Keith Greaney, 23, was with his girlfriend, Nicole O'Leary, when three men broke into his home, dragged him from his bed, beat him with a car exhaust pipe and attacked him with a machete just before 4am.

Residents on the northside of Cork City have vowed to resist the installation of water meters until a water pipe in their estate which they say has been leaking for over a decade, is repaired.