AS a boy Ross Byrne was rarely seen without a rugby ball in his hand. Being motivated to play was never an issue for the Dubliner since he first took up the sport at the age of five or six, a passion that was cultivated in the rugby-playing schools he attended.

Last Monday, word emerged that Fine Gael junior minister Catherine Byrne was on the verge of voting against the Government.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will sack junior health minister Catherine Byrne if she abstains in a vote of no-confidence in Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy today.

Dan Leavy isn’t the patient type.

The idea to erect a statue of Kerry hero John Egan may have culminated with an unveiling in his native Sneem, but it originated in his adopted hometown of Cork.

The President and Taoiseach joined hundreds of mourners at today’s funeral Mass for former tánaiste Peter Barry.

Tim O’Connor returns from the kitchen with a pot of tea and two slices of currant cake before being drawn to a stack of sheets piled on the living room table.

An iconic moment in Irish sporting history recreated in bronze splendour, has gone on display at Shannon Airport.

Former European Youth gold medallist Gary Cully came out on top won in the clash of the Kildare lightweights at last night’s National Intermediate Championships finals at Dublin’s National Stadium when the St David’s BC southpaw beat Hughie Joyce of the St Michael’s Athy BC.

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

A hero fireman who jumped from a bridge into the River Shannon to save a woman from drowning has praised others involved in the dramatic rescue.

Irish cities have plenty of famous sights, says Pól Ó Conghaile. He focuses on smaller, off-radar discoveries in his new book, Secret Dublin.

Nollaig Cleary had plans. Grand, grand plans. The 32-year-old signed off on a most demanding, yet enjoyable chapter last January and was more than ready, more than willing to live life outside the red and white of Cork.

Sensory stories for intellectually disabled get a wider audience, Helen O’Callaghan reports.

A garda got his nose broken and his colleague was bitten a number of times on the arm and hands after they went to the scene of a domestic incident in Cork City.

The wife of former Tánaiste Peter Barry was described at her funeral Mass yesterday as “a lady in the best sense of the word” who had a caring heart that reached out to all.

The HSE has decided to postpone the closure of an acute psychiatric unit, which was due to shut its doors on Mar 31 and stop admitting patients today.

IT must have been not only tragic but bewildering for the grandparents of Ryan O’Dwyer Hayes, the five- year-old boy killed with his aunt, Helena, in Cork at the weekend and buried yesterday at St Michael’s cemetery in Mahon.

WARM tributes were paid last night to former Cork and Limerick city manager, Jack Higgins, with councillors describing him as “very efficient public servant” and “a strategic thinker”.

SCHOOL’S out this week for half a million Irish national school pupils — but those days ended some time ago for Waterville’s old NS, which has been on holliers since.

A MAN deemed at high risk of suicide took his own life the same day he had been left waiting alone for an hour in a psychiatric unit because two hospitals had different policies on the transfer of patients.

THE FAI are to revise their ticket prices for the South Africa friendly in Thomond Park in September after a substantially less than capacity crowd turned out for the Ireland-Australia game at the venue on Wednesday night.

The Republic of Ireland soccer team will train in Co. Tipperary prior to this summer’s international friendly games in Thomond Park, it was announced today.

A MOTHER yesterday celebrated her “miracle triplets” after they survived being born 14 weeks premature.

GARDAÍ last night put extra resources into a Cork city suburb as a dispute between Traveller gangs threatened to escalate into bloodshed.

THE man responsible for the major security alert in Roscrea when he threatened to blow up a rented house was last night being treated at St Michael’s psychiatric hospital in Clonmel.

NEXT Tuesday was to be one of the proudest days of their lives — attending the graduation of their eldest daughter as a doctor.

MANAGEMENT at St Michael’s House - who deny a senior clinical psychologist’s claim he was bullied out of his job - had been asked for a training course on bullying, the Employment Appeals Tribunal heard yesterday.

AFTER a senior clinical psychologist wrote to the Minister for Health, his employers levelled eight allegations against him, the Employment Appeals Tribunal heard yesterday.

A young woman gave false evidence against a former nun because she hated her and wanted to get back at her, a court heard today.

A PSYCHOLOGIST claims he became the victim of a campaign of bullying and intimidation by his employers after he raised concerns about the transfer of a patient to the controversial Leas Cross nursing home in Dublin.

THE National Parents Council has called for a boycott at the start of the new school year of all school buses where children are forced to sit three to a two-person seat or where seat belts are not fitted.

FORMER US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary met Northern Ireland politicians yesterday in Belfast, urging them to work for lasting devolution at talks next month.

The decision to abandon a regeneration project on one of Dublin’s most deprived housing estates has been strongly criticised by an independent social and economic research group.

MANDATORY sentencing for all crimes of violence and an increased police presence on the streets is the only way to curb the vicious cycle of violence, a former detective has said.

Two men are being held in a Dublin garda station following a stabbing in the city overnight.