A GOVERNMENT department has defended paying €2.75m for an airport on the Aran Islands that had been valued at €600,000 in an independent report they commissioned.

The number of students learning through Irish in schools and early education is targeted to double, as the development of the first comprehensive policy on Irish-medium education is announced.

A Connemara farmer has challenged the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to take him to court over works he is carrying out on a special area of conservation.

Stunning images captured by the National Monuments Service (NMS) show light filtering through Newgrange leading up to today's Winter Solstice.

Cork City Council has now confirmed that it intends to work with the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation in relation to any future works at the site in Bessborough

A pair of yellow-spotted river turtles, which are on the red list of threatened species, died within a day of being introduced to a crocodilian enclosure at the zoo towards the end of 2017.

An Bord Pleanála has turned down an appeal by the minister against a decision of Kildare County Council to refuse her department planning permission for a proposal to allow turf cutting at Coolree Bog near Prosperous, Co Kildare.

Even at a moment when the leader of the free world looks ever more like one of Nurse Ratched’s tortured patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it is impossible not to be

Dublin Zoo has introduced contingency plans for animal escapes in adverse weather conditions after three monkeys broke out of their enclosure when a roof was damaged during Storm Ophelia.

551 staff out of the 21,060 (2.62%) employed by government departments were identified as staff having competence in the Irish language.

Just over 500 staff out of more than 20,000 working in Government departments can speak Irish.

The National Monuments Service is investigating a report of serious damage to a unique 3,000 year-old “vitrified” hillfort close to Cavan.

Legislation to seal millions of child abuse records for 75 years was drafted so “all possible provisions” of the National Archives Act, which allows the public or State bodies to access records, would be disapplied.

Additional car and bus parking to cater for the large numbers of visitors to Muckross House, a protected area one of the southwest’s most popular tourist attractions in the 10,000-hectare Killarney National Park has been given the go-ahead.

Balbriggan is suffering from a serious seagull problem but residents are fighting back, writes Michael Clifford.

A plan which may allow the Department of Agriculture to approve afforestation projects in Special Protection Areas (SPAs) is being finalised for public consultation — after six years in preparation.

Applications have opened for commercial permits to operate boats to Skellig Michael, the World Heritage sixth-century monastic site off the coast of Kerry, made more famous globally by the movie series Star Wars.

Draft plans have been drawn up for a €1m Irish language childcare centre, whose development was scuppered 10 years ago by the economic downturn.

The Government has defended its funding of the Irish language amid criticism over the level of allocation in Budget 2019.

Objections have been raised to halt the expansion of facilities at a one of Kerry’s most popular tourist attractions.

Cork County Council has been told to prepare plans to get a number of harbour forts, Martello towers, and what was once the largest gunpowder factory in the world added to Unesco’s world heritage status list.

State grant insufficient to rebuild fire-gutted venue in Macroom

Fears have again been expressed about the safety of the foundations of St Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney due to a build-up of silt in the Kerry town’s River Deenagh.

Too much red tape and new regulations have forced a popular Killarney wildlife park and visitor attraction to close after 25 years.

More than €600,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent on the controversial Cork event centre project ever before a brick is laid.

New life has been breathed into one of the most historic parts of Cork City thanks to a €500,000 investment in the public realm and a cultural venue.

Fáilte Ireland was under no obligation to keep records of its former CEO’s emails after he left the company, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has said.

The developers of Cork’s proposed €73m events centre have again insisted work will begin on site by the end of this year, despite no agreement yet on a funding deal.

Forts and Martello towers dotted around Cork Harbour and what was once the biggest gunpowder factory in the British empire could soon be designated as Unesco World Heritage sites.

Plans for a new €10m tourist attraction in Limerick dedicated to rugby have been kicked to touch following an objection to An Bord Pleanála that the development will threaten the city’s rich Georgian heritage.

An environmentalist has secured leave from the High Court to mount a legal challenge to the planning permission granted to build a sea wall at Donald Trump's golf club at Doonbeg in Co Clare.

Cork County Council has criticised a planning application for a €500,000 upgrade to ‘Heartbreak Pier,’ the derelict structure from which a million emigrants, including 123 who boarded the Titanic, departed Cobh for new lives in the UK, America, and Australia.

The project co-ordinator for Sherkin Island Development Society says the decision to cut funding to a third-level course on the island means the community has not had a chance to react or seek alternative funding.

A hillwalker’s chance discovery of bones in a Mayo mountain chamber has led to the identification of ancient rituals carried out more than 4,500 years ago.

US president Donald Trump is facing a further battle in a long-running row with environmentalists over controversial plans to build sea defences to protect his 18-hole golf course in west Clare.

The owner of Patrick Pearse's handwritten surrender letter has accused the Government of apathy over the unique 1916 artefact after it was taken out of the country.

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has given a commitment that students will be able to finish an art degree on a West Cork island despite uncertainty over funding for technical support.

A number of ‘features’ that require further archaeological investigation have been discovered at the site of the Sunday’s Well Magdalene Laundry in Cork.

A number of ‘features’ that require further archaeological investigation have been discovered at the site of the Sunday’s Well Magdalene Laundry in Cork.

The Government has been accused of failing to provide sufficient funding in the budget to promote the Irish language.

Plans to regenerate the last Georgian mansion built in Dublin — Aldborough House in the Ballybough area of the north inner city — with an office development on the site have been blocked, writes Gordon Deegan.

Changes to the names of Government departments may cost the State €15,000.