Limerick mother Aine Laffan cooked up a New Year's Day storm in her kitchen as she delivered her son Odhran on the kitchen floor.

Clare and Limerick politicians can’t back the routing of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road (a substantial dual-carriageway) through several hundred acres of flood prone lands and then express shock and horror that the communities on both banks of the River Shannon have been covered in four feet of water since December 11.

As Minister for Defence Simon Coveney reviewed 189 troops at Sarsfield Barracks, Limerick, yesterday, prior to their departure for a six-month tour of duty of the Lebanon, it was a bittersweet occasion for the second-in-command of the 47th Infantry group, Comdt Bryan Carley, and his wife Suzie Lacey.

To misquote lunar astronaut, Neil Armstrong.... Royal de Luxe’s giant gran took another small step in her global travels yesterday, delivering a giant boost to Limerick’s City of Culture celebrations.

Christy Ring made his championship debut for the Cork senior hurlers in 1940. They were dark days for the county.

Armed men broke into a house near Patrickswell, beat up the man who lived there, then tried to strangle him with an electric cable, and hit him over the head with a handgun.

Three men have been arrested after gardaí uncovered a drugs factory and seized some €200,000 worth of ecstasy and cannabis at two locations in Limerick.

Two Limerick men involved in a sophisticated million-euro drugs network that stretched through the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the North to a rural cottage in Limerick were yesterday jailed at Limerick Circuit Court.

An international courier company’s tracking system uncovered a sophisticated drugs trail stretching through the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the North to a rural cottage in Co Limerick, a court heard.

A road accident which claimed the lives of two Limerick brothers may have been caused by the sun’s glare on a roadway, an inquest heard yesterday.

Three years ago Tipperary GAA adopted the policy of allowing the management to name the senior hurling captain.

Roy Keane’s neighbour and namesake has one thing over the famous footballer.

A man has died following a road accident in Co Limerick.

Gardaí have recovered pistols, hand grenades and ammunition in a planned search of a premises in Limerick.

It may be only six months since the 2010 Kerry Agribusiness Irish St Leger final was run at the brand new Limerick Stadium but a huge crowd will be convening again on Saturday to savour the 2011 decider where there will be very strong local interest.

A FRIENDLY soccer game came to a violent end when a lecturer assaulted an engineer, causing him serious injuries, a court heard.

A new motorway delayed from opening after part of the road sank into a bog finally carried its first motorists today.

AT least 2,000 people converged on city centre Dublin, demanding cutbacks to disability services be reversed and the state stops treating those using the services as “second class citizens”.

A SERIES of new and separate claims by various banks seeking judgment orders for more than €150 million over unpaid loans, the vast majority property related, came before the Commercial Court yesterday.

An Italian man went on trial in Rome today accused of killing two Irish women in a hit-and-run accident.

THE last time former rugby star Gerry “Ginger” McLoughlin faced the haka, there were 15 All Black warriors taunting him at Thomond Park on October 31, 1978.

THE JP McManus Scholarship Awards went international last night with two of the eight recipients having been born in Poland and Togo.

A NEW world record was set last Sunday by enthusiasts who turned back the clock to enjoy stylish horse-powered transport.

THE troubled Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC), which will have to pay out hundreds of thousands of euro in damages and costs arising from a recent High Court settlement now faces another court battle.

ONE Fifty One plc and five former senior managers of Mr Binman Ltd, a large Midlands waste company, have all undertaken before the High Court not to use confidential information about Mr Binman’s business which was allegedly wrongly downloaded by one of the managers.

GRAPHIC media pictures taken at the scene of the hit-and-run that claimed the lives of two Irish women on a visit to Rome intensified the pain and loss of both families, mourners heard yesterday.

Hundreds of people have turned out in Co Limerick for the funeral mass of one of the Irishwomen killed in a hit-and-run in Rome last week.

THE tragic death of two Irish women in a hit-and-run accident in Rome last week had touched the entire country, mourners at a funeral mass for one of the victims heard yesterday.

THE widow of a Limerick garda who died after a long illness said she believes her husband contracted a fatal illness as a result of a vaccine he received before going on United Nations duty.

PRESSURE was growing yesterday for Italian officials to place in custody the son of a former police chief accused of causing the deaths of two Irish women as they celebrated St Patrick’s Day.

THE two Irish women killed in Rome by a drunk driver early yesterday were named as Elizabeth Gubbins, from Mount Shannon Road, Lisnagry, Co Limerick, and her friend, Mary Collins, from Co Kildare.

A VALENTINE’S Day wedding celebration in Limerick today kicks off with a big highland fling.

A LIMERICK mother has successfully turned an idea to help her severely disabled son into a publishing opportunity.

IRISH Rail has launched an investigation into a serious incident last Thursday when a passenger train crashed through manually-operated gates at a level crossing in Co Limerick.

ANY event which necessitated Avril Webster taking her nine-year-old son Stephen away from home posed major difficulties.

A CAMPAIGN for a new commuter rail service between Limerick and outlying villages will be launched tonight in Castleconnell.

IT was hats off to Santa when he pulled into Limerick at the weekend on a very special mission.

LIMERICK’S University Concert Hall is playing host to a different sort of music tomorrow night when the sound of Champagne corks and clinking glasses marks the second Limerick International Wine Fair.

TWO men who gardaí believe planned to rob a post office in Co Limerick yesterday were arrested after a high speed car chase.

THE two major drugs gangs in Limerick, based in St Mary’s Park and Ballinacurra Weston, get their supplies from varied sources, according to gardaí.

Gardaí in Limerick are hunting four men who raided a rural post office, making off with €4,000 earlier today.

ISN'T it amazing how environmentally conscious our ministers become each time Europe's political leaders and their accompanying entourage roll into Dublin as part of our EU presidency?