Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to two weekend crashes which claimed the lives of five people.

Robert Heffernan was a frustrated figure after his ninth place finish in 1:23:26 over 20km at the European Cup of Race Walking in Dudince, Slovakia yesterday as he took a heavy fall at 12km when in contention.

The owner of a trawler which sank off the North Coast with the loss of his father and uncle has hit out at the Dublin-based authorities over what he claimed was their failure to carry out a proper inquiry into the tragedy.

HAVING served for 32 years as a postman, I was very much taken aback by Communications Minister Noel Dempsey’s claim that postmen and women only work 3.5 hours per day on delivery.