Ambulance paramedics in Co Clare could be forced to engage in industrial action if the National Ambulance Service does not immediately address the serious issue of staff shortages and ageing vehicles.

A Limerick man who was clocked driving at 140km/h during a car chase with gardaí proved too quick for red-faced prison officers yesterday when he escaped custody and ran out of Ennis courthouse along with another prisoner.

Gardaí are investigating a fire which destroyed a house in a Traveller accommodation development in Clare.

Plans by Supermacs supremo Pat McDonagh to repeat the success of his Barack Obama Plaza in Co Clare are in jeopardy.

Two women are recovering in hospital after they lost control of their vehicles following a heavy downpour of hailstone on the M18 motorway in Co Clare yesterday. Emergency services responded to four incidents on the same stretch of the southbound carriageway 2km north of Crusheen.

Gardaí are investigating a crash in Cork City which left six people needing hospital treatment.

Around 150 Irish gardeners and conservationists are being offered a unique "Burren transplant" of orchid-rich Burren land, thanks to a groundbreaking new conservation scheme.

Dramatic video footage of the moment a car sped past unsuspecting motorists on the wrong side of a busy dual-carriageway earlier this month has appeared online.

CADBURY'S ALL-IRELAND U21FC SEMI-FINAL:

The private jet owned by Spanish golfing star Sergio Garcia was forced to divert to Shannon Airport yesterday after the crew declared an emergency over the Atlantic.

On a day when safety appeals were made to coincide with the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, two more Irish people lost their lives in car crashes.

EMERGENCY services staff were lucky to escape serious injury in a series of incidents as freezing weather meant many roads around the country were treacherous for motorists.

A FAMILY of four fled the scene of a road traffic accident in Co Clare yesterday leaving a young woman motorist injured.