A motorist who was sitting in his car ended up wrestling on the ground with a man he did not know, who deliberately scratched his car with a key and spat in his face, the district court has heard. Sergeant Trish O’Sullivan told Macroom District Court that Aidan Smoker, aged 46, of The Granary, Sleaveen Road, Macroom, Co Cork, was charged with four offences relating to two separate incidents. On August 18, 2024, the court was told Smoker had dialled 999 at 4.30pm and shouted abuse down the line to the emergency call taker. The court was told the injured party got out of the vehicle and attempted to restrain Smoker until gardaí arrived. He said the incident with the parked car was due to Smoker becoming annoyed at the car being parked illegally at a location he knew had caused accidents.

Limerick mayor John Moran has claimed he was “physically manhandled” by council director general Pat Daly. John Moran told The Currency he was “physically manhandled out the way” by Mr Daly after the pair clashed over an interview given by Mr Moran to a radio station in Limerick in October 2025. Mr Daly described the altercation as a “fairly robust exchange” and claimed Mr Moran threw council staff “under the bus” during his radio interview. My focus is on delivering for Limerick, driving local government reform, and making the directly elected mayor model work." It comes as Mr Moran launched a broadside at a number of councillors in February, accusing them of being “hostile” towards him.

Family business Charles Blyth and Co enters administration after 87 yearsCharles Blyth and Co. Ltd., the Castle Donington-based family business founded in 1939, has gone into liquidation after being passed down four generationsView Image Charles Blyth & Co. Ltd has gone into administration (Image: Charles Blyth & Co. Ltd )A long-established family firm has entered administration following 87 years of trading. ‌The family enterprise, Charles Blyth and Co. Ltd., focused on designing and producing quality springs for numerous industries. ‌The family-owned and operated company was established by Charles Blyth in 1939, and has subsequently been 'crafting high-quality springs that are designed to last'. ‌On the company's website they stated the business has been handed down through four generations of the family. Marasu's Petit Fours, prior to appointing liquidators on February 6, had become the largest producer of luxury chocolates in London.

Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool can deliver Mo Salah a “perfect send off” and a Champions League winners’ medal but worries that English football may struggle to replace his star quality. Confirming his intentions now guarantees the kind of emotional, grand farewell that a player of his standing deserves,” Carragher wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “While I will celebrate his career, I have no wish to be part of a grand Anfield farewell after the club’s final Premier League fixture in May. “Following Kevin De Bruyne’s exit from Manchester City just last season, Salah’s Anfield farewell brings down the curtain on another career in this country which has illuminated our stadiums. Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been warned he could be next out (Gareth Fuller/PA)“Do they have a replacement now in the squad?

Between the league final and Munster opener 20 years ago, there were four weeks – the same break between Sunday and facing Clare in Ennis on April 25. The big thing for us is that it got us a game in Croke Park under the new rules. Sunday is also the first league final featuring the previous year’s All-Ireland participants since 2016 when Dublin once more had the advantage over Kerry. I think it’s three or four big games we have lost over the last few years in Croke Park. Even last Sunday morning, I think we were 11/1 to reach the league final.

"Kerry probably benefited from being in a couple of finals before that," said Langan. Kerry probably got more two-pointers than we did. Just over a month after that defeat to Kerry, Langan began working for the Manchester United Foundation at Rosses Community School in Dungloe. We've set up some different workshops around next move events with Ulster University and Derry and the courses that they have available. We set up different workshops with companies to come in and talk to our students about jobs that might be available down the line.

Tiger Woods insists he wants to play in next month’s Masters despite getting his “ass kicked” on his return to action in the TGL Finals. Woods replaced Kevin Kisner in the Jupiter Links side for the second finals contest against Los Angeles Golf Club, with LA having won the opener on Monday. “It doesn’t mean I’m not trying; I’ve been trying for a while. “I’ve had a couple of bad injuries last year that I’ve had to fight through and has taken some time. Rose said: “They got off to a good start, fair play, but we were doing nothing tragic to second guess ourselves.

