Mother fights for life after children die in fire at Dublin shelter
The mother of two of the three children who perished yesterday in an apartment in Clondalkin, west Dublin, was herself clinging to life last night.
Margaret O'Brien, known to family and friends as Biddy, was in a critical condition in St James's Hospital having been rescued in the early hours from the smoke-filled apartment of her sister, 27-year-old Annmarie O'Brien, whom she was visiting.
Annmarie was from the Traveller community in Bray and was heavily pregnant. She was pronounced dead early yesterday, along with her daughter Paris, aged 2, and Biddy's daughter Holly, aged 3. Last night, it was confirmed that Biddy's four-year old son, Jordan, had also died.
No action on abortion before assembly report, says Harris
Minister for Health Simon Harris has agreed that banning abortion does not lessen its occurrence but has insisted that "we must wait for the Citizens' Assembly to report" before action is taken.
He told Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger a referendum was needed on the issue but it was not for him to dictate what the assembly discussed.
The 99-member assembly is debating a range of abortion-related issues, and will report by mid-year on their deliberations. A decision will then be made about whether a referendum should be held.
Ms Coppinger called on the Minister to "speak to the Citizens' Assembly about discussing the issue of health as grounds for abortion".
Irishman rescued from 'waves the size of buildings' in Australia
A 55-year-old Irish man and his 44-year-old French partner have been rescued after their yacht capsized 200 nautical miles north-east of Sydney.
Nick Dwyer and Barbara Heftman were sailing from New Zealand to Australia as part of a 10-year journey around the world when they encountered a severe storm.
They sailed for three days without a rudder until "waves the size of buildings" and gale-force winds forced them to activate an emergency radio beacon on Tuesday.
A police rescue boat, Nemesis, travelled 370km to rescue the pair and bring them to Sydney, unhurt, late on Wednesday night.
Demand for engineering courses drops despite skills shortage
The number of students seeking college places in engineering and technology has fallen this year despite high-profile attempts to tackle a skills crisis facing the sector.
Overall, college applicants are being drawn towards third-level courses linked to most areas of the growing economy, with increases in demand for architecture, construction, law and business-related courses.
However, a 5 per cent drop in the number of first-preference applications for engineering and technology is likely to alarm industry groups, who say the sector urgently needs more skilled graduates.
Private water supplies among worst for quality
Private water supplies including those serving rural schools, hotels and hospitals offer some of the State's worst quality water, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned.
One fifth of the country's population get their drinking water from small private wells, according to the report from the agency, Focus on Private Water Supplies.
However, small private wells have the worst E.coli contamination levels – significantly behind privately-owned group schemes and water supplies coming directly from the public mains.
And finally: Don't worry about the CIA - they're not worried about you
Karlin Lillington writes that WikiLeaks claims TV and smartphones vulnerable to the US should not scare the guiltless.