THIS West Cork island near the mouth of Glandore Harbour is one of five Rabbit Islands in the country, with the others in Bantry Bay, Cork Harbour, Galway Bay and Lough Corrib

The suits hang neatly on the rail of the caravan’s wardrobe. Shirts and ties are ready for wear. Colourful dresses complement the picture of a happy home life.

Keeping mum happy should be everyone’s priority on Sunday. Ciara McDonnell rounds up some getaways to put a smile on her face

The difficulties in building a castle on the mainland are considerable.

The subject of what constitutes an island cropped on this page a few week’s ago in reference to the minute Flea Island in West Cork.

Kerry County Council is to erect warning signs, because blue-green algae has appeared over the past number of days in Killarney’s largest lake, Lough Lein.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has flagged the “increasingly challenging environment” in which its its fishery officers work, referring to one incident in which staff were threatened with firearms.

For the eight couples in a new documentary a shared interest is the key to long-lasting relationships and a healthy life, writes Margaret Jennings

Des O’Sullivan previews what could be a sellout auction of items from one of Ireland’s most luxurious hotels

FOR much longer than millennia, islands have been a source of intrigue, writes Dan MacCarthy. Someone gazes out from the mainland wondering: “What is out there?”

A study has shown a direct link between the presence of invasive species and pollution, writes Niall Murray

Want to stay closer to home for Valentines? There are plenty of options, writes Ciara McDonnell. 

Tributes have been paid to a respected doctor who died in a boating accident.

A search is continuing in Galway for a man missing since yesterday.

Three men have received suspended sentences for growing €24,000 worth of cannabis plants in a forest clearing on the largest uninhabited island on Lough Corrib.

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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. 

It’s the little things about Ashford Castle that makes a stay there so enjoyable, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.    

A firm that is part of Galway businessman Gerry Barrett’s Edwards Holdings group recorded profits of €49.29m in 2013.

The firm operating the five-star Ashford Castle hotel resort recorded pre-tax profits of €724,983 in its first year of operation.

Dan Buckley enjoys the royal sport of falconry and takes in the sights of the majestic Corrib at the Lodge at Ashford Castle.

Courteney Cox is to get married in Ireland.

Galway investor Gerry Barrett is working with Nama to agree a plan to trade out assets in his Edwards Holdings group until they can be prepared for sale.

Glenlo Abbey Hotel, just two miles from Galway City, is perfect for people who ‘want to get away from it all’ without actually travelling deep into the wild west.

The receivership of the five-star Ashford Castle hotel and resort has proved a boon to professionals with over €785,000 paid out in fees over an 18-month period.

Joe Dermody and family enjoyed some relaxation time at Lisloughrey Lodge in Mayo.

My previous experience of Galway went a little like this: pub, pub, pub, pub, pub, pub, Supermac’s, bed.

KEITH RICHARDS was somewhere around Oughterard, on the edge of Lough Corrib, when the craving began to take hold.

Plans for the €40m Shannon Bridge Crossing are heading for choppy waters after a leading environmental campaigner confirmed his intention to seek a judicial review.

The recent decision not to proceed with a badly needed and long-awaited extension of Killarney’s sewerage network seems at best shortsighted and at worst recklessly negligent.

GALWAY’S five-star Glenlo Abbey hotel and golf course, on 140 acres at Bushy Park — complete with old Orient Express train carriages — is up for sale for joint receivers Aengus Burns and Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton, with offers sought close to €4m.

BOTH the Parknasilla Hotel and the Cork International Airport Hotel have overseas buyers, the first in legals, the second sold to Phillips Hotels Ltd for approximately €5m. So Savills’ successful run of sales shows it’s not just the Dublin hotel market (where the 500 bed Burlington’s selling for €70 m to the private equity group Blackstone) that’s attracting investors.

A Co Galway couple have been restrained by the High Court from interfering with a receiver appointed by a bank to take over their five-store retail development.

Macroom TroutAnglers’ Alistair Earley was top rod in the Juvenile Lake Interprovincial trout fly angling competition fished at Lough Lein, Killarney.

Though this summer’s unprecedented rainfall has played a part in the E.coli outbreak that has closed seven beaches in Co Cork, we cannot pretend that human mismanagement has not played its part.

If you thought Riverdance made Irish culture sexy, then brace yourself.

The Department of Agriculture has strongly denied claims by environmental and heritage groups that illegal turf-cutting on nine of the country’s 53 protected bogs is going unchallenged.

Nine of the country’s 53 protected bogs are being illegally cut by turf contractors, according to environmental and heritage groups.

The stabbing of a 31-year-old man in Cork on Friday is now being treated as murder after the victim died in hospital last night.

’Lake Boreen’ is spacious, stylish and scenic, writes Trish Dromey