The funeral of Nicola Kenny has heard her heart was alive with love for others.

Hundreds of mourners gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Thurles to remember the 26-year-old.

Nicola was tragically killed in a road crash on the M8 motorway on Monday, when she was travelling to Dublin to visit her one day old baby.

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More than 400,000 commuters are facing travel disruption as Dublin Bus drivers go on strike.

The two day action saw the last services run at 9.00pm Thursday.

Drivers have been picketing at bus depots across the capital since 5.00am.

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Records dating back to 1864 are now available online as part of a new system launched by Leo Varadkar, Minister for Social Protection and Heather Humphreys, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs earlier today.

Historic birth, death and marriage records are now accessible on www.irishgenealogy.ie free of charge.

Among the records are the birth, marriage and death register entries for Tom Crean, the Antarctic explorer, whose grandson Brendan O’Brien joined the Ministers for today’s event in the National Library.

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While Italy is still reeling from its recent deadly earthquake, not to mention a poor economic performance that has resulted in youth unemployment of 40%, the country’s young people will come to benefit from a new scheme launching this month that will see every 18-year-old receive €500 to spend on culture, courtesy of Italian taxpayers.

According to the new initiative, every school pupil in the graduating class who turns 18 before December 31^st will be entitled to claim back money spent on cultural pursuits, including going to the theatre, concerts, visiting museums and archaeological sites, and buying books, DVDs and music.

The scheme, set to come into effect on September 15^th, will be offered to as many as 575,000 school pupils, and will cost the Italian exchequer €290m.

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The Road Safety Authority (RSA) says questions on drinking and driving will be added to the Driver Theory Test from October.

The new questions will be put to those applying for the motorcycle, car and works vehicles test.

The RSA says this is in direct response to a report issued by the group earlier this year, which showed that drink-driving is still a significant road safety issue - particularly among some young people.