A lost drug shipment was suspected of sparking the appalling violence that resulted in a hard-working and loving family “losing everything”.

It was a horrific and violent attack on a young family that caused “catastrophic changes” to their lives and “shocked an entire nation”.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry has failed in his attempt to have a trial relating to alleged Revenue offences stopped in the circuit court.

Four men have admitted being involved in an aggravated burglary while in possession of two guns and a machete at the rural home of a young family last year.

The circuit court will resume consideration next month of an application by former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry to have four summonses relating to the alleged filing of incorrect tax returns struck out.

A Ukrainian man was jailed for four years with the final three suspended after he falsely obtained almost €18,000 in social welfare payments under a dead man’s name.

A man danced around the motionless body of a 25-year-old he had just assaulted and raised his arms aloft in a “triumphant gesture,” a court heard yesterday.

Two brothers defamed by the chairman of the Kilkenny Hunt who referred to them as a “pair of paedophiles” have been awar-ded damages of €30,500.

THE DPP has ordered a retrial into the unlawful killing of 59-year-old Evelyn Joel.

A JUDGE has called on the Oireachtas to examine the possibility of mandatory positive discrimination in schools to ensure no group — such as the Travelling community — is excluded from enrolment.

Two barmen charged with manslaughter after a customer downed a cocktail of shots have been found not guilty on the judge’s orders.

The amount of alcohol in the system of a hotel guest who died of alcohol poisoning after downing a cocktail of spirits could have changed after death, a court heard.

A civil engineer who died from acute alcohol poisoning after downing a cocktail of shots had challenged friends to drinks races on nights before, a court was told.

Four men who assaulted six people attending a St Patrick’s Day parade in an incident of “unprovoked savagery” have succeeded in having their sentences reduced by a total of eight years on appeal.

A FORMER council engineer accused of deceiving a superior officer over an €18,920 contract was acquitted yesterday when a judge directed a jury to return a “not guilty” verdict.

A RADIO broadcaster has been acquitted of assault and criminal damage charges relating to a dispute over alleged damage to a car.

FORMER Munster and Ireland rugby player Eddie Halvey has been given a seven-month suspended sentence and disqualified from driving for seven years after pleading guilty to careless driving and drink driving following a road crash which claimed the life of a 16-year-old boy in 2006.

A man who had been given a suspended sentence after he attempted to block a fire engine during the 2006 "Love Ulster" riots has now been jailed after he committed seven new offences.

The jury at the trial of the Navan bus crash which claimed the lives of five young schoolgirls has been released until tomorrow morning so Judge Thomas Teehan can hear legal arguments.

A convicted drug dealer and robber who was operating "a heroin mixing factory" in west Dublin has been jailed for 10 years by Judge Thomas Teehan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.