The father and son killed in a horrific crash in Co. Offaly yesterday have been named locally as 29-year-old Vincent Rossi and his five-year-old son Sully.

Compared to the wrath of Ophelia, last week’s Storm Dylan was a breeze, coming and going without causing too much damage.

Troops from the Defence Forces are helping in the clean-up operation from floods in Mountmellick, Co Laois this afternoon.

Householders and businesses in a Midlands town are today counting the costs following the sudden floods that engulfed properties over Wednesday night.

Latest: Gardaí have warned people to use alternative routes if the road they are travelling on is flooded.

Gardaí are appealing for information about a missing 15-year-old boy in Laois.

Veteran Daffodil Day volunteers Mary Donoher and Bridie Parkinson from Mountmellick, Co Laois, are alway watching out for the first flower of spring.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued 12 Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order on food businesses in July.

The double dreams of Loreto College, Kilkenny were dashed by a second half rally from St Brigid’s of Loughrea, who left MacDonagh Park in Nenagh yesterday as the O’Neills All-Ireland post primary senior A camogie champions.

Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick has revealed the incredible moment a slaughterhouse returned his missing specs two years after he left them inside a cow’s belly.

Sixteen new fire stations will be built and another 10 refurbished over the next five years.

The number of customers who will be able to claim discounts off their water bill due to lead pipes carrying water to their homes will be “minimal,” according to Irish Water.

Ladies Football: Cork 1-13 Kerry 1-12

The two firms behind the Shaws department store chain enjoyed contrasting fortunes last year.

A 26-year-old Laois man jailed for life as a teenager for hammering a boy to death will be released in less than two years, after his trial judge reviewed his sentence.

The death of Sr Paula Buckley in a double tragedy at Inch Strand last week in Kerry had left two families in mourning, the chief celebrant at her funeral Mass said yesterday.

Two Presentation nuns who died at Inch Strand, in Co Kerry, on Thursday night, are now believed to have drowned, investigators have concluded.

Both nuns were from Tipperary and were highly regarded among the leaders of the Presentation Order in this country.

Motorists in county Laois are being warned of a road closure in place following a multi-vehicle crash.

Operation Transformation asked applicants why they wanted to be on the show. Some of the answers were very revealing:

Imelda Keenan’s eldest brother got on his knees and begged for the return of his sister during a graveside ceremony in Co Laois yesterday.

GINA Kerry rates the phone calls from strangers in Ghana purporting to have seen her missing aunt and asking for money to be wired through Western Union among the crueller hoaxes she’s endured in the 20-year search for her loved one.

Gardaí have managed to end a four-hour stand-off in Co Laois.

The Quakers will hold their annual assembly in Cork for the first time in 360 years this week.

The Irish Farmers' Association is calling on the public to report the movements of stray dogs in rural areas, following two recent attacks which have claimed the lives of 60 sheep.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called on the public to report the movements of stray dogs in rural areas following two recent attacks which have claimed the lives of 60 sheep.

Gardaí have again appealed for information on missing pregnant woman Aoife Phelan, as their search enters its fifth day.

Fears are growing for the safety of two people who have separately been reported missing in the Midlands in recent days.

Councillors have criticised a decision to cut local authorities and reduce the number of councillor seats nationwide.

IT WAS a first time visit to Co Offaly for my wife and I as we arrived in Tullamore.

A gang of thieves posing as collectors of the household charge has targeted homes in the midlands.

Homeowners across the Midlands and the North East are being told to be vigilant after reports of bogus council workers attempting to collect the household tax.

SuperValu is to create approximately 400 jobs in the next year, with 200 being generated through two store openings in Kildare and Clare.

Henry Burns is a suckler, sheep and tillage farmer at Mountmellick, Co Laois, where he lives with his wife Claire.

A man in his 20s remains in a serious condition in hospital this afternoon after he was stabbed several times in Co Laois in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A man is in a critical condition in hospital following a stabbing incident in Co Laois last night.

Supermarket franchise SuperValu today opened its latest Irish store in a move which the company said takes its investment in the country to €25m in 2011 alone.

THE much-coveted Macra na Feirme club of the year award was won by Freemount, Co Cork, at the organisation’s annual rally in Little Island over the Bank Holiday weekend.

A man who dragged a garda along with his car after refusing to stop for him has been jailed for two and half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

WITH four of the seven finalists, Co Cork must be odds-on to be celebrating after the AIB Club of the Year final at the annual conference and rally in Cork on the October bank holiday weekend.

FIFTEEN clubs have been named as the elite group of semi-finalists in the AIB Club of the Year competition.

Helen has always liked the idea of writing, but nothing ever seemed to work. She studied journalism, and freelanced for a couple of years, before moving on to radio. She worked in Cork for a long time, on 96fm, and C103.

THE country received some positive news yesterday with the announcement of almost 600 new jobs around the country, including 445 positions in 24 new start-up companies.