Developers will be banned from buying their way out of commitments to provide social housing under new planning laws.

Home-owners will not know how much they will be charged for water until August, according to the body which will set the fees, despite reassurances from the Taoiseach that the rates would be revealed before the May elections.

Irish Water said today that water meter installations are not causing leaks.

The Minister for Finance said funding has been set aside to demolish ghost estates, with the taxpayer, rather than developers, likely to foot the bill.

A “red light district” sign was erected on a street in Limerick yesterday, much to the anger of locals.

A row has broken out between a town council and the Naval Service over noise pollution from a firing range.

The south east of England is now in a state of drought, Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

A LOCAL authority is poised to shut down and clean up an unauthorised end-of-life vehicle compound located next to a reservoir which supplies drinking water to 95,000 people, a court heard yesterday.

Two dingoes that mauled a three-year-old girl on an Australian beach have been caught and will be destroyed, authorities said today.

WATER supply is continuing to improve around the country, according to the National Severe Weather Co-ordination Committee.

A SIPTU bank account at the centre of a number of investigations was used to fund six trips to New York by a Department of Finance official who had a key role in industrial relations issues.

Controversial plans to build an incinerator at Lough Neagh are to be challenged in the High Court in Belfast, it was disclosed today.

THE Government has gone into reverse gear regarding threats to drivers of commercial vehicles used for school runs and other non-business journeys.

THE Environment Department will provide funding for fuel costs next winter of up to 750 people who must stop harvesting turf on protected nature habitats.

A NEW national flood alert system has been demanded as the country braces itself for further chaos sparked by severe weather.

ENOUGH people to fill Croke Park five times over will take to the highways and byways during April, picking up rubbish recklessly and shamelessly thrown to the four winds.

The farming industry was dealt another blow tonight as a new case of bird flu was discovered in turkeys.

A sixth suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease was being investigated in Surrey in the UK tonight, Defra said.

The recent foot and mouth outbreak in the UK could have been caused by faulty drainage pipes at the nearby Pirbright laboratories or spread by construction workers from the site, it was reported today.

Once-extinct sea eagles were today released into the wild by Minister for the Environment and Heritage John Gormley.

FINE Gael has accused the Government of wasting more taxpayers’ money on electronic voting after it emerged containers bought to house the machines were too small to hold all of them.

THE Government is setting up a team of officials to finalise issues surrounding the costs and timescale of the Mahon Tribunal.

THERE could be a “€1 billion black hole” in Government spending plans because ministers are not keeping track of how much the Mahon Tribunal will cost, TDs warned last night.

Ireland must continue adopting anti-corruption measures to increase public confidence in state bodies, it was claimed today.

Ireland’s emergency services are primed and ready for a nuclear disaster, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil today.

SENSORS and front-facing mirrors should be made mandatory on trucks to eliminate blind spots for drivers after the tragic death of a pensioner, a jury recommended yesterday.

Sensors and front-facing mirrors should be made mandatory on trucks to eliminate blind spots for drivers after the tragic death of a pensioner, a jury recommended today.

THE row over the Nitrates Directive took a heavy political toll yesterday as farming organisations walked out of social partnership negotiations in anger.

HOUSEHOLDERS must realise that burning 60,000 tonnes of rubbish illegally in backyards can have more deadly health effects than incineration, an Oireachtas Committee heard yesterday.

Householders must realise that burning rubbish illegally in backyards can have deadly health effects, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

Community groups, environmental organisations and individuals were today urged to apply for funding from a €1m scheme to protect wildlife in their local areas.

THE Government paid over €1 million last year to rehire civil servants it had already pensioned off because no one else was trained to do their jobs, according to Opposition TDs.

THE Government has spent at least a quarter of a billion euro of taxpayers’ money on outside consultants, it was revealed last night.

DUBLIN City Council has been accused of disposing of fridges and freezers in a “reckless and irresponsible” manner after workers were photographed throwing the appliances into bin lorries.

Chasing down TV licences is costing An Post more than it collects from the fees, it emerged today.

Irish manufacturers will have to pay for the collection and disposal of all old electrical goods to avoid multi-million euro fines under new regulations published today.

The Government tonight defended itself against claims that it was giving special treatment to sections of the building industry.

The Government should create a new minister for immigration and ethnic issues to promote better policies in the area, it was claimed today.