Irish MEPs have requested funding from the EU Solidarity Fund to help repair damage caused by superstorm Christine.

The future of a disability service catering for up to 1,000 people in the MidWest is in doubt because of a funding crisis.

Sixty-two IT jobs have been announced in Limerick, after Worldwide TechServices (WWTS) said it would establish its European headquarters in the city.

The amalgamation of Limerick City and County Councils in 2014 is likely to result in staff reductions of about 20% in the first radical overhaul of local authorities in the country.

Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crashing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said today.

THE by-election campaign of independent candidate Ann Sweeney will end in protest after she expressed her desire to withdraw.

RENEWABLE energy firm Gaelectric is planning to invest more than €2 billion in America over the next six years.

HUNDREDS of school caretakers have not received a pay increase for up to a decade and most have no pension or sick-pay scheme, prompting a major campaign by the SIPTU union.

LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore has called on Defence Minister Willie O’Dea and Government TDs from the west to take a stand with the people they represent in a Dáil vote on the Shannon-Aer Lingus controversy.

A CASE of a potentially fatal disease caused by eating undercooked meat infected with the larvae of a worm was reported in Ireland for the first time last month.

ENERGY crops were a new opportunity for farmers, particularly those who have previously grown sugar beet, Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan declared during a day-long visit to Cork north-west yesterday.

An unidentified virus has killed five people in Namibia and infected another 17 who are in critical condition, the government of the south-west African country said today.

FURTHER planned automation of the postal service will further delay deliveries in Limerick, a Fine Gael general election candidate warned yesterday.

JOSETHINE WRIGHT was one of hundreds of mothers who attended a special Mass last night.

ALMOST 500 jobs were lost on average every week during 2002 while redundancies were up 28% on the year before, the latest figures show.

FIANNA FÁIL election hopeful Des Kelly wasn’t exactly the most popular person in the party when his legal challenge threatened to upset their carefully stage-managed election campaign. But it didn’t bother him.

The electorate currently stands at 2,923,918. Polling stations will be open in all 42 constituencies from 9am to 9pm.

The Green Party has appointed Dublin mid-west TD Paul Gogarty as director of its ‘no’ campaign for the forthcoming re-run of the Nice referendum.