Three trade unions, Fórsa, SIPTU and CONNECT are joining forces to call for reform of services ahead of the local elections in May.

HAVING last sold for the equivalent of ‘small potatoes,’ and after a costly €1.5m plus rolling refurb, Youghal’s beach-fronting Walter Raleigh Hotel — named for Youghal’s most famous resident Walter Raleigh, of tobacco and potato popularising renown — is back for sale, it is increasingly profitable and now carries a €2.5 million price tag.

A 43-year-old woman in dressing gown and pyjamas arrested near a house in the countryside where a safe was stolen during a burglary told gardaí she was in the area to go for a walk.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling on the Government to declare a housing emergency.

An emergency motion has been put forward to open a book of condolences for three homeless people who died in the past week.

A US tech and software company is expected to announce the creation of up to 100 jobs in Cork today.

A grandmother thought her goose was cooked when a low-flying swan smashed into her windscreen as she drove on a dual carriageway.

A Cork woman had a dramatic encounter with a swan on the Cork-Limerick road yesterday, in what has quickly been dubbed ’Swan Brake’.

In response to Mary Murphy, of the European Studies specialist group, the threat of UKip is a democratic reaction to a federal Europe.

On yer bike. That’s the message to the main parties from Independent candidates who say it’s time there was a shift away from "failed mainstream politics".

A judge has told man who tried to rob a pensioner on her way home from bingo that he "should have gone to Specsavers" after he paid a back-handed compliment to the woman by saying he thought she was 36 years old and not in her 80s.

The Irish Centre in London’s Camden Town is re-branding as it celebrates its 60th Paddy’s Day, writes Claire Droney.

A Wexford murder trial has heard that the emergency services were turned away from an Enniscorthy building the night before a 37-year-old man was found dead there.

A study of first-time TDs has found that despite huge initial enthusiasm for their role, the 84 new deputies that entered the Dáil in 2011 believe their talents aren’t being used and are frustrated by their inability to exercise influence on policy.

Irish Examiner reporter Donal Hickey has received a civic award for his contribution to journalism.

A pregnant woman whose employer tried to make her redundant while she was on maternity leave and cut off her mobile phone and internet access while she was in labour has been awarded €52,000.

The DAWG shelter in North Cork is always ‘bursting at the seams’.

The mother of a young man killed in a car crash has spoken of her horror after his grave was desecrated and headstone set on fire.

A €15bn regeneration plan to combat unemployment and stimulate the economy has been unveiled by the social movement Claiming Our Future.

SEXUAL devices including vibrators, condoms, dozens of blue movies and saucy pictures of girlfriends are among about 15,000 items of lost post which end up in Limerick every week.

THE Revenue Commissioners prosecuted six people at Cork District Court yesterday arising out of an investigation where they believed a man was advising people on how to make fraudulent claims for tax rebates for medical expenses.

THE organisers of the Claiming Our Future citizens forum are planing events across the country in what they claim is an attempt to give voice to the ground swell of support for progressive social and economic policies.

IRISH EXAMINER journalist Fiachra O Cionnaith was awarded top honours at the 2010 GlaxoSmithKline Medical Media Awards in Dublin last night.

ROCKCHAPEL in north Cork, at the border of counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick, near the Mullaghareirk Mountains, is one of the highest villages in Ireland.

POLITICIANS who fail to back a campaign to protect those on lower incomes and the dole will be named and shamed.

Politicians and the public were today urged to pledge their support to protecting vulnerable households from further cuts.

AFTER PASSING one national test, star Irish swimmer Gráinne Murphy faces an examination of a different type this week.

THE Government was told yesterday to reassure the poorest in society they will not be hit by future social welfare cuts, after a coalition of support groups said the last budget had plunged many families further into poverty.

Katie Holmes wants Tom Cruise to become a TV talent show judge.

HIGHLY paid officials in the Central Bank and other financial institutions have no right to argue for social welfare cuts, according to Fr Sean Healy of Social Justice Ireland.

THERE are 850 million people in the world who speak Mandarin, and that number is to be swelled by 63 in a Co Cork town, thanks to an innovative outreach project by UCC.

THE daughter of a 95-year-old woman expressed concern yesterday that her family was not told an autopsy had been conducted on her body.

JUSTICE Minister Brian Lenihan has moved to silence State Pathologist Marie Cassidy by banning her involvement in future documentaries following complaints over an RTÉ programme which featured the Scottish-born professor.

A north Dublin businessman became the prime suspect for a Killarney hotel alleged rape of a foreign tourist after a garda observed hotel security footage images which fitted the woman's description of her attacker.

Three pathologists are to give medical evidence at a preliminary hearing of the inquest of student Brian Murphy after controversy arose surrounding his cause of death, it was ruled today.

TRAGEDY struck in the early hours of the New Year when the parents of two young boys died in a house fire at the Curragh Army Camp in Co Kildare.

Former Taoiseach Charles Haughey has departed on his final journey to St Fintan's Cemetery in the Sutton area of north Dublin.

I HAVE a grievance with the method used to assess students for higher education grants.

THE parents of Brian Murphy have questioned new evidence produced by the State pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, on the cause of their son’s death outside Dublin’s Club Anabel six years ago.

SOMEONE, please send an iron. The Tricolour was wrapped around so many jockeys yesterday it was badly in need of a good pressing.