The head of a disability service was summoned to a showdown with watchdogs after staff faced repeated allegations of verbal abuse of vulnerable residents in a care home.

There’s nothing like an insider’s guide to a city. Enter Mark Hayes, the Cork man who moved to LA and ended up hanging out with everyone from Robbie Williams to Robert Sheehan.

Are our moral standards suffering the same fate as our living standards under the current administration?

A year ago, a new political party was formed, promising grand ideals and a break from old guard. But infighting and a lack of structure has ravaged its intentions, writes Micheal Clifford

Prison bosses have said that two murderers placed in a house outside the walls of Castlerea Prison have been “risk assessed” and are suitable for temporary release.

We scan a selection of trading up homes across the country

Valtteri Bottas has been promoted to race driver for the 2013 Formula One season as he will line up alongside Pastor Maldonado at Williams.

A search is underway for two inmates of Castlerea Prison in County Roscommon who are unaccounted for.

The Pensions Board recently announced new funding standards for occupational pensions. Two high profile companies are considering closure of their defined benefit pensions for new employees as a result.

Pastor Maldonado has dismissed criticism of the way his Formula One career is being funded even though his country is racked by poverty.

Irish Examiner journalist Jennifer Hough has been presented with a special award at the Inclusion Ireland annual conference in Wexford.

Williams have today confirmed Bruno Senna has signed for the team for the forthcoming Formula One season.

Rubens Barrichello believes re-signing with Williams will be a “straightforward” matter even though contract talks have yet to begin.

A VALUABLE painting stolen from an historic Irish home in the 1980s may finally be returned to Ireland after a protracted legal row over its ownership comes to a head this week.

Nico Hulkenberg caused a sensation in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix by claiming Williams’ first pole position for five and a half years.

Williams chief executive Adam Parr has put forward the idea of a two-day grand prix weekend in a bid to help teams with costs.

THE National Pensions Framework document is a crime against the poorest in society committed by the pensions industry with the assistance of the Government.

DURING the Great Famine of 1845, Ireland exported food, a little of which could have prevented the catastrophe. The revenue these exports generated was used to fund a lavish lifestyle for faceless absentee landlords.

A FOUR-BED semi-detached in a Cork southside suburb near major amenities and employers, and on a bus route, for under €300,000? It wouldn’t have come your way at this price level since the early 2000s.

WHAT was to be lost in putting the €50m e-voting machines to the test?

THERE are fears that An Daingean sewage treatment plant may not be able to cope with demands when the population grows hugely during the tourist season.

The final of the inaugural All-Ireland AA Insurance Ladies Championships gets underway at Headfort Golf Club this Wednesday.

THE AMERICANS mightn’t be much good as a team but, rest assured, they won’t be slow in coming forward when they tee it up this week in the WGC AmEx Championship at the splendid new Grove complex near Watford on Thursday.

The new world rankings made happy reading for Paul Casey today – but not so Ryder Cup team-mate Lee Westwood.

Williams are confident they will not suffer a repeat of their mystery Turkish tyre failures in next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

JAILED IRA garda killers are living like “kings in their own compounds”, gardaí said yesterday.

The IRA killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe are not in control of their prison and will serve out their full sentences, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

A REINFORCED lock has been placed on a storeroom door in the visiting area of a prison where the State’s Provisional IRA inmates are being held.

FRESH questions are being asked about the security regime at Castlerea prison where IRA members are being held after it emerged that the girlfriend of one of the IRA men is pregnant.

RORY CLEARY, fresh from his victory aboard Palace Star in Tuesday night’s McDonogh Handicap, added another big-race success to his portfolio when partnering High Priestess to take the featured Guinness Handicap at Galway last night.

THE killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe are setting down prison rules for themselves and other inmates, Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe claimed yesterday.

Williams boss Sam Michael believes his team are on the right track to challenging Ferrari despite two disastrous races in North America.

Ron Dennis doubts his former star Mika Hakkinen is on the verge of a Formula One comeback.

Williams expect to name their driver line-up for 2005 by August – but have played down suggestions Jacques Villeneuve is top of their list.

BUDGET cuts have led to visiting times being cut at Castlerea Prison — but it will not affect the IRA members jailed in connection with the death of Garda Jerry McCabe or notorious Border Fox Dessie O’Hare and his INLA colleague Declan Duffy.

Jenson Button is confident he can end his quest for a grand prix victory in 2004 – a year he admits will decide his Formula One destiny.

WITH the last house sale in The Grove, off Orchard Road, Cork, making €540,000 last year, buyers coming to look at the latest arrival on the market, no 4 The Grove might want to keep that figure in mind.

RECENTLY 13 members of the Cork Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society travelled by rail to Dublin for a week’s respite in the MS Care Centre inRathgar. They returned after a fun week in Dublin, again by rail. The journey to and from Dublin went smoothly and the help received from Irish Rail staff was excellent.

Michael Schumacher blasted out a warning to his rivals as he roared to the fastest time in first qualifying for the final Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg today.

AFTER hacking off John O'Grady's two little fingers with a hammer and chisel, Dessie O'Hare had a spiritual awakening.

THE shortage of good second-hand houses is helping to underpin the strong current prices being achieved.

A 62-year-old Co Wexford man has appeared at the Special Criminal Court in connection with paramilitary membership.