What the papers say: Thursday's front pages

Eva Osborne

Here are the stories making headlines on the front pages of Irish newspapers this Thursday.

The Government’s long-awaited housing plan will be unveiled today against a backdrop of a fall in new housing commencements and Opposition predictions that the new strategy will not be radical enough to tackle the crisis, The Irish Times reports.

The Irish Examiner leads with a 22-year-old man being jailed for nine years for the rape of two very young girls he met on Snapchat.

The Echo reports on the president of the Vinters Federation of Ireland saying that the five per cent hike in commercial rates, approved by Cork city councillors on Wednesday night, could be 'the final kick' for many city centre businesses.

The Government is to ditch its annual housing targets in an admission that a slowdown in construction means current projections on building homes will not be met, according to the Irish Independent.

US President Donald Trump spent hours with Virginia Giuffre at paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's home, according to an email, the Irish Daily Mirror reports.

The Irish Daily Star leads with the solicitor of a suspect in the inquiry into the murder of farmer Michael Gaine saying gardaí have no evidence against him.

The Irish Daily Mail leads with Dublin tattoo artist Ruth Lawrence being found guilty of the murder of two men whose bound bodies were found on a lake island in Co Meath in 2014.

The Herald also leads with Lawrence being found guilty, with the Central Criminal Court jury, by a majority verdict of 11-1, agreeing with the prosecution case that the 46-year-old woman shot and worked "as a unit" with her boyfriend to murder drug dealer Eoin O'Connor.