Octogenarian Peter Riordan has been nominated for next week’s Carer of the Year award, for looking after his sons, writes ROSITA BOLAND 

 SIMON TIERNEY finds ways to live well with less cash

Give animal proteins a miss and try this tasty aubergine and courgette supper instead, writes DOMINI KEMP 

Compiled by PHYL CLARKE 

 BLOOM: This year’s Bloom gardening festival promises 27 show gardens, 40 specialist nurseries, floral artwork, expert advice and professional tree climbers, writes FIONNUALA FALLON 

Not so much of the flamenco or the furnace heat in Cantabria – this is Green Spain, where the skies often mean mischief, writes MAL ROGERS 

ALTHOUGH MOTOR vehicle recalls are an everyday fact of life, with hundreds of thousands of cars being called back in to have manufacturing defects fixed every year, there is no official monitoring of the situation in Ireland, where car companies are left entirely to their own internal devices when recalls are needed.

The Government plans to postpone the age at which employees get their State pension. But labour force participation by the over-65s is only about 9%, and firms have been slow to react to the change, writes FIONA REDDAN