TOM HANLON secured a 14% share of first preferences and the second seat on Passage West town council with his 243 votes in the 1999 local elections.

FRESH questions are being asked about the security regime at Castlerea prison where IRA members are being held after it emerged that the girlfriend of one of the IRA men is pregnant.

THE Green Party has called on Sinn Féin to clarify the status of constituency activist Sean Kind, who got a six-year sentence yesterday in the Special Criminal Court for possessing firearms.

A Cork man described as a "dedicated republican" and anti-drugs campaigner was jailed for six years today for possession of firearms for an unlawful purpose.

Four men appeared before a special sitting of Fermoy District Court last night in connection with the seizure of three handguns in Mitchelstown on Monday.