Insults traded across the chamber floor. Cries of "shame" and "charade" circulating in the air. Accusations of gerrymandering and betrayal as votes were cast for a key political post. All in all, Clonmel Corporation's latest mayoral election made the opening day of the Northern Ireland Assembly seem positively polite.

And unlike its Northern counterpart, the Clonmel assembly featured its very own walkout after it was claimed that an election rotation pact had been broken, the Nationalist reports.

Declaring the result "a travesty of democracy", four councillors marched out of the chamber only to be later branded bad losers by their political rivals. Ironically, the paper's editorial warned of the danger of negative politics and said "the wreckers" should not be allowed to undermine the Assembly. However, in this case, it was referring to the Northern one.

As conflict erupts over issues such as Orange marches, it said "dialogue can work, it has been shown, and must be made to work."

Clonmel councillors take note.

Further soul-searching arose in the Limerick Leader after a survey conducted in local schools and youth groups found a startling ignorance of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

The paper reported that only 18 of 100 people between the ages of 13 and 16 surveyed could name the six counties of the North. One respondent thought a republican was "a pub owner", another believed the Troubles were caused by "culchies".

And despite the fact that television was said to be the main source of information for 60 per cent of respondents, many confused, in a photograph test, David Trimble with Dick Spring, John Hume with Ian Paisley and Mo Mowlam with Mary Harney.

The paper's editorial said the results of the survey, conducted by two local youth workers with the support of Cooperation North, were "simultaneously comic and tragic". There was no reason to believe "their elders are any more enlightened," it added in a depressing tone.

In a second, related editorial, the paper warned that ignorance can lead to prejudice and racism, with specific reference to the treatment of refugees here. "The asylum seekers cannot win. They are denied the right to work. Then, because they are forced to draw social welfare, they are accused of sponging."

The debate was taken up in the letters page of the Clare Champion where one reader criticised begging by often well-dressed refugees. "I'm sure if they escaped the harsh regimes that they say they have, jewellery would be the first thing that their captors would take from them," he wrote.

In reply, a second reader said "the first thing the regimes took was these people's human rights and dignity and if they had not found a safe haven, then their lives would also have been taken."

Anger at the Government's approach to the issue has led to pickets outside the Killarney clinic of the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, the Kerryman reports. A group of anti-racism campaigners has pledged to continue the protests until deportation of asylumseekers comes to an end.

The Westmeath Examiner offered advice of a different nature to Mr O'Donoghue. As the Minister attempts to resolve the Garda pay dispute, it criticised in its editorial the "insulting rates" paid to gardai who face the onerous task of protecting citizens from often violent criminals.

It noted Commissioner Pat Byrne was paid less than £70,000 a year while "a politician in the news, in her previous job, was also paid £70,000, for selling business for a bank. Compare the two areas of responsibility."

But gardai aren't the only ones facing danger lately. According to the Donegal Democrat, diners at a hotel restaurant on the banks of Lough Eske were recently disturbed during Sunday lunch when a creature, likened to a large reptile, surfaced from the depths and let out a screech.

The paper reports that "the Lough Eske monster" has attracted hundreds of visitors to the resort with locals preparing for a new wave of Nessie-like cuddly toys, paperweights and souvenir key rings.

The hotel's manager said that UCD researchers have already been in touch about the sighting, adding that those who spotted the creature were definite there was "something out there".

One wonders, however, has it more to do with another front-page story from the paper, which reports a drop- off in business in the county under the headline: "Tourist season struggles to take off".