Colleges plan to offer places to around a dozen students whose applications to become primary teachers were turned down in August, thanks to the retrospective easing of entry requirements by Education Minister Richard Bruton.

The ‘godfather’ of Fine Gael, who steered the country out of the bailout, Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, has fulfilled his final acts as the man in charge of the State’s purse strings, writes Political Correspondent Juno McEnroe.

Peter Charleton, who will chair the inquiry into the alleged smearing of a garda whistleblower, believes that lies underpin evil, says Dan Buckley

Rugby star Simon Zebo is swapping drop goals for dropping rhymes by giving his backing to a rap track aimed at raising awareness around mental health.

Male students and people with lower Leaving Certificate points are prominent among more than 6,000 who drop out annually before they reach the second year of third-level courses.

The death of Michael Hayes, president of Mary Immaculate College (MIC) in Limerick, occurred at the weekend.

Up to 89% of parents of primary school children are concerned that heavy school bags could be injuring their children’s backs, according to the National Parents Council (Primary).

IT is not only the select committee of home affairs in Britain that is worried about the internet. 

The secretary always gets the tough jobs. Just ask Mike O’Riordan in Limerick.

A former senior dean at St Patrick’s College Maynooth said he has a sense of “déjà vu” when reading of the current culture at the college and that he was “shafted” by his superiors when he raised concerns about complaints made against a vice-president there in the 1980s.

FOR more than 200 years, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, has been the centre of training of seminarians for the priesthood.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has announced appointments to the first board of the Educational Research Centre (ERC) — 10 months after it became a statutory agency.

Tests of children’s reading and maths ability are being overhauled in response to the early success of a strategy to improve standards.

Clare’s Niamh O’Dea netted two goals in University of Limerick’s O’Connor Cup semi-final victory over DCU, as the champions remain on target for a third successive title win.

Cork’s eight-time All-Ireland ladies senior medallist Juliet Murphy has admitted that she misses the buzz of inter- county football.

A senior Vatican official told an Australian sex abuse inquiry that he did not act when a boy raised abuse allegations against a cleric in the 1970s.

Waterford IT and Dundalk IT (DKIT) will contest this afternoon’s Trench Cup decider after both teams enjoyed extremely comfortable semi-final wins.

Children’s Books Ireland (CBI), the national organisation for the promotion of children’s books and reading, is deeply concerned about recent comments by the Minister for Finance regarding the desirability of iPads for every child over the age of five.

One of the country’s largest teacher-training colleges is to take up a role in educating second-level teachers as it takes over St Patrick’s College in Thurles as a satellite campus.

Schools are failing to match students’ rising home access to computers and the internet, an international report reveals.

Almost 3,000 students have been offered some of the limited remaining third-level college places this morning.

If there is one Sligo player who’ll see Sunday’s game against Mayo as a shot at redemption it will be the Connacht Senior finalists’ full-forward, Pat Hughes.

There are some words that look out of place sharing the same sentence. Jose Mourinho and modest. Paul O’Connell and ordinary. Kilkenny and football.

Children with disabilities and their schools could be forced to continue with reduced support while they wait another two years for automatic access to special teachers.

Students at religious-owned schools that do not charge fees have lost out most from cuts to guidance counselling, according to research.

Teachers in special schools say they are seen as “second rate” because they teach children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

UL manager DJ Collins paid tribute to his squad’s strength in depth as they made it back-to-back titles in the Irish Examiner O’Connor Cup at Cork IT on Saturday.

UL were in devastating form as they beat DCU by 3-16 to 0-9 to claim the Irish Examiner O’Connor Cup for the second year in a row at Cork IT yesterday.

School-based assessments of junior cycle students will be valued by teachers and parents more than exams over time, the country’s top schools inspector predicts.

Ryan Cup Roundup

The executive councils of the ASTI and TUI will meet later to decide how to respond to a compromise plan for reforming the Junior Cycle.

Wicklow TD and Labour parliamentary vice-chair Anne Ferris’s party future was under threat since her decision two weeks ago — based on heartbreaking personal experience — to rebel against the Government’s redress scheme for women held in mother and baby homes.

Proposals for a deal in the ongoing row over the junior cycle will be considered by teacher unions after their leaders agreed to changes in the terms of talks seeking to find a resolution.

Teacher union leaders will decide on Friday whether to proceed with talks on disputed aspects of junior cycle reforms, after a second full day of discussions with the Department of Education again failed to produce any agreement.

A former primary school teacher and member of the Bunratty Castle Entertainers who was ordained a priest in 1994 has been named the Catholic bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

Talks about junior cycle reform are set to resume on Monday after the longest discussions in over two months between teacher unions and Department of Education officials.

Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan says the junior cycle reform dispute will not be advanced by another strike by teachers that looks almost certain to go ahead at 720 second-level schools next week.

Any breakthrough in the junior cycle reform dispute is only likely within days of a planned teachers’ strike at the country’s second-level schools in less than a fortnight.

Four young lifelong friends killed in a road accident, and their friend who is seriously injured in hospital, had been planning to spend the night together before the fatal accident in Kildare.