Danny Boy

Kerry teenager Dónal Walsh, whose optimism and courage in the face of a terminal cancer diagnosis saw him labelled a 'national hero', died last night aged 16.

Tributes from those inspired by Walsh's bravery have already flooded in. A Facebook page set up in his honour has already received almost 100,000 likes.

A terminally ill woman with multiple sclerosis has lost her landmark case in the Supreme Court challenging Ireland's absolute ban on euthanasia.

Marie Fleming (59) fought the case up to the country's most senior legal tribunal, requesting an assurance that her partner not be prosecuted for helping her end her life.

Road safety authorities in Ireland have begun a major crackdown on scam motorists, by outlawing a number of key loopholes used to get off penalty points.

Ireland's penalty point system was introduced in 2002 as a further disincentive for vehicle users to rack up driving offences.

An Irish teenager on a gap year in the small South American state of Guyana has been charged with threatening to kill the country's president.

Cillian Crosson, now seventeen years old, was a high-achieving student at his hometown of Dundalk, and has plead not guilty to the offense before a hearing of the local magistrate's court.

Prosecutors allege that the teen remarked that he would like to shoot incumbent president Donald Ramotar in the head, but lawyers for Mr Crosson have argued that the remarks were not intended seriously and were made in the course of a drunken conversation.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny used a highly anticipated speech at the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) yesterday afternoon to urge Britain to stay in the European Union (EU) and to set out Ireland's vision for the remainder of its presidency of the organization.

"We regard Britain's contribution to the EU as being of exceptional importance," the Prime Minister told the packed crowd.

Britain's best known chain of Irish pubs, O'Neills, it bracing itself for a world record attempt at the most number of people Irish dancing simultaneously this March.

The record breaking attempt will be made on March 14th, three days' before St Patricks Day, and will be held at the company's 49 pubs across the UK.

UK recruiters are reportedly stepping up efforts to head-hunt out of work Irish teachers, as jobs continue to run thin on the ground at home.

The teachers - many of whom have been unemployed for months - have been enticed by equal or more lucrative pay packets than what they would receive in Ireland.

Although precise figures on the number of students dropping out of third level education due to financial issues is impossible to quantify, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) say the number is already high and could rise further if additional increases are made to the cost of attending third level.

The truck was carrying tiles and other parts for 'wee Daniel's' home when it careered precariously off a pier and into the waiting Atlantic below.

The call follows the upgrading of other traditionally less emphasized high school programmes, such as Religious Education, to the ranks of those subjects which can be taken in the Leaving Certificate, the finishing exam in the Irish high school system.

Despite a High Court warrant having being issued for his arrest some ten days ago, and an unsuccessful 'manhunt' launched to ascertain his whereabouts, Peter Daragh Quinn looked relaxed and carefree when he was photographed by the Irish Independent attending a football fixture on Sunday.

The anti-sponsorhip proposals tabled by the Minister of State (non-Cabinet Minister) seek to impose a ruthless crackdown on drinks sponsorship for both sporting and cultural events, and have already reportedly provoked dissension from full Cabinet Ministers including Minister for Sport and Tourism, Leo Varadkar.

The meter-plunderers' escape is the second time this year that inmates have made a dash from detention facilities that certainly wouldn't give Alcatraz a run for its money: this April three escapees had to be re-captured after evading security personnel at an 'open prison', a kind of penal bed-and-breakfast where inmates are given a key to their own cells and trusted not to escape.

The panicked teenager was reportedly forced to cancel the social media fueled party after his parents informed him that a member of the police's drug unit had been in touch to inform them that possibly thousands of strangers were planning to throng the house in what had rapidly turned into a viral internet sensation.

Edmond Stapleton (38) hijacked a Garda Traffic Corps' vehicle in Cork City center after threatening to kill the patrolling officer at knife-point.

Richard Tol, a somewhat eccentric looking Dutch economist well-known for his bizarre hair-dos, contributions to theirisheconomy.ie, and for once working at the ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute), said that he will likely publish the working paper under the auspices of the University of Sussex, where he now works, rather than through the ESRI, from which he has since resigned.

Amazingly, despite a feature-length newspaper article and a gone-viral Facebook status, the job description - at least at the time of writing - remains posted on the website.

The TV boss is now also facing increased pressure to explain how his leadership of the TV station does not pose a direct conflict of interest with his directorship at The Communication Clinic - a public relations outfit that has gained a reputation as the go-to PR firm for Irish politicians and political parties since its foundation in 2004.

Bill Liao, whose credentials, beside global philanthropy, include a listing as the co-founder of global business network Xing.com, founded the movement with James Whelton, a schoolboy who had the bright idea of founding a computer club at my old highschool, the wonderful PBC Cork, before deciding to take things to the next level.

The amazing footage (below) has been viewed almost 200,000 times on YouTube, and featured in a BBC report. It shows unidentified members of the Travelling Community racing horses on the wrong side of a major Irish highway, before a police car joins in the chase, as oncoming traffic swerves to avoid collision.

The Deputy joins the a small but growing club of openly gay Irish politicians, and has said that he has received 'lots of support' for the announcement since it was made over the weekend.

The Irish Independent  points out that a colossal €350m ($462m) was thrown down the toilet (well, the drain) by not opting for a private sector service provider, while Mayo TD Dara Calleary (FF) has called for Irish householders to be given the right to install their own meters rather than fork out the exorbitant €300 ($500) the Government is demanding for them, pointing out that a DIY job would save the taxpayer vasts sums of money, while still providing reliable and tamper-proof recordings of domestic water use.

Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons found that the incidence of auditory hallucinations was highest among the 11-13 age category,  the majority of whom, worryingly, were found to be also suffering from a diagnosable mental health condition besides the hallucinations.

40 other students were similarly disciplined at Oatlands College, Dublin, this time for merely 'liking' the offensive status updated, while other sources say that the teachers were also subject to "vile" allegations on other social networking media such as Twitter.

Mulrooney's comments were made after today's inquest at Cork Coroners' Court which returned a verdict of accidental death in the tragic affair.

The Independent politician's latest publicity stunt comes after a high profile appearance on the charity television show Celebrities Gone Wild resulted in a phone use debacle in which the TD stood accused of making over 3,500 unauthorized calls from official Leinster House phones to curry favor with voters.

University College Cork (UCC) today officially commenced its first ever 'Innov8' week, with college president Dr Michael Murphy telling staff and students that colleges had to equip students to be "job-creators rather than job fillers" at a time when jobs, whether fixed or temporary, are increasingly hard to come by.

Cork's contribution to the Occupy movement has moved camp, prompting Fine Gael councillor Des Cahill to label them as attention seekers.

The motley group of what by now must be veteran, if not professional, protesters, has relocated to just a few hundred meters away on Oliver Plunkett St.

Female Irish detectives posed as prostitutes in an unprecedented sting operation that saw a total of 21 man convicted of soliciting 'ladies of the night'.

The US-style operation, one of the first on this scale for the Gardaí, took place over almost a month in Limerick city centre and its environs, ultimately bagging the cops a total of 21 convictions before Limerick District Court, all of whom were directed to make a donation to a local charity by the judge.