WHEN you’re a scriptwriter whose latest TV series is an irreverent take on the 1916 Rising, it throws you a little when you meet your director for the first time and realise he’s a descendant of one of the most celebrated fighters to die at the GPO.

Tipperary TD Noel Coonan has hit out at constituency colleague Alan Kelly for acting like the “only person in government”.

While he awaits news on Love/Hate, Peter Coonan is keeping busy with stage and film roles, writes Padraic Killeen

A creche facing trial under child protection laws following an RTÉ expose will show almost 40 hours of secretly filmed video evidence in their defence.

The country's largest trade union SIPTU has backed protests against water charges, and said it would begin talks with other unions about peaceful demonstrations against the charges.

Gardaí are investigating a death threat to a Fine Gael TD following comments in which he compared water charge protesters to ISIS militants.

People who fail to pay their household water bills will not be pursued in the courts, Irish Water boss John Tierney pledged last night as those calling for a boycott claimed it will be difficult for the Government to penalise non-payers.

Gardaí are investigating a death threat phoned into the office of a Government TD after he compared water-charge protestors to Islamist militants.

Gardaí are investigating a death threat to a Fine Gael TD following comments by him in the Dáil earlier today.

Weddings will be able to take place in the grounds of hotels and other approved wedding venues after a ruling by the attorney general.

Record audiences are expected to tune in for tomorrow night’s episode of Love/Hate which marks the final instalment of the current series.

Gardaí have asked the High Court for permission to release a picture of a teenage girl found in the capital three weeks ago.

Gardaí trying to identify a teenage girl found dazed and wandering in Dublin three weeks ago have asked a judge for permission to release a photo of her.

Gardaí have launched an internal investigation after a serving member of the Garda National Drug Unit played an undercover drugs detective in crime drama Love/Hate.

Limerick man John Dundon has gone on hunger strike in prison as he fears an attempt to poison him.

Love/Hate star Peter Coonan may play the ultimate hardman in the hit gangland series, but in real life he is urging the nation to reach out to the men in their lives in a bid to stop suicide.

Moves are afoot to revive the Irish sugar industry but it will take a lot of knocking of heads together, writes Joe Dermody

Teenager Jack Guiney proved an inspiration for Wexford as he struck 3-5 to help confine Laois to next year’s Allianz Hurling League Division 2A at Nowlan Park yesterday.

A COUNTY councillor is seeking to have cameras installed in local authority housing estates to combat antisocial behaviour.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has today strongly condemned the announcement by Government that there will be a ban on new recruits for the next two years.

A 17-year-old boy punched a garda because he was “under pressure” after eloping with and marrying a girl against her parents' wishes, a court has heard.

A gritty hoodlum tale set in North Inner City Dublin where three characters harbour ambitions for something more.

Fine Gael's Noel Coonan has been elected on the second count in Tipp North.

THE Department of Agriculture will assist with a study to assess the possibility of redeveloping the sugar beet industry, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

BOTH sides in the Fine Gael street fight promised they would deliver the decisive blow throughout yesterday.

“WHO’S the cougar?” The slang word, commonly used as a reference to a woman of a certain age who is attractive to younger men, would have been unusual parliamentary language at the best of times – but as a TD shouted it while the Dáil chamber was convulsed by a row over sexism, it was especially surprising.

YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe lost his cloak of anonymity yesterday as alegal battle began over whether he should ever be freed.

Eamonn Lillis will be sentenced tomorrow after he apologised today for the events that led to his wife Celine Cawley's death.

PAUL CARBERRY, never too far from controversy, has been banned for 30 race days for failing a breath test at Naas on October 31.

Paul Carberry will consider whether to launch an appeal after he was banned for 30 race days in Ireland.

Murdered advertising executive Celine Cawley was laid to rest today as mourners paid tribute to a woman of flair who acted with panache and style.

Mobile phone operators must use existing technology to stamp out bullying, the Dáil heard today.

NEW laws to combat witness “amnesia” will help the State pursue prosecutions, a barrister suggests in a legal review.

Up to 600 jobs are under threat at a multinational cosmetics manufacturer in Co Tipperary, it was revealed tonight.

THOUSANDS of racegoers flocked to Dublin’s Fairyhouse Racecourse yesterday to roar on Point Barrow to victory at 20-1 in the Irish Grand National yesterday.

Laois 4-14 Dublin 0-14

PROCEDURAL defects with the testing of the blood samples from Waterford Crystal are likely to form a crucial plank of showjumper Cian O’Connor’s defence when he appears before the Judicial Committee of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) on Sunday.

KEVIN BABINGTON is reserving his firepower until Sunday’s World Cup qualifier in Florida as he bids to book his ticket for the final.

Irish farmers deserve credit for how they have controlled the effluent from the livestock equivalent of 64 million humans. Instead, they get the Nitrates Directive, after 13 years of dithering. Stephen Cadogan reports.

THE Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) plans to set up a stewarding system at shows to “deter any misdemeanours which may cast a slur upon the sport”.

John Tynan

IRELAND’S Nations Cup campaign could be without the services of Kevin Babington this season, transport costs for Carling King threatening his participation.