The dispute between teachers and the Department of Education over junior cycle reform is due to become more protracted after secondary teachers decided not to undertake associated assessments of their own students.

Fianna Fail are on the verge of achieving a remarkable three out of the six seats on offer in the Fermoy electoral area, although it will be a Labour Party man who looks odds on to top the poll when the first count is announced around 6pm.

Secondary school teachers will mount protests at lunchtime today over the introduction of a reformed Junior Cert.

A number of roads, public buildings, parks and bridges in Co Cork could soon be named after members of Cumann Na mBan.

Swiss police are continuing to investigate how a 45-year-old Corkman died from a stabbing in an apartment in the city of Neuchâtel.

Independents and Sinn Féin are likely to be the biggest winners come next year’s local elections in Co Cork.

Senior HSE and ambulance officials have been summoned to explain, in person, to Cork County Council why no ambulance was made available to take Vakaris Martinaitis to hospital after falling from an upstairs bedroom window.

He is one of the most iconic recording artists of the 20th century and his influence shaped the global entertainment industry.

Hundreds of Cork County Council tenants will see their rents more than double as the local authority moves to standardise a countywide minimum rate.

Many newly qualified teachers earn just €13,000 per year for almost a decade on short hours and short-term contracts.

Delegates at the Association of Secondary Teachers conference voted for an “immediate restoration” of guidance teachers’ numbers which were badly hit in last December’s budget.

THERE were mixed views on the streets of Cork as new bylaws reducing the speed limit to 30km/h in parts of Cork city centre were implemented yesterday.

THIS time around, three Fine Gael candidates will have their names near the top of the ballot paper and not many would bet against two of them taking seats in Leinster House on March 9.

CONTROVERSY continues two months after voting for vacancies on Cork County Vocational Education (VEC) caused national uproar.

A TOWN bypassed by the Celtic Tiger is preparing to fight for the right to be linked to the new M20 Cork-Limerick motorway.

A CHANGE of mindset is needed if Ireland is to reach its target of having electric vehicles make up 10% of the car market by 2020.

BY far, Kanturk is the most difficult Cork County Council electoral area to call now that it has been reduced from a five-seater to a four-seater due to boundary changes.

IRELAND has an opportunity to take a world lead in long-range electric vehicles and potentially create thousands of jobs in the process, the Energy to Drive the Irish Economy – Energy Solutions Conference 2009, at the University of Limerick, was told yesterday.

IN our school we have Leaving Cert Applied (LCA) and the Junior Cert school programme along with the traditional Leaving and Junior certificates.

DISABLED people are waiting up to a year to be assessed by an occupational therapist (OT) before they even can get approval for vital work on their homes, it was claimed yesterday.

LOCAL democracy doesn’t come cheap. In fact taxpayers had to fork out a whopping €1,617,686 last year to finance expenses and meeting allowances for their council representatives in County Cork.

CORK County Council has ordered a voluntary housing organisation to knock the former Presentation Convent in Millstreet, amid fears for the safety of children attending an adjoining national school.

A NUMBER of elderly and disabled people have been refused grant aid for essential repairs, because they proceeded with work after Cork County Council was forced to suspend a scheme in 2003, due to a shortage of funding from Central Government.

A FAMILY whose two sheepdogs had to be put down after being poisoned with weedkiller say the culprit has been killing pets in the area for the last 16 years.

THE leadership of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland is in turmoil again with the general secretary Charlie Lennon under pressure to defend his position.

STUDENTS are acting as drug couriers and every pupil knows where to buy illegal substances, a teachers’ conference heard yesterday.