There is “concrete evidence” to support the introduction of an automatic three-month disqualification for anybody caught drink driving, the Road Safety Authority has claimed.

The Cork City Sports athletics meet will tonight be streamed live to the world for the first time.

A crack team sliced and diced their way through a mountain of spuds and veggies yesterday to help feed a city today.

I recently wrote to An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, to express my view that the practice of both, his, and his ministers, being off the island, over the St Patrick’s Day festival, is not only misguided, but very wrong.

City officials have been asked to introduce designated alcohol-free zones across the city centre for Cork’s St Patrick’s Day festival.

Irish food and drink will take centre stage at a week- long series of events coordinated by Bord Bia to coincide with St Patrick’s Day celebrations worldwide.

It might not be the biggest parade in the world but Dublin is surely one of the best spots to be for the St Patrick’s Day bash.

Cork’s city manager has criticised Fáilte Ireland over its lack of funding for St Patrick’s Day festivals outside the capital.

More than half a million people packed Dublin city centre today as the annual St Patrick’s Day parade got under way.

The economy is set for a much-needed €90m tourism boost this weekend, as up to 200,000 overseas visitors join in the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

The owner of Blarney Castle is standing over his decision to pull the plug on a key element of the Cork village’s St Patrick’s Day festival.

The Occupy Dame Street camp in Dublin city centre has today been cleared by gardaí and councils chiefs.

A WOMAN who has forged strong cultural links between Ireland and Japan was waiting anxiously for news last night about friends caught up in the Pacific earthquake and tsunami.

IT already regards itself as the ‘real capital’. Now Cork has launched a bid to become the country’s festivals capital.

LIMERICK rugby hero Keith Earls will line out in front of tens of thousands on St Patrick’s Day– but this time he’ll tog out in a different shade of green from his international kit.

TIME to get the green face paint ready. St Patrick’s Day is less than a month away and revellers were yesterday promised a feast of events to mark the event.

CORK can be more than proud of its newest public spaces, civic leaders said yesterday, as they officially handed them back to the people after two years of disruptive building work.

BUSINESS chiefs in Cork city have warned that plans to close a key road during the St Patrick’s Day parade could cost them tens of thousands of euro in lost revenue.

The Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) has urged its members to be especially vigilant over the St. Patrick’s Day festival this weekend to prevent underage people getting access to alcohol.

LOCAL festivals generated €300 million for the economy this year, it emerged yesterday.

THE Opposition has launched its traditional attack on the Government’s decision to put the Dáil into recess for the week leading up to St Patrick’s Day.

PROFESSIONAL pageant grants and a massive community involvement will add a dimension to next month’s St Patrick’s Day parade in Cork, organisers promised last night.

CULTURE Ireland yesterday announced €1 million in funding for groups promoting Irish arts and culture abroad.

CATRÍONA RUANE is the high-profile leader of the campaign in support of the Colombia Three.

THE claim by Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Coughlan that welfare fraud is being exposed (Irish Examiner, May 5) rings hollow when one hears of the corruption in Fianna Fáil and the outpourings from the Mahon Tribunal.

SURPRISE, surprise, St Patrick’s Day turned into an alcohol-fuelled binge of violence. Now there’s a shock. Didn’t see that coming.

THE six-day St Patrick’s Day Festival began in Dublin yesterday with what is hoped to be an annual event: a talking shop in Dublin Castle about what it means to be Irish.

Start with the legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. Then give it a Texas twist.

MTV will broadcast a series of programmes from Dublin this weekend to celebrate the St Patrick’s Day festival.