He’s one of the country’s toughest, most versatile competitors. Champion rower, international cyclist. He has until January 13 to win the most important race he’ll face ... against cancer.

The High Court has ordered the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to disclose documents relating to complaints by Ian Bailey over the garda investigation into the 1996 murder of French film maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in West Cork.

Ian Bailey and four of his lawyers were yesterday given permission by the High Court to inspect transcripts of conversations recorded between gardaí at Bandon station and various people, including journalists.

The DPP has agreed to give Ian Bailey the names of three gardaí alleged to have asked a State solicitor to put pressure on a former DPP to initiate prosecution proceedings for the 1996 murder of French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork.

The level of contact between gardaí and journalists during the investigation into the 1996 murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier was “beyond belief”, the High Court heard yesterday.

A Galway man will be sentenced next month for the rape of his eight-year-old sister in their family home when he was 17 years old.

Normally, hearing your seven-year-old daughter bluntly telling you to get off the trampoline might sound a little harsh. But for Kathleen and Derek King, it was music to their ears.

Documents required in a damages action against the State by Ian Bailey and his partner Jules Thomas arising from the Garda investigation into the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier are to be handed over by the end of September, the High Court has heard.

A Fás worker accused of murdering a woman in Clare two years ago broke down as he explained to a Central Criminal Court jury why he stabbed himself in the stomach when the woman’s body was discovered.

A deputy state pathologist has told the trial of a FÁS worker accused of murdering a woman in Co Clare two years ago that the cause of death was manual strangulation.

A former Galway hotel owner will be sentenced at the Central Criminal Court in June for the rape of an employee following a staff party.

A 36-year-old man has failed in an appeal against his conviction for raping his boss' teenage daughter.

The owner of a helicopter and a number of cars including a red Ferrari F355, which the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) claims are the proceeds of crime, faces being jailed for contempt of court.

A Cork man denied sexually abusing his sister during garda interview and requested a break because he thought her allegations were “sick”, a trial has heard.

Ian Bailey’s lawyers are looking for legal costs to cover items not normally included in costs orders, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Lives are being lost on a daily basis due to under-funding and under-staffing in the mental health services, the head of Kerry’s Psychiatric Nurses Association has warned.

PSYCHIATRIC nurses in Kerry have issued a written warning to relatives of clients telling them that a staffing crisis is threatening to overwhelm the “neglected” services which are being “dismantled” due to a lack of investment.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgement in the case of a 74-year-old Galway man appealing against his conviction and six-year sentence for sexually abusing two young girls over 40 years ago.

A Co Longford man charged with having an explosive device on the eve of the State visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Republic last month has been granted bail at the Special Criminal Court.

A 62-year-old man who raped a baby-sitter nearly 30 years ago has succeeded in having his 11-year sentence reduced by four years on appeal.

Extraditing a man to France for questioning over the murder of a film-maker in Ireland would have implications for every citizen in the Irish State, it was claimed today.

Michael Lowry denied in court today that he was a corrupt politician, dishonest, untrustworthy and unfit to be a Minister or a TD.

Ian Bailey’s legal team has described the attempt by the French authorities to extradite him to France as an insult to the Irish State in what’s understood to be the first case of its type in Europe.

The extradition of Ian Bailey to France for questioning over the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier is an insult to the Irish state and legal system, it was claimed today.

Closing speeches have been heard in the trial of a 24 year-old man accused of murdering his sister’s partner in Co. Mayo last year.

A man has today been found guilty of anally raping his boss’s teenage daughter two years ago.

CRIPPLING budget cuts to the HSE-funded voluntary bodies which cater for people with intellectual disabilities has dominated the headlines this week.

A Roscommon doctor has revealed she found sexually transmitted genital warts on a 13-year-old girl who subsequently accused her father’s employee of anal rape.

A Roscommon man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of anally raping his boss’s teenage daughter two years ago.

PEOPLE with intellectual disabilities living in HSE residential homes are being forced to live in overcrowded houses with no therapeutic services or treatments, it has been claimed.

A garda has revealed that a Galway man denied all of his sister’s sex abuse allegations and could not say why she would accuse him of rape.

A Galway man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court for sexually abusing his sister for almost a decade.

SOPHIE Toscan du Plantier’s family expects a lengthy legal battle to get Ian Bailey before a French judge investigating her death.

A bank manager today secured a High Court injunction preventing his dismissal over misconduct allegations.

The blood of a 21-year-old Dublin man who was stabbed to death was discovered four inches below a palm print which matched that of the man accused of his murder the Central Criminal Court heard today.

THE Galway man who murdered Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo has been remanded in custody pending sentence for raping a French student at knife-point.

The Galway man who murdered Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo has been remanded in custody pending sentence for raping a young French woman at knife point in 2007.

The jury at the trial of a Galway man accused of murdering Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo in October 2007 has been sent home for the night.

A Galway man accused of murdering Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that her death was “an accident”.

An Offaly man “solicited” another man to kill a man he “blamed” for the drowning of his son, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

A former top-flight professional footballer has denied in evidence he committed more than 80 acts of rape and sexual assault on his 16-year year old daughter.

THE jury in the trial of a Polish man accused of raping a woman in Galway as she walked home from her local pub in which they had both been drinking has heard that she had asked another customer to wait for her but he did not.

The jury in the trial of a Polish man accused of raping a woman in Galway as she walked home from her local pub in which they had both been drinking has heard that she asked had another customer to wait for her but he did not.

A "passionate environmentalist" who caused damage totalling €3m in an arson attack on the Irish headquarters of the Jesuit Order has been given a five-year sentence.