The 2018 GAA season has begun in earnest. One of the key talking points is whether Galway will retain their All-Ireland hurling title, writes Jack Anderson.

Latest: Landlords are blaming the bedsit ban for overcrowding in rental properties.

Just 142 new houses were built by the country’s 31 local authorities last year amid a growing housing and homelessness crisis, according to new official figures.

At least one extra Dáil seat will be up for grabs in the next general election as the growth in population has pushed the number of people per TD over the 30,000 legal threshold.

Former junior minister Ivor Callely has been jailed for five months for fraudulently claiming mobile expenses at Leinster House while he was a senator.

The man who turned down the plan for five Garth Brooks concerts at Croke Park is the top earner among local authority staff.

A national movement aimed at fighting the threat to the future of rural post offices is to be launched in the West tonight.

The Government has announced that €15m is to be spent on local authority housing.

Fewer children were born in Ireland in 2011, while the number of first-time mothers in their 30s continues to rise, according to new statistics published yesterday.

New figures show a sharp rise in the number of houses being built in January — but a fall in the number being completed.

Cork City Council has emerged as the best resourced local authority on a per capita basis of all 34 county and city councils in the Republic.

A Sunday family walk turned to tragedy when two young sisters were knocked down and killed in Co Galway today.

Divorce and remarriage are on the rise as latest figures show almost 88,000 people are divorced here — a nine-fold increase since 1996.

Endemic corruption, chaotic sprawl, a legacy of ghost development and widespread environmental degradation — they are just some of the phrases used by An Taisce in its review of planning during the boom years.

ON census night, Apr 10, 2011, there were just under 290,000 empty houses in the State.

Council chiefs in Donegal have accused a leading environmental association of bias after they ranked it bottom of the pile in a league table for good planning.

City and county councils are biased in favour of granting planning permission to developments due to the revenues completed projects bring in, a new report concludes.

Donegal has the worst planning record in the country, An Taisce has claimed.

The decline in house prices is finally beginning to slow, according to the latest report on the housing market.

ON census night, there were 1,994,845 housing units in the State — up 12.72% from 2006, when there were 1,769,613. Some 1,649,408 of these units were occupied by the usual resident.

The number of divorced people has soared by more than 150% since 2002.

GALWAY GAA officials are shocked after discovering that their senior hurlers will have to participate in the Leinster senior hurling championship until at least 2013 — two seasons longer than they agreed to.

CORK’S city manager said City Hall has nothing to fear after submitting a detailed report on foot of a planning probe announced by Environment Minister John Gormley.

A FIANNA FÁIL councillor has demanded an apology from the Environment Minister for the way he announced a planning inquiry last week.

IN the past year the number of people claiming unemployment benefit increased by 197,495 to 435,735, or up 82.9%.

TEAGASC is to sell its Kilmaley, Co Clare farm of 49 hectares (121 acres) and about one hectare (2.5 acres) with development potential at Kinsealy in north Dublin.

Four major towns and cities could be hit by water shortages in five years, senior government advisors warned today.

Donal Hickey on the future of the Shannon cruises

THE number of babies born outside marriage is at an all-time high, figures have revealed.

SCHOOL dropout rates are highest in rural areas, according to figures obtained by the Irish Examiner.