Your Friday morning news round up

Eco-friendly Cork house is Home of the Year; The dramatic tale of Thomas Kent - the forgotten 1916 Rising patriot; and Tipperary business owner foils robbery with umbrella. These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this morning.

Fri, 15 May, 2015 - 01:00

TOP STORY

ALISON O'CONNOR: Shambolic state of our maternity services and HSE makes me sick

THE women of Ireland need to take part in a reproductive action, and by action I mean a stoppage.

IRELAND

Report into Kildare housing estate blaze finds inadequate fire-stopping measures

A report into a fire in a Kildare housing estate in which six homes were burnt to the ground in less than an hour, has highlighted widespread fire safety concerns.

MOST READ: Eco-friendly Cork house is Home of the Year

It’s a house fit for a king, an economically friendly king, and it’s just been crowned RTÉ’s Home of the Year.

SPORT

Pochettino: No one is safe from axe

Mauricio Pochettino knows Tottenham need to learn from previous mistakes in the transfer market and warned not even his signings are safe at White Hart Lane this summer.

MOST READ: Allegri warns of ‘impossible’ Barcelona mission

Massimiliano Allegri admits it can sometimes seem virtually impossible to combat Barcelona and their “stratospheric” all-star forward line, but the Juventus boss insists the Champions League final is no foregone conclusion.

WORLD

US train sped up before derailment

The Amtrak train that derailed at a curve killing eight people was accelerating when it was supposed to be slowing down.

MOST READ: Man’s vision returns after nail removed from eye

A man escaped with barely a scratch after a 3in nail hurtled into his eye when he accidentally hit it with a strimmer.

BUSINESS

No investigation into increased sale of Siteserv shares before it's sale says top civil servant

The top civil servant at the Department of Finance has said that there has been no investigation into the increased trade of SiteServ shares just before it was sold.

MOST READ: Consumer price figures ‘mask’ real increases

A raft of everyday household expenses, including private landlord rents, public transport, and college registration fees, are soaring above the price levels reached during the boom years, official figures show.

VIEWPOINTS

Marriage Equality Referendum: State should not deprive children

Force of circumstance is one thing, State design is something else entirely, writesDr Thomas Finegan

LIFESTYLE

The dramatic tale of Thomas Kent - the forgotten 1916 Rising patriot

The man who lent his name to Cork city’s railway station, Thomas Kent, was aside from Robert Casement, the only 1916 leader executed outside of Dublin, says Richard Fitzpatrick

EXAMVIRAL

VIDEO: Tipperary business owner foils robbery with umbrella

Nenagh off licence owner Pat Keller was forced to defend his business after finding a thief trying to steal from him.

MOST READ: VIDEO: Irish lad takes Graham Norton Show by storm with sexy wedding story

James from Mayo appeared in the big red chair on The Graham Norton Show last Friday and delivered a story that knocked everyone’s socks off.

TECHNOW

Our attention span is now worse than a goldfish's | http://t.co/hGs1uEKTAw (RMC) #TechNow pic.twitter.com/FWSUet13G6
— Irish Examiner Lifestyle (@IELifestyle_) May 14, 2015

Our attention span is now worse than a goldfish's

Our attention span is now less than that of a goldfish, and it’s all down to technology.

MOST READ: The Witcher 3 dev comments on downgrading rumours

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will be released soon, but some review comments have prompted CD Projekt RED to make a public comment about the possibility of graphical downgrades.

SHOWBIZ