Leo Varadkar offered his support to Fr Oliver O’Reilly from Ballyconnell parish.

Fr O’Reilly previously described a “long reign of terror” hanging over the Cavan-Fermanagh area and urged those involved to end the violence.

The Taoiseach said: “In his homily following the vicious assault on Kevin Lunney, Fr O’Reilly spoke from the heart and the head, and offered leadership to a distressed community.

“He offered moral guidance to his community, he condemned the savagery of the kidnapping and the ongoing campaign of intimidation, and called on everyone to co-operate with the authorities.

“I believe that Fr O’Reilly showed considerable courage in giving this homily and I commend him for doing so.”

It was reported over the weekend that one of Fr O’Reilly’s parishioners, the businessman Sean Quinn, has written to the Vatican to complain.

The Quinn family have consistently condemned and distanced themselves from those attacking the new owners.

Mr Lunney, 50, a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH), was snatched near his Co Fermanagh home and brutally assaulted in September.

The father of six spoke out about the attack in a BBC Spotlight interview, describing how he had been slashed with a knife, doused with bleach and branded by his captors before being dumped on a remote road in Co Cavan.

Criminals targeting QIH executives are believed to have been behind the…

Folau, who was sacked by Rugby Australia (RA) in May for posting controversial comments on social media, described the fires as a “little taste of God’s judgement”.

Wildfires have raged across eastern Australia in recent weeks destroying hundreds of homes and killing six people.

Speaking to members of Sydney’s Truth of Jesus Christ Church on Sunday, the former Wallabies player implied the natural disaster was an act of judgement by God following the nation’s recent decision to pass laws on abortion and same-sex marriage.

“God’s word says for a man and a woman to be together, one man and one woman in the covenant of marriage to be together.

“Abortion – it’s now okay to murder and kill unborn children and they deem that to be okay.

“Look how rapid these bushfires, these droughts, all these things have come in a short period of time, do you think it’s a coincidence or not?

“God is speaking to you guys – Australia, you need to repent and take these laws and turn it back into following what is right by God,” Folau said.

Australian Prime Minister and Christian, Scott Morrison has condemned Folau’s remarks as “appallingly insensitive”.

Morrsion told reporters on Monday: “He is a free citizen, he can say whatever he likes but that doesn’t mean he can’t have regard to the grievance [and] offence this would have caused to the people whose homes have burnt down.”

Folau is…

The Christ Embassy church denomination, founded by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has oversight for 90 churches across the country.

An inquiry was opened into the charity, following a number of concerns about the use of charitable funds on large connected party payments.

The Charity Commission’s investigation found a number of informal grants and payments had been made to affiliated organisations.

Between 2009 – 2011, the charity gave over £1.2 million to a broadcasting company, Loveworld Television Ministry, which was wholly owned by a trustee of the charity.

Loveworld was also given use of a £1.8 million property purchased by the charity, free of charge for six years.

It is not unlawful to make positive collaborations to linked companies, according to the regulator, so long as they are appropriately managed.

The inquiry found a lack of formal contracts or appropriate record keeping, and a lack of evidence of conflicts of interest being appropriately managed as well as poor financial management.

Two members of the charity’s board of trustees resigned after the regulator took action to have them removed upon concluding serious misconduct and/or mismanagement had taken place.

The Commission also took temporary and protective action by freezing bank accounts, to protect over £600,000 of charitable funds, and appointing an interim manager who took over the running of the…

In a statement submitted to the sentencing hearing of her killers, Dave Chesney said conducting her funeral was the hardest thing he had ever done.

He also spoke of his struggle watching the defendants’ conduct in court.

“It had been weeks of denial and blame all for the intention of self preservation,” he said. “We are a broken family still coming to terms with the loss of a beautiful soul.”

Earlier this month, a jury found Svenson Ong-a-Kwie, 19, and a 17-year-old boy guilty of murder after less than six hours of deliberations.

Ong-a-Kwie has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 26 years while the other boy was jailed for at least 18 years.

Chesney was killed on the evening of 1st March in what was described as a case of mistaken identity.

During sentencing, the court heard how one of Jodie’s killers, Svenson Ong-a-Kwie, 19, had convictions for possessing and supplying drugs.

He admitted being in breach of a six-week suspended sentence for handling stolen jewellery dating back to October last year.

The 17-year-old defendant had previous convictions for possessing a screwdriver, actual bodily harm, possession of cannabis as well as aggravated vehicle taking.

Jodie’s father Peter Chesney told how he had just got a job in the City as a salesman when his life was “destroyed”.

From being ready to “take on the world” with a promising career, he was instead…

President Nicos Anastasiades made the announcement after talks with the pontiff in the Vatican on Monday.

In 2020, Cyprus will mark the 60th year of its independence from British colonial rule and a decade since Pope Benedict XVI travelled to the island, the first pontiff to do so.

Cyprus was the initial stop on Saint Paul’s first journey to spread Christianity in the 1st Century AD and he converted the island’s then Roman governor Sergius Paulus to the faith.

Cyprus is also linked with Saint Lazarus, the man who according to Christian scriptures was resurrected by Jesus.

Fearing persecution, Lazarus fled to Cyprus and was appointed a bishop.

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