The commitment of NUI Galway to implement significant changes to address gender inequality in its senior academic ranks has been welcomed.

Books of condolence opened in Dublin, Cork, and Galway as flags on state buildings flew at half mast.

NUIG president Jim Browne tells Education Correspondent Niall Murray his institution is keen to rectify gender imbalance in senior positions as part of its assault on global rankings.

After leading the fight against serious crime in Limerick over the last 30 years, the detective who investigated 19 feud-related killings has declared "the city is like any normal city now".

Heavy weaponry and witness intimidation made Limerick’s gangs almost untouchable in the previous decade. Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe speaks to the man who ended their reign of terror.

A university forced to pay a lecturer €70,000 for failing to promote her because she was a woman has appointed a leading female academic to help shape its gender equality policies.

A lecturer who won a landmark equality case against NUI Galway is to make her €70,000 award available to help five female colleagues similarly fight their cases.

A big jump for NUI Galway brings a ray of light to an otherwise worrying performance by Irish colleges in the latest major world university league table.

An EU-led ranking system shows strong performances by some Irish colleges in a project that aims to give students more comprehensive information than university league tables.

Construction work on the long-delayed new national children’s hospital will finally start early next year — provided the project overcomes an expected An Bord Pleanála grilling this autumn.

The local authority which voted against making Nelson Mandela a freeman of Cork in 1987 was asked, just hours before his death, to “right that wrong”.

The former head of the children’s hospital development board has been appointed to lead the new hospital group.

Cuts to both staff and funding have been blamed for further falls by most Irish universities in the latest world rankings.

NUI Galway has inked a deal with Connacht Rugby to help promote both sporting and academic excellence in the province.

MERCHANT’S QUAY in Limerick was bristling with armed gardaí, TV cameras, photographers, journalists, and curious onlookers.

The body representing hospital consultants is seeking a meeting with the Health Minister after he announced that almost 50 hospitals will be headed by six independent groups under plans to reform Ireland’s acute hospital system.

Tributes have been paid to filmmaker and conservationist Éamon de Buitléar, who has died aged 83.

Tributes have been paid to film-maker and conservationist Eamon de Buitlear who has died aged 83.

Ulster Bank’s operating loss for the first nine months of 2012 was £797m (€988m) compared with a loss of £751m for the same period in 2011.

Customers at Ulster Bank have received at least a €25 compensation payment as a result of the bank’s technical failure.

The Head of Ulster Bank Jim Browne has said the cost of redressing customers affected by the month-long IT issue which crippled the bank will be tens of millions more than originally thought.

A 16-year-old boy was last night being held in Limerick in connection with an armed tiger kidnapping which gardaí uncovered when checking out a suspect vehicle.

Chief executive of Ulster Bank Jim Browne says he still does not know if reports that the bank's IT staffing levels were halved are true.

Three parishes in the Kerry Diocese are each to lose a priest in the latest round of transfers and changes announced by Bishop Bill Murphy.

Gardaí yesterday struck another blow against organised crime in Limerick when a covert operation led to the location of a major arms dump.

Outgoing President of the Union of Students in Ireland Gary Redmond is today calling on the Education Minister to force high-earning academic staff to take a pay cut.

COLLEGES have been accused of increasing the number of specialised courses with limited places to push up points for entry — making them more attractive, but adding to pressure on Leaving Certificate students to get higher grades.

MOBILE gangs, using high-power stolen cars in smash-and-grab robberies throughout Munster, Leinster and Connaught were yesterday targeted in dawn raids by gardaí.

GARDAÍ in Galway have arrested 15 students in a crackdown on unruly behaviour during “rag week” in the city.

A COLLEGE president has called for an end to rag week festivities after two female students went around a housing estate naked during several days of antisocial behaviour.

SPECULATION intensified in Limerick last night that one of the city’s most experienced detectives who recently announced his intention to retire will change his mind to become Chief Superintendent of the Limerick Division.

MORE than 700 gardaí have retired from the force this year and the number could swell further before the budget next month.

THE Garda Commissioner is in talks with the Justice Minister in an effort to fill senior Garda positions despite the Government ban on promotions in the force.

A NUMBER of senior Garda positions in Cork and Limerick are likely to remain unfilled because of an embargo on promotions within the force.

LIMERICK’s most senior garda detective, who spearheaded the fight against the city’s notorious gangs, is to retire next month.

LIMERICK’S most senior detective yesterday warned parents the city’s notorious feuding gangs are using children to take part in YouTube videos goading rival gang members.

LIMERICK’S mayor is confident some of the city’s feuding criminals will be among the first brought before the Special Criminal Court under new anti-gang legislation.

LONG-TERM pessimism about Ireland’s economic fortunes is “unfounded” and the current recession bears no resemblance to that of the 1980s, delegates at the Engineers Ireland annual conference heard yesterday.

TWO more feud attacks were carried out early yesterday in Limerick when the homes of Christy Keane, recently released from prison, and his sister-in-law were targeted.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will give the Government’s backing today to a controversial research collaboration between two universities which has already created major divisions within the third-level sector.

THE rift between the seven universities has deepened with another president adding his concerns about possible Government moves to support an exclusive research agreement between Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Dublin (UCD).

ENGINEERS will be instrumental if Ireland is to become a “smart economy” and return to sustainable growth.

FOLLOWING a meeting with Limerick’s most senior garda officers, Mayor John Gilligan said he was very confident that those involved in the murder of rugby captain Shane Geoghegan will be brought to justice.

A LIMERICK city man was being held last night in connection with an armed robbery earlier yesterday at a bank in Kilmallock.