The chair of the GAA’s Hurling Development Committee has backed the introduction of the sin bin to the game.

Fine Gael was the most talked about political party on Twitter in the first full week of the election campaign.

Here is a selection of people who are starting interesting new roles with public and private organisations in Ireland.

Leo Varadkar's running mate in the upcoming General Election also criticised the move.

At the moment, my life revolves around the new book I’m writing. I have a copy of the editorial schedule taped on the wall in front of my computer — when the next draft is due for submission to the publisher, when the next round of edits will make their way back to me. Back and forth, on repeat for the next seven months.

Transport Minister Shane Ross followed Culture Minister Josepha Madigan in facing criticism for telling voters about the lack of new drugs units in his constituency.

A man who gave nine variations of an accident he suffered at work has had his €60,000 damages claim dismissed by the Circuit Civil Court.

Lidl has confirmed plans for the roll-out of a further 50 stores across the island of Ireland.

Businessman Bernard Rocca and his wife, Theresa, may avoid losing their €1m Castleknock, Dublin, home which a vulture fund claims it is entitled to sell off against Bernard’s personal business debts of up to €2m.

Mick McCarthy couldn't work it out.

Parents at a non-denominational school in Dublin have staged a protest over the use of a Catholic agency to deliver sex education classes to pupils.

Aontú leader Peadar Toibin is hopeful of taking at least five local election seats around the country as unofficial tallies in Meath suggest his sister could top the poll in the Navan area.

A former meditation teacher has been jailed for three years for sexual attacks on a child in the 1970s.

A Fine Gael councillor and constituency colleague of An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has received an "unreserved apology" from a Sinn Féin activist over comments posted on Facebook.

A man who defrauded six customers out of almost €60,000 by taking payments for minibuses which he never handed over to them has been sentenced to three and half years.

Businessman Bernard Rocca and his wife, Theresa, face losing their €1 million Castleknock, Dublin home despite having the money in a legal account to clear off a mortgage debt of €131,000 and a second mortgage debt of 10 cent, a court heard today.

There is a misunderstanding that actors want to be famous, says Clelia Murphy, who stars in the stage adaptation of Light a Penny Candle, Maeve Binchy’s first novel, published in 1982.

Waterways Ireland now believes the sighting is actually the native Irish otter.

The Government saw off a motion of no confidence against Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy by 59 votes to 49, with 29 TDs abstaining

So, when is Micheál going to be thrown to the lions?

A Dublin maternity hospital has apologised to the parents of a stillborn baby whose identical twin survived.

Aileen Lee Arlene McIntyre — creative director and founder of Ventura Design

A man has been arrested after being found naked and drunk outside a busy Dublin shopping centre.

Cast your mind back to 2009, writes Daniel McConnell.

Kilkenny teenager Mark Power is gunning to become the youngest winner of the West of Ireland since Rory McIlroy in 2006 after he completed two impressive wins on the opening day of matchplay combat at Rosses Point.

Over the last 20 years, I have written many letters, especially to the Irish Examiner concerning the plight and frustration of adult adoptees attempting to trace their birth families.

Complaints by Sean Quinn Junior and his wife Karen Woods about a recent failure to pay some of their €100,000 annual living expenses should be seen in the context of a “scheme of misappropriation on a grand scale”, the High Court has been told.

Some 200,000 people care for loved-ones in Ireland. Among them is Jack Brennan, an 84-year-old who cares for his beloved wife, Bernie. She has Alzheimer’s disease and cannot even perform the most basic tasks.

It was her action, or inaction while in Justice that finally led to Frances Fitzgerald’s downfall, writes Elaine Loughlin

In response to the behaviour of slum landlords, an audit of all rental property has been called for. This would be akin to the NCT test to determine the roadworthiness of cars. But it is not viable and would worsen the housing crisis.

Helen O’Callaghan on a new cinema advert about CF

Do you have tickets for the gigs?

Mícheál Martin has criticised Leo Varadkar's reported opposition to high rise buildings in his own constituency.

A cyclist who died following a collision with a taxi in Dublin city centre died from hypovolemic shock.

At the Irish team’s hotel in Castleknock yesterday, a few of the senior players told Martin O’Neill about how much of a challenge they think Saturday’s World Cup qualifier in Tbilisi is going to be — and the manager was delighted to hear of their concern.

Athenry schoolboy David Kitt could become the youngest winner of the AIG Irish Amateur Close since Rory McIlroy in 2006 after cruising into the semi-finals in impressive style on a day of shocks at Galway Golf Club.

Sixty-five cars were seized last year for not paying Dublin’s M50 toll.

From teenager to Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar was driven. He excelled academically at the fee-paying King’s Hospital school, thrived in debating and student politics, and won a prize for history, writes Political Editor Daniel McConnell.

INTENTIONAL or not, the Fine Gael leadership contest has been a PR masterstroke, writes, Political Reporter Elaine Loughlin.

A Dublin couple, who reneged on their mortgage repayments just under four years ago, lost their upmarket Castleknock home to “the governor and company of the Bank of Ireland” yesterday.

This week, the Irish Examiner Political Team — Juno McEnroe, Fiachra O Cionnaith, Elaine Loughlin, and Daniel McConnell — have endeavoured to pin down where support within the 73 members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party is likely to go once votes are cast.