Genes play a large part in determining the sexual orientation of men, scientists have shown.

Win or lose, both Cork and Clare are planning big homecoming bashes after the two counties do battle again today in the replay of the All-Ireland hurling final.

Lock Paul O’Connell has been ruled out of the remainder of the British and Irish Lions’ Test series against Australia with a fractured arm.

Dylan Hartley could be suspended from the British and Irish Lions tour after he was sent off during the Aviva Premiership final.

Nurses and midwives are expected to pass an emergency motion for industrial action today, which will include the withdrawal of labour.

Four Garda sergeants facing disciplinary action after they walked out of their annual conference in a protest action are attending a meeting with management at the Garda College in Co Tipperary.

The Government is being called on to put in place a strategy to ensure the long-term survival of the post office network.

Wales centre Tom Shanklin has announced his retirement from rugby due to a knee injury.

LAST year, Ciara Mageean (Assumption, Ballinahinch) took her career to a new level when she broke Sonia O’Sullivan’s long standing national junior 800m record at the Irish schools track and field championships.

Paul McCartney is to play the RDS in June as part of his first ever solo Ireland and UK stadium tour.

Nicky Henderson was more than satisfied after Afsoun was made to pull out all the stops to make a winning start to his fencing career in the Commscope Solutions And Anixter Business Partners Novices’ Chase at Warwick today.

A rare first edition of the renowned WB Yeats poem 'Easter 1916' could fetch up to €4000 when it goes under the hammer this week.

THE Garda inspectorate yesterday rolled in behind calls by middle-ranking gardaí to immediately arm members with pepper spray.

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank John Hurley said yesterday that a return to the previous high instances of private equity deals and leveraged buyouts couldn’t be ruled out once global markets return to their normal levels, but that a return cannot be automatically counted on either.

GARDAÍ were last night trying to locate the last person to have seen a man found dead in suspicious circumstances on a remote Co Mayo peninsula.

The fifth edition of the annual Purple and Gold Star matches, which see the cream of Wexford GAA talent on show, will take place at Wexford Park tomorrow (first throw-in 1pm).

A senior UN official today acknowledged that the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s presidential and parliamentary elections this weekend would be problematic.

Elton John has accepted undisclosed damages from British newspaper The Sunday Times, after it reprinted a libelous claim about the star's behaviour at his White Tie and Tiara charity ball.

HAPPY TO CHAT gets the nap to overcome a serious bout of seconditis in the State Street Ireland EBF Fillies Maiden at Gowran Park this evening.

INSURGENTS killed 89 people in a devastating series of co-ordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq yesterday, less than a week before the handover of sovereignty.

Rakti heads an international entry of 52 for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 16.

TRALEE coach Rus Bradburd had more on his mind than a Sunday drive to Cork when he took in last week’s ESB Cup victory for Mardyke UCC Demons over St. Vincent’s.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern faced pressure tonight for a public inquiry into two bomb atrocities dating back more than 30 years.

Raymond McKenna of KPMG People Strategies has said that approximately 237,000 Irish people with defined contribution pension schemes are sitting on a potential pensions time bomb and largely unaware of it.

Explosions rocked Liberia’s capital today as rebels and government forces battled at key crossings leading toward President Charles Taylor’s downtown stronghold.