A seven-and-a-half year prison sentence has been handed down to a drink driver who killed a little boy and severely injured the child’s mother in a crash last year.

“I just didn’t think, I just jumped into the car.” Those were the words of Finbarr O’Rourke, the man who consumed up to 10 pints of cider before getting behind the wheel of a vehicle and crashing into a family car, resulting in the death of a four-year-old boy.

Flowers and a white teddy bear marked the scene of a crash which left a young boy dead and his mother seriously injured in Laois on Thursday night.

A four-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a crash in Co Laois last night has died in hospital.

A judge has congratulated all sides in resolving a legal row over an alleged “dud” €14,400 pony.

Gardaí and Irish Rail have launched investigations into an incident which saw a train on the Ennis-Limerick rail line strike a tractor in Co. Clare this afternoon.

A man in his 20s is due before Waterford District Court this morning, charged in connection with a drug seizure in Co Kilkenny yesterday.

Three men have been arrested after gardai seized more than 400 cannabis plants, thought to be worth around €360,000, during a raid in Kilkenny this morning.

A father has said that a pony he was told would take his eight-year-old daughter to compete in the RDS instead nearly killed her.

Four people have been injured in a serious collision on the N18 in Co Clare.

LARGE daily fines could be imposed on the State over its alleged failure to comply with EU directives on waste disposal, including illegal dumping.

A traveller accused of murder told gardaí he was forced to drive the getaway car for two gunmen against his will, a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard today.

A man is being treated in hospital this morning following a shooting incident in Co Laois overnight.