A man was yesterday charged with discharging a firearm arising out of an investigation into a shooting in Cork City, in the early hours of Sunday last, where a young woman was wounded in the neck.

More than 200 child sex abuse victims who dropped cases against the State relating to abuse when they were at school could be eligible for offers up to €84,000 each under a new scheme approved by the Government.

Louise O’Keeffe, who defeated the Irish Government in the European courts, has demanded a meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss her disappointment at the State’s response to the landmark judgment in her case.

The Government should no longer delay a decision on how it plans to respond to dozens of cases of people who were sexually abused at school, six months after the landmark Louise O’Keeffe case ruling by a European court, a solicitor claims.

Two-thirds of sex abuse victims in schools who had cases like Louise O’Keeffe’s pending against the Department of Education withdrew them after being warned of the financial consequences by the State.

A “five strikes” policy for repeat offenders should be introduced with a minimum jail term of seven years for a fifth conviction, according to one of the country’s best known legal figures.

The family of a Dublin man who died while having liposuction in Colombia questioned the validity of his marriage to his South American wife at Dublin Coroner’s Court.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will go into talks with the religious orders this week demanding that they pay half the cost of compensating and supporting abuse survivors.

JUDGES need a disciplinary body to reprimand members of the bench who misbehave, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said.

THE Law Society of Ireland has proposed a radical overhaul of existing conveyancing methods to simplify and speed up the legal verification of property transactions.

A GOVERNMENT watchdog will allow dissatisfied clients seek a review of how their complaints against solicitors and barristers were investigated.

THE Law Society has hit out against the High Court after criticisms of it in the wake of high profile cases of solicitors manipulating mortgage applications.

THE Mater Hospital has insisted no public money will be used to fund a threatened legal action against patient rights campaigner, Janette Byrne.

The Gardaí had a culture of secrecy in the early 1970s which still continues to the present day, an Oireachtas committee heard today.

The Special Criminal Court ruled today that portions of garda interviews with two Northern Ireland men accused of Real IRA membership should not be admitted in evidence because the men had not been given proper access to their solicitors.

ABUSE victims are prepared to haul the Government through the courts for years to come if a swift solution to the Laffoy Commission debacle is not found.