Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has written to US secretary of state John Kerry over changes to the J1 visas system which will prevent students entering the US without a prearranged job.

More than a third of Irish students feel “down” every day and most of them find comfort in food, a new study shows.

“Study now, pay later” models for higher education fees would lead to an “astronomical increase” in costs for students, the president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has said.

A campaign to get men to pop the question is being launched as rape crisis groups work to clear up any doubts about the importance of sexual consent.

Reform of the college entry system has been largely welcomed by student organisations which say the changes will ease the points race and alleviate pressures placed on Leaving Certificate students.

BEREAVEMENT, moving home, divorce, illness and job- loss are often rated as our top life-style stressors – but shouldn’t starting college be in there somewhere too?

As the pressure mounts on students and their families to find accommodation for the new term, one campaign to make more rooms available to students is beginning to bear fruit.

Applications for entry to third-level are up slightly to nearly 79,000 people as the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) warns that urgent action is needed to address accommodation shortages.

The latest increase in third-level fees will see the cost of studying away from home top €11,000 this year.

THE mother of former garda Daniel Hickey spoke in court yesterday of how the family have always been proud of her son, who is the second of five children.

A young Dublin man who stabbed a first year college student’s arm with a broken bottle leaving him with a permanent disability has been jailed for five years.

A young Dublin man who stabbed a first year college student’s arm with a broken bottle leaving him with a permanent disability will be sentenced later with three other youths.

GARDAÍ believe a father of two brutally stabbed to death in a Dublin laneway was murdered after his 4x4 was blocked in by his attacker.

Gardaí from various districts throughout the country, 45 in all, returned home to Dublin airport today having spent five days on their annual ‘Tour De Force’ Cycle’ raising an estimated €80,000 for the charity Debra Ireland.

The Garda today flatly dismissed scathing criticism over its alleged inability to apologise for wrongdoing.

The Co Tipperary town of Roscrea is returning to normal this morning following yesterday's stand-off involving a man who apparently threatened to blow up his house.

The Garda has asked the public not to jump to conclusions in relation to the death of a man at Coolock Garda Station this morning.

GARDAÍ who exhumed four bodies from a graveyard close to the home of a convicted rapist and murderer say they are satisfied that information they had received about an illegal burial, while incorrect, was reliable and was given in good faith.

The Garda team investigating the killing of 11-year-old Robert Holohan today vowed they were absolutely determined to capture the person responsible.

Detectives investigating the murder of Robert Holohan are said to be all but convinced that the killer is someone known to the 11-year-old schoolboy.

Dublin hurling boss Marty Morris has made six changes to his squad for Sunday's Walsh Cup quarter-final with Meath in Navan.

The mother of an eight-year-old schoolgirl who was snatched from Moate told today how her daughter escaped from her abductor and hid as he hunted her down.