All-Ireland winning captain Kieran McGeeney has seen his share of big day dramas, but few could trump his wedding this week, when his groomsman’s wife went into labour during the reception.

All-Ireland winner Kieran McGeeney met his Kerry match yesterday in stunning bride Maura O’Rahilly.

A woman remains in a critical condition at Cork University Hospital after a road crash on Saturday — an incident which occurred after four road deaths over the Christmas period.

A legal action has been launched aimed at blocking access by Irish internet users to the free file-sharing website Pirate Bay and related sites.

THEATREclub’s ethos of drama for the people underpins its new play, an exploration of what kinship means in Ireland, says Pádraic Killeen

THOSE who say there is no such thing as a free lunch may have to eat their words, thanks to the novel approach being taken by one landlord.

AN EXTENDED canvass through Wexford offered Micheál Martin a timely reminder there was more on voters minds than banks, Berlin and bondholders.

A WOMAN who was clocked driving at 170km/h on a motorway — without insurance — has been banned from driving for two years after being convicted of five motoring offences.

THE future for hurling has assumed a blue and gold hue.

Tipperary 5-22 Galway 0-12

All-Ireland U-21 HC semi-final

IT was a week when the true meaning of life sentences became clear.

MR JUSTICE Paul Carney’s annoyance at the Court of Criminal Appeal is understandable. In January 2007 he sentenced Gerard Kelly to life in prison for rape, but the sentence was for more than that crime.

Amid all the recent calls for a constitutional referendum on children’s rights and talk of the need for measures to protect children from paedophile abuse, the overturning yesterday of the life sentence imposed on a 45-year-old paedophile for the rape of two young boys is being met with a degree of stunned incredulity.

A Cork man who orally raped a foreign national has been jailed for 13 years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reduced the life sentence imposed on a serial rapist for a sexual assault on a young woman while she walked to a friend's house to one of 13 years in prison.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment in appeal brought by a serial rapist against the life sentence he received for sexually attacked a woman just five months after his release from prison for a previous assault.

THE two-year-old All Ireland filly championship at Kildysart Show in Co Clare last weekend was won by local exhibitor Dermot O’Sullivan, with a Big Sink Hope filly, out of Sansiero Belle.

Walker Cup hopefuls Simon Ward and Jonathan Caldwell will lead the chase for the East of Ireland Amateur Open at Co Louth on Saturday.

The founder of the illegal Radio Dublin pirate station has been jailed for 10 years for sexually assaulting young girls at his home some 30 years ago.

A serial rapist who sexually attacked a woman just five months after his release in 2004 from a 10-year rape sentence has been jailed for life by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court today.

AN exploration of the development of multi-denominational education would cause many blushing faces in government circles.

The trial has opened at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin of three Cork men and two Limerick men accused of membership of the Real IRA.

Six men were cleared of being members of the Continuity IRA and one man was convicted of the charge at the Special Criminal Court today after one of the longest trials in the history of the court.

Defence submissions continued today at the Special Criminal Court trial of seven men accused of membership of the Continuity IRA in Limerick in 2001.

A Tipperary man told the Special Criminal Court today that the front door of a house came down on top of him when gardai raided a house in Limerick where they suspected a meeting of the Continuity IRA was taking place.

A Limerick man told the Special Criminal Court today that he was at a Republican Sinn Fein meeting discussing a forthcoming republican commemoration when gardaí raided a house in the city.

A Co Clare man arrested at an suspected Continuity IRA meeting in Limerick denied at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today that he was ever a member of an illegal organisation.

The defence case in the biggest ever trial of dissident republicans at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin will continue next Tuesday.

The vice president of Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) and the organisation's PRO in Limerick denied at the Special Criminal Court today that they were members of the IRA or any paramilitary organisation.

The Special Criminal Court today refused applications by lawyers for seven men accused of membership of the Continuity IRA for a direction to acquit them.

The Special Criminal Court has ruled that a large part of the State case against seven men accused of membership of the Continuity IRA in Limerick cannot be admitted in evidence.

A detective sergeant today accepted that sections of garda memos of an interview with an accused on trial for IRA membership was inaccurate.

A Limerick-based GP who is also a medical examiner for Henry Street Garda Station, today denied that he whitewashed records for the gardaí.

A garda sergeant today denied that he "whitewashed" custody records on seven men who were detained after gardaí raided a suspected Continuity IRA meeting at a house in Limerick.

A device capable of detecting garda radio frequencies was discovered during the search of the home of a suspected Continuity IRA member, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

Fingerprints belonging to one of seven men on trial for membership of the Continuity IRA were found on a note seized during a suspected meeting of dissident republicans, the Special Criminal Court has heard.

A senior garda today denied that gardai in Limerick "harassed" republicans because of the IRA killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe and the wounding of another garda in Limerick.

A detective garda who took part in a raid on a house in Limerick where a suspected Continuity IRA was taking place, made a number of errors in his witness statement, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

A detective garda who took part in a raid on a house in Limerick where a suspected Continuity IRA was taking place, today denied that gardai "hassled" members of Republican Sinn Fein.

Fingerprint experts made additional marks on a note seized by gardai during a raid on a suspected Continuity IRA meeting in Limerick, a garda witness told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.

Gardaí raiding a house in Limerick where a suspected Continuity IRA meeting was taking place found a handwritten note containing references to firearms, "knee cap job" and "a safe house", the Special Criminal Court in Dublin heard today.

A Detective Sergeant who led a garda raid on a house in Limerick where a suspected Continuity IRA meeting was taking place told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today that he believed it was "possible and probable" that firearms were in the house when he ordered another garda to break down the front door.

A Detective Sergeant who led a garda raid on a suspected Continuity IRA meeting in Limerick denied at the Special Criminal Court today that shots had been fired during the swoop.