Catherine Shanahan reports on how the ‘man of the people’ is viewed in Rome by Irish members of religious orders

Carlow made a winning start to their Allianz Hurling League season with an impressive display at Dr Cullen Park yesterday.

THE wheel came full circle for a north Tipperary couple on June 14, 2007, when their fourth child was born in a car just outside a doctor’s surgery on the outskirts of Limerick.

Union officials from Dublin's four local authorities will meet today to decide a strategy to oppose the outsourcing of waste disposal services in the capital.

IMPACT union firefighters have sought to cool plans for all-out national strike at the start of May, insisting such a move could jeopardise ongoing talks between unions and Government.

IRELAND’S 3,700 full-time and part-time fire fighters are set to go on strike within five weeks as a direct result of an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.

MILK prices and dairy farm margins should begin to recover in 2010, but it may yet be 2011 before the sector returns to a normal level of profitability, Teagasc has predicted.

FOUR young people, including three women, were questioned yesterday in relation to a knife murder just over a week ago.

IRISH Ferry sailings into French harbours may be blocked by French trade union officials, affecting the holidays of thousands of Irish passengers.

Drogheda United fell at the first hurdle in this season's FAI Ford Cup as they were beaten at United Park by Sean Connor's Bohemians 1-0. Darren Mansaram grabbed the only goal of the game to put the Gypsies into the last 16 to leave Paul Doolin's side to concentrate on the league.

FOUR marine officers who barricaded themselves inside the control room of the Isle of Inishmore in Pembroke finally emerged last night, bringing the bitter Irish Ferries dispute to a conclusion.

MARCHING past the Taoiseach’s office, SIPTU’s construction branch chanted a message not often heard in Government buildings.

Tens of thousands of employees today turned out to protest in solidarity with Irish Ferries workers who are fighting attempts by the company to replace them with cheaper foreign labour.

LAST-DITCH efforts to find a resolution to the Irish Ferries dispute continued at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) last night despite little sign of a breakthrough.

UNION officials remained downbeat about the prospect of a resolution to the Irish Ferries dispute as a fresh round of talks adjourned yesterday evening.

The stakes have been raised in the dispute at Irish Ferries after the company's shore staff voted by a 3 to 1 majority in favour of strike action in support of their SIPTU colleagues.

Dublin port workers tonight voted to support Irish Ferries staff fighting attempts to replace them with cheaper foreign labour, by refusing to handle any of the firm’s ships.

MARINE MINISTER Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher is to raise the prospect of a new European Ferries Directive with his EU counterparts next week as the crisis at Irish Ferries continues.

MARINE engineer John Curry says the thought of leaving the engine room of Irish Ferries’ ship Inishmore frightens him.

EXPORTERS believe businesses will be hit hard if Irish Ferries’ services to Britain are disrupted by strikes.

Exporters warned today businesses would be hit hard if Irish Ferries’ services to the United Kingdom were disrupted by strike.

SIPTU president Jack O’Connor yesterday laid down strict conditions which will determine whether the country’s most powerful union supports talks on a new national agreement.

SIPTU has accusing Irish Ferries of bullying its staff with a new letter circulated today by the company.

SIPTU has served two weeks' strike notice on Irish Ferries as a result of the company's plans to replace workers on its Irish Sea routes with cheaper labour from abroad.

IRISH Ferries is seeking 543 voluntary redundancies from its workforce or it will cease passenger ferry services across the Irish Sea.

An Irish Ferries vessel with more than a thousand people on board has finally docked at Cherbourg.

French ferry workers have said they will stop the Irish Ferries ship the Normandy docking at French ports.

SIPTU and Irish Ferries are expected to engage in conciliation talks in Dublin today after an ongoing dispute left 800 passengers stranded at sea for up to eight hours yesterday.

A FILIPINO woman staging a protest on an Irish Ferries vessel after being sacked said last night her dreams were shattered.

Talks between Irish Ferries and union officials over a worker from the Philippines in a row about “slave wages” have ended without agreement, it was confirmed tonight.

Irish Ferries is meeting with union officials to discuss the situation of a foreign worker from the Philippines in a row over low wages, it was confirmed today.

IRISH FERRIES services to Britain and France could be hit by industrial action next month after SIPTU yesterday served strike notice on the company.

Union bosses today accused Irish Ferries of paying a foreign worker slave wages.

SIPTU has welcomed a Labour Court ruling that workers on Irish Ferries services between Rosslare and Cherbourg should be employed directly by the company.

IRISH FERRIES will today begin resuming services after Government intervention resulted in a breakthrough in the 11-day-old dispute between workers and management at the company.

The Irish Ferries dispute looks set to enter its second week after talks at the Labour Relations Commission ended in deadlock last night.

Management and workers at Irish Ferries are to engage in separate exploratory talks at the Labour Relations Commission today to try resolve the escalating row.

The loss of more than 700 jobs at Irish Ferries in a dispute over outsourcing was condemned today by union leaders.

MANAGEMENT at Irish Ferries expect to have laid off almost 500 staff by close of business today as the increasingly bitter dispute at the company intensifies.

THE bitter dispute between SIPTU and Irish Ferries looks set to intensify dramatically today as another union prepares to enter the fray and the company threatens further lay-offs.