Mid 1960s or so, Brendan Larkin isn’t exactly sure.

The boisterous Galway racing crowd stood for a minute’s silence in tribute to legendary racing broadcaster Colm Murray.

Strike action at Bus Éireann could escalate to include other semi-state transport firms, a union spokesman has warned today.

There has been an escalation of the Bus Eireann workers' dispute in Cork.

He’s normally grilling politicians on the top news stories of the day.

Laois edged an entertaining battle against an Offaly side, minus Ciarán McManus and Niall McNamee at the opening of the new Mountmellick GAA Clubhouse by GAA President Liam O’Neill last night.

The forthcoming budget is going to impact hugely on those who can least afford it. If any proper effort is to be made to protect the most vulnerable, a new approach is required from both the Government and opposition.

The family of a woman and her child who both died in a car crash in Galway over five years ago has been awarded more than €100,000 in damages.

IT is impossible to implement the Government’s plan to reform mental health services without more staff and further investment, the HSE’s mental health boss has admitted.

Controversial plans for a super-prison which have already cost taxpayers €40m have been dramatically scaled back, it was revealed today.

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

Glanbia members today voted down a proposal to acquire the multinational food group's Irish Dairy and Agri businesses and turn it into a farmer-owned co-operative.

Food group Glanbia today announced that it has conditionally agreed to sell its Irish Dairy and Agri Businesses to Glanbia Co-operative Society for around €340m.

BRIAN Cowen has faced down any immediate threat to his leadership after what one Fianna Fáil TD described as “a kiss and make up exercise by the Taoiseach” at a meeting of yesterday’s parliamentary party.

IT will be impossible to deliver the Government’s mental health reform programme without an easing of the nurses’ recruitment ban, Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, John Maloney said yesterday.

SOME of the facilities we offer to people with mental health issues seem as likely to exacerbate illness as to contribute to recovery.

THE true details about neglect and abuse of people with disabilities in residential care will never be known until there is robust inspection and regulation of the services, the head of Inclusion Ireland has warned.

JOBLESS people are three times more likely than those in employment to take their own lives, the Irish Association of Suicidology annual conference was told yesterday.

A €148 MILLION government initiative to foster gender equality across all sections of society has made no real progress and is in serious danger of being scrapped after just two years, it has been claimed.

MENTAL health experts have called for a line to be drawn in the sand over the inadequate standards of care in certain psychiatric institutions.

CONFUSION reigns over the timescale for the publication of the Hynes Report into the abuse of children with intellectual disabilities in institutions run by the Brothers of Charity in Galway.

MORE than 1,400 mental health patients are continuing to live in inappropriate conditions in old psychiatric hospitals despite a damning report more than a year ago urging the Government to close them.

VICTIMS of rape in Galway and Mullingar have to travel to Dublin to be examined following an attack, as promised sexual assault units have not yet been opened.

AN UMBRELLA group representing about 5,000 counsellors and psychotherapists is urging the Government to introduce a statutory registration process for the two professions.

TDs and Senators clamed almost €6 million in tax-free expenses during the first half of this year.

The Taoiseach has sacked three junior ministers and promoted five backbenchers to the position of Minister of State.

IFA president Padraig Walshe is seeking a meeting with Glanbia chief executive John Maloney following what he described as “their derisory offer for grain this harvest”.

Cork Constitution 21 UL Bohemians 18

GLANBIA managing director John Maloney booked a 44% pay rise last year.

Cork Constitution 25 Belfast Harlequins 3

A 22-YEAR-OLD student from Co Tipperary, representing Clonakilty Agricultural College in West Cork, is the 2006 Teagasc FBD National Student of the Year.

THE families of two young men who died in suspicious circumstances after being arrested by gardaí yesterday joined forces in their fight for inquiries into the deaths.

The families of two young men who died in suspicious circumstances after being arrested by gardai today joined forces in their fight for inquiries ino the deaths.

THE family of an 18-year-old who died after being released from garda custody demanded an independent inquiry yesterday into the circumstances behind his death.

The family of an 18-year-old who died after being released from Garda custody today demanded an independent inquiry.

The chair of the Oireachtas health committee has called for fines to be imposed on hospitals that fail to meet hygiene standards.

ON the 87th anniversary of the burning of the courthouse in Croom, Co Limerick, I visited Anhid Cemetery to pay my respects to the memory of the three IRA volunteers who lost their lives in that action on May 31, 1921, and who are laid to rest there.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell’s trenchant defence of his café bar proposals was roundly criticised yesterday by fellow Government TDs and by organisations opposed to their introduction.

The lack of British co-operation in the inquests of three men who died in the Sackville Place bombings in the 1970s was deplorable, campaigners said today.

IMAGINE Cork Con without spiritual leaders and back-row warriors Ultan O’Callaghan and Jerry Murray.

MAJOR shifts in the fortunes of Glanbia formed out of the merger of Avonmore and Waterford dairy co-ops are envisaged in a new report.

A MAJORITY of Dáil deputies have called on the United Nations to review its controversial role in the disputed takeover of West Papua.

BARRY GERAGHTY was yesterday honoured with the Powers Gold Label/Irish Independent Overall Racing Award for outstanding achievement in horseracing in 2003.

THE Government suffered a decentralisation backlash yesterday as its local elections sweetener began to turn sour.