The first judge in the history of the State to be convicted of a serious crime has been handed down a further two-year jail term for false accounting.

Heather Perrin, 61, is currently serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for deception of an elderly client in Dublin’s Mount Joy prison.

Believing that you can do no harm because God is on your side has a long history, but it’s still one of the most dangerous ideas you can entertain. As Oscar winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney has discovered, the consequences of that belief have been playing out for decades in the Catholic Church. In his new powerful new film Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, he tells Cahir O'Doherty why he holds the church to account for it.

Software firm Autonomy founder Mike Lynch is defending the financial accounts of his company, which he sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11bn in 2011, after the investigations of US and UK authorities into accusations of accounting fraud.

Following the controversial death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital, one Irish Times journalist has written that Savita’s husband Praveen’s accounts may have been “muddled”.

Two Irish citizens caught in the Israeli air strikes in Gaza have given firsthand accounts of their experience.

Investment from the United States in Ireland during 2011 amounted to $30.5 billion. This is the second highest annual level recorded and a marked increase of nine percent on the investments during 2010.
 
The study estimates the economic output of US multinationals in Ireland to be $57.5bn, representing 26.5% of Ireland’s gross domestic product (GDP).
 
These figures were brought to light by a new report commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, entitled “The Irish – US Economic Relationship 2012”. The report was written by Wall Street economist and strategist, Joseph P Quinlan.
 
Speaking at the launch of the report, Quinlan said, “Despite the stiff headwinds, the ties that bind Ireland and the US together have generally become stronger, not weaker over the past year.
 
“Ireland has done an admirable job of differentiating itself from other financially impaired countries within Europe and this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the US investment community."
 
Peter O’Neill, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, told Business and Leadership, “The economic output of US multinationals in Ireland is estimated to be $57.5bn, accounting for 26.5pc of Ireland’s GDP. That is a remarkable metric of the value and importance of the economic links between our two countries.
 
“Ireland might not have much control over the ultimate end game of the sovereign debt crisis but we do have the wherewithal to determine our own economic future. We cannot rest on our laurels. We need to maintain and develop our favorable tax regime, robust R&D climate, government support for innovation and other pro business policies that set the country apart from our competitors in Europe.”
 
The relationship between the US and Ireland is described in the report as a two-way street, noting that Ireland’s foreign direct investment stock in the US dropped by around four percent, during 2011, to $25 billion. US based operations of Irish companies remain Ireland’s tenth largest employer of American workers, with 120,000 employees.
 
Between 2000 and 2009, US companies added 12,000 jobs to the Irish workforce and are currently employing 110,000 people in Ireland.
 
Quinlan added that if Ireland maintains its links with corporate America and makes budgetary adjustments, the country should emerge from this economic crisis “stronger and more competitive.”
 
The Chamber’s report also suggested that Ireland needs to improve their ties with developing countries such as Russia and Turkey. It states, “This is a massive opportunity for Ireland to capitalize upon.”

A former Papal Nuncio left Ireland under a cloud after vast sums of South American funded money were found in his bank account.

A Belfast woman watched as Hurricane Isaac destroyed homes in New Orleans in just 30 minutes.

Two grandchildren of Sean Quinn, Ireland’s billionaire gone broke, are due to have investigations into their bank accounts carried out.

Irish Olympic hero Michael Conlan has been hit on the double by fraudsters after his bank account was raided.

At 9:03 am, Jeffrey Johnson (53) fatally turned a 45-caliber pistol on a former co-worker at 10 W 33rd St. Johnson fled to the Empire State Building, where he was killed and nine other victims were injured in crossfire with police.

The 1916 Rising is online – with graphic eye witness accounts now available to the public for the first time.

The former Anglo Irish Bank will request to conduct a trawl into the bank accounts of Sean Quinn Sr’s grandchildren in the continuing investigation into the Quinn family’s now defunct fortunes.

A stunning artist’s impression of the Zulu War, painted by an Irish soldier on the battlefield, is to be auctioned in London.

An unemployed Galway mother-of-two handed $24million back to her bank – after they lodged it in her account by mistake.

The 17-year-old heir to a Pennsylvania railroad fortune left behind a dramatic first-hand account of surviving the Titanic. John B. “Jack” Thayer III’s account will be published for the first time this month to mark the centenary of the ship’s sinking.