Al Boum up against it in bid to produce another picture-perfect moment, writes Darren Norris.

The Department of Finance suggested carbon tax could be raised by €10 in last year’s budget to “frontload” the increase and make it more effective in encouraging people to be climate-friendly.

Had events unfolded the way Nicky Henderson hoped at the start of the season Altior would not be running in the Grade Two Win Bigger On The Betfair Exchange Chase at Newbury this afternoon.

Health Minister Simon Harris has launched a blistering attack on anti-abortion protesters outside the National Maternity Hospital, saying their actions were “intimidating, sickening and anti-democratic.”

Health Minister Simon Harris has said he is pressing ahead with plans to introduce exclusion zones around maternity hospitals after tweeting that he was “appalled” at new video images of a New Year’s Day protest outside the National Maternity Hospital.

An alarming cultural and political craze in the closing years of this decade has been the enthusiasm for the kind of virtue signalling expressed in demands to sanitise history

The incidents include broken bones, dislocations, internal head injuries, as well as smaller injuries like bruising and grazes.

Seamus Coleman has been in football long enough that very little surprises him any more

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the philosophy Willie Mullins plans to adopt as he plots Al Boum Photo’s Cheltenham Gold Cup defence.

When it started in 1962, producer Tom McGrath intended The Late Late Show to be a light entertainment, informal programme to run as a 'filler' over the summer. Gay Byrne had other ideas.

All the signs are that the British government is welcoming Armageddon with open arms, writes Fergus Finlay

A voluntary worker who has assisted the elderly for decades has urged the public to watch out for their neighbours after the body of a pensioner lay undiscovered in a house on the northside of Cork city for at least seven months

A judge has praised a young Cavan woman who came to the aid of a dying man on the street as she left work on New Year’s Eve.

One of the principle reasons that National Hunt racing is more popular than the flat is that you build relationships with horses that can sustain for years and this was proved again and again this week.

The Sun Racing Stayers’ Hurdle is today’s feature race and Paisley Park can crown a flawless campaign by landing the spoils for trainer Emma Lavelle and jockey Aidan Coleman.

THOUGH a saltwater baby, half my childhood seemingly passed in the sea playing Man From Atlantis (ask anyone with receding hair and expanding belly), with age I am infinitely more reticent in my dealings with the cold, cold Atlantic, inching in toe by toe — and that’s while wearing a wetsuit. And so it is with January, these days, I ‘inch into it’, toe by toe.

I’m in Sandown today for just one ride and it’s one I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It will be my first time riding Laurina in public but I’ve ridden her a fair bit at home and I love the feel she gives you.

It is the morning after the day before but Owen Byrne is out on the track, giving the place the once over.

The new abortion helpline has received “a steady stream of calls” since opening on New Year’s Day, the HSE said yesterday.

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno is looking forward to returning to action so soon after the Gunners were thrashed by table-topping Liverpool.

Daniel Storey on the big takeaways from the weekend's action...

Ciara McDonnell rounds up 10 walks to blow the cobwebs away on New Year’s Day.

Between defeat at Chelsea in their first away game under Emery and mid-December, Arsenal took 14 of a possible 18 points on the road, but face trips to Brighton and Liverpool having been haunted by the ghost of seasons past against Southampton at St Mary’s.

Ciara McDonnell has the best hotel packages to help you ring out the old year and celebrate the new.

Two charges of endangering the lives of gardaí were brought yesterday against a 31-year-old man yesterday.

As optimism surges on Korea, US president Donald Trump should know that empty promises have long been a favourite tactic of the regime in the north, argues Eli Lake.

Peter Bracken, the former Munster, Connacht and Wasps prop, tells a great story about one of his first encounters playing alongside John Muldoon for Galwegians.

Sam Arnold doesn’t need anyone telling him that he is on the brink of a first Irish cap but the Munster centre knows better than most how suddenly best-laid plans and ambitions can be toyed with by rugby’s fickle gods.

A rescue dog has been credited with saving the life of a woman whose home went on fire in the early hours of St Valentine’s Day.

With a newly inked contract in his back pocket and a pep talk from Andy Farrell fresh in the mind, Sam Arnold was in a perfect position to reboot his season in the bonus-point win over Zebre at the weekend.

Michael Bradley, the former Ireland scrum-half and now head coach of Italian side Zebre, was last night casting an envious eye at the strength of the squad announced by his Munster counterpart Johann van Graan ahead of tonight’s Guinness PRO14 tie at Thomond Park.

Hooker Niall Scannell is just one of a number of Munster players placing more importance than usual on Saturday night’s Guinness PRO14 clash with Zebre at Thomond Park.

Johann van Graan has hailed Simon Zebo as a “completely unique” talent and revealed the full-back’s pledge to make his remaining time at Munster his best few months in red.

Corofin boss Kevin O’Brien is philosophical about facing a second trip to London in the All-Ireland Club senior football championship.

The Kanturk hurlers couldn’t settle. A fortnight without a single training session or game had become alien to them.

Peter O’Mahony has pledged to clean up his act on the disciplinary front and lead by example as Munster bid to reach the Champions Cup quarter-finals at Thomond Park on Sunday.

The mother of an 11-year-old girl who died by suicide has begun legal action against the HSE to “expose the flaws” within the health care system.

While Ulster’s players and management insist that the focus is entirely on Saturday’s lunchtime clash with Pool 1 leaders La Rochelle, it’s become clearer who will be replacing Christian Leali’ifano when the Wallaby’s short-term contract ends this month.

Arsene Wenger expects to make progress this week in his attempts to strengthen his Arsenal squad following the humiliating FA Cup exit to Nottingham Forest.

There is a perception among Connacht supporters that Leinster is the team they love to defeat, Ulster is the side they can’t beat and Munster’s scalp is the one they treasure most of all.

Detectives say that an examination of phone and online communications of the Egyptian teenager arrested in relation to the stabbing spree in Dundalk, Co Louth, which left one man dead, would be critical in establishing the motive for the attack.

Connacht will be aiming to complete their most successful series of festive derbies when they travel to Limerick on Saturday to take on a Munster side who have lost both of their inter-pros over the past couple of weeks.