HELENA Hanbidge showed she was sand-thing special as she got in some practise ahead of the All-Ireland final of the Sony Ericsson beach tag rugby on Banna Strand near Tralee, Co Kerry, today. (c) 2008 Daily Mirror. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

THIS week, the Chronicle's Green Doctor, Professor Paul Younger, writes about working holidays in Ireland. While on holiday recently in County Kerry in the far southwest of Ireland, we stumbled on a project called Kerry Alternative Technology (KAT).

By STEPHEN MARTIN WE live in one of the wettest countries on Earth and have just towelled off after one of the rainiest years ever.

IT IS likely to be two years before the State can begin work on conservation plans for the Great Blasket Island in Co Kerry. Agreement has been reached between An Blascaod Mor Teoranta and a number of other owners of holdings on the land.

By YVONNE TARLETON A HUGELY significant archaeological find has placed the first man in Ireland a millennium earlier than previously thought. Archaeologist Michael Gibbons uncovered evidence of human settlement in the Lakes of Killarney between 7,000 and 7,500 years ago.