The news was confirmed just hours after it was revealed that a worker at Apple in Cork tested positive for the virus.

A shot in the arm for the rural economy, including over 3,000 jobs, and a strategic national opportunity; that’s what’s on offer to the Government from an agri-led “green gas” industry, said the Renewable Gas Forum of Ireland this week.

Gas Networks Ireland has reduced its own energy use by 42% since 2006, exceeding the public sector energy efficiency target by over a quarter.

CHARITABLE companies in Cork donated over €2.1 million to local causes last year, according to the 2018 Business Impact Map produced by Business in the Community Ireland.

Ireland has finally secured a foothold at the summit of European central banking following the appointment of Central Bank governor Philip Lane to the six member executive board of the ECB, as chief economist.

Household debt remains at elevated levels but may be partly due to a growing population and an expanding economy, Department of Finance research suggests.

The Government is to increase its overseas aid spending by around €115m every year for the next decade.

When it comes to our economy, things can turn with lightning speed, says Kyran Fitzgerald

The Central Bank’s Philip Lane and fiscal watchdog Seamus Coffey have warned about the many risks facing the economy. They should add online shopping to the list, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Latest: A man in his 70s found dead in a house in Waