Most US administrations have had an aide who deemed himself crucial to the president. Steve Bannon was Donald Trump’s, until he had his wings clipped says Elizabeth Drew

The Ireland Under-20s outperformed their English counterparts in a pulsating encounter but just fell short of a final round win at a wind-hit Donnybrook.

Police in England have released mobile phone footage of a man snorting cocaine from the barrel of a sawn-off shotgun which helped to convict him and two teenagers of firearm offences.

Plans endorsed by Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar for reform of the pensions industry have been welcomed by the pensions industry.

A British Conservative MP has insisted he has never taken illegal drugs, adding: “You don’t put diesel in a Ferrari”.

Pension fund managers should be looking to derisk their portfolios while interest rates offer what may be a temporary respite from increasing deficits.

UCC’s FUAIM festival ranges from Indonesian gamelan to Irish trad, says Ed Power.

Dublin has been ranked 34th in a league table of 223 global cities for best quality of living standards for expatriates.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has added his voice to those calling for the former chief executive of Central Remedial Clinic (CRC) to pay back his €742,000 pension pay-off.

The Garda fraud squad could be called in to investigate breaches of company law at the Central Remedial Clinic following fresh revelations about payments to its former chief executive using charity funds.

KELVIN Mercer, aka Posdnuos, had no idea.

Three members of Britain’s House of Lords were suspended by their parties yesterday after apparently being caught in newspaper stings agreeing to lobby Parliament in return for cash.

Yesterday’s Irish Examiner carried an article on the report into salary levels in Irish banks.

A Dominican priest who betrayed the trust of a family in Cork to sexually abuse their son for years has been jailed for three years, with half suspended.

A Dominican priest was yesterday charged with 39 counts of sexually assaulting a boy at various locations in Munster on dates between 1986 and 1994.

The Government has come under pressure to further reduce bankers’ salaries after it emerged that the finance minister recently signed off on a half a million euro pay package for a risk officer at the former Anglo Irish Bank.

Jockey Keith Mercer faces another lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a fall at Kelso yesterday.

Divers is set for a mid-winter break after unseating Keith Mercer in Saturday’s Spinal Research The Atlantic 4 Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

RICHIE GRAY was thrilled to score the match-winning try in Glasgow’s Heineken Cup Pool 3 defeat of Bath at the end of a week in which he announced he is to leave the Warriors.

OVER one-in-three Irish workers are considering quitting their job, with diminished loyalty and widespread apathy present at many workplaces.

WOMEN need up to 20% more than men in their retirement pension pots, but significantly fewer females have a nest-egg compared with males.

Irish women are being advised to make their own financial plans and be less dependent on their husband's pensions.

Feminist writer Germaine Greer was under pressure to apologise today after she suggested that British troops might take part in rapes if they are sent into Libya.

PRICES for VHI corporate health insurance plans are to jump by 23% — pushing health insurance right to the top of the HR and finance agenda for many companies.

Maoi Chinn Tire created the biggest shock of the fledgling National Hunt season to date by landing the Weatherbys Bank Wensleydale Juvenile at Hurdle at Wetherby at a staggering 200-1.

A LEADING pensions expert has called for a radically new approach to pension funding to deal with crisis.

AN upcoming conference of the British Conservative Party is being targeted by dissident republicans for a bomb attack, a Tory MP has warned.

A SPECIAL protein supplement eaten before meals could be the key to eating less and losing weight, scientists said.

British troops are to be pulled out of the Sangin area of Afghanistan, where nearly a third of UK deaths in the war have occurred.

A BBC commentator was forced to apologise to tennis prodigy Laura Robson today after pointing out her “puppy fat” on live television.

ONE in five people over 55 have made no preparations for their retirement, according to pension experts Mercer.

SUPPORTERS of sex abuse survivors have expressed concern that a former Catholic priest convicted of molesting nine children is living within five minutes’ walk of a school.

FOUR out of five defined benefit pension plans are failing to meet statutory funding standards while a sixth are likely to be wound up due to difficulties.

Bothy maintained his unbeaten record over timber and qualified himself for the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with a second success at Taunton.

BOTH public and private pension schemes in Ireland are ranked highly in a new survey based on key performance measurers.

New Burnley boss Brian Laws has returned to former club Sheffield Wednesday to fill out his backroom staff, snapping up Tom Little, Tim Henderson and Billy Mercer.

THOUSANDS of workers could be forced to pay more towards their pension as research shows most defined benefit (DB) schemes are insolvent.

Jamie Moore added a second win over the famous Grand National fences to his career tally as Dev put in an exhibition round in the totesuper7 Grand Sefton Handicap Chase at Aintree.

IBEC has described as helpful new modifications by the Pensions Board to its guidelines for Section 50 pension scheme funding applications, but has said they don’t go far enough to safeguard the future of many defined-benefit schemes.

EMPLOYERS’ representative body IBEC has called for a meeting with thePensions Board over itsrecently issued guidelines for pension schemes, which have variously been described as being short- sighted, rigorous and intolerable.

IT was vital that we beat Spurs on Saturday, to ensure that we re-established the natural North London order of things.

A gang member who armed the killer of British schoolboy Rhys Jones will have his sentence reviewed today to determine if it is “unduly lenient”.

Chris Grant celebrated his 53rd birthday today with a winner as Ravati galloped his rivals into submission in division one of the Rachel Wright Memorial Hurdle at Wetherby.