Insurance companies are refusing to provide flood cover to homeowners living by streams and tributaries of the River Blackwater in North Cork, even though it’s been claimed they have not flooded in living memory.

Thousands of homes face being repossessed as banks step up efforts to pursue mortgage holders in default.

IFA president John Bryan has challenged the Government’s stated desire to boost agri-food job creation while simultaneously cutting the sector’s funding.

New laws to protect whistleblowers will be discussed today by unions and politicians at the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform.