£7.5 million from Irish Life and Permanent, £17.9 million from ACC Bank, £4.2 million from Ulster Bank, £30.5 million from the Bank of Ireland - these are just the first batch of payments from Irish banks found to have systematically and deliberately avoided paying tax on thousands of their customers' deposit accounts. The banks perpetrated this tax fraud by claiming the accounts were for customers not resident in Ireland. AIB and National Irish Bank have yet to settle their unpaid tax bills with the Revenue Commissioners. Free article

Some of Donegal's most renowned musicians are joining forces in an effort to stop high tension power lines being erected through the county. Free article

The 26th annual Volunteer Paul Magorrian commemoration was held last Sunday, 20 August, in Castlewellan, County Down. Free article

The Union of Students of Ireland (USI) says that the Dublin government programme to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds into university has failed. USI was responding to reports this week that government targets for access schemes have not been met. Free article

Last Saturday, at Sinn Féin Councillor John Dwyer's suggestion, New Ross UDC called an emergency meeting of councillors to consider the crisis in Celtic Seafoods. Free article

Desi Reynolds was a giant of a man in many ways. He was big in stature, both physically and mentally, and could pack a punch, as many a man who annoyed him found out to their cost. Those on the receiving end included the infamous RUC cretin `Lurch', who Desi chinned at big Finbarr's funeral in Colinward Street. We also recall his boxing exploits in the Ulster Hall in 1975, when he took on all contenders left them on the canvas. Free article