Junior cert pupils Michael McMahon, Alisha Nagle and Christina Conway after sitting for their Irish Paper 1 at Davis College, Mallow, Co Cork. 

A 22-year-old Clare man has again avoided jail for his role in two robberies which caused a pensioner to cycle nearly 50km through the night in terror to check himself into a nursing home.

Despite warnings from senior management, members of Kerry County Council yesterday unanimously voted to include what are claimed to be two long-established rights-of-way in a county development plan.

The European Central Bank said yesterday it would start publishing accounts of its monetary policy meetings next year — a move that will raise transparency but still leave it behind other big central banks.

Plans to develop walking and cycling routes in the South-West could run into obstacles unless landowners’ rights are respected, it has been warned.

Councillors in Kerry have voted to defy national guidelines on planning by permitting access to housing alongside a number of busy national roadways.

A former Fianna Fáil politician who lost out on a seat by two votes in the recent local elections yesterday began his civil action to have the result in the Listowel area of Co Kerry declared invalid.

There is to be a full recount of votes in the Listowel Electoral Area, Co Kerry, after only five votes separated three candidates in the 11th and final count at the counting centre in Tralee late last night.

Staff numbers as well as polling booths have been reduced in one county in response to instructions from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to save money, the county registrar in Kerry has confirmed.

Another old railway line is to get a new lease of life as a walking and cycling route. The first, 1.5km phase of the Tralee-Fenit Amenity Trail has been officially opened by Alan Kelly, the minister of state for transport, tourism, and sport.

One man was jailed for five years while two men walked free yesterday after receiving suspended jail terms for the robbery of a 68-year-old, who abandoned his home in terror two years ago.

Two men today walked free from court after receiving suspended jail terms for their robbery of a 68-year-old man who abandoned his west Clare home after being terrorised there by robbers.

Given the vicious nature of recent attacks on elderly people, it is unsurprising that record numbers of pensioners are now turning to monitored personal alarms in a bid to remain safe in their own homes.

A record number of pensioners are seeking potentially lifesaving monitored personal alarms under the State’s seniors alert scheme.

Standing outside the abandoned home of pensioner Michael McMahon, Councillor Bill Chambers remarked: “Michael was really happy here.”

One of the country’s largest helplines for the elderly logged a record amount of calls last year, with many of them relating to the security fears of pensioners in their own homes.

A Co Clare community felt "revulsion" at the ordeal of an elderly man who cycled 30 miles in the middle of the night to escape intruders at his home.

A 68-year-old man abandoned his home and cycled 30 miles through the night to check himself into a nursing home after being terrorised twice by robbers at his remote home in west Clare.

At 10pm on Feb 21, 2012, bachelor Michael McMahon heard banging outside his home in rural Co Clare and could see three torches in the darkness outside.

A “laughing stock" of a rule which bans telecommunications masts from being erected within 1km of houses and other residential buildings in Kerry is to be retained.

A retired detective who prayed over the body of a murdered colleague shot down in front of him in a Tallaght gun battle 31 years ago has been awarded €150,000 damages at a Garda compensation hearing in the High Court.

Planners are adamant no more land will be zoned for housing in Tralee and Killarney.

Almost 1,000 acres currently designated for housing in Kerry’s two biggest towns are to be dezoned because a projected demand for homes won’t exist in the coming years.

Almost 2,000 acres earmarked for housing in Kerry are to be dezoned under a new plan for the Tralee-Killarney hub.

A 12-year-old boy tried in vain to resuscitate his gravely-ill father after he fell 10m from a barn roof.

A new renewable energy strategy by Kerry County Council is causing deep divisions in the Inny Valley, near Waterville, a meeting has heard.

Cork county councillors have requested county manager Martin Riordan to write to all household charge defaulters advising them they are in danger of jeopardising local authority services if they don’t pay.

An attempt to impose “some sanctions or financial impediment” on serial planning objectors failed at a meeting of Kerry County Council.

The way has been cleared for hotelier and TV show presenter John Brennan to obtain planning permission for a multimillion-euro tourism facility near Kenmare, Co Kerry.

THE number of planning applications in Kerry is the lowest in 20 years, reflecting the economic downturn.

MORE than half of the residential properties in the tourist haven of Dingle are unoccupied, it was claimed yesterday.

HUNDREDS of people took part in a protest march to assert what they say is a traditional right of way on Fenit Island, a scenic and historic island off the coast of Kerry, yesterday.

DESPITE concerns by An Taisce about the erection of wind farms in scenic areas of Kerry, official policy is to encourage the continuing development of wind-generated electricity.

A FORMER seaman killed in the Cork plane crash was loyal and dedicated to his family, his funeral has heard.

A former seaman killed in the Cork plane crash was loyal and dedicated to his family, his funeral heard today.

THE campaign to establish a major pharmaceutical centre in Tralee is being intensified and potential investors are due to visit the town between now and Christmas.

KILMURRY-IBRICKANE, the Clare and Munster football champions relinquished their titles as they lost to rivals Doonbeg in Saturday’s county semi-final in Cooraclare (1-6 to 0-8).

A HEATED row yesterday flared up at yet another controversial “dezoning” meeting of Kerry County Council, which adopted a draft area plan for Killorglin.

SENIOR officials of Kerry County Council were yesterday urged “not to lead people up the garden path” in relation to plans for public walkways.

HOPES were voiced yesterday that there would be no further delays in going ahead with a €500 million natural gas-fired energy project in Tarbert, Co Kerry.

THE increasing profile of overweight celebrities such James Corden and Beth Ditto is making weight-gain appear normal, a medical expert has said.

A LOCAL authority has admitted buying material from a number of quarries that were not complying with planning regulations.

FIRST-YEAR students will be ineligible to play in the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cup competitions this season. The announcement follows a ruling passed at Saturday’s AGM of the Higher Education GAA authority at Trinity College in Dublin.

A man who was one of a group of men who kicked and punched a neighbour while he was waiting at a bus stop with his father has been given an 18-month sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt.