Visitor accommodation is at a premium as a West Cork town gears up for the arrival of some 1,500 musicians and hundreds more friends, guests and fans of the popular South of Ireland Band Championships.

Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman has denied he is learning Irish to increase his chances of becoming party leader.

An Bord Pleanála has granted a Gaelscoil on Cork city’s northside another extension of temporary planning permission despite opposition from some local residents.

We’ve all heard of the biblical “road to Damascus” but, in the case of two childhood friends, the path has led away from the Syrian capital all the way to West Cork.

From modh choinníollach to Mandarin Chinese — Gaelscoil pupils are about to wrap their tongues around the world’s most spoken language.

WHEN you’re a scriptwriter whose latest TV series is an irreverent take on the 1916 Rising, it throws you a little when you meet your director for the first time and realise he’s a descendant of one of the most celebrated fighters to die at the GPO.

Cork’s choral festival again promises to be one of the highlights of the cultural calendar, says Jo Kerrigan

A Government decision not to accept a report on small schools is good news for rural Ireland but its political handling is bad administration, says Education Correspondent Niall Murray

Four new multi-denominational primary schools are expected to open later this year.

New multi-denominational schools will open this year in four towns where parents want more choice than only the faith-based schools currently available.

Ovens Boys NS 3-5 Ballygarvan Boys NS 1-4

Minister of State Sean Sherlock has hit back at one of his Labour Party colleagues who claimed a promised new school wouldn’t be built in the timeframe suggested by the senior politician.

A North Cork community will be out in force this morning to demand that the Government presses on with plans to provide a new facility for an overcrowded school in their town.

A voluntary cancer support organisation is set to have its dreams realised with a premises for a support service and drop-in centre.

An east Cork group striving to build an €800,000 youth and community centre must raise €200,000 by May or risk losing the project.

Denis Connolly and his partner Anne Cleary were among the many Irish architects who moved to Paris in the early 1990s, a time when there was virtually no architectural work in Ireland and an abundance in France.

A large secondary school in Co Cork is to undergo a €5.5m extension which will enable it to more than double its original intake of pupils.

Parents at the second of two Cork city primary schools proposed for amalgamation have voted unanimously against the move.

A school in Co. Limerick is reportedly looking at changing the date for its First Holy Communion, because it clashes with a One Direction concert.

Annmarie O’Connor styles Dáithí Ó Sé, presenter of RTÉ’s Today show, for our cover shoot — and wonders just how he'll manage the Galway-Cork commute as a newly wed.

A Cork Gaelscoil has welcomed a court decision that should let its new school building go ahead.

A superb display of attacking from Scoil Mhuire na nGrás secured the H5 title at Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday.

Dublin U21 football star Ciarán Kilkenny will wait until after his Leaving Cert before deciding whether to accept an offer of a trial from AFL club, Carlton.

Pupils, parents and staff of an East Cork gaelscoil cheered the news that work should begin on their long-awaited new school building within three years.

Kilmurry 3-13 Scoil Eoin, Innishannon 4-3 (aet)

AN EXCELLENT Scoil Íosagáin performance after half-time earned them victory over Scoil Eoin, Ballincollig in the Allianz Sciath na Scol F3 final at Páirc Uí Rinn, Cork, yesterday.

A SCINTILLATING second-half performance helped Star of the Sea pull away from St Brendan’s and claim the GF4 Allianz Sciath na Scol title at Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday.

THE notion of total immersion in the Irish language is being taken to new lengths by a Gaelscoil which will move to a former swimming pool next year.

STUDENTS who were previously educated in prefabs on the grounds of a rugby club yesterday moved to a state-of-the-art school at a former hotel in Dunkettle, Co Cork.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has given the green light to Co Monaghan VEC to build a €35m education campus.

TWO groups involved in the country’s growing number of gaelscoileanna have rejected the report on future primary school provision, claiming it blocks children’s chances of an all-Irish education.

PLANNING permission is expected to be sought later this year for a new €4 million third-level campus in Clonmel as part of the merger of the Tipperary Institute with the Limerick Institute of Technology.

LIAM O’NEILL will be the second Laois man to serve as GAA president when he takes over from Christy Cooney in 12 months.

IT’s tucked in under a cleft on a side road and the elevation gives this little cottage at Inniscarra views over the weir at Ballincollig Regional Park in Cork.

GOOD value can be had at 66 Westcourt Estate in Ballincollig, Co Cork, where a three-bed semi, with decent dimensions is on offer at €170,000.

THE loss of teachers in dozens of Gaelscoils will create larger classes and make all-Irish primary schools less viable, it has been claimed.

Best friends Gabrielle O'Donoghue and Roisin Ryan plan to celebrate in style after both got eight A1s and two other friends achieved the maximum 600 points as Leaving Cert results were announced today.

CONCERNS have been raised by school inspectors about teaching and management at a Gaelscoil operating from a business park.

A SCHOOLS campus bringing primary and second-level education together in the west Cork town of Bantry is set to be finished by the end of next year.

PUPILS at a school named after composer Seán O Riada performed a new piece from the famous Cork family’s repertoire yesterday.

Rose Martin visits six exclusive apartments up for sale in Plaza scheme.