Belfast’s contingency plans for a major emergency have come under scrutiny during a simulated explosion at a major oil depot.

More than 600 mobile phones were seized from inmates at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin last year. There are fears that the phones are being smuggled into the jail, so convicted criminals can direct crime from inside the prison.

A terrified woman flung herself from a moving car after being abducted in west Belfast. A short time earlier she had made another bid to escape her abductors but had been caught and dragged back to the vehicle.

The Diocese of Ferns is reportedly facing a cash crisis as a result of sexual abuse compensation claims. Reports this morning say the diocese has already agreed settlements worth €4.7m with 30 victims and could eventually face a final bill of around €10m.

The law preventing begging has been struck down by the High Court. A young Dublin man charged with begging on Parliament Street in the city more than three years ago challenged Section 3 of the nineteenth century Vagrancy Act.

Thousands of patients in Ulster hospitals face the “acute embarrassment and discomfort” of being treated on mixed sex wards. Labour ministers were last night accused of failing to deliver a flagship health pledge in Ulster, after new figures revealed there are 231 mixed sex wards in the province’s hospitals.

The Co Clare woman who waived her right to anonymity after a convicted rapist walked free from court earlier this week is urging other victims to come forward and report their attackers.

A survey carried out in west Cork has found that one-fifth of special needs children in the area are awaiting psychological assessment. It also found a third of those who have been assessed had to pay for the tests privately.

A paraplegic Ulster law student who received compensation from a nursing and care company which refused to lift her from her wheelchair last night spoke of the humiliation and degradation she endured as a result of her treatment.

Commenting on the launch by the DHSSPS of a Managed Clinical Network for Critical Care, Dr Peter Maguire, Deputy Chairman of the BMA’s Board of Science and consultant anaesthetist at Daisyhill Hospital, Newry, said: