THERE is something oddly comforting about the fact that beer was ranked alongside bread as the most important dietary staple in Elizabethan Ireland.

A Christ Church Cathedral spokeswoman has described as "completely bizarre" the theft of a preserved 12th Century heart from the Cathedral in Dublin.

The Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, the Very Reverend Desmond Harman, has died at the age of 66.

WATERFORD City Council is planning a €45 million spending spree on roads, parks, playgrounds and the arts funded by the sale of a major chunk of its land.