A measure of a society is how it protects elderly people, a judge said yesterday when jailing, for three years, a handbag snatcher who robbed a 74-year-old nun and a second woman, aged 79.

A member of the notorious Collopy family from Limerick has been jailed for five years with the final two years suspended, for intimidating another “criminal” witness who had made a statement against two of his brothers.

A plot to murder an outspoken former mayor of Limerick by a city drugs gang was revealed last night.

The head of the Limerick divisional drugs squad said yesterday that the jailing of the Collopy brothers, Kieran and Brian, resulted from a clinically organised strike against the gang’s leadership after a year-long multi-agency Garda operation.

One of Limerick’s most feared drugs and feuding gangs was dealt a massive blow yesterday when two brothers, said to be at the top of the city’s heroin pyramid, were each jailed for eight years.

What was described as the top of the pyramid in the Limerick heroin distribution scene was uncovered in the kitchen of a council house during a garda raid.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

The rows of concrete wreckage which form streets through St Mary’s Park are a stark definition of how the much-vaunted Limerick Regeneration Plan has failed this community, writes Jimmy Woulfe

Drug gangs in Limerick have been hit hard during a series of garda raids, on the back of the seizure of €170,000 worth of illegal drugs.

A run-down on all this weekend’s action...

A prisoner found in a coma at Limerick Prison died from a cocktail of drugs which included heroin, methadone and two types of prescription sedatives.

While bridges have featured in famous war films The Bridge over the River Kwai and a Bridge Too Far, a former mayor of Limerick yesterday warned battle lines are being drawn up over a planned €15m “bridge to nowhere” on the Shannon.

Three Limerick teenagers — two girls and a boy — were attacked when taking a shortcut to school yesterday morning.

A former mayor of Limerick has warned the city could be on the “slippery slope” back into feud gang violence following an attack on Limerick firefighters called to an arson attack on street security CCTV cameras.

Two brothers charged in connection with the seizure of €50,000 worth of heroin in Limerick have been refused bail after a court was told of Garda fears they might leave the jurisdiction.

Madeline Whelan was removing presents from under the Christmas tree in the front room of the family home in St Mary’s Park yesterday.

Fianna Fáil’s criticism of the Government over the lack of social housing was last night condemned as “total hypocrisy” by a former mayor of Limerick who accused the party of adopting one stance at national level and a “not-in-my-backyard” attitude in Limerick.

A major figure connected with a feud of Limerick drugs gangs has survived a further attempt on his life, it emerged yesterday.

A massive clean-up operation is continuing to clear a near 10-acre illegal rubbish tip in a Limerick housing estate. Workers are in the process of removing hundreds of tonnes of waste material from the site in St Mary’s Park.

If Ciara Breen was still around Dundalk, she’d be a 35-year-old woman, possibly venturing to The Big House pub to see singer Dominic Kettle in action on Saturday.

A major Limerick criminal who gardaí suspect was involved in the failed murder attempt of convicted crime boss Christy Keane, previously tried to burn to death members of Keane’s family in an arson attack, the Irish Examiner has learned.

The Greek government is reportedly planning to request a new two-year bailout deal from the eurozone, from coal to drugs - Christy Keane’s business empires, how to plan your finance route carefully for a new set of wheels and the world’s tallest cow. Here’s this evening’s irishexaminer.com catch-up.

Greece plunges further into deep crisis today as the country looks set to default on its €1.6bn repayment to the IMF; Fifteen injecting drug users in Dublin have recently been infected with HIV; FAI debt hits €51.2m. Here’s this morning’s irishexaminer.com catch-up.

Gardaí in Limerick remain on a heightened state of alert amid fears a gang feud in the city could reignite following the attempted murder of Christy Keane.

FAI Intermediate Cup: A Roy Long-inspired Avondale United moved to within three games of an historic five FAI Intermediate Cup titles in-a-row after a deserved 3-1 win over College Corinthians in their fourth round clash at Avondale Park on Saturday.

The teenage son of a Limerick crime boss used a powerful Glock semi-automatic handgun when he tried to kill the 17-year-old son of a rival crime gang member, it has emerged.

Teenagers with family links to Limerick’s feuding McCarthy-Dundon and Keane-Collopy gangs were involved in a gun attack during a late-night confrontation on Thomond Bridge in the city centre.

A former mayor of Limerick yesterday branded the TV3 documentary Donal Mac-Intyre: Breaking Crime as the greatest “hatchet job” against Limerick he had ever seen.

Agencies in Limerick should seize on the opportunity provided by the “lull” in gangland violence and “prevent a storm” from building up again, a former detective has said.

Ger Hogan hit national headlines in February when, with the help of his horses, Freckles and Beauty, he rescued scores of residents trapped by floods in their homes in Limerick’s St Mary’s Park.

All necessary funding will be given to build flood defences at St Mary’s Park in Limerick, where homes were flooded last February after the Shannon burst its banks, a junior minister has pledged.

President Michael D Higgins has said he hopes lessons of doomed and delayed housing regeneration schemes have been learnt.

Fear of flooding remains in Limerick’s King’s Island following last February’s disaster, says Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe

Limerick’s troubled regeneration plan has left a trail of disillusioned and angry families in its wake.

In the opening weeks of 2008, Mary McAleese travelled to Limerick to give a grand regeneration plan her presidential seal of approval.

Former Limerick mayor John Gilligan has welcomed a planned initiative by the International Federation for Human Rights to seek fundamental rights for deprived parts of the city.

People living in 20 of the most run-down housing complexes in the country have taken a landmark fight for basic living conditions to Europe.

People living in 20 of the most run-down housing complexes in the country have taken a landmark fight for basic living conditions to Europe.

Two men involved in an armed raid on a family’s home in Co Limerick have been given jail sentences of seven and five years at Limerick Circuit Court.