A Cork community is trying to comfort the family of a young woman whose life was tragically cut short when she drowned in West Cork on Tuesday night.

A Fermoy company has been crowned the country’s top amateur drama group at the 63rd RTÉ All-Ireland Drama Festival.

WITH memories of storms a year ago still fresh, people in coastal areas worry about a recurrence of the damage and flooding — made worse by a lack of hope that anything meaningful will be done about the situation.

With Raul’s Champions League goal record firmly in-sight, Ronaldo is not just breaking records but also barriers. Ciarán O’Connor takes a look at how Ronaldo’s performance against Liverpool in Anfield on Wednesday broke the barrier between the fiercest of foes as he was applauded off.

THE people of Waterville, on the Ring of Kerry, proudly describe the village promenade as their gem and are seriously concerned about storm damage to a rock protection barrier laid down in the late 1990s.

Cork’s embattled business community is demanding a clear commitment of government funds for flood defences in the city as it emerges that the bill for this week’s flooding will top €50m.

Romance was in the air at Ford’s showrooms in Sandyford, Dublin on Tuesday but, despite the gleaming array of new and vintage motors on display, that special tingle had nothing to do with the lure of the open road or the magic in the night that Springsteen had in mind back when him and Mary were “pullin’ outta here to win”.

On an afternoon when Galway Hurdle hero Rebel Fitz paraded after the second race, the veteran Tommy Treacy took the riding honours with a double at Cork yesterday.

Former 'Doctor Who' actor David Tennant is to star in a new drama which brings to life the story of the “Busby Babes” and the air disaster which claimed many of their lives, it was announced today.

IT’S A battle of the former PRO’s as Midleton delegate Pat Horgan throws down the gauntlet to present incumbent, Bob Ryan for the position of vice-chairman of the Cork County Board in next month’s election.

“AN unbelievable bunch of players.”

THE former chief executive of Arranbawn Co-op Jimmy Murphy is the 2009 winner of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) Plunkett Award for co-operative endeavour.

DRAMA groups from Co Cork towns Kilmeen and Charleville are set to compete for All-Ireland honours in a theatre of golden dreams.

THE practice of building houses and other concrete structures on flood plains is destroying Ireland’s natural flood defences, according to one of the country’s leading experts on coastal engineering.

IT MIGHT have been bitingly cold, damp and miserable at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday night, yet hardly anyone noticed. With the action tough and uncompromising and a plethora of great scores, this Evening Echo Cork Co U-21 HC final was spellbinding and had late drama to cap a compelling night.

ONE hundred miles west of Cork city in beautiful Cahermore, two of Beara’s great rivals fought themselves to a standstill for the right to meet Kildorrery in the IFC semi-final.

It is a bleak, emotionally intense and absorbing film, with superb performances from Colm Meaney, Brendan Conroy and Donal O’Kelly.

A MAN who was refused permission to return to the US, after a brief visit home last Christmas, is to return there and be reunited with his pregnant wife.

A RESERVE member of the State of Iowa police force vowed yesterday to go on hunger strike if he was not allowed return to the US and rejoin his pregnant wife.

A London-Irish writer who survived alcoholism, homelessness and brutal prison conditions will today give his first-ever book reading in Ireland.

SHARON GRACE’S death and the drowning of her two daughters should never have occurred, a coroner has said.

A jury today branded the failure of health services to change their procedures following the tragic drowning of a mother and her two young children an absolute disgrace.

ARRABAWN Arrabawn Co-op has appointed Conor Ryan as chief executive with effect from June.

IAWS Co-op has upped its stake to 26% in NTR Plc, the operator of the National Toll Roads. IAWS now holds over 6.2 million ordinary shares in NTR, whose shares have shot up from €13 to €27 since October.

BUTTER produced by Arrabawn Co-op in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and sold on export markets by the Irish Dairy Board under the Kerrygold brand, has won a gold medal at the cheese and buttermaking Olympics.

DAVE KEANE had his two-year contract as manager of the Limerick Senior Hurling team terminated last evening after a vote of no confidence.

THE UCC football club will mark the conclusion of their celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the club’s foundation with matches against teams representing the famous Harvard and Princeton universities in America next week.

JOHN HENDRICK shot his former girlfriend and then killed himself in a double tragedy that has scarred many lives.