There has been a “reversal” in the cannabis market in just four years, with stronger herbal cannabis now the dominant form of the drug consumed

A quarter of adults have used cannabis with highest usage rates among those with a further education, new figures have revealed.

THE ASSOCIATION of Catholic Priests (ACP) has said the Vatican “won’t take too kindly” to calls from the former Bishop of Derry to end clerical celibacy.

IN more innocent times in 1991, Bishop Comiskey of the diocese of Ferns, said this about the Irish Government: “It is economically and morally bankrupt.”

KARL knows of up to 20 people who have died from heroin.

DIVISION TWO league finals tend to leave little in the way of a lasting impression but yesterday’s footprint dug a little deeper, if only for another entry into the catalogue of memorable displays from Steven McDonnell.

A midlands solicitor who has been suspended from practising and had his bank accounts frozen has told the High Court that he has "never benefited from" or taken money from any of his client accounts.

The High Court has suspended and frozen the accounts of a Midlands-based solicitor after being informed that a Law Society Committee had formed the opinion that he was guilty of dishonesty.

HEROIN treatment programmes are cutting drug-related crime by half and are benefiting both addicts and wider society, according to new research.

The son of a retired Garda took to the stand in the Special Criminal Court today to say he had brought a Garda hat into the house of a father of 10 accused of IRA membership while playing with the accused's son during Halloween.

DRUG treatment substantially reduces drug use, drug dealing and criminal activity, according to a major study.

THE first exam of the new Junior Certificate science syllabus was set yesterday morning and the higher level paper was very well received.

A DIOCESE that was at the centre of a clerical child sex abuse scandal was yesterday celebrating the appointment of its new bishop.

Ireland is the most media-saturated country in the world. But that saturation doesn’t supply variety. For example, radio, on the afternoon the Ferns Report came out, offered an infinity of choices but no alternative. If you went for talk radio, you got a bucketful of Ferns, no matter where you went on the dial.

BISHOP Brendan Comiskey purchased an insurance policy in 1989 to protect the diocese of Ferns against liability arising from sexual abuse claims despite the fact he repeatedly failed to adequately deal with allegations of abuse against numerous priests.

RISKING a scandal in the parish, a priest took a teenage girl into his presbytery.

A SUICIDE note left by Fr Sean Fortune was never disclosed to the Garda and instead destroyed by a priest who feared it was a deliberate attempt to destroy Bishop Brendan Comiskey.

THE following nine priests were also investigated by the inquiry. Six of the priests against whom allegations of sexual abuse were made are dead.

THE Ferns Inquiry report is the first report of its kind in Ireland, following the first completed investigation by the State into how a church body conducted its affairs.

Some 21 Catholic priests savagely sexually assaulted young boys and girls in parishes across Co Wexford in Ireland during the past 40 years, a scathing report into clerical abuse revealed today.

The diocese of Ferns is expected to emerge today as one of the worst in the world for clerical child abuse.

THE IFA Hill Farming Committee yesterday welcomed progress on appeals being made by farmers to Commonage Framework plans which will result in a reduction of the level of destocking required.

KEY witnesses in an inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in Wexford says the bishop who managed the diocese at the time should not be made a scapegoat in the ongoing State probe.

FORMER Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, who resigned over his handling of sex abuse allegations against the late Fr Sean Fortune, is expected to give evidence to the inquiry into sex abuse in the diocese later this month.

LATEST financial accounts from a diocese at the centre of an investigation into clerical sexual abuse show contributions and other incomes have increased significantly over the past year.

Mobile phone operator Vodafone today announced an agreement for the distribution of popular cartoon 'The Simpsons' branded mobile content to its customers.

A HOUSE bought by the Diocese of Ferns for former Bishop Brendan Comiskey has been sold.

IT was to be a palace fit for a former bishop, but now Bracken Lodge, just outside Wexford town, is on the market and the Diocese of Ferns stands to make a €30,000 profit on its sale.

BISHOP Brendan Comiskey’s replacement stood by him yesterday, insisting the former Bishop of Ferns was not forced to resign.

FORMER Bishop Brendan Comiskey will not be returning to the €234,000 bungalow which the Diocese of Ferns bought for him just four months ago.

A VICTIM of clerical sexual abuse has been urged to stay in Britain, not to return to his native Wexford and not co-operate with the BBC in its follow-up documentary to the ‘Suing the Pope’ expose.

AN IRISH solicitor has hand-delivered a letter to the Papal Villa, urging the Pope to open up all files on clerical sexual abuse, particularly those in his home diocese of Ferns.

THE Diocese of Ferns has paid 234,000 euro for a retirement home for Bishop Brendan Comiskey.

A SEX abuse victim who is suing Bishop Brendan Comiskey and the State in relation to the handling of abuse in the diocese of Ferns will find out today if she can have access to files on the priest at the centre of the scandal.

Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Ferns, Bishop Eamon Walsh, said last night he believed the Catholic Church should apologise for the sexual abuse of children carried out by Father Sean Fortune and other catholic priests.

More than 150 people staged a demonstration against sex abuse today as Roman Catholic church leader Cardinal Desmond Connell celebrated mass.

The Government looks set to order an official inquiry into child sex abuse allegations against the late Father Sean Fortune.

Michael Martin, the Minister for Health, is to meet the victims of Fr Sean Fortune to decide whether to launch an independent inquiry into the abuse scandal.

Cardinal Desmond Connell and Archbishop Sean Brady have issued a joint statement following today’s shock resignation of the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey.

The Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, has announced his decision to resign in the wake of the controversy surrounding his handling of complaints of sexual abuse by the late Father Sean Fortune.

It has emerged that Dr Brendan Comiskey will not attend the Easter Vigil at St Aidan's Cathedral in Enniscorthy this evening.

Officials from the Turkish embassy in Dublin were today aiding gardai in their bid to identify the eight dead and five sick refugees found in a freight container that arrived here from Europe.