A teenage boy who smeared faeces on a member of staff at a care unit claimed it was Nutella chocolate, Limerick Children’s Court has heard.

A post mortem is expected to be carried out today on the body of well-known Limerick criminal defence solicitor John Devane.

A man has escaped from garda custody after been refused bail on a charge of escaping garda custody.

A man has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to bribe a serving garda by offering him €7,000, after he was arrested on suspicion of drink driving.

A 13-year-old boy has appeared in court in Limerick charged with allegedly engaging in a lewd act with a seven-year-old boy.

A 29-year-old man who was intercepted by gardaí while allegedly on his way to a hotel to have sex with a boy last Monday, has been remanded in continuing custody with consent to bail.

A 29-year old man who was intercepted by gardaí while allegedly on his way to a hotel to have sex with a boy last Monday, has been remanded in continuing custody with consent to bail.

Andrea Mara reports on a disturbing increase in food allergies among children and talks to a leading expert in the field who warns there is no validated test for intolerences.

A mother has been jailed for the second time in 10 days for allowing her children to miss school writes David Raleigh.

A mother of three is to be jailed at Limerick Women’s Prison for one month after an appeal court affirmed her conviction for failing to send her son to school.

A man who dangled his three young children from the fifth floor of a city centre apartment block in Limerick as passers-by watched in horror, has been put on probation.

I am an LCA student in Youthreach Knocknaheeny and I am writing about homelessness in Cork. My class and I are concerned about people living rough: this year, 500 families have become homeless in Ireland. Many more have to stay with friends, family, and in squats, due to the housing crisis and rising rents. People deserve better.

A man told gardaí “I really am sorry for the death of that man” after he was charged with a burglary at a house in Co Limerick where a 62-year-old man died after discovering intruders at his home.

A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the robbery of an 85-year-old man in Limerick City last week.

A rapper who starred alongside pop star Bressie in an RTÉ reality show has been given a 12-month ‘rap on the knuckles’ by a judge.

A rapper who starred alongside pop star Bressie in an RTÉ reality show, has been given a 12-month 'rap on the knuckles' by a judge.

Almost 80,000 people who signed up to One Big Switch, a consumer network, will be able to save money on their household bills thanks to a special offer the group has “unlocked”.

Thousands of people have signed up to one of the country’s largest consumer networks in an effort to use people power to save money on household bills.

Cash-strapped householders could face higher electricity prices by 2017 due to a redesign of the Irish electricity market.

The health insurance price war will not be enough to attract younger people ahead of the imposition of new membership rules, it has been claimed.

One in three taxi passengers have said that drivers with poor local knowledge are their biggest irritation, according to a survey.

Energy retailer Energia have made group discounts of around €325 per household available to anyone who switches to them through One Big Switch.

More than half of people with health insurance claim their premiums have "skyrocketed" due to the exodus of 300,000 policy holders from the market since 2008.

A talent-show fundraiser run by estate agents Savills in Cork, Dublin and Belfast cities last week raised over €50,000 for cancer services in each of the three locations, entertaining over 1,000 people in the process. And, Louis Walsh impressions featuree among the three different judging panels in the Cork/Dublin/Belfast’s ‘Got Talent’ shows.

More than 660,000 people could drop their health insurance if premiums increase between 1% and 10%, campaigners for more affordable health insurance have warned.

The campaigners who secured deals for over tens of thousands of people on their electricity bills are looking to do the same for health insurance.

A motorist has avoided jail after putting the lives of other motorists at risk, when he smoked cannabis before driving at speed against oncoming traffic.

A man who gave a “torturous beating” to a horse that had to be put down was yesterday jailed for six months.

Ryan Tubridy has posed for a new photograph for schoolgirl Sarah Ryan to sketch — after the photographer responsible for the picture on which Sarah’s original drawing was based objected to her use of the image.

A transition year student has landed her first exhibition thanks to her uncanny sketch of broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.

Former State witness April Collins has been banned from driving for 12 years and warned she will go to jail if she is caught driving while disqualified again.

A district court judge has reinstated free legal aid for a father of three who failed to turn up in court because he was on holiday abroad.

A father of three who had legal aid withdrawn after he went on holidays instead of appearing in court was on his first family vacation in seven years, a judge has been told.

A defendant on free legal aid could not attend court because he is abroad on a sun holiday with his partner and their three children, a court heard yesterday.

A judge has told a motorist who forcibly removed a clamp from his car that it would have been cheaper to buy a parking disc — as it eventually ended up costing the motorist €550.

A Limerick football fan who carried out what a judge said was the lowest form of racial taunt when throwing a banana at a black player was yesterday ordered to do 240 hours of community work, or face eight months in jail.

A soccer fan, whose brother once got a youth trial with Manchester United, was told by a judge he had carried out the lowest form of racial taunt when throwing a banana at a black player.

A judge yesterday admonished a young Limerick drug abuser, telling him he did not give “a toss” what he put into his arms, up his nose or into his bottom.

SPARE a thought for the Andrews clan, whose next family get-together is bound to be a frosty affair after one of its disgruntled scions was revealed as the poison pen behind an anonymous Twitter account.

A part of the Atlas collection by the German artist Gerhard Richter, one of Sharon McCarthy’s favourite artists.

Jenny O’Leary converted a 60th-minute free to snatch a 0-16 to 2-9 victory for league champions Cork over Clare in the opening round of the All-Ireland senior camogie championship.

Jenny O’Leary converted a 60th minute free to snatch victory for league champions Cork over Clare in the opening round of the All-Ireland senior camogie championship.

An inmate at Limerick Prison who concealed a mobile phone internally had to be rushed to hospital to have it surgically removed, a court heard.