When a candidate to be the next president of France thinks it’s appropriate to tweet gruesome images of Islamic State killings, it’s time to admit we are in an era where words and images have lost all meaning, writes Clodagh Finn

VIPs and young and old alike enjoyed Charleville Agricultural Show’s celebration of all that is good in Irish farming.

Appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on May 6, Michael Creed TD says this Government’s commitment to Rural Ireland will be a collective effort across Cabinet.

Together with some of my colleagues I was happy to accept an invitation from our new Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Michael Creed TD, to meet him in the department last Thursday.

The availability of a fully resourced National Reserve in 2016, and subsequent years is essential for young farmers, according to Macra na Feirme president Sean Finan.

"And I really don't know where I'll end up tonight but I do know where I wind up is where I'm meant to be."

Robert O. Paxton says we should not stick old epithets on those we disagree with, as it absolves us of the responsibility of thinking up new and more suitable labels

France’s far right National Front has won more support than any other party in the first round of regional elections, according to polling agency projections.

A new company has been established to own and run Curragh racecourse and training grounds, and oversee the €65m redevelopment of the track.

National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen hit back at daughter and party leader Marine after she suspended him from the far-right French movement, saying he hopes she loses the 2017 presidential election.

Three topless women from the Femen activist group, making Nazi salutes, disrupted a May Day speech by French far-right leader Marine Le Pen attacking her political rivals.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right Front National (FN), said he would not seek its ticket to stand in regional polls later this year, taking some of the sting out of a damaging public row with his daughter Marine, the party leader.

The leader of France’s far-right National Front launched an all-out offensive yesterdayagainst her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, opposing his candidacy in upcoming elections and entering into an open war with the man who helped found the party more than four decades ago.

What are you currently driving?

Ireland’s only maritime college has set its sights on becoming the world’s first global training hub for officers of ocean-going super-tankers.

Authorities in Ukraine yesterday released a photograph of the arrival by train to government-held territory of the remains of those who died onboard Malaysia Airline plane MH17.

As the wealth gap globally widens, a political backlash has begun among an increasingly militant public, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

Bob Geldof has proposed to longterm girlfriend Jeanne Marine after 18 years together.

People living near a toxic dump in Cork harbour will next week get the chance to ask a team of experts about plans to make the site safe.

Based on a book by Nicholas Sparks, who also penned ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Dear John’, ‘The Lucky One’ follows a similar template – hunky guy, beautiful girl, deathly spectre of war – to chronicle the efforts of a battle-hardened Marine (Zac Efron) to track down the divorced mom (Taylor Schilling), whose photograph literally saved his life behind enemy lines.

IN setting a record score for the far right in Sunday’s French presidential election, Marine Le Pen has set the stage for her National Front to try and break into parliament at a legislative election in June.

The founder of France’s far right National Front party has been convicted of contesting crimes against humanity for saying the Nazi occupation was not “particularly inhumane”.

The mayor of Co Cork, Cllr Tim Lombard, is to lead a delegation to meet Minister for Marine Simon Coveney in a last-ditch attempt to get Government backing to save the Cork-Swansea ferry.

CROSS-BORDER co-operation on international trade issues, rural development and animal welfare were all discussed at the 16th North South Ministerial Council Agriculture meeting in the NSMC joint secretariat offices, Armagh.

A MARINE casualty investigation into the death of a 56-year-old Frenchman off the Cork coast has recommended that kayakers should use life jackets instead of buoyancy aids when canoeing offshore.

PROTECTING the Irish agri-food sector against the threat of a Mercosur deal is top of the agenda for Agriculture, Marine and Food Minister Simon Coveney as he attends his first EU Agriculture Ministers meeting in Brussels today.

A MARINE expert with 40 years’ experience said the leisure boat sector needs tighter regulation.

GROWING up, Richard Alcorn was mad about fire trucks – not the toy ones his friends had to make do with, but the real deal.

The Boyzone backing dancer at the centre of revelations surrouding the breakup of Ronan Keating's marriage is reported to have become 'indiscreet' about the alleged affair between her and the singer.

THE Ombudsman has disputed evidence given by former minister and Fianna Fáil backbench TD Frank Fahey to an Oireachtas committee in the latest development in a stand-off between the Government and the watchdog’s office.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far right National Front, said he will not run in France’s presidential election in 2012.

Special Operations Marine MacPherson (Val Kilmer) is badly wounded during a tour of duty in Iraq and returns home, where he descends into a morass of despair and self-loathing.

MARINE scientists have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans, according to findings released on Thursday.

THE Government should put its money where its mouth is and tell consumers when their electricity bills will fall and by how much, a consumer champion said yesterday.

Jean-Marie Le Pen’s far right National Front party today rallied thousands around his pledges to halt immigration, pull France out of Nato and slash taxes - but only for the French – if he becomes the nation’s next president.

BIOVERDA yesterday welcomed the announcement by Communications Marine and Natural Resources Minister Noel Dempsey, that he is introducing a biofuel obligation which will ensure that biofuel represents 5.75% of Ireland’s transport fuel market by 2009.

ON a wet, overcast day in late October, the impression might be that we get hardly any sunshine. But, solar energy in Ireland is not a myth and we are not short of solar energy resources.

One of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s close friends who helped put up a £39,000 (€49,500) loan for him in the early 1990s revealed today he refused to take the money back four times.

MARINE stakeholders were urged yesterday to feed into an independent review of Ireland’s €700 million seafood industry to ensure its future profitability and sustainability.

MARINE biologists have revealed that they have tagged a second giant turtle, roughly the size of a cow, off the coast of Co Kerry.

A music video posted to the internet, telling a tale about a US Marine killing members of an Iraqi family, is being condemned by an Islamic group and investigated by the Marine Corps.

Activists opposed to the Corrib gas field project are to protest during celebrations of Norwegian Independence Day in Dublin today.

MARINE Minister John Browne yesterday accepted the recommendations of the National Salmon Commission that the total catch of salmon for 2006 should be 106,367.

THE Government last night agreed a major last-minute concession to rebel backbenchers to ensure the smooth passage of the controversial Fisheries Bill through the Oireachtas.