Work is to begin at Government level to find ways to remove more than 25,000 students from the private rental market, five months after the Department of Education was alerted to the campus accommodation shortfall.

Many rural communities are battling to stay positive and promote new initiatives, writes Niall Garvey. 

A €13m plan to tackle homelessness in Limerick was launched yesterday by the local authority.

An average 35% reduction in funding for for community and voluntary organisations is having a detrimental impact on community development, writes Rory Hearne.

As of midnight tonight, the 835,000 households who have not confirmed their details with Irish Water may face a default charge of €260.

Irish Water has today announced that more than one million households have registered their details with the company.

The Government has enacted legislation for what they describe as the most significant reform of local government since the foundation of the State. They promised greater devolution of powers from central government to local councils.

I read with interest Michael Clifford’s article of July 26 (‘A blustery reception for wind turbines as locals voice their opposition’) which reported that a local woman, Marina Reilly from Castletown, Co Meath, was given an assurance by the Taoiseach that health problems would be taken into account in the review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines.

With just 270 positions filled on its Gateway job activation programme, the Government has had to change the criteria for access to the scheme to try to attract more participants.

Construction work on the first phase of a decade-long housing regeneration project on Cork’s northside is poised to begin.

Calls for Frank Flannery to appear before the Public Accounts Committee intensified after his resignation as chairman of the Forum on Philanthropy to which Phil Hogan, Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, had appointed him in 2011.

The creation of new playgrounds, tourism and heritage projects and much needed construction jobs in West Cork hangs on whether the Department of the Environment agrees to provide Leader funding to 27 groups.

Moves towards free GP care and stricter rules for sunbeds will be among a new wave of legislation to be published before the end of the year.

Moves towards free GP care and stricter rules for sunbeds will be among a new wave of legislation to be published before the end of the year.

The fire service is billing the HSE for call-outs to road traffic accidents where casualties have to be cut free from wreckage.

Rural development funding of €120m is not reaching approved projects, says South East Cork Area Development chief executive Ryan Howard.

An energy company planning to test drill for oil about six miles from some of Ireland’s most sought after real estate has been forced to postpone explorations.

The wait for rural development grants in Gaeltacht areas continues, following the liquidation last September of Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta (MFG).

OVER €500 million in damage, months of work by a team of highly paid state officials, a report that runs to 115 pages — and the advice for householders and businesses beleaguered by bad weather is: buy a shovel.

BORD na Móna is hopeful of being granted “lead partner” status in the Government’s plan to establish a more focused utility body around water supply, as set out in both the Programme for Government and the EU/IMF agreement.

JUST over 1,700 houses were commenced in the first four months of this year, compared to a staggering 25,784 at the height of the housing bubble in 2006.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his new team of Ministers have received their seals of office.