Your lunchtime news bulletin.

The body of Willie Lynch has been removed from his house in the village of Pallaskenry, Co Limerick this afternoon.

Latest: A 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the death of a man in his 30s in Pallaskenry, Co Limerick.

Colin Ryan shocked Clare hurling fans when he opted out of the senior panel for this season. He’ll watch his former colleagues play Limerick tomorrow. But he won his All-Ireland last week. Playing soccer.

As the funeral of Jason Corbett, who died in a violent domestic incident at his home in the US, took place yesterday, it emerged he had planned to make a surprise visit home to Limerick on that very day with his two children to attend the 80th birthday of his father, John Corbett.

“The kids are coming home” — Marian Fitzpatrick sang out the message the country had waited for, shortly after she got word from North Carolina that her grandchildren, Jack, 10, and Sarah, 8, were to be brought back to Ireland following a tortuous custody battle.

The family of Jason Corbett, the Limerick man who died in what police describe as a “domestic disturbance” in his home in the US, said last night they have now decided to repatriate his body as soon as possible.

The foreign affairs minister was last night urged to intervene in a custody battle involving two Limerick children. They are in the care of a woman in the US who has been questioned by police about a head wound which claimed the life of their father.

A forty-year-old Munster man has died in a freak accident on a construction site in the US.

A woman who knows care services “from the inside out” has agreed to be the HSE’s confidential recipient of abuse claims.

You can talk all you like to Clare’s Colin Ryan about the possibility of meeting neighbours Limerick (the county where he earns his crust as a teacher in Pallaskenry) in the Munster final on July 13, a possibility already being discussed in many a hostelry in both counties.

Sinn Féin has every right to celebrate the local election results in Limerick.

A former restaurateur jailed for 15 years for importing almost €80,000 worth of cannabis featured in a TV documentary on how he had mended his ways after getting a seven-year sentence in 2000 for importing drugs worth over €1.65m.

The body of a woman has been recovered in a river in Co Clare by search teams.

The body of the Co Limerick man killed in a skiing accident in the Alps over Christmas is expected to be flown to Cork today.

Teagasc has warned of a crisis in its staffing levels because of the Government’s moratorium on jobs in the public sector.

We view a selection of trading up homes from around the country

A former hotel worker who is alleged to have been involved in the importation of drugs from Spain was refused bail yesterday at Limerick Circuit Court.

Gardaí and Customs have uncovered a major drugs importation network in a Co Limerick village after tracking a parcel sent via courier service through Shannon.

Customs officers have recovered more than €300,000 worth of cannabis in two separate seizures at Rosslare Europort and Limerick.

Gardaí are being called in to tackle black market GAA merchandise following on Limerick’s recent success.

Darren Shan is a hugely successful writer living in rural Limerick. He spoke to John Rainsford about his new book Zom-B Angels, the fourth in the series

He quotes Bono, goes to the gym, and listens to Spin FM. Roisin Burke meets Limerick’s top cleric

A TRANSATLANTIC romance blossomed when two thalidomide survivors began to share their life experiences over the internet.

IT was 9.30pm when the last pony jumped at 95th Dungarvan Show — one of their most successful ever, according to organisers.

A BOARDING student was badly assaulted when a group of men broke into a Co Limerick agricultural college late at night.

RECRUITMENT problems in Teagasc may be eased by employment control frameworks to be put in place across the public service.

A TEENAGER was arrested by Askeaton gardaí yesterday who are investigating a series of road incidents which resulted in a crash involving a delivery lorry.

TEAGASC director Gerry Boyle has said some of the urgently needed extra funding for the organisation will have to come from farmers.

A LIMERICK author whose books have become world best sellers, yesterday spoke of his delight that a film based on a series of his books will be premiered in Limerick next Tuesday.

A CO Limerick secondary school may be forced to drop a hi-tech fingerprint student monitoring system for breaching data protection legislation.

CONCERN was raised in the Dáil this week about the future of Pallaskenry Salesian Agricultural College in Co Limerick, which was established in 1919.

THE winner of this year’s Farm Forestry Award, which seeks to promote excellence in timber production for commercial use, is Noel Kelly, of Spancil Hill, Co Clare.

SECONDARY school principal Noel Malone took special pride in the first year class of 2008 which yesterday enrolled at Coláiste Chiaráin in Croom.

DESPITE uncertainties in the agricultural land market, a benchmark sale for a 450-acre farm in Co Meath was realised at auction last week.

MEMBERS of the Irish Farmers’ Association protested in Limerick and Dublin over the weekend on two separate issues, a freeze on Rural Environment Protection Scheme payments and low-cost selling by supermarkets.

THE GAA authorities in Croke Park have launched a crackdown on the sale of unofficial Limerick hurling flags carrying the Limerick GAA logo.

Protesters who had been staging a sit-in at the headquarters of Limerick County Council left the building at around 6pm yesterday.

A LOCAL authority was last night preparing to seek a court injunction to remove protesters involved in a water supply dispute from a County Hall.

A number of demonstrators have staged a sit-in at Limerick's County Hall overnight in protest at a new water supply from the Deel River.

A WATER row erupted in Co Limerick yesterday after Limerick County Council opened a river-sourced supply in the Pallaskenry area replacing the existing lake-sourced scheme.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin has asked her junior minister Síle de Valera to investigate the exclusion of a Catholic brother and sister from a special school bus which is to be provided to the Protestant-managed Villiers School.