Martin was of one of the two men who died in the Christmas Day accident in Co Mayo.

One of the men who died after the car he was travelling in was swept along a river on Christmas morning had already lost a sister in a drowning accident a number of years ago.

A boot containing a foot found on a Dublin beach was identified as that of a man who’d gone missing 10 months earlier.

Property prices are rising fastest in the west of Ireland, official figures have revealed.

The Government has been accused of “not learning their lesson from the property crash” after it emerged that house prices have risen almost 8% over the last year.

Every cloud has a silver lining and 2016 proved to be no exception. Gwen Loughman looks at the year that was through eight Irish people who made the year that bit brighter

The war of words over the Central Bank’s year-old mortgage rules has flared again, as bank governor Philip Lane said there will be no early review, even as auctioneers launched a fresh broadside calling for them to be changed immediately.

A grieving woman who lost her partner, two sons, mother, and sister in the Donegal drowning tragedy has shown unbridled courage to write and read a poem in their honour.

The sight of five coffins being carried up the steps of the Holy Family Church was beyond heartbreaking.

Two days after five people died at a Co Donegal pier, warning signs or safety measures have still not been installed there.

A GAA player jailed for assaulting an opponent during a match between two Mayo football clubs, has walked free from prison following a successful appeal.

Auctioneers have reiterated their call on Finance Minister Michael Noonan to rethink the sale of Nama assets, saying it is time to scrap the sale of the €7.2bn Project Arrow loans, the largest auction by the agency to date.

Auctioneers heavily criticised for rubber-stamping inflated Celtic Tiger property prices are still using the same mechanisms to value homes today.

IS Paul Howard an evil genius who manufactured the siege of Vico Road for his own ends? Howard is the prolific author of the Ross O’Carroll Kelly columns and novels.

I just heard on the radio that the road from Foxford to Straide was closed. 

It’s only five months since Ireland made history at the Women’s Rugby World Cup by beating New Zealand in the pool stages and reaching the semi-finals, but the personnel changes since have been seismic.

The Ireland Women ended their World Cup journey with a best ever finish of fourth place after falling to France in a bruising 3rd/4th place play-off tie in Paris.

Ireland 7 England 40

Ahead of this evening’s highly anticipated women’s rugby World Cup semi-finals, take a look at the epic journey so far.

There are any numbers of stories and statistics by which you could measure the progress made by an Irish women’s rugby side which, in Paris this evening, will fight for the right to feature in their first World Cup final.

When your day job involves clambering up cranes and lots of heavy lifting, lining out against the "old enemy" in a World Cup semi-final is unlikely to shatter your nerves.

Cork poet Louis de Paor tells Alan O’Riordan how he thinks some of the richness of our cultural heritage can get lost in translation

IRFU WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP POOL B:

Four years ago at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Surrey, Kildare’s Jenny Murphy watched Philip Doyle’s team from the stands.

France 19 Ireland 15

IN 1970, fresh out of St Colman’s boarding school, I attended UCC.

Ireland 59 Scotland 0

THE hanging men: Ireland has executed 29 people - the last in 1954. The Pierrepoint brothers carried out nearly all of them.

In the pantheon of Irish patriots, a higher place might, under different circumstances, have been reserved for James Fintan Lalor.

Standing on the cusp of a Grand Slam facing a side you beat 40-10 last year can be a precarious perch.

England Women 23 Ireland Women 6

Ireland women 20 Scotland women 0

Damian Murphy played like a captain and he spoke like a leader of men too even if he did describe himself as “over the hill and overweight” in the midst of his speech from the Hogan Stand.

DIAGNOSTIC healthcare firm Euromedic Ireland says its new MRI scanner could save the taxpayer €1m in Munster if the Government engages with the private sector to reduce waiting times.

EMIGRATION is again one of the biggest problems facing this country.

Ireland 15 Scotland 3

IRELAND finished third in the FIRA Women’s European Championship in Amsterdam after they drew 22-22 with France on Saturday.

Ireland 22 France 22

YOU can tell as much about a sport by watching its fans as the games.

Munster 11 Leinster 10

Ireland 14 Australia 18