Puck Fair kicks off today, and huge crowds have descended on a horse fair in the area in search of bargains.

Gardaí will have to go to court today if they wish to extend the period of detention of a Lithuanian man arrested in the planned operation on Wednesday morning in which another Lithuanian man was shot and wounded.

Two separate investigations have been launched after a shot was discharged during an undercover Garda operation targeting Eastern European gangs.

Getting to the church on time for her wedding yesterday was unusually complicated for Rachel Quinlivan.

James Heffernan has a formidable election team at his home base, writes Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe

It’s just gone 10am on Monday. Not everyone’s best time of the week.

A public outcry in west Limerick led yesterday to a local authority being asked to take steps to revoke a deal to lease land to a US corporation for the development of a gasification plant.

After a controversial landfill closed last year, residents of a Co Limerick village thought their lives would improve, but council plans to lease the site for a gasification plant has locals vowing to fight against the ‘environmental horror’, writes Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe.

Battle lines are being drawn up in west Limerick over a plan by a US company to build a €240m facility which will convert municipal waste into gas and electricity.

Years of patient hard work and dedication came to fruition at Thomond Park on Sunday when a group of Limerick teenagers from Newcastle West, Shanagolden and Abbeyfeale combined to win the Munster Youths U18 title for the first time.

A Victorian horse trap in superb condition is among the offerings at the sale by O’Donovan and Associates in Newcastlewest, Co Limerick on Saturday February 14.

YOU’LL need to step outside Culhane’s Irish pub to realise how far you are from home.

Motorists are advised to take extreme care on the roads this morning following heavy rain and flooding overnight.

PJ Hayes thought nothing of it at the time. Kids haven’t a clue what their future holds when they’re six and so, when his son said he wanted to be a jockey, PJ smiled and thought nothing more of it.

Limerick County Council has today confirmed that drinking-water restrictions have been lifted in areas affected by an oil pollution incident in West Limerick.

Drinking water supplies are being restored to 1,500 households in west Limerick, more than two weeks after an oil pollution incident on the River Deel resulted in widespread water restrictions.

A year-and-a-half after she died of cancer aged 49, the daughter of a Cork father and a Limerick mother has been nominated at this year’s Oscars for her adapted screenplay, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Limerick County Council has said tests being carried out on water from the River Deel in Askeaton are showing signs of improvement.

Thousands of euro worth of food product at a west Limerick company had to be destroyed because of the pollution of the River Deel.

Householders in West Limerick affected by ongoing water restrictions from last week's oil spill in the River Deel will be able to call a special helpline from today.

Limerick County Council has said some households in the West of the county may have no water for several days, as efforts continue to fix a contamination problem in the River Deel.

A PARISH priest said the decision to close his local Garda station, in Doon, Co Limerick, appeared to him as if the state is “handing over the community to criminals”.

Thirty-one Garda stations are to close, while a further 10 will operate on reduced opening hours, under cost-saving plans announced by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.

LET for the past couple of years, this Mulderricksfield, Shanagolden farm has excellent grassland, says auctioneer Tom Crosse of GVM, who is to auction the 75-acre property on Friday, November 11.

A MAN in his 20s was seriously injured in an explosion at a house near the village of Shanagolden in Co Limerick on Monday night.

PRAYERS continued to be said in Co Limerick for a nine-year-old boy seriously injured after being struck by a golf ball in a freak accident.

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy was in a critical condition in hospital last night after he was hit by a golf ball in a tragic accident.

A 30-year-old man has been killed in a crash in Co Limerick.

MOURNERS who attended the funeral Mass yesterday of the first road victim of 2010 heard of a gloom over a Co Limerick community, the like of which had not been seen for many years.

THE funeral takes place today in Co Limerick of the first person to die on Irish roads in 2010.

ONE person died and three others are seriously injured in hospital after car accidents.

LAUNCHED on the market earlier this year and then aborted because of title issues, a farm at Mount David, Shanagolden, Co Limerick, sold after auction last week.

TITLE issues held up the sale of this 53-acre farm at Mount David, Shanagolden in Co Limerick.

THE Director of Public Prosecutions will decide whether a 20-year-old Kerry motorist will be retried on a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of a garda and a firefighter after a jury at Limerick Circuit Court yesterday could not reach a verdict.

NO FULL, last seen when falling at the sixth in the Aintree Grand National in April, made a fine seasonal debut when running his rivals ragged in the Jet O’Carroll Memorial Novice Hurdle at Listowel yesterday.

IN THE SAME WAY it would be fair to describe the Pope as a holy man, Chris Hayes can easily be portrayed as ‘boyish.’

A HUGE marble monument erected at a Traveller’s grave in Kilmallock must come down, Limerick County Council said yesterday.

AN unholy row has broken out over the erection of a huge headstone in Kilmallock cemetery by a Traveller family.

RUBY WALSH became the first jockey in history to ride the winner of the Guinness Kerry National three years in-a-row when guiding Bothar Na to a smooth success in the traditional feature of the Listowel Festival yesterday.

ONE of three Limerick children diagnosed with bacterial meningitis is understood to be ‘very ill’ in a Dublin hospital.