With hundreds of thousands of dogs not microchipped and registered by last Friday’s national deadline, the farmer organisations appealed to owners of the country’s dog population of about 1m to comply with the new mandatory requirement.

A farm leader has suggested that “the obsession with dairy expansion” was perhaps unwise and that the sheep sector should not be treated unfairly.

All dogs will be microchipped under new government proposals.

This was supposed to have been Cristiano Ronaldo’s tournament. His heroics against Sweden had taken Portugal to the finals.

The assistant referee who told Manchester City players to thank fans who had paid £62 (€75) for tickets against Arsenal has been taken off duty for tonight’s FA Cup third-round replay between West Brom and QPR.

Who is to blame for Facebook’s initial public offering?

A Cork woman whose 21st birthday is next week was found not guilty today of dangerous driving causing the death of two young men in North Cork in August of last year but she said afterwards that she would live with what had happened for the rest of her life.

John Lenihan dominated the Irish team selection trial during the race on Mangerton mountain near Killarney at the weekend.

Villagers left shocked by the shooting in the UK of a retired Army officer met police tonight so detectives could ease their fears about the murder.