Thousands of Orange Order members took part in parades across Northern Ireland as part of the Twelfth of July celebrations.

A peaceful Orange Order parade past the Ardoyne flashpoint in the North is a massive step forward, a community worker has said.

Homes have been boarded up at a number of huge bonfire sites in the North amid concerns around safety and risk to property.

When William crushed the deposed Catholic King James ll and his Jacobite army of some 25,000 men, the victory was celebrated with songs and prayers in the Catholic cathedrals of William’s allies — the Dutch, the Danes, and the Germans, writes Clodagh Finn.

Des O’Sullivan says there is plenty to excite at Fonsie Mealy’s two day Chatsworth Fine Art sale.

Tony Clayton Lea visits Scholars Restaurant in Drogheda.

Members of the Orange Order have staged a peaceful protest in north Belfast after restrictions were imposed on their parade.

Three people have been stabbed in Belfast as the city prepares for annual Twelfth of July celebrations.

An elderly man believed to be taking photographs of a mural hailing Gerry Adams as a peacemaker has been assaulted.

Tracks ****

Jo Kerrigan’s recent article on War Horse prompted me to go and see the play. The plot concerns a foal named Joey and Albert, the youth who owns and loves him.

Abolition is about a politics fearful of other ideas. Abolition would stymie the challenge to the dominance every Irish government has had over a directly elected Dáil and an indirectly-elected Seanad

For the first time ever, the Orange Order will not be permitted to parade through the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12.

THEY came from all corners of Ireland and the UK.

Hollywood star Liam Neeson arrived back in Ballymena to a jubilant welcome as he accepted the freedom of his home town.

Actor Liam Neeson arrived back in Ballymena today to a jubilant welcome as he accepted the freedom of his home town.

Who'd have thought it? From forklift truck driver to major Hollywood actor. But who inspired Liam Neeson to go into acting?

Monday is Martin Luther King day. In the year of The Gathering, wouldn’t it be amazing to discover he was Irish? He just might have been, says Jonathan deBurca Butler

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has today called for a meeting with the Orange Order following violence at a Belfast flashpoint where contentious parades were held.

Hundreds of anti-riot police will be on duty today amid fears of street disorder in north Belfast after a big Orange Order demonstration in the city.

HOW do you get to know a nation? Taste their food? Walk their streets? Read their history? Try clicking through the nearest turnstile, follow the route on the back of your ticket to the seat. And learn.

IF, ON first meeting him, you did not know his background, you could easily imagine Chris Thackaberry strolling down O’Connell Street in a Celtic jersey or coming home from Hill 16 on a summer Sunday having seen the Dubs lose from a winning lead for the umpteenth time.

VICTORIES can be won or lost in just small moments.

THE body of a 17th century pope who helped fund Protestant William of Orange’s invasion of Britain and Ireland is to be removed from the Vatican to make way for the remains of Pope John Paul II.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will make one of the shortest but most significant journeys of her 57-year reign when she travels to Ireland later this year. It comes more than 150 years after the trips by Queen Victoria. Ryle Dwyer looks at the first visits of Victoria and her predecessor, George IV.

MICHAEL MULHARE, North Laois AC, yesterday added the men’s senior title at the 42nd Rás na hEireann Cross-Country International to animpressive list of victories notched up over the past several weeks.

The DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson has welcomed the sentiment behind calls for July the 12th to be made a national holiday.

JULY 12 should be made a national holiday here to appease the Orange tradition, former justice minister Michael McDowell insisted last night as he hinted at a return to frontline politics.

ONE way in which sport mirrors society is that the rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting kicked and trampled upon.

Police and Orangemen came under attack tonight as a controversial Twelfth of July parade was escorted through a notorious flashpoint in Belfast.

Armed riot police moved in tonight to remove nationalist protesters staging a sit-down demonstration ahead of an Orange Order march.

More than 40 Orange Lodges took part in the annual 12th of July parade in County Donegal today.

THE story of a family’s struggle against the weight of the Catholic Church and a compelling and detailed historical novel, Tim Fanning’s account of the Fethard-On-Sea boycott leaves no stone unturned and no angle uncovered.

WATCHING this week’s RTÉ programme on the beginning of the Troubles in 1969, I was struck by the similarity of what happened then and what has been happening in the past year.

Protestants in the North face "ethnic cleansing" despite the peace process, the leader of the Orange Order claimed today.

Up to 500,000 people are expected to take to the streets of the North today as the Orange Order marching season reaches its pinnacle.

Hundreds of people from across Ireland today attended the annual 12th of July garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin.

The site of the country’s bloodiest battle between Catholics and Protestants should be developed as an international tourist attraction, according to Community Minister Eamon O Cuiv.

More than a dozen police officers were injured during violent clashes in the North early today.

Thousands of Orangemen will be marching today to mark the 380th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in Co Louth.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has refused to say whether his department was requested by a state tribunal to hand over files relating to a land deal involving an associate of Bertie Ahern.

Save Tara demonstrators are today marking Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's reign as “a monument to bad planning, and unsustainable development”.