At the age of 17, Brian Prendergast followed a long family tradition of finding a career in music through the army. He’s now the Cork-based conductor of one of the defence forces’ best bands, writes Richard Fitzpatrick.

Women and children feature alongside household names in the files of more than 1,500 people whose War of Independence and Civil War roles are disclosed in historic records published today.

A 10-year-old boy killed in a Civil War shootout in Tipperary may have been the youngest IRA member during the Irish revolution.

A female army captain excluded from a promotions process for the position of commandant due to being on maternity leave has been awarded €824,794 damages by a High Court judge.

A High Court judge has found a female captain in the Defence Forces was excluded from a promotions process as a result of being on maternity leave in breach of equality implementation requirements of a European directive.

Three leading figures from the 1916 Easter Rising were never awarded a military medal for their role in the rebellion, newly declassified files reveal.

Family members of nearly 50,000 men and women who took part in the 1916 Rising or War of Independence can access files relating to their service for the first time.

A full State commemoration for Roger Casement was led by President Michael D Higgins at Banna Strand near Tralee yesterday.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Until 1916, this half brick formed part of the wall at Portobello Barracks, now Cathal Brugha Barracks, in Rathmines.

A former soldier who sued over post-traumatic stress disorder, allegedly from seeing bodies of some of the 48 victims of the 1981 Stardust fire, has lost his Supreme Court appeal against the dismissal of his action.

The key figure in a charity which is feeding almost 2,000 people a week has issued an impassioned plea to government to divert some of the €22m 1916 commemoration funding to help the hungry and homeless.

If you’re scared of heights, look away now.

Government cutbacks make it unlikely the Defence Forces and the gardaí could prevent an outbreak of foot- and-mouth, swine flu, or avian flu spreading from the North into the Republic, according to a former senior army officer.

William Kelly, 24, continued a growing family tradition in the protection of the State yesterday.

A garda has denied that he saw a colleague punch a man in the head during an incident which left five officers injured.

Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds was laid to rest after a state funeral with full military honours.

A father and son are among the latest Irish troops being despatched to a United Nations peace-keeping mission in the Middle East.

Irish troops serving in Syria were 200 metres from a firefight between Government and anti-government forces.

The first batch of soldiers from the 43rd Infantry Group of the Irish Defence Forces departs for Syria today.

Defence Minister Alan Shatter has ruled out the possibility of Irish peacekeepers being targeted in a chemical attack during their mission to the Golan Heights.

The United Nations has assured the Government that the safety of Irish peacekeepers is paramount on their upcoming mission to the Golan Heights.

Ireland’s political system should be overhauled to reflect the true ideals of revolutionary leader Michael Collins, it has been claimed.

Troops have funded and erected a memorial to Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins at the barracks he set off from on the day he was ambushed.

A soldier in Dundalk has been sent a Property Tax bill for an entire army barracks.

First-hand accounts of the Easter Rising and the War of Independence are among important historical documents being made widely available to the public for the first time in almost half a century.

The Bureau of Military History is launching a new website this evening.

The final headquarters of the 1916 rising has been allowed to degenerate into a slum, the Dáil heard.

They arrived as citizens from 110 countries but all left as officially Irish.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II bowed her head in respect as she laid a wreath in memory of those who died during Ireland’s long struggle for independence.

A Tallaght man who viciously raped, beat and threatened to kill a woman he abducted from a busy road has received an eight-year sentence with one suspended.

“ENOUGH is enough, you can’t get blood from a stone,” the Defence Forces’ association has warned, as details emerge of some soldiers having their homes repossessed.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has appealed to the public to avoid "knee-jerk and defensive reactions" after the publication of today's report by An Bord Snip Nua.

A young Irish soldier will be sentenced to community service next year for smashing a pint glass into another soldier’s face while drunk in a Dublin pub.

THE Defence Forces has ruled out calls for the suspension of the use of army trucks for moving army personnel following a multi-vehicle collision on the M50 yesterday in which 28 soldiers were injured.

Soldiers’ representatives tonight called for military trucks to be taken off the roads for safety reasons after 28 soldiers were injured in a motorway pile-up.

Twenty-two soldiers have been taken to five hospitals in Dublin following the multi-vehicle accident on the M50 this morning, according to the Defence Forces.

Thirty members of the Defence Forces were injured today after the convoy they were travelling in was involved in a pile-up on the M50.

Three bombs left in a busy city park close to a children's playground were defused by Army experts today.

President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will today be among the guests at the National Day of Commemoration for all Irish who died in foreign wars.

Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea is examining a report on the accuracy of the Army's version of the massacre of eight Irish soldiers in the Congo in 1960.