The trial of two young men charged with murder collapsed in the Central Criminal Court today after the prosecution entered a Nolle Prosequi on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions

The rapist at the centre of the "C Case" in the 1990's has been jailed for 21 years by Mr Justice George Birmingham for raping an 86-year-old woman in her home last year.

A Monaghan man charged with raping an 86-year-old woman in her home initially denied in garda interviews that he had ever been in the woman's home but later claimed to have helped a relative "power-wash" her house.

A consultant psychiatrist who treated an 86-year-old woman that a Monaghan man is accused of raping in her home has told a Central Criminal Court jury that she has Alzheimer's disease and is unable to give evidence.

A Central Criminal Court jury in the trial of a Monaghan man accused of raping an 86-year-old pensioner in her home have been hearing medical evidence from a doctor who examined the woman after the incident.

Catherine Nevin's application to be provided with documentation that she claims hugely relevant in her action to have her conviction for the murder of her husband declared a miscarriage of justice has been adjourned following the DPP's request to have certain documents in the State's possession ruled as privileged.

The hearing of part of convicted murderer Catherine Nevin's bid to have her conviction for the murder of her husband Tom declared a miscarriage of justice due to take place next week has been adjourned following a request from her legal team.

The Jack O'Connor-led Kerry senior management team was officially ratified at last night's meeting of the Kerry County Committee.

The assistant director general of the Central Bank has warned that there will be no immediate end to the current recession.

A confession made by a Co Galway man convicted of the murder of an elderly woman over 25 years ago was the work of more than one person, a scientist told the Court of Criminal Appeal today.

A Clare man accused of murdering a hackney driver with a hatchet got a 14 year-old boy to help him destroy evidence of the killing, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard today.

An African man who raped a teenage Zambian girl he claimed he had married has been given a 15 years prison sentence by Mr Justice Barry White at the Central Criminal Court.

An African man who faces sentence for raping a teenage Zambian girl he claimed he had married has told the Central Criminal Court he wishes to fire his third legal team.

The son of a retired Garda took to the stand in the Special Criminal Court today to say he had brought a Garda hat into the house of a father of 10 accused of IRA membership while playing with the accused's son during Halloween.

A t-shirt saying "I'm a bomb technician- if you see me running try to keep up" was found in the house of a father-of-ten accused of IRA membership, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

A 22-year-old Dublin man has pleaded guilty to the possession of an improvised bomb which was found in a car on the M50 Westlink toll bridge.

A man who survived an assault which killed his friend said the two accused called them "f***ing Chinese" and beat him so his eyes "were covered in blood", the trial of two Dublin men accused of murder and of causing harm heard today at the Central Criminal Court.

The jury in the trial of a man accused of a gangland style shooting in a Dublin pub last year are expected to retire to consider their verdict today.

A murder trial jury has heard how the victim was stabbed and hacked from head to toe in a "sustained and vicious assault" during which the killer attempted to decapitate him.

A man who was stabbed and hacked to death had regularly beaten his partner and threatened to kill her if she left him, the dead man's neighbour told his murder trial.

Two men accused of murdering a civil servant told a prosecution witness they "milled" a man and left him lying in a pool of blood, a murder trial heard today.

A witness in a murder trial today denied parts of her Garda statement which she made after the murder of a civil servant in 1998.

A hackney driver has told a murder trial that he saw a man lying on the ground being punched by another man while a third man stood over him.

A 43-year-old civil servant was beaten and kicked because he refused to give cigarettes to two young Dublin men accused of his murder, it was claimed in the Central Criminal Court today.

A jury in the trial of a father charged with murdering his infant son is expected to retire on Tuesday next to decide whether the accused is insane or guilty of murder.

An apprentice mechanic on the Naval ship LE Eithne was "foolish", "stupid", even "reckless" to put a crewmate on a guardrail from where he went overboard, but he was not a murderer, a defence counsel told a jury today.

A sailor on the Irish Navy flagship, the L.E. Ethne was assaulted, which caused him to fall from the side of the ship into the River Liffey where he drowned, a murder trial jury heard today.

A Somalian man denied murdering his 20-month-old son and told gardai the toddler fell twice on the night he was killed, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

A former asylum seeker allegedly lifted his baby son out of bed and took him into another room where the child was beaten to death, a murder trial heard today.

THE Central Bank has lowered its Irish economic growth forecast for next year to just 2.5%.