There are “large gaps” in local state services that are creating a barrier for effective community policing, an Oireachtas committee has said.

A motorist driving through Cork City late at night feared he was about to be robbed by a man who jumped out in front of his car and banged the bonnet and shouted at him.

A 72-year-old Wexford woman who travelled to Cork every Christmas was knocked to the ground and robbed of her handbag but she returned the following year as she wanted to face her fears.

Plans to plant 50 million trees in England to create a "Northern Forest" between Liverpool and Hull have been backed with £5.7 million from the British Government.

A crisis is looming at University Hospital Waterford over Christmas as up to 100 shifts will have no staff cover, it has been claimed.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Neidín is on extra rations for he is going to have to hightail it west next week bearing his most corpulent master to the truly wonderful location of The Burren, in Co Clare, for the 11th Burren Slow Food Festival (May 12-14) where this year’s focus is very firmly on Irish Raw Milk Cheeses and Irish Gins. 

Cork Simon relies heavily on fundraising by ordinary people embracing the extraordinary time that is Christmas, writes John Tynan

The pale orange front door in this Victorian terrace hints at the funky yet functional home within, says Tommy Barker.

A man who threatened gardaí in Cork City gave his name as 147 and said he was a member of An Garda Síochána.

Gardaí found a young woman in tears in Cork city centre after a heroin addict had approached her from behind and snatched her handbag containing her iPhone 5.

A homeless charity says plans to introduce modular homes, while welcome, must not detract from the need to tackle the rent issue.

“I’ve worked in homeless services for nearly 22 years now at this stage and I’ve never seen it as bad. Rough sleeping has increased, family homelessness has increased, the number of children homeless has increased, the lack of good quality accommodation, the lack of any type of accommodation… it’s hitting people very hard.”

EU policymakers yesterday unveiled plans to ensure the free flow of gas and power to every corner of the 28-member bloc, hailing it as the biggest energy shake-up for more than half a century.

One of the country’s top musicians will bring music into healthcare settings as part of a major music festival in Cork next week.

A heroin addict travelling by bus from Dublin to Cork drew the short straw in a group of six and carried €4,400 worth of the drug internally — but as well as being detected by gardaí she was later beaten by one of the six for losing the drugs.

As Ireland’s homelessness crisis continues, some groups are starting to look outside of Ireland for possible solutions, writes Ruairi McKiernan. 

A 27-year-old man who deliberately drove a van, while drunk, at a motorcycle garda has been jailed for twelve years for various offences.

The Simon Community is calling on the Government to fully support the implementation plan on the State’s Response to Homelessness, saying the problem is not just in Dublin.

Health Minister James Reilly, on a breakneck trip to the South-West for a number of pre-election duties yesterday, denied he was being "held back" by Fine Gael strategists because of a perceived lack of popularity.

Gardaí investigating the manslaughter of a homeless man whose body was found in a refuse chute in Cork last week have arrested a 27 year old man.

A 64-year-old man making his way for the last bus home was accosted by three women who demanded money and went through his pockets to rob him, it was claimed yesterday.

Community organisations in west Waterford are to get live information on crimes and suspicious activity as part of a new text alert system.

THE event went off with a bang and the crack was quite literally mighty.

HARDLY a week goes by without yet another report highlighting the harm caused by alcohol.

HOW dare Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Pat Carey (October 3) accuse us of deluding ourselves?

The Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has said the Government is willing to continue to tackle the current economic downturn "in the public interest".

THE reform of the Common Agricultural Policy will top the agenda when EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Dacien Ciolos will visit Ireland from September 30 to October 1.

Former Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has won the support of a second trade union in a week in his bid to become the next leader of the Labour Party.

Support for community development projects is the focus of the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture and Community later today.

THE broadcasting authority has decided not to cite Ivan Yates for remarking on air that Irish and Welsh rugby supporters share a hatred of the English. The remark was made on the Newstalk 106-108fm breakfast show prior to the Six Nations game between Ireland and Wales.

CHANGES may be considered to a new Irish Leaving Certificate curriculum which places more emphasis on the spoken language because of anger in all-Irish schools, Education Minister Mary Coughlan has hinted.

CHANGES may be considered to a new Irish Leaving Certificate curriculum which places more emphasis on the spoken language because of anger in all-Irish schools, Education Minister Mary Coughlan has hinted.

TIMID, drab, stale and pedestrian – just some of the words being used to describe Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s much anticipated Cabinet reshuffle.

ONE of the most heavily criticised ministers in Brian Cowen’s Cabinet has downplayed suggestions that he will be axed by the Taoiseach in the forthcoming reshuffle.

ANOTHER delay has hit the €425m LEADER rural development scheme.

SEVERAL thousand offenders are being imprisoned in cramped jails when they could serve their sentences in the community with significant savings to the taxpayer, a Government body has found.

AS I was walking on Fr Matthew Street in Cork recently I once again came across a homeless man sleeping rough in appalling conditions.