An Irish family celebrated the birthday of a man missing for three years in the Netherlands with a protest at the Dutch embassy in Dublin yesterday.

THE HSE is investigating whether an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis claimed the life of an 89-year-old patient and left 12 more seriously ill at one of its nursing homes.

HE could be the next Stephen King or Terry Pratchett, but before Gareth McNamara finishes his first novel he has the small matter of his Junior Certificate to sit this summer.

THE huge basking shark is the latest creature to be seen moving northwards, another case of wildlife responding to climate changes.