Irish rugby boss Philip Browne can find “no reason on earth” why Ireland could not host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

IRISH OPEN organisers last night breathed a sigh of relief with confirmation that US Open champion Rory McIlroy will compete in the 2012 event.

The state thought that Pat Finucane was expendable, the Northern Ireland Assembly has heard today.

THE ESB has completed its £1.2 billion (€1.4bn) takeover of Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) from the Viridian Group — a deal first agreed upon by the two parties in July.

The ESB has completed a €1.4bn deal to buy Northern Ireland Electricity.

CARDINAL Sean Brady did not respond to requests yesterday to comment on either the publication of chapter 19 of the Murphy report or his failure to report paedophile priest Brendan Smyth to the proper authorities when he became aware of his sexual abuse of children in 1975.

Ryanair has announced that it will close its Belfast City Airport base at the end of October.

The Catholic Church today backed calls for an independent inquiry into the British Army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago.

Budget airline easyJet called today for a public inquiry into controversial proposals to extend the runway at George Best Belfast City Airport.

US President George Bush will host Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness at the White House next month, his officials confirmed today.

Ulster Unionist threats to quit Northern Ireland’s Policing Board should be taken with a pinch of salt, a rival said tonight.

THE Government yesterday said Ian Paisley’s willingness to share power with Sinn Féin if it abandoned criminality and paramilitarism was a “sign of how far the peace process has progressed”.

There was no master plan to kill innocent civilians on Bloody Sunday, the inquiry into the shootings was told today.

Political Editor

Political Editor

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams today warned Tony Blair that it would be a “mistake” to suspend power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.

SDLP LEADER Mark Durkan yesterday urged the British and Irish Governments to do everything possible to minimise the damage to the Good Friday Agreement.

The leader of the nationalist SDLP Mark Durkan today urged the Irish and British Governments to do everything possible to minimise the damage to the Good Friday Agreement.

Northern Ireland’s parties will struggle to get back into power sharing if the Government suspends devolution this week, Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness warned today.

BERTIE AHERN will appeal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair not to suspend the Northern Ireland Government tomorrow after assurances Sinn Féin was not involved in IRA intelligence gathering.

The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland at the time of Bloody Sunday did not believe Army claims immediately afterwards that they had shot dead terrorists on the civil rights march in Derry, it was disclosed today.

The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland at the time of Bloody Sunday did not believe army claims immediately afterwards that they had shot dead terrorists on the civil rights march in Derry, it was revealed today.

An MI5 agent who claimed Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness fired the first shot on Bloody Sunday will not have to give evidence to a tribunal of inquiry because of fears for his life, it was announced today.

Prominent Ulster Unionist Lord Kilclooney said today that responsibility for security in Northern Ireland was ‘‘slipping away’’ from Belfast to Westminster at the time of Bloody Sunday.

The leaders of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government were today preparing to pay tribute to the victims of last September’s terror attacks on the United States during a visit to the rubble of the World Trade Centre.

Coleraine biotechnology company has secured €3.3m in third round funding in a round led by venture capital company Crescent Capital.