About 7,000 homes and businesses are without power after storm-force winds battered the country.

Ireland is not able to meet an EU regulation to guarantee gas supplies for at least 30 days in the event of disruption to the single largest piece of gas infrastructure during the winter, according to a report by the energy regulator.

Parts of Britain have been placed on amber alert today as the country lies in wait for widespread snow.

I HEARD an unmistakable sound — a wild trumpeting filling the sky.

THE Eurasian otter has a huge range that takes in most of Europe, much of Asia and parts of Africa.

THE Eurasian otter has a huge range that takes in most of Europe, much of Asia and parts of Africa.

BREAK out the sun cream. It’s going to be another scorcher today with temperatures likely to be the best in Munster, Leinster and the Midlands, where they will reach highs of 22C.

The Hanging Shed

Volcanic ash from Iceland caused yet more travel disruption today as a number of flights from the UK and Ireland to Spain, Portugal and France were grounded.

VOLCANIC ash sifted down on parts of northern Europe yesterday and 17,000 thousand planes stayed on the tarmac to avoid the hazardous cloud as travel chaos engulfed major European cities.

IRELAND could form part of an electricity super-grid on the western fringes of Europe supplying offshore wind power to millions of homes.

WHEN MINK first started to spread around the country, there were a lot of worries about what the impact of a new species of carnivore would be on other wildlife.

A massive clean-up operation was under way today after violent thunderstorms wreaked havoc across parts of the UK, emergency services said.

Golden eagle chicks are to be released in Co Donegal this summer in a bid to breed the wild birds in Ireland for the first time in nearly 100 years, a wildlife group said today.