People could needlessly lose their lives in Co Cork because the location of many defibrillators isn't known to the ambulance service and some aren't working because their batteries and pads are not properly maintained.

It would take a heart of granite not to be moved by the words of the mother of little Avery James Greene, from Cork, who died in a swimming pool in Spain last summer.

A dog, two women and a man are being hailed as heroes after rescuing an elderly man from the River Barrow in Carlow.

It was a role reversal for Garda John Morgan when his rescuers were today honoured at the Irish Water Safety Awards for saving him from drowning.