Aoife Phelan’s family have issued a statement through local priest Father Gerard Phelan, after the man accused of her murder Robert Corbet was brought before a special sitting of Portlaoise District Court this morning.

A former Fine Gael councillor convicted of receiving corrupt payments remained a free man yesterday after his sentencing hearing was adjourned until late June.

A 71-YEAR-OLD man died from complications of a bone fracture sustained in an altercation with a 96-year-old resident in the nursing home where they both lived, an inquest has heard.