A 39-year-old man has been charged with arson in connection with a blaze which went out of control and gutted six terraced houses in Kildare.

An elderly couple have been evicted from the home they were renting in Carpenterstown in west Dublin this morning.

A judge has refused to jail pensioners Martin and Violet Coyne, who faced prison for contempt of court by defying a judge’s order to have left their home by midnight on Tuesday.