The worst fears of the business owners and the tens of thousands of people they employed in cafes and the pubs and restaurants and retailers were realised as the shutters came down 10 days ago.

Unite trade union demands that all work should stop.

Post offices will remain open with measures in place to ensure the safety of staff and customers.

Up to 11,000 new nurses and health and social care professionals could be hired as part of the government’s new recruitment drive.

Bank of Ireland announced a target to establish 50:50 gender balance in appointments to senior management and leadership by 2021.

The union and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have proposed changes to the plans and are awaiting a response from HSE management.

The National Bus and Rail Union says “fearless” groups of are terrorising drivers.

Two males and two females confirmed with the virus in the west of Ireland

Samoa’s 2019 measles outbreak peaked before Christmas.

“I'm open to talk to anybody who has got constructive suggestions about the FAI, because the FAI is a complete and utter basketcase."

Government ministers confirmed the plan as part of the cross-departmental Be Winter Ready campaign amid ongoing criticism it is failing to help people in most need.

"It was like a war zone in some cases," with west Dublin especially badly hit, NBRU General Secretary Dermot O'Leary said.

The association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces has taken a case to the Council of Europe to force the State to recognise the right of soldiers, sailors and aircrew to register as conscientious objectors.

Plans to increase the state pension age to 68 should be a red line issue in any forthcoming general election.

Parents who are asked to accept a shorter school day for their children with special needs should refuse to do so, the lead author of a new report has suggested.

The association representing the country’s frontline Defence Forces has sought affiliation with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) so it can be involved collectively in national pay talks.

The NBRU reported that there have been 2,488 incidents of antisocial behaviour on Irish Rail services between 2013 and 2018, including open drug use, assaults and intimidation.

Strikes and service withdrawals are expected to be threatened by transport workers in response to antisocial behaviour and jobs fears in the coming weeks and months.

A network of 19 “mini police forces” is to be set up across the country under a massive restructuring of the Garda organisation.

More than 100 complaints about teachers have been lodged with the profession’s regulatory body.

More than 1,400 officers and personnel have left the military in the past year, the vast majority of them voluntarily, according to the association representing defence forces officers.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ biennial conference in Dublin must mark “the beginning of a renewed effort to secure the right to collective bargaining for all workers”, according to general secretary Patricia King.

The Government is sending Ireland's elite troops to "one of the most dangerous places in the world" but is refusing to pay them increased allowances agreed by independent arbitration in 2010.

Waterford Fine Gael TD John Deasy has demanded the local Fine Gael organisation be stood down as he hit back against a motion of no-confidence in him.

The disparity in pay and conditions between An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces involved in protecting visiting VIPs was again highlighted yesterday.

Students are being urged to consider apprenticeships as a career choice, as they prepare to sit their exams this week.

There are critical shortages of officers in all sections of the Defence Forces, forcing junior officers to act up and becoming overstressed, while others are often "double and treble-jobbing" to cover the gaps.