The employment impact of angel investment on both sides of the border has more than doubled in the past four years, according to new figures.

Derek O’Connor will be making a bold bid to regain his point-to-point title if yesterday’s well-attended Kilworth & Araglen Harriers fixture at Kilworth is anything to go by for he partnered a sparkling three-timer.

Mouse Morris’ Allied Victory made a spectacular start over fences when landing the www.thurlesraces.ie Beginners Chase at Thurles yesterday.

It’s Friday, so we want everyone to head into the weekend with smiles on their faces and a little skip in their step.

Tramore crowned a remarkable week for Munster golf clubs at the AIG Cups and Shields national finals when they claimed the Senior Cup at Carton House.

All-Ireland finalists Mayo have been hit with a €10,000 fine for not travelling to New York for the final of the Connacht FBD League last month.

Venture capital chief says there’s plenty of money available for start-ups, writes John Hearne.

A3 shareholders don’t have any Glanbia Co-op voting rights.

Impressive on her recent fencing debut at Clonmel, Dazzling Susie proved the star of last night’s action in Kilbeggan, producing another sparkling, front-running display to slam her rivals in the Tyrrellspass Novice Chase.

Trainer Eric McNamara enjoyed a welcome change of luck when recording a 71/1 double with Tristram Shandy and Hevelius in Clonmel last night.

A former Fine Gael councillor convicted of receiving corrupt payments remained a free man yesterday after his sentencing hearing was adjourned until late June.

Jenny Forsey was not motivated by revenge, she said, when she blew the whistle on her estranged husband.

Evidence in the trial of a former Fine Gael politician accused of accepting corrupt payments had told a rather sordid tale of “jealousy, anger, and rage,” the ex-councillor’s lawyer said yesterday.

A Fine Gael TD went to the gardaí as a result of a conversation he had with the wife of a party colleague who is now charged with accepting corrupt payments totalling €80,000, a court heard yesterday.

Strong design, personal touches and stunning views have resulted in a house of dreams. Margaret O’Brien reports.

BANK OF IRELAND (BoI) has denied the reason it halted the loan application of a new nursing home in Co Kerry is because funding for the State’s Fair Deal nursing home support scheme has run out.

A TEENAGER who claimed attackers danced on his head, threw him into the boot of a car and drove him to a cemetery, denied yesterday he would say anything in support of his own gang to get other men convicted.

A man on trial for murdering his neighbour on a July morning outside his Co Clare home, rang his father saying "I killed him in the garden", the jury in the case has heard.

AFTER prolonged absences, Alan Quirke, Anthony Lynch, Graham Canty, Donnacha O’Connor, Kevin McMahon and Colm O’Neill return to the Cork team for Sunday’s final game in the preliminary rounds of the Allianz NFL against Mayo at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

An English man accused of raping his pregnant ex-partner in her Co Clare home has told a jury that it was her idea to have sex that night and they made love because he did not want to hurt her feelings by rejecting her.

A man accused of raping his ex-partner at gunpoint told gardaí he drove to her Clare home so he could 'cuddle' her and show her how upset he was by putting the weapon in his mouth.

A Dublin woman has revealed she heard a garda repeat “It worked, we’ve got him” over the phone the night her husband allegedly pointed a loaded gun at other officers while resisting arrest.

The Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that the 12-year prison sentenced imposed on Clare man for a "drink-fuelled" sexual assault on a student in a caravan park was unduly severe.

A Wexford man who raped and sexually abused a young boy over a period of four years has been given a nine-year sentence by Mr Justice Roderick Murphy at the Central Criminal Court.

The trial of a Dundalk man accused of INLA membership dramatically collapsed at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today after it emerged that a Special Branch detective driver for the presiding judge was a witness in the case.

The trial of a Clare resident accused of raping and threatening to kill his pregnant ex-partner in her home has collapsed at the Central Criminal Court with the discharge of the jury.

NIRE dethroned champions Ballinacourty to claim the Waterford SFC title in this replayed decider at Fraher Field, Dungarvan yesterday.

A rape trial has heard that a cousin of the accused contacted gardaí because he was worried about the man's welfare after he noticed that his own shotgun and cartridges were missing from his home.

A woman has denied before a Central Criminal Court jury that she made love to her ex-partner after he hit her and added: "I can categorically 100% say it was not love. It was rape."

BALLYDUFF UPPER and Abbeyside square off tomorrow in the Waterford SHC semi-final replay at Fraher Field, Dungarvan (2pm).

A TRAINEE plumber from Rochestown, Cork, pleaded guilty yesterday to having over €500,000 worth of cannabis for sale or supply in Cork last May.

A Venezuelan woman who acted as a drugs mule to traffic over €200,000 worth of cocaine from Buenos Aires to Cork Airport earlier this year was jailed for three years this evening.

THE jury hearing the trial of Brian Kearney, who is charged with murdering his wife Siobhán has been sent home for the weekend with a warning not to draw any early conclusions about what went on in the family’s home two years ago yesterday.

The jury hearing the trial of Brian Kearney who is charged with murdering his wife Siobhan has been sent home for the weekend with a warning not to draw any early conclusions about what went on in the family’s home two-years ago yesterday.

The concluding stages have been reached in the trial of a Dublin man accused of manslaughter through dangerous driving causing the death of a Lithuanian truck driver.

A married Laois man, who sexually assaulted a young girl over a number of years, has been jailed for seven years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.

QUALITY is the gateway to winning and keeping consumer confidence, Glanbia chairman Michael Walsh declared in Kilkenny yesterday.

The club football championships in Munster and Leinster moved nearer the final stages after today's action in both provinces.

A love Ulster rioter who threw blocks at gardaí and helped to cause nearly €40,000 of damage to parked cars has been given a three year sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A married Laois man who sexually assaulted a young girl over a number of years has been remanded for sentence later by the Central Criminal Court.

Former selector John Owens has been unveiled as Tipperary's new senior footballer manager.

WATERFORD captain Paul Flynn is out of Sunday’s All-Ireland hurling quarter-final against Tipperary at Croke Park.