A one-time police agent who passed on information about the IRA has surfaced in England with claims that MI5 have left him destitute and failed to protect him against republicans.

Belfast residents have appealed for calm amid fears a major Protestant march today could result in disturbances on the streets.

Teenagers charged with involvement in recent sectarian rioting in Belfast have been keeping in touch through Facebook, a court in the city was told today.

Catholic and Protestant leaders decry the violence, which some locals put down to unemployment

A Chief Constable has praised “the courage and restraint” of police after 47 officers were injured as they tried to quell sectarian rioting in Belfast.

Eva Loeffler has the strongest of connections with both disability and Paralympic sport: she and her father both devoted decades to the causes. The woman appointed as mayor of the Paralympic Village spent a day there yesterday and said: "The atmosphere is absolutely amazing. I'm having a marvellous time – everybody's spoiling me."

Katie Taylor had the raucous support of thousands on both sides of the Irish Sea

Worldwide, only Vietnam experienced a greater drop in those describing themselves as religious

He was once Ireland's richest man. But now Sean Quinn is bankrupt, under siege from the Irish government – and an unlikely local hero

The author Maeve Binchy was for 30 years the queen of Irish popular fiction, collecting a series of major awards for the 16 novels which sold 40 million copies all over the world. Yet part of the reason why the Irish prime minister Enda Kenny yesterday described her as "a national treasure" was the outsize personality which came across powerfully not just in her writing but in her broadcasts and personal appearances.