A former army officer who sexually abused his teenage sister-in-law a number of times and once while in the presence of his toddler son has been sentenced to three years.

A HIGH Court judge has referred to the DPP details of a personal injuries appeal hearing in which a “mixed boxing” enthusiast claimant was filmed competing in four separate events while receiving medical treatment for alleged lower back pain arising from a road crash.

The Irish Mail on Sunday's decision to print 26,000 Sunday Tribune look-alike editions was a “carefully executed plan” to deceive consumers, a judge was told today.

Armed detectives were acting on information that bomb-making equipment was found during a raid on a Clondalkin apartment when they arrested a young Dublin man in a car park next to the complex, a court has heard today.

A motorist who witnessed the school bus crash that killed five school girls has said she thought the temporary traffic lights assisting road works on the Navan to Kentstown road were too close to a bend.

SIPTU has claimed a west Sligo construction company is paying up to 70 Eastern European workers as little as €5 per hour for work.

PARENTS of primary pupils are worried that Government plans will make it easier to kick disruptive children out of schools, instead of giving teachers the resources to tackle bad behaviour.

PARENTS have welcomed the publication of school inspection reports for the first time, but said a wider package of information to allow them compare schools should also be available.

THE Government must end its piecemeal approach to school transport and make it the responsibility of a single department, parents have warned.

A parents’ group today urged schools to “pull up their socks” following a €10,000 award to a pupil who was bullied.

PARENTS have described the Catholic Church’s guidelines as more of a judgment measure than a protection measure for children.

THE Taoiseach yesterday moved to clarify comments he made about the Catholic Church that were interpreted by opposition parties and victims’ organisations as a failure on his part to absorb the serious nature of the findings of the Ferns Report.

THE Department of Education yesterday ruled out any changes to the sex education programme in primary schools following the Tánaiste's comments on allowing children as young as 11 access to the morning-after pill.

Paul O’Brien

MORE THAN 20 parents who failed to ensure their children attended school face a €600 fine and could go to jail for up to three months, the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) has warned.

A MEDICAL expert has warned that Irish children will be killed if they take part in a ‘game’ where they block air to their brain to make themselves faint.

PARENTS have been urged to exercise caution and think of their children’s safety ahead of the Halloween weekend.

A GROWING number of primary schools no longer have Church involvement in their day-to-day running, according to a management body.

Vivion Kilfeather

THE average cost of sending a child to school last year rose 5% to €1,023.

OFFICIALLY, the nationwide consultative process initiated by Education Minister Noel Dempsey is aimed at shaping the education system. Unofficially, many teachers feel it’s a waste of time.

A FISHERIES board has threatened to sue a local council unless it stops contaminated sludge seeping from one of its own sewage treatment plants into a river.

A PARENTS’ group has blamed the Department of Education for the shortage of primary school places that has resulted in one boy having to stay at home.

THE cost of sending three children to school this autumn is likely to exceed €1,000, according to parents’ representatives.

THE Catholic Church should give up control of schools because many of them are enrolling their own members before children of other faiths, a parents leader said at the weekend.

ONE of Education Minister Noel Dempsey’s key aims since his appointment has been to eliminate disadvantage in the country’s education system.

EVERY school in the country will open and close for holidays on the same days under a deal with teachers as part of the benchmarking agreement.

PRIMARY school parents have criticised the Government for a lack of long-term planning on run-down and dilapidated school buildings.

PARENTS and teachers last night united to castigate the Government for its failure to deliver the promised programme to build and refurbish schools.

A PROPOSAL by a Co Meath priest to limit school places to children of practising Catholics only, could be replicated around the country under existing legislation.

Police issued a warning to parents to be on the alert today as officers on both sides of the Irish border continued the hunt for a man who tried to abduct two young girls in Co Louth.