Venues across the South-East have been chosen to host the country’s top canoeing and kayaking club competition next year.

Distribution of Leader funds has to remain independent of politics, says Labour TD Ann Phelan.

A MOUTH-WATERING Easter egg with up to €775,000 in grant aid and supports is currently whetting the appetite of five rural communities.

It has long been a mecca for artists, writers, musicians, and craft workers — now researchers are to investigate why West Cork attracts so many creative people, assess their contribution to the economy and outline how the sector could be developed to create more jobs.

HUNDREDS of food-related rural jobs are on ice due to the state’s bureaucratic blunder in placing around €25 million in EU funds into a non-food category, according to Kilkenny LEADER Partnership.

SOCIAL investment funds have thrown a lifeline to community projects hamstrung by the fall in bank lending.

SHOPPERS could add more than €1 billion to the economy by switching a quarter of their weekly grocery spend from imported to Irish food.