X Factor finalist Mary Byrne has been included as one of the contestants on this year’s Celebrity Operation Transformation.

Our ‘shameful’ reputation internationally for how we treat our animals has prompted those working on the frontline to call for tougher deterrents and greater political action to stem the tide of abuse, writes Kelly O’Brien

The priest who celebrated the funeral Mass of a teenage victim of a potent designer drug has urged young people to reflect on his death and say no to drugs.

Prayers were said at masses yesterday for the young woman who perished in a house fire in east Cork at the weekend.

The Buy My Dress fundraiser will raise vital funds for the Down Syndrome Centre this Sunday. Arlene Harris talks to Triona Cussen who says the campaign will help others like her son.

A schoolteacher from west Cork and a village community group in the Muskerry gaeltacht were the overall winners in Cork County Council’s Mayor’s Community Awards Scheme.

A young girl’s dying wish was today granted by her idol, singer Ed Sheeran.

The elderly mother of former Fine Gael TD Michael Finucane had to be rescued from her flooded home in Foynes, Co Limerick, yesterday morning.

“THIS festival has been a beacon in the traditional music calendar,” said traditional fiddler Paddy Glackin on Monday night at the last Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Donegal.

They are a large family but in fact the Weldons from Dublin are shrinking not expanding after they are all committed to losing weight and getting healthy.

Michael Moran is the National Oyster Opening Champion and is set to defend his title at the Galway International Oyster 7 Seafood Food Festival, which opens today and runs until Sunday.

A BOY who had his left leg amputated below the knee when a wall crashed down on top of him was yesterday awarded over €1 million.

TECH-SAVVY Niamh Sheffield used her Apple iPhone to catch a thief while on holidays in Spain this week.

The Chieftains’Triona Marshall reveals plans for a concert to aid quake victims and also mark the band’s 50th anniversary, writes Gerry Quinn

ARTS

LIMERICK tsunami survivor Triona O’Neill and her family are expected to arrive in Australia tomorrow following her dramatic escape from the disaster.

LIMERICK hotel manager Triona O’Neill ran for her life carrying her son in her arms to escape a massive tsunami that flattened Samoan villages, killing at least 119 and leaving dozens missing.

THE mother of a little girl at the centre of the controversy over cutbacks at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin wept when HSE chief Prof Brendan Drumm insisted that scoliosis surgery would be prioritised by the hospital.

JAMIE Murphy, the little girl at the centre of the controversy over waiting lists at the country’s largest hospital for sick children, was in good form yesterday as she prepared for life-saving surgery in London.

AN 11-year-old girl will board a plane for the first time in her life this morning and fly to England to find out whether doctors there can save her life.

LIKE the Rubik’s Cube that took centre stage last night, the secret to the success of the Rose of Tralee is confusing and difficult to solve.

IT COULD be worse — that’s the attitude of Leaving Cert student Triona Brassil, who has been taking her exam papers in hospital all week.

HAS Enda Kenny finally lost patience waiting for his turn?

THE tragic deaths of Triona and Caitlin were a further blow to the Innes family following the separate deaths a few short months earlier of Winnie’s brothers — Triona’s uncles — Jimmy and John.

THE family of double-tragedy victims Triona and Caitlin Innes have spoken for the first time of their “nightmare” year since the deaths.

GRIEVING mother Collette Wolfe still waits at home for the daughter she knows will never return.

A SCHOOLGIRL who confided in her daily diary about her five-year torment at the hands of bullies killed herself by taking an overdose, a coroner ruled yesterday.

ONE of the foremost figures in folk and traditional music, Micheal Ó Domhnaill, died at the weekend.