Dawn Meats has been granted leave of the High Court to serve copies of motions seeking to attach and commit to prison 18 protesters at two of its beef plants for breach of court orders.

Peace has broken out at all Dawn Meats factories affected by the beef price blockade after the High Court heard today that permanent orders restraining trespass and intimidation could be made with the consent of named protesters who had taken part in disruptive nation-wide protests.

A Chinese delegation is touring meat factories to inspect them, with a view to expanding meat exports to Beijing.

A multimillion-euro meat deal with China is under threat because of farmer protests outside processing plants, it has been claimed.

The owners of up to a dozen meat plants today have been granted temporary High Court injunctions restraining groups of protesters from blockading their factories and intimidating staff and suppliers.

A jury has convicted an Egyptian national of raping a woman he met after she became lost on a night out in Dublin city.

Galway 1-19 Laois 0-16: A first-half goal from Joseph Cooney proved crucial as Galway advanced to the semi-finals of the Walsh Cup.

Early goals see Cats cruise into Walsh Cup semi

Donegal’s Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus) and his Monaghan co-driver Conor Foley took a commanding victory in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally, the opening round of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.

More than 50 breweries and cider makers will be offering over 200 tasty tipples during the Irish Craft Beer Festival in Dublin next week.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has called for increased vigilance on the roads following five deaths in three separate accidents over the weekend.

Alexis Tsipras is facing a battle to cling on to his government’s majority; Eircode expects the postcode to be widely used within two years; A teenage girl who survived a plane crash emerged from the wilderness after hiking “for a couple of days”; Barry Davis Ryan was laid to rest yesterday. Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com catch-up.

The death of young people “robs us of all of our tomorrows”, a parish priest said yesterday.

A Co Laois community is grief-stricken after three friends from the locality died in a horror crash over the weekend.

The three people killed in a crash in Laois overnight have been named locally.

The community of Rathdowney, Co. Laois, is said to be in shock today after a crash claimed the lives of three people in the early hours of this morning.

Three people have been killed in a car crash in Co. Laois.

NUIG, UCD, DIT and Antrim booked places in next weekend's Bord na Móna Walsh Cup quarter-finals, following this weekends action.

Antrim and DIT will contest next weekend's Bord na Móna Walsh Shield final after wins over Laois and Westmeath respectively this afternoon.

Carlow, UCD, Wexford and NUI Galway took wins in the opening round of the Bord na Mona Walsh Cup.

The outcome of this year’s All-Ireland Vocational SAHC still remains in doubt, despite Nenagh Vocational School confirming last night they will not appeal any further against the GAA’s decision to throw them out of the championship after being found guilty of the charge of “misconduct which is considered to have discredited the Association”.

Nenagh Vocational School and St Fergal’s, Rathdowney, will discover today if their All-Ireland Vocational Schools senior hurling championship semi-final is to be replayed this week.

The revamped Dunlop National Rally Championship begins on Sunday with the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally and a capacity entry for the nine stages around Rathdowney.

Today's Bord na Mona O'Byrne Cup final between Kildare and DCU and the Kehoe Shield hurling tie between Roscommon and Armagh have both been postponed due to bad weather conditions.

LAOIS began life under Cork legend Teddy McCarthy with a battling extra-time victory over DIT in Rathdowney on Saturday.

Westmeath, Laois, Wexford and UCD all gained wins in the Bord na Mona Walsh Cup this weekend, while their was a quartet of victories for college sides in the Kehoe Cup.

PRICES have been strong at Irish ram sales, reflecting renewed optimism in the sheep industry.

Brendan Fennelly may not have resigned as Laois senior hurling manager on Saturday, but his frustration at how his first year panned out is all too obvious.

Gardaí are investigating a kidnapping and an armed robbery in Co Laois.

WORKERS at Dawn Meats and Unite union officials are distributing leaflets at this weekend’s Waterford Food Festival in protest over health, safety and pay issues.

REIGNING Dunlop National Rally champion, Mel Evans and current Irish Tarmac championship leader, Tim McNulty, both in Subaru WRCs, go head to head in Sunday’s opening round of the Dunlop series, the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally that also marks the beginning of the Top Part West Coast Rally series.

There are serious fears that a bridge in County Laois is about to collapse.

Kilkenny and Offaly claimed victories in the Walsh Cup and Shield semi-finals respectively this morning.

Dublin 1-20 Galway 3-13

Laois 2-16 Wexford 1-16

There was a clean sweep of home victories in the Walsh Cup this afternoon, with the hurlers of Laois, Kilkenny, Dublin and Galway taking wins.

Antrim, Laois and DIT picked up wins in the Walsh Cup, while Armagh and Wicklow were victorious in the Kehoe Cup following today's hurling action across Leinster.

All-Ireland champions Kilkenny crashed out of the Walsh Cup on a day when Offaly, Galway and Wexford advanced to next weekend's semi-finals.

FOR a brief spell over the off-season, it looked like the balance of power between football and hurling in the capital might tilt in the latter code’s favour.

SIPTU claims up 70 jobs in Meadow Meats in Co Laois are under threat.

GALWAY hurlers look set for a big boost as three players who missed last season through serious injury make a return.

SIPTU has warned that hundreds of jobs are at risk across the meat processing industry.