Overall, he scored 13 goals against United, including my personal favourite Anfield goal. Sunday 19 January 2020, the one that effectively ended the 30-year wait for a league title. Pull up a pew for Mohamed Salah too, because he’s the greatest Liverpool player I’ve seen. There’ll never be a Liverpool team that he would not walk into. Watching him has been the thrill of a footballing lifetime.

Potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips among Ireland's highest imports, CSO findsThe Central Statistics Office has today (March 25) released Ireland's Trade in Goods statistics for 2024, showing a trade surplus of €89 billion. ​In total, Ireland exported €223.7 billion worth of goods by the end of 2024 and imported goods totalled €134.7 billion. ​The EU was our largest trading bloc and accounted for €88.4 billion in exports, as well as €49.8 billion in imports. Discussing these findings, Annette Hayes, statistician at the CSO, said: “Ireland’s biggest goods trading surplus in 2024 was with the US. Exports were valued at €23.8 billion while imports from Asia were €30.8 billion, or 23% of our total goods imports.

The Premier Inn chain is to open a new 156-bed hotel on Limerick's Opera Square development acquiring a site on the corner of Ellen Street and Patrick Street. Subject to an amendment to pre-existing planning permission, the seven-storey Limerick Premier Inn will offer a mix of the brand’s standard and enhanced bedrooms targeted at business and leisure travellers. Whitbread is expected to submit a planning application for the hotel to Limerick City and County Council before the summer. Whitbread is currently developing a second Premier Inn hotel in Cork on the site for the former Coliseum cinema and leisure centre. “A 156-bedroom hotel at Opera Square, on top of everything else that is happening, will play a key role in energising the programme.

Former Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy, also on the Examiner hurling podcast, said he found the decision to play Walsh “very strange”. At Cork’s League final media briefing on Monday, senior manager Ben O’Connor was asked by the Irish Examiner if a conversation had taken place with regard to resting Barry Walsh last Saturday, such was the proximity to the U20 game in Thurles. “We said if he was going to play a game, he was going to get a half an hour with us. He is one of six survivors from the team that fell narrowly to Clare in last season’s Munster U20 semi-final. The other five are corner-back David O’Leary, centre-back John Murphy, midfielder Ben Walsh, centre-forward Barry O’Flynn, and corner-forward Finn O’Brien.

The words Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid could be entwined once more with reports that Cristiano Ronaldo Jr is training with the Spanish giants' academy. Ronaldo's eldest son is said to have trained with Real's Under 16s on Tuesday ahead of a potential switch in the future. Ronaldo Sr is Real's all-time record goalscorer with a staggering 450 goals in 438 games over nine seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu. Ronaldo Jr is currently on the academy books of Saudi side Al-Nassr - where his father plays for the first-team. The 15-year-old is a forward, like his iconic father, and can play on either flank or through the middle.

The Iran war is a “disastrous mistake”, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in a scathing assessment. Despite occupying a largely ceremonial role, Mr Steinmeier may have been channelling the frustrations of the whole of continental Europe. Badr Albusaidi, Oman’s foreign affairs minister and former mediator, has also baldly stated that Trump’s war with Iran was “a grave miscalculation”. World leaders are at their wits’ end trying to find a solution to the monkey puzzle Trump has made of global energy supplies. With thousands more US marines heading to the Gulf and reports of mines in the Strait of Hormuz, governments like our own are desperately rolling out contingencies to ease the sudden economic shock for people.

Nurses and midwives seek higher mileage rates as fuel crisis deepensINMO urges HSE to ease costs, with growing signs more unions will followRuairí Ó Murchú raises the impact of rising fuel prices on community nursesAnne-Marie Walsh Today at 06:30Thousands of nurses and midwives who care for patients in their own homes want higher mileage rates due to the fuel crisis.

The Aughinish Alumina plant, which exports alumina to Russia, is a big employer in Co Limerick. Photograph: Alan BetsonPeople living near Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick defended the plant, despite the reported links between the alumina it produces and dozens of Russian weapons manufacturers. From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia’s weapons supply chain Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to a new investigation. About 1,000 people are directly and indirectly employed at Aughinish, with about 500 staff working at the plant. If they weren’t shipping the alumina, the plant wouldn’t be functioning, and the employment wouldn’t be here and it wouldn’t be beneficial to anybody,” Sheahan said.