What the papers say: Friday's front pages

Eva Osborne

Here are the stories making headlines this Friday.

The Irish Times leads with some of the country’s biggest home builders warning the Government that its proposed rental sector reforms are unconstitutional and threatening legal action if ministers fail to engage with them on it.

The Irish Examiner reports on new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing just 36,284 new homes were built last year.

Housing experts said the Government faces its “ultimate housing test” to have at least 20,000 new homes completed in the first half of this year if it is to make up for falling far short of the target it set for 2025.

30 per cent of weekend A&E cases are alcohol-related at Cork University Hospital, according to The Echo.

The Irish Independent leads with a €2.5 billion repair scheme for up to 100,000 defect­ive Celtic Tiger apart­ments to be brought to the Dáil in the com­ing months.

The Gov­ern­ment is plan­ning to sig­ni­fic­antly strengthen an earlier ver­sion of the law set­ting up the scheme ahead of a Dáil vote due to take place before the sum­mer.

The Irish Daily Mirror reports on the damage caused by Storm Chandra. A Wicklow mother detailed how her whole house became flooded in 20 minutes, adding that "everything is gone".

Also leading with the aftermath of Storm Chandra, the Irish Daily Star reports on Flood Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran warning that there is a lot more rain coming, and fast.

Michael Flat­ley has pledged to stage ‘the greatest show ever’ in Dub­lin next week after over­turn­ing a court order that had barred him from inter­fer­ing with the upcom­ing Lord Of The Dance tour, according to the Irish Daily Mail.

The Herald leads with a Dub­lin father who suffered a fatal knife wound to his neck, telling the man who had inflic­ted the injury: “You stabbed me in the artery, you f**king eejit."