5 stories you need to know today

1. Out-of-hours schools plan key to education strategy

Plans to make school buildings available out of hours for afterschool care, homework clubs and other community activities form a key part of three-year education strategy being developed by Minister for Education Richard Bruton. The blueprint, which is being drafted in consultation with education partners, is due to be finalised within the the first 100 days of the Government. The question of how to make better use of school buildings during the evenings and summer months has long been an issue of debate within education circles.

2. Rape sentences averaging 10 years after rise over last decade

The average sentence for rape in Ireland has increased by almost a year to 10 years over the past decade, according to an analysis of sentencing data. Despite public outcry in recent years about light sentencing, the data suggests non-custodial rape sentences, such as that imposed on Magnus Meyer Husveit last year and later reversed by the Court of Appeal, remain the exception, while fully suspended terms remain extremely rare. According to analysis conducted by The Irish Times, the average sentence is now 10 years, compared to nine years and three months in 2005. Alleged rapes and sexual assaults are the most common offences for which victims seek explanations when the case is not brought to court, figures show. Meanwhile, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone is to question the newly appointed Minister for Health on waiting times for children who need to access sexual abuse assessment services.

3. Austria on edge as far-rightist leads in presidential vote

Austria's presidential election was on a knife-edge on Sunday night, with the leader of the populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) within touching distance of becoming western Europe's first far-right head of state in the postwar era. Preliminary results from the interior ministry showed FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer in the lead on 51.9 per cent, just ahead of independent Alexander van der Bellen on 48.1 per cent. But with more than 700,000 postal votes not due to be counted until today, the result was too close to call. A projection by the SORA institute for public broadcaster ORF made the race a statistical dead heat.

4. Same-sex marriage: ‘My God, this is what feeling equal feels like’

For Sandra Irwin-Gowran, legalisation of same-sex marriage meant finally feeling equal for the first time in her life. Sandra and her wife Marion availed of a civil partnership five years ago, but says she always felt they were not considered a family under the Constitution. The couple married last month at the Grand Canal Street civil registry office in Dublin. The same registrar who performed their civil partnership officiated over their marriage. Politicians mingled with newlyweds, families and Yes campaigners in Dublin Castle on Sunday as the sun shone down on the one-year anniversary celebration for the passing of the marriage equality referendum. New research published on Sunday shows a big increase in the number of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) young people who have come out since the same sex marriage referendum on this day last year.

Irish courts lead politicians on social change: Despite the claims of some, Ireland's courts and not her politicians lead the way when it comes to social change

5. Government to extend refugee deadline

The Government is to extend its deadline to accept up to 4,000 refugees and migrants by the end of 2017 due to delays overseas, the Department of Justice has said. A spokesman for the department told The Irish Times that while the Government's Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) was intended to run until the end of 2017, the deadline is "likely to be extended" due to delays in the relocation of asylum seekers. Just 10 of the 2,622 asylum seekers that Ireland pledged to accept from Italy and Greece under the EU relocation programme have arrived in Ireland so far. Jeanette Everson's decision to pledge a bedroom to a refugee was easy to make. There was just one question in her mind as she signed up to offer the two spare rooms in her house: "What if it was my son?"