• Over 1,000 at boys' funeral in Kilkenny

  More than 1,000 people gathered in St Patrick's Church, Kilkenny, yesterday for the funeral of Alan (10) and Shane Byrne (6), whose bodies were discovered on the Wexford coast last Friday. p
  

• Connell says document is authentic

  The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, has defended the controversial Dominus Iesus document. He described it as a statement of "the authentic teachings of the Magisterium (supreme authority)" of the Church. p
  

• Bishop sells land at palace for social housing

  The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr William Walsh, has sold lands at his Westbourne Palace residence in Ennis to the local council for social housing. It was confirmed at Ennis Urban District Council's October meeting that Dr Walsh had agreed to sell six acres of land to the council for £1.2 million. p
  

• Northern barristers called to inner bar

  Two barristers who successfully challenged the requirement to make a declaration of service to Queen Elizabeth before being made Queen's Counsel in Northern Ireland were yesterday called to the inner bar at the Supreme Court in Dublin to become Senior Counsel. p
  

• Autistic man wins right to education

  A mother of nine children and her autistic son have won a landmark High Court judgment compelling the State to provide free primary education for him for as long as he might benefit from it. The decision that the State's responsibility to provide free primary education for the severely handicapped does not stop at the age of 18 has massive implications for hundreds of disabled people and could lead to multimillion pound costs for the State. p
  

• Inquiries initiated into fishing boat tragedies

  The British and French governments, in co-operation with the Irish authorities, have begun inquiries into two fishing tragedies which have claimed 20 lives off the west coast in the past week. p
  

• Passenger (16) in stolen car serious after crash

  A 16-year-old youth was still seriously ill in hospital last night after a collision between a stolen car and a Garda squad car, following a lengthy pursuit in Dublin early yesterday. p
  

• New book highlights drug issues

  Many drug users have problems, other than their addiction, which may arise from upbringing or deprivation, it was stated yesterday at the publication of a book which addresses the need for a holistic approach to recovery. p
  

• Soldiers to receive 8.5% pay increase

  Soldiers are to receive increases in pay of 8.5 per cent under a new agreement with the Government. p
  

• Solicitor fined for not being ready

  A solicitor representing a Christian Brother who is challenging a decision of the DPP to direct his trial on 20 charges of sexually abusing young boys in the mid-1960s, was ordered by the High Court yesterday to pay £1,500 in costs because the case was not ready to go ahead when called. p
  

• Man charged with raping daughter

  A jury at the Central Criminal Court has been told a south Co Dublin man, now aged 72, raped his daughter on almost a daily basis from 1972 to 1986. p
  

• Husband's murder trial continues

  An ambulance man called to the scene where Dublin mother Mrs Geraldine Diver (42) was strangled in her car four years ago told a jury he found a man's tie tightly wrapped "two or three times around her neck". p
  

• Robbie Williams to play Dublin

  British pop star Robbie Williams will give his first Irish concert in almost two years at Lansdowne Road next July 6th, his managers announced yesterday. p
  

• Man breached pornography Act

  A community welfare officer with the North Western Health Board received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a £1,500 fine at Letterkenny Circuit Court for breaching Section 6 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. p
  

• Officers reject Garda's brothel explanation

  A Garda sergeant who claims he was working undercover when arrested in a brothel for seeking sexual intercourse with a 13-yearold girl had no authority to conduct a solo investigation, senior officers told Dublin District Court yesterday. p
  

• Man who beat wife to death was suspended from work, court told

  The manager of a social welfare office who bludgeoned his wife to death had been suspended from work three days previously, a trial at the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday. p
  

• Witness saw woman being assaulted

  A witness in a murder trial has told the Central Criminal Court that he saw a man kick and punch the mother of the accused minutes before another man was shot dead during a brawl in a Dublin pub. p
  

• Teenagers plead guilty to assault

  Three teenagers who were involved in an incident after which a young man died have pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent assault. p
  

• New trial date set in explosives case

  The Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday fixed a date in June next year for the trial of three men accused of having a major explosives haul in 1998. p
  

• RUC in Belfast seize pipebombs

  A stockpile of pipe bombs was seized by the security forces in a loyalist area of Belfast last night. They were discovered in a derelict house at Rockville Street in the Donegall Road area of the city, the RUC said. p
  

• Man drowned in Liffey after fight

  A Co Meath man drowned after being "shouldered" into the River Liffey near Temple Bar during a scuffle, a jury was told at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday. p
  

• Adverts to join police board are criticised

  The SDLP and Sinn Fein will not encourage responses to newspaper advertisements for independent members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which will monitor the police service. p
  

• Omagh suspects will be named by BBC

  The BBC Panorama television programme is to name suspects it claims were responsible for the "Real IRA's" Omagh bombing, in which 29 people died. p
  

• Victims can at last expect recompense for suffering

  The decision of the Government to agree in principle to setting up a compensation tribunal for the victims of institutional child abuse clears the way for the work of the Commission on Child Abuse to go ahead. It also means that victims can at last hope to see some compensation for the suffering they have had to endure. p
  

• Decision welcomed by abuse survivors

  Mr John Kelly, chairman of Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), has described as "positive" and "a significant development" the Government announcement establishing a compensation tribunal for abuse victims. p
  

• `Real IRA' inquiry: 2 men held

  Four men and a woman arrested in Co Cavan as part of a Garda investigation into the activities of the republican splinter group known as the Continuity IRA were released last night. p
  

• Compensation for child abuse could cost State £100m

  A compensation tribunal for victims of institutional child abuse could cost the State up to £100 million, according to some official estimates. p
  

• FF MEPs reject enlargement plan

  Fianna Fail representatives in the European Parliament have voted against the adoption of a report on the enlargement of the European Union because of reservations about a section on the Common Agricultural Policy. However the party's MEPs voted for a series of motion approving the accession of the 12 countries who are currently negotiating for membership. p
  

• Mowlam mishandled releases, says Trimble

  The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, has attacked the early release provision of the Belfast Agreement, saying no benefit had been gained from freeing paramilitary prisoners. p
  

• Taoiseach issues defamation action over alleged payment

  The Taoiseach has confirmed he has issued defamation proceedings against the businessman who alleged last April that he had paid Mr Ahern £50,000 in 1989. Mr Ahern said yesterday he had is sued the proceedings against Mr Denis O'Brien, who claimed he gave Mr Ahern the money in the car-park of a Dublin hotel on all-Ireland final day in 1989. p
  

• Smith considering his position after losing nomination

  The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, is seriously considering his position following his failure to secure a nomination to contest the next general election in his constituency of Tipperary North. p
  

• Election winner Healy one of lowest spenders

  The winner of the Tipperary South by-election, Independent TD Mr Seamus Healy, spent less on his campaign than the Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or Labour candidates. p
  

• Aosdana to press for new arts body

  Aosdana is to press the Arts Council for the establishment of a new body providing support for performing and interpretative artists, the annual general meeting of the organisation decided yesterday. p
  

• Over 99% of Aer Lingus cabin crew members vote for strike

  Aer Lingus cabin crews are expected to serve strike notice on the company within the next few days if it refuses to open negotiations on pay. So far the company has refused to meet them because they are involved in a transfer dispute between SIPTU and IMPACT. p
  

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