His was arguably the story of last year’s An Post Rás, when his battered body and twisted wreck of a bike was posted on message boards and chat forums with headlines ranging from ‘This ain’t football’ to ‘No blood-subs here’.

ANTI-INCINERATION groups will protest today at the opening of an oral hearing into plans to burn household waste at a thermal treatment plant in Co Meath.

OUTRAGED community groups will seek an oral hearing into yesterday’s decision by the Environment Protection Agency to grant a draft licence to Indaver (Ireland) for waste incineration plants in Cork and Meath.