Leo Varadkar’s diplomatic response to topical chatter about a bridge across the Irish Sea — possibly or perhaps impossibly from Larne to Stranraer — was well-judged. Yes, it’s “worth examining”, but don’t expect Ireland to pay for it.

Proposals to build a 32km-long bridge connecting the North with Scotland have received the backing of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Immigrants, especially non-white, are singled going to/from the North, and asylum seekers take a circuitous route. Brexit’s hard border is already here for them, says Luke Butterly.

The Kerry juniors will seldom have easier games than their 3-20 to 0-7 victory over Scotland in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Sterling soared against the euro and the dollar as fears that the UK will crash out of the EU receded.

Ahead of their historic World Cup finals weekend, Stephen Findlater looked at some things you may not know about our hockey heroes.

“After 30 years, it’s time to tell us what you know.”

A Co Cork man, who was jailed for eight years last month for killing a young man through his aggressive driving under the influence of drink and cocaine, returned to court yesterday looking for his van back.

Stepping out of Central Station, Belfast, at about 7pm on the Saturday before last, I saw, at the end of the street, a murmuration of starlings wheeling about the sky.

A terrorist bomb-maker who infiltrated the British military should receive a tougher sentence, a former armed forces minister has said.

A "committed" terrorist who infiltrated the British military has been jailed for 18 years for supplying bombs to dissident Irish republicans.

A Royal Marine who lived a "dangerous double life" as a terrorist bomb-maker claims he faked sympathies for the Irish republican cause because he was "paralysed" with fear, a court has heard.

A car was set alight during a sectarian hate crime in Co Antrim, police said.

A Royal Marine who built explosives for an Irish republican paramilitary group had parts delivered to his late grandmother's home, a court heard.

Police in the North have arrested a 35-year-old man following an armed robbery in County Antrim this morning.

Jordan Sloan and Mona McSharry highlighted another spell of fast swimming as the Irish Open Swimming Championships continued at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

Ireland, even without resorting to the leprechaun economics jibes, relies very heavily on exports to contribute to economic growth, writes Brian Lucey.

The 63-year-old was withdrawing money from an ATM in Larne.

Masked men wielding hatchets have attacked two homes in Co Antrim.

A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of PSNI officers in Co Antrim.

Police in the North have recovered a significant amount of terrorist material as part of an ongoing search operation in the Larne area.

Police are searching a country park in the North as part of a terrorism investigation which prompted the arrest of a British Royal Marine.

Police in the North are conducting fresh searches as part of a terrorism investigation which prompted the arrest of a British Royal Marine.

A Royal Marine is being questioned by UK detectives investigating Northern Ireland-linked terrorism, understood to be connected to two major dissident republican arms finds.

In the EU negotiations Enda Kenny faces a number of problems.

Europe “walked away” from Ireland during the financial crisis the Dáil has heard. Former Fianna Fáil junior finance minister Dara Calleary yesterday questioned whether Irish citizens would choose to remain in the EU if a referendum were to be called here.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan says a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland is “not a runner” in the wake of Brexit.

So, what a momentous week this was. Ireland qualified for the second round of the European Championships revisiting, in doing so, the heady days of the 1988 competition which heralded a new era of self-belief and may even have helped set the national psyche for the real tiger times. Oh, and Brexit. 

Latest: Debris has been found in the search for a missing aircraft off the coast of Antrim.

The Munster Junior team took another big step towards the Junior Interprovincial Championship title with an 11-10 win over reigning champions Ulster at Clonakilty.

It is more than ironic that while urging us “not to mix up historical fact with propaganda”, Liam MacFadden (April 25) indulges in quite a lot of historical revisionism himself. 

Circuit of Ireland.

Stuart Crawford fears Sunday's Imperial Call Chase at Cork could be the last suitable target for mudlark Fine Rightly this season.

A pensioner and a teenager have been remanded in custody charged with stealing a fire engine and embarking on a drive of destruction which only ended when it ploughed into several homes and cars.

Cork Church of Ireland and UCC marched into round two of the men’s Irish Senior Cup but the alarming decline in Cork Harlequins’ fortunes continues.

There will be an extra motivation for the members of Ireland’s senior men’s team as they line out for their clubs in the Irish Senior Cup’s opening round this weekend.

When Irish players lined up for a World Cup debut in 1987 — chests puffed out, ready to make history — they were played into battle by... ‘The Rose of Tralee’. Peter Jackson reports

The PSNI are investigating two aggravated burglaries in Co Antrim.

A pensioner in the north who says that her home was targeted attacked because she was allowing a lesbian couple to stay there has vowed she won’t be intimidated.

WHEN entertainer Richard Hayward died in a car accident, aged 72, it was front-page news in the Irish daily newspapers, not just in his hometown, Belfast.