In a major turnaround, more Irish household and commercial rubbish is being burnt in incinerators and used to power cement kilns than is going to landfill.

A STUDENT already waiting a full term for her college grant is in fear of dropping out because of the 5% cut in payments as part of Wednesday’s budget.

Planners were asked to sign off on proposals to fast-track Ireland’s first dump for toxic ash, it was revealed today.

LOCAL health centres and hospitals across the country may be used by the Health Service Executive as alternative pharmacies to ensure people continue to receive their medicines free of charge under the community drug schemes.

MORE than 900 pharmacists have told the Health Service Executive they are withdrawing from the community drugs schemes.

A German national has been sentenced to three years in prison with two years suspended at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for possession of pornography showing "the systematic rape of children".

A teenager convicted of stabbing his mother’s partner with a boning knife was jailed for five and a half years at the Central Criminal Court this morning.

A teenager convicted of stabbing his mother’s partner with a boning knife last year will be sentenced tomorrow morning at the Central Criminal Court.

Heroin worth around €200,000 was seized today by detectives targeting organised crime.

A couple in their 20s were arrested tonight over the knife murder of an off-duty taxi driver.

A BRAZILIAN national was fighting for his life last night after undergoing surgery to remove a knife from his skull following an attack.

THE victim of a gangland-style shooting managed to disarm his attacker despite having been shot at least once, it emerged yesterday.

THE Environmental Protection Agency has granted a licence for the country's first toxic waste incinerator, despite vehement opposition from environmental groups.

THE film censor has backed calls for tougher penalties to be imposed on the criminal gangs involved in DVD piracy.

The Irish film censor has backed calls for tougher penalties to be imposed on criminals involved in DVD piracy.

A 29-year-old man and two juveniles are in garda custody today following what detectives believe to be one of the most sophisticated DVD counterfeiting operations ever uncovered in the State.

Gardaí are investigating the robbery of a furniture store in Duleek, Co Meath.

A formal appeal against plans for an incinerator in Co Meath has been lodged with the Environmental Protection Agency, it emerged today.

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director general has warned there is no system here to routinely monitor the health of people living near incinerators and waste sites.

DESPITE repeated assurances that incinerators and waste sites are not hazardous, fears will be fanned by revelations that Ireland has put no system in place to monitor the health of people living near such sites.

AN Bórd Pleanála’s decision to give the country’s first municipal waste incinerator the green light was bound to trigger outrage among environmentalist.

OBJECTORS to the country’s first household waste incinerator are to continue their fight in the courts after An Bord Pleanála cleared the construction of the facility yesterday.