The number of Irish people with dementia will rise 40% in the term of the next government, says the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI).

Just 80 out of 4,000 drone users here are licensed to fly them – as the number of drones in use here continues to rise.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) says that, last year, it recorded a very strong financial performance with operating profits increasing by 15.5% to €29.7m.

A €500,000 National Lifeguard Training Centre will be officially opened today in the seaside resort of Tramore, following a unique collaboration between agencies.

FTC says the company has not done enough to stop kids making unauthorised purchases, writes Joe Kloc

Members of the Survivors of Symphysiotomy group have rejected the Government’s redress plan.

Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp media group is set to become the fourth largest commercial radio owner in the UK after agreeing the acquisition of eight regional stations.

The Government has appointed a judge to assess the possibility of an ex gratia compensation scheme for the estimated 300 women who were affected by the barbaric symphysiotomy procedure carried in a number of Irish hospitals from the 1920s to the 1980s.

A conference calling for a debate on drug laws yesterday heard that a man faced a three-month prison term for having cannabis worth just €2.

Children have a “very bleak future” if the Government is unable to take on the vested interests in the alcohol and sports industries, the country’s largest representative body of community drug projects has said.

The people of Buttevant are hoping to unveil a huge mural which will showcase the town’s historic past.

Boys as young as nine are viewing pornography in their kitchen or living rooms, according to a leading psychotherapist.

THE process of discarding dead fish is to be phased out by the EU Fisheries Council in Luxembourg and eventually banned.

IT was at the kitchen tables of family homes in Monkstown, Cobh and Ringaskiddy that the 10-year campaign to stop two incinerators being built in Cork Harbour was spearheaded.

A DECISION to award a transsexual worker more than €35,000 for discrimination she endured at work has been hailed as “groundbreaking”.

THE Government yesterday said that it would stand by its target of ensuring that 20% of its overseas development aid budget would go towards tackling hunger.

Minster for Environment John Gormley has announced that new tests will be carried on the site of the former Irish Steel works at Haulbowline.

North Korea’s release of a South Korean worker it had detained for months signals an attempt to improve ties with Seoul and Washington amid tensions over the regime’s nuclear weapons programme, analysts said.

Hundreds of extra young people could become apprentices under an ambitious new scheme, the North's Employment Minister said today.

RENT deposits should be placed in a central state fund with an independent assessment of whether they would be paid back to tenants, under a proposal by the Labour Party.

The chief executive, directors and senior managers at Irish Life and Permanent will not be paid bonuses for last year.

Children and teenagers at risk of becoming sex offenders are being neglected by major gaps in the health service, it was claimed today.

CHILD welfare groups have reacted angrily to news that a referendum on the protection of children may not go ahead as promised by the Government.

VISITORS to the City Farm in Dublin Zoo are in for a treat because as well as lions, tigers and chimps, they can see almost 50 Irish farm animals which are now among the inhabitants.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney and the Attorney General (AG) will be asked to explain to Oireachtas members why findings have never been published from the Dunne Inquiry into the retention of children’s organs without the consent of their parents.

MORE than 220,000 schoolchildren are to be offered 60 tonnes of compost, two tonnes of seed potatoes, 8,000 growing bags and wall charts for “super tuber-day”.

The State must commit to a date this year for the proposed referendum on the rights of the child, it was claimed tonight.

CHILD abductions reached an all-time high last year with 111 new cases.

IT was the Health Service Executive (HSE), not international medical experts, who recommended the new national children’s hospital be built on the Mater Hospital site in Dublin, a member of the health authority stressed yesterday.

SEVEN county councils have failed to carry out even one inspection of rented properties over the last five recorded years.

JUST one in four of the country’s depression sufferers is receiving proper treatment for the illness, it emerged yesterday.

The widow of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe is again calling on Sinn Féin to condemn her husband's killing.

African leaders today hailed the election of the continent’s first-ever female president, calling the victory of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf a watershed for African women.

Election officials today confirmed Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the winner in Liberia’s post-war elections, making her Africa’s first-ever elected female president.

The football superstar turned presidential candidate called for a halt today in vote counting that had him heading for defeat in war-ravaged Liberia, but also urged his angry supporters to remain calm.

THE abolition of the Groceries Order is a victory for consumer power over the influential lobbying of vested interests, consumer champion Eddie Hobbs claimed yesterday.

The abolition of the Groceries Order would be very good news for consumers, it was claimed today.

WHILE the blood bank is anxious to get more donations, the question of paying people to give blood as way of boosting supplies has been ruled out, it was learned yesterday.

A REFERENDUM which allowed Europe’s “last dictator” — Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko — to run for another term suffered widespread violations, election observers and opposition figures said yesterday.

Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Commission announced today, allowing the authoritarian leader of the former Soviet republic to seek a new term in 2006.

The National Disability Authority today welcomed the Irish College of Psychiatrists' proposals on plans for a service model to develop of psychiatric services for people with intellectual disability.

The inaugural SFA National Small Business Awards, partnered by O2 Ireland and Bank of Ireland Business Banking, were officially launched by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Government Buildings.

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company may have overcharged the US Army by as much as €55.7m for petrol in Iraq, Pentagon auditors have found.