restrictions affecting Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been lifted, British air traffic control company Nats have said.

CORK WEEK chairman Peter Deasy said he is pleased with the level of support for the bi-annual regatta and is also looking forward to welcoming more yachts and crew in July.

The UK flights’ ban was today extended until at least 7am tomorrow as the cost to the travel industry of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud crisis grew.

The airline crisis deepened today when the UK flight ban was extended to at least 1am tomorrow.

A SELF-CONFESSED “white van man” yesterday revealed how he celebrated Britain’s biggest ever lottery win with a bacon roll.