Reports that illegal immigrants are taking advantage of the fact that immigration officers rarely check incoming flights to Knock Airport from Britain are to be investigated, according to the Connaught Telegraph.
A front-page article said the new Garda National Immigration Bureau is to check whether the airport is being used as a gateway for illegal immigrants.
Chief Supt John Carey of the Mayo Garda Division said if there was a problem it certainly hadn't been mentioned to him.
The Southern Star reported that an asylum-seeker claimed at Clonakilty District Court that gardai regularly made unpleasant comments to him while he was complying with a court order to sign on daily at a Garda station in Co Clare.
He told Judge James O'Connor, who said he took a very serious view of the allegation, that they called him names and asked questions, such as when he was going home.
Supt Noel Galwey told the court that the asylum-seeker, who faces a rape charge, had been treated with nothing but courtesy, but he had the option of making a complaint to the Garda Complaints Board.
Meanwhile in Swords, Co Dublin, two taxi-drivers found themselves before the local District Court after causing a disturbance at a restaurant by abusing an Asian employee, said the Fingal Independent.
Judge Claire Leonard heard that the men took exception to an Asian member of staff and started making comments, suggesting that he should not be in Ireland.
The defendants' solicitor said their recollection of the incident was unclear because they had consumed alcohol. Judge Leonard fined them both £100 and also bound one of them to the peace for a year.
A Newbridge, Co Kildare, businessman and town commissioner has criticised the system for sending Kosovar refugees back to their homeland against their wishes, according to the Leinster Leader.
Mr Ray O'Brien said he was disgusted that men he had employed for the past year were being sent home to ravaged villages and houses that are little better than burnt-out shells.
He is anxious that the Government put in place a system which will be more sympathetic to those refugees who have been working in the State, are settled here and have no wish to return home.
The Laois Nationalist reported that problems with sewage and flooding in Stradbally have been cited as reasons why 45 asylum-seekers should not be housed in a former convent in the town.
Some of those attending a meeting of residents felt that additional people should not be accommodated in the area until the problems had been addressed.
IN the west, the Roscommon Champion recorded the demise of a national school with four pupils which closed last week, giving its children an early summer holiday. Curraghroe National School, near Ballyleague, faced the prospect of having just two pupils in September.
The chairman of the board of management, Mr Dan Cox, said: "It is something of a sad day, but that's the way of the world. You can't fight it".
The Leinster Leader reported that a primary school teacher in Newbridge, Co Kildare, was sickened to discover two kittens stuffed down a tiny drain in the school yard. One had suffered a broken back and had to be put down and the other, although recovering, may also have to be put down, Ms Mary Kennedy, a teacher at the Patrician Primary School, said.
An officer of the Kildare Animal Foundation said the problem was rampant. "Everyone is just gone mad. Pups are being found in litter bins and rubbish bags. We just can't cope with it on our limited resources."
The Donegal Democrat reported that a hotel in the county was under investigation by the North Western Health Board after an outbreak of food poisoning. Several people became ill after attending a function at the hotel, which has partially closed on a voluntary basis.
In the north-east, 25 family doctors have issued a statement to the Northern Standard expressing concern at plans to downgrade Monaghan General Hospital. "For our hospital to provide efficient care to the people of Co Monaghan the hospital must have a fully equipped and staffed intensive care unit, a 24-hour accident and emergency service, full acute medical and surgical services and full-time obstetric and paediatric services.
"Present plans to reduce these services can only mean one thing for Monaghan Co Hospital, namely its imminent downgrading and closure as an acute hospital," they said.
The Kilkenny People reported that a psychiatric nurse is facing more than 70 sexabuse charges involving a young male patient.
The offences are alleged to have happened in the 1970s at a hospital in the south-east. The male nurse, who is also charged with two counts of gross indecency involving another male in 1988, was remanded on bail at Kilkenny District Court.