The annual Vampire Swim at Myrtleville in Co Cork took place yesterday.

Leo Varadkar’s €5m Strategic Communications Unit has been branded a “dangerous development” which was politically driven.

The Office of the Prison Inspector has strongly criticised the decision to close the country’s only semi-open prison and said it conflicted with stated official policy.

A mother and her four children, including five-week-old twins, are among 12 residents left without homes following a fire in a block of seven apartments close to Cork City centre last weekend.

A 52-year-old Detective Garda hero was “ferociously and viciously” attacked by two pit bull terriers that were released against gardaí as they searched for drugs, a judge was told yesterday.

Shanghai Noon to GI Joe, there's plenty on the telly.

The HSE has yet to decide whether to move 28 residents from a disability centre after health watchdog Hiqa secured a court order over serious fire safety concerns.

Check out our guide to the best of tonight's TV.

Check out our guide to the best of tonight's TV.

Check out our guide to the best of tonight's TV.

The repetitive interviewing of a child who is believed to have been sexually abused can cause confusion and contaminate the child’s story, according to experts speaking at a national conference yesterday.

The team which identified the Irish tomb of Princess Diana’s great-great grandfather plans to open the graveyard to visitors as a part of a new, historic graves project.

State-owned Permanent TSB made an after-tax loss of €261m in 2013 compared with €996m the previous year, helped by one-off gains in pension liabilities and deferred tax assets.

Two children in urgent need of in-patient psychiatric care were admitted to the adult service at Cork’s Mercy University Hospital because there were no beds available in the child and adolescent mental health services.

China has denied fresh US claims it is sponsoring cyber-attacks and said the countries should cooperate against the global threat of computer crime.

Throughout the Olympics we have enjoyed watching fantastic performances from our Olympic athletes, and on their return both Minister Ring and John Treacy rightly applauded them for those performances, and equally rightly, both men have committed to support our Olympic athletes in the future.

If you travel to Knock you might be in search of a miracle — just don’t expect any good weather.

It might not be the weather for stripping off, but hundreds splashed about in the sea yesterday to raise funds to fight cancer and remember loved ones.

Hopes have increased that a way may be found to treat blindness by replacing lost light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye.

EMERGENCY workers frantic to regain control of Japan’s dangerously overheated nuclear complex turned to increasingly elaborate methods yesterday to cool nuclear fuel rods at risk of spraying out more radiation.

MORE than 2,300 children and teenagers are waiting to access mental health services in this country — even though this figure has dropped by nearly 10% in the past year.

HEALTH professionals have highlighted a delay in treating child sex abuse victims because of a lack of coordination among health and justice authorities.

Around 1,100 cannabis plants and nine stun guns were recovered today during a raid in west Dublin.

A UNIT designed to cater for the needs of children and teens with serious psychiatric problems remains closed to clients — almost seven months after the Health Service Executive (HSE) announced its official opening.

MORE than half of the inmates at Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon are on “high dependency, mind-altering” prescription drugs.

A three-match ban for Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is the only appropriate response to last night’s coin-throwing incident, players’ chief Gordon Taylor said today.

Gardaí in Dublin are continuing to question four people following two separate drug seizures today.

FOUR college bands from the US with more than 500 musicians will take part in Limerick’s International Band competition on Sunday.

NO extra money will be made available for sexual assault units this year despite a Government review which found their survival is in jeopardy due to a funding crisis.

The Department of Health has announced that it will be launching the country's first anti-cannabis drive this week.

Residents battling to block a new €30m jail in north Dublin today took their campaign to the front page of a national paper.

The Morris Tribunal heard today that top-level gardaí probing the controversial death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in 1996 insisted on pursuing members of the McBrearty family for the crime despite stronger evidence against other suspects.

A man and a woman were jailed for life tonight after being convicted of the murder of the woman's former partner in Dublin in May 2000.

Ireland is to sign up to a worldwide anti-doping initiative, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue said today.

IBEC has called for the response to the waste management crisis to be placed at the top of the national agenda.