“When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see over the bed post is a blue and gold string. So you can imagine what it’s like in my house, can’t you?”

Plants and trees can be used to create showstopping front doors. Hannah Stephenson has five ideas to show you how

They are quick to give us advice – but how do parenting experts manage their own children over the summer break? They tell all to Rowena Walsh.

Former All Star Brendan Bugler will be high in the Cusack Park stand for Clare’s clash with neighbours Limerick tomorrow afternoon. Yes, he’s jealous of the new round-robin format and the home and away system but, for the most part, the Whitegate man is happy to be returning to his club roots, writes Kieran Shannon

Barnardos has apologised for “any upset caused” after leaflets advertising a support service funded by the Bon Secours Order were placed outside the Tuam babies plot.

The mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender is being laid to rest in Tullamore today.

The mother of missing woman Fiona Pender has passed away.

The chairman of the Disclosures Tribunal is to rule on whether evidence from a certain witness known as 'Ms D' should be heard in private.

A proper educational process could have spared Brendan O’Sullivan the reputational damage he and his family have endured for nothing more than a poorly thought out mistake, writes Mike Quirke.

Pavee Point has called for college scholarships and for earlier interventions in second level to keep Traveller children in school.

Ireland’s tax strategy group is tasked with reviewing our taxation system and presenting options to the Government for policy initiatives to support government objectives.

“This is Ireland.” These were the words a shocked Ann Davaris from New Jersey heard a stranger saying after she called her missing son Steve on his mobile number 11 years ago.

Madonna’s in trouble again. The Like A Virgin hit-maker is embroiled in yet another controversy after a young fan in Brisbane ended up having her breast exposed on stage.

More than 9,000 people were reported missing in Ireland last year alone, and 17 of these cases remain unsolved.

The enactment of power in economic crisis by Haughey after 1987 and of Gilmore after 2011 was remarkably similar, writes Gerard Howlin

Poor old Bernard McNamara got a going-over during the week. McNamara is a developer and former Fianna Fáil councillor. A hardened cynic might say that’s enough to merit a perpetual going-over. But in fairness to the man, he was well got in places high and low before his own fall from grace into the clutches of bankruptcy.

Since last Monday, a specialist search team from the local station, backed up by experts from the Garda Technical Bureau, and from Thursday by a team of sniffer dogs, have been combing the marsh land area, known as Balmers Bog, on the Ardee Road in the Co Louth town.

Kya deLongchamps pauses to consider the most enigmatic face in the World.

Much of the time the Oireachtas banking inquiry seems to take on the character of a whodunnit, writes Michael Clifford

A Cork man has launched a campaign to help his brother, who has been trapped in the Philippines for almost two years while appealing against a 12-year jail sentence for what his family believes was a trumped-up drugs charge.

These bank AGMs have turned out some right fun in recent years. It’s an opportunity for the little people to have a go at the shower of bankers who dragged the economy over the abyss, yet managed to save themselves.

A quiet night in? Here's what's on telly.

The FAI last night paid tribute to board member Tim Fitzgerald who passed away at the Mercy Hospital in Cork after a recent battle with illness.

Here are our tips for the best of tonight's telly.

Josephine Feehily has been nominated as the first Chairperson-designate of the planned new independent Policing Authority.

A prolific reader, Josephine started writing from her early school days and didn’t stop. She studied journalism and film at university, but did a postgraduate degree in education and taught English, but it didn’t suit her. So she turned back to writing.

Having suffered poor health, the mother of missing Offaly woman Fiona Pender fears she may die before the remains of her daughter and unborn grandchild are located.

ENGLAND AND WALES: Bran, Sandor and Khaleesi may not be commonly heard in the classroom yet, but they are all names of characters from hit TV series Game Of Thrones given to babies last year.

In 1948, newspapers dubbed Gearóid Cheaist Ó Catháin the ‘loneliest boy in the world’: he was the sole child on the Blaskets, and now is the only surviving evacuee of 1953-54, says Áilín Quinlan.

The first Irish equines exported to China under a ground-breaking protocol signed last July arrived last Monday.

Tallow Horse Fair by Arthur Maderson at Woodwards in Cork next Wednesday is estimated at €5,000-€6,000.

A 6-year-old boy who was fatally injured in a hit-and-run last week was a sweet and charming little rogue, “who stole the hearts of everyone he met”, his funeral Mass has heard.

She may have enjoyed it, but the mum who leapt into a pool with two alligators says she plans to stay firmly on dry land now.

As a way of learning to swim, diving head-first into water has its merits. But when there are two hungry alligators awaiting your arrival, it could well have a downside.

Music shop Pro-Musica has been trading on Oliver Plunkett St for 30 years — but Tuesday night was the worst flooding they had seen in some time.

Embattled French President Francois Hollande is to face the media today for the first time since news of his alleged affair with a actress became public.

EVERY now and again, the past rises up to smite the present, and last week presented once such prime example.

Name: Josephine Whelehan