Ireland’s food watchdog has denied an accusation by a UK House of Commons committee that its tests for horsemeat were part of a conspiracy to tackle issues in the beef industry while avoiding criminal prosecutions.

The flags of five countries will fly at Ballindenisk Horse Trials next week, as the Cork venue continues to build on its stature.

No member of the Army Equitation School is paid in excess of €80,000 per annum.

It would be fair to assume Goresbridge might have reservations about Horse Sport Ireland’s plan to launch a dedicated website for horse vendors which is aimed at attracting foreign custom.

Horse Sport Ireland’s (HSI) new chairman, Patrick Wall, wants riders to return to college.

After seven years making sometimes difficult decisions, Robert Splaine is realistic to know his reappointment as Ireland show jumping manager may not be greeted with unanimous acclaim.

It has come as a surprise, even to Showjumping Ireland, that membership and registration figures for January are up, albeit marginally, on the same time last year.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, after years of legal battles, has released files of priests accused of molesting children and removed a top clergyman who had been linked to efforts to conceal the abuse.

The board of Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) yesterday ratified Professor Patrick Wall as its new chairman.

The former chief executive of the Food Safety Authority, Patrick Wall — who was prominent in the recent burger horsemeat controversy — is to become chairman of Horse Sport Ireland.

Confidence, competitiveness, creativity and access to credit — that’s what farmers need to succeed, said Professor Patrick Wall at a recent meeting in west Cork where he was guest speaker.

LOVERS of organic beansprouts may have to grow their own after a crop in Hamburg, Germany has been blamed as the source of the deadly outbreak of E coli 0104:H4 that has killed at least 36 and sickened more than 3,250.

LOVERS of organic beansprouts may have to grow their own after a crop in Hamburg, Germany has been blamed as the source of the deadly outbreak of E coli 0104:H4 that has killed at least 36 and sickened more than 3,250.

TEAGASC Moorepark research officer on herd health, Ríona Sayers, has been appointed chief executive of Independent Milk Laboratories (IML), the newly established milk payment and disease testing company.

CATTLE dried with paper towels after every wash, twice daily dusting down and rubber mats underhoof – little wonder brothers Kevin and John Walsh were named Ireland’s top two dairy farmers for 2010 at the annual National Dairy Council (NDC) Quality in Citywest, Co Dublin, yesterday.

IRISH survivors of clerical sex abuse have been invited to travel to the Vatican on October 31 to demand change from the Roman Catholic Church.

BRITAIN’S first major food strategy for 60 years, which Environment Secretary Hilary Benn will launch at the Oxford Farming Conference today, will call for a sea change in the way people think about farming.

THE report of a review group set up by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith in the aftermath of the dioxin scare almost a year ago will be available in the coming weeks.

THE impact of Government cutbacks on the employment of agricultural graduates is one of the key items for discussion at the Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference on September 11.

A Co. Armagh man who was caught with an Uzi submachine gun in Dundalk was sentenced to seven and a half years' imprisonment by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today.

HEALTH experts have urged calm over the swine flu outbreak, saying if it does spread to Ireland, it will be no more dangerous than conventional flu.

THE decision by the Irish Farmers Association to establish a food safety task force was welcomed yesterday.

SERIOUS damage was done to Ireland’s “clean, green food island” reputation by contamination of pork products, said associate professor of public health at UCD, Dr Patrick Wall, during the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee inquiry into the food scare.

A man from the North pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today to having an Israeli made submachine gun in Dundalk last year.

IT used to be that if a meal led to a close relationship with a toilet bowl, you didn’t need to look much further than your own kitchen for the malicious culprit.

Britain will join a global summit on soaring world food prices today amid condemnation of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s presence at the crisis summit in Rome.

A 42-year-old man from Co Armagh has been charged with possession of firearms at a special sitting of the Special Criminal Court.

An Armagh man was charged with possession of firearms at a special sitting of the Special Criminal Court tonight.

OUR children are fatter than ever before and are getting fatter. Unless they buck long-established trends they will be the fattest generation of Irish people ever.

The Government’s failure to set adequate legal limits for the Irish gambling industry is tarnishing all operators and disregarding the problem of addiction, writes Claire O’Sullivan.

THE gambling and pornography industries are two of the primary users of the greatest communication tool ever put at man’s disposal — the internet.

ONE food scare associated with a product can destroy brands and reputations that take years and huge resources to build, the head of the European Food Safety Authority warned yesterday.

FOUR vets in three west of Ireland practices have been honoured for their role in enhancing the health status of the national cattle herd and securing the future of weanling exports.

IT is not so long ago that IBR and Johne’s Disease were unknown in livestock herds in this country.

IFA National Livestock Committee Chairman John Bryan has welcomed the view expressed by Professor Patrick Wall, the Chairman of the European Food Safety Authority, that “concerns raised by the IFA about imports of Brazilian beef into the EU are reasonable as similar standards must apply for EU and non-EU producers if consumers’ health is to be adequately protected”.

SUPERMARKETS will eventually have to pay for “Rolls Royce” standards of food supplies, one of the country’s leading food safety experts warned last night.

RESPIRATORY healthcare professionals have called for an urgent review of national TB services following an outbreak of the disease in Cork.

EXPERTS handling the biggest TB outbreak on recent record have predicted further cases of the disease among children at two Cork crèches.

EXPERTS in public health medicine, disease surveillance and respiratory illness will gather in Cork on Monday night to address parents of children attending two creches where 19 people have been diagnosed with TB.

A talented soccer player who was rejected by a major English club because of his role in a serious assault on a DART passenger has been jailed for six months at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A US court has ruled that no admissible evidence could be produced to link Oliver O’Grady, the Limerick born priest convicted of child rape, and the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly.

Experts on avian flu tonight insisted sufficient measures had been put in place to combat the threat of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.

SHARES in Alltracel Pharmaceuticals surged 10% yesterday after the Sallynoggin-based first aid product developer issued a positive trading update.