Tourist numbers are increasing all the time at Cork County Council-run attractions, with the leading venue, Spike Island, recording a 10,000 increase in visitors last year.

Gareth Hanrahan is garnering quite a reputation as a fantasy author. He tells Ed Power how some of his novels’ settings are inspired by old Cork.

A group of private investors are aiming to have the tourist ferry service operational by next year and the commuter service up and running in 2022.

One of the rarest cars in the world has been donated to the National Museum by Ireland’s biggest collector of Rolls Royces.

THERE can be few islands in this country that have had their form as radically changed as Rocky Island, Co Cork.

A €100m retail centre, similar to Kildare Village, is being proposed for the eastern outskirts of Cork city.

It’s a cliche, but it’s true. You really start to find out how much there is to do in your country when you stop making eyes at other countries.

The precocious 17-year-old LA songstress, whose March debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? made her the first ever artist born in the new millennium to have a number one album in the US album charts, has been catapulted to stardom and hailed as the voice of a new generation.

Organisers of Electric Picnic are cracking down on single-use plastic at this weekend's festival.

Spike Island in Co Cork and the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare are in contention to be named World's Best Attraction at the prestigious International Travel and Tourism Awards. (ITTA)

As an introduction to our islands, this heritage week programme has a selection of lovely islands and a wide range of activities to entice you.

Legendary actors Liam Cunningham and Patrick Bergin are among a number of stars lined up to appear at a special event which will take place on Spike Island in Cork harbour next month.

Jason Deans’ exhibition in Cobh touches on Brexit and emigration, writes Colette Sheridan.

The appeal of vacations linked to sites connected to death, destruction and atrocities is a fast growing global sector known as 'dark tourism'.

So that’s Thursday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Fair City actor Tommy O’Neill drew on his own time in prison for a video installation currently on display on Spike Island, writes Ellie O’Byrne

A new national touring exhibition called The Trial which examines health care and human rights with the Irish prison system is launching at Spike Island in Cork this Friday.

Conserving and adapting Cork city's protected 200-year-old Bonded Warehouses to new uses at the planned 34-storey, hotel tower site at the Port of Cork/Custom House Quay may take more than €25m of the overall estimated €150m development budget, it has been revealed.

It's somewhat ironic the Naval Service's commander spends most of his days on Haulbowline Island, just a stone's throw from Spike Island where three of his granduncles were interned in 1921 – and a fact he only found out two years ago.

The ferry, named after the island, can accommodate 126 passengers and will be operated by Doyle Shipping.

Condé Nast Traveler named the scenic town among the 25 most beautiful in Europe.

The threat of bacterial epidemics is something that threatens all countries, island or not.

British intelligence was very good at identifying Republicans who were interned without trial in Spike Island in 1921.

Seven out of 10 bed-nights are spent in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, and Clare, and this congestion diminishes the tourist value of the rest of the country, writes Paul Kelly, CEO, Fáilte Ireland

Your morning headlines.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

Here's your morning bulletin.

A special ceremony will be held on an island off the south-west coast tomorrow to mark the exact day 80 years ago when the British handed over its fortifications to Free State forces.

Cork County Council has been told to prepare plans to get a number of harbour forts, Martello towers, and what was once the largest gunpowder factory in the world added to Unesco’s world heritage status list.

A major military commemoration is planned next week to mark the 80th anniversary of the British handover of Spike Island and other coastal forts in Cork.

Cork County Council warns it’s “a long way” from breaking even on money it has invested in Spike Island, even though the island has won a number of international tourism awards.

The campaign to stop an incinerator being built in Cork Harbour is stepping up a notch as efforts get under way to raise awareness in Cork City and to get companies to pledge financial support towards the cost of a judicial review.

This week I’m focusing on summer active days. I’m sharing my top days out plus my all-time favourite breakfast, overnight oats.

We are tired, we are disappointed, we are devastated, but we are a long way from broken.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help campaigners continue their near-20-year fight against controversial plans for an incinerator in Cork Harbour.

A man who dipped his toe in the adventure boat business after beating cancer hopes to create waves with his new Cork Harbour tour-boat venture linking the city to Cobh.

James Ryan squirms at the idea that he might be recognised on civvy street these days.

TV chef Rachel Allen and her Formula 4 racing son, Lucca, have backed a new drive to encourage visitors to turn east after landing at Cork Airport.

The biggest cruise ship ever to visit Cork will arrive in Cobh on Sunday, coinciding with the town’s commemoration of the sinking of the Lusitania.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is being urged to stop the Commissioner for Irish Lights (CIL) downgrading the range of beams emitting from the country’s most iconic lighthouse.

Forts and Martello towers dotted around Cork Harbour and what was once the biggest gunpowder factory in the British empire could soon be designated as Unesco World Heritage sites.

IT MIGHT sound dismissive, but the blunt fact is the least interesting part of Water’s Edge is the house itself.

Well, of course, we did have bears, but not on Bere Island. The island is named after the peninsula and is derived from the Spanish princess Bera who was married to the first king of Munster, Eogan More.

Our regular contributors select their highlights of the year

An Oscar-winning director has given his seal of approval to an aerial ace’s new book of stunning photographs of Cork from the air.

A request is being made for Pope Francis to come to Co Cork when he visits Ireland next August, with the racecourse in Mallow likely the best venue to host him.