Five people have been hospitalised after two cars were in collision in Co Tipperary.

A €12m emergency fund for flooding victims was tonight dismissed as too little to cope with the devastation.

The Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has warned public sector unions that their campaign of strikes will not help them to reach a deal aimed at preventing cuts to civil service pay.

Emergency Response Teams in Clare have issued a severe flood risk warning to all parts of the County this evening.

Union leaders tonight threatened to stage a second national strike unless agreement is struck with Government when crunch talks start tomorrow.

The Government today cleared for publication an investigation exposing sickening child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Dublin Archdiocese.

Hordes surged across the border into the North today as they used the national strike to stock up on Christmas shopping.

The Government has today announced a €10m fund to assist people suffering extreme hardship as a result of flooding.

Public-sector workers will stage a second nationwide strike on December 3, it has been confirmed.

A convicted murderer who has been on the run for more than a week handed himself in today.