WARD managers appointing staff to act in their absence are passing over non-nationals in favour of more junior Irish staff, overseas nurses’ representatives have claimed.

MAY DAY protestors planning to take to the streets to oppose European Union expansion have expressed concern at reports that gardaí policing demonstrations will be armed and that water cannons will be kept on standby.

Offaly 0-13 Meath 1-9

BLESS them Father for they have sinned. The boys in blue have blown the whistle on the Office of Public Works (OPW) after it took it upon itself to act as religious police.

Korea 6 Ireland 3

A DETECTIVE sergeant threatened his garda interviewers that he had notes and tapes of his conversations with senior officers in Donegal, the Morris Tribunal heard yesterday.

REAL MADRID coach Wanderley Luxemburgo has strongly defended the work of England captain David Beckham amid criticism from fans following the side’s recent poor results.

TURKISH police fired into the air yesterday and fought running battles with earthquake victims demanding more government help as hope faded for scores of boys buried under a dormitory flattened by the quake.

CHILDCARE looks set to emerge as the “break-out” issue of the next election, the Irish Examiner/Lansdowne poll reveals.

THE State will spend over €1 million this year safeguarding individuals on the heavily criticised garda witness protection programme.

A JUBILANT Brian Cowen will race across his home county this weekend, flying in and out of towns as he is cheered on by tens of thousands of supporters celebrating his elevation to taoiseach.

BERTIE AHERN last night insisted he was not engaged in trying to “bury” bad EU news until the looming referendum on the EU treaty was out of the way.

THEY have been there before, forced to go through the qualifier route.

IT’S Kilkenny’s hurling world. Everyone else just lives in it.

IT seems appropriate to kick off with the above quote from Chariots of Fire, because it expresses a couple of imperishable truths about Munster’s Heineken Cup victory this year.

FORMER lobbyist Frank Dunlop denied at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday he raised a £20,000 bank loan 15 years ago and gave it to “a single, senior politician”.

A BABY boom at the country’s second largest maternity hospital has forced management to put up expectant mothers in a nearby hotel.

A HEARTBROKEN Sylvain Marconnet has set his sights on lifting the World Cup in 2011 after seeing injury rob him of the opportunity to claim rugby’s biggest prize this autumn.

WICKLOW SFC finalists Rathnew are ‘livid’ at the decision to deny them a potential place in the Leinster club football championship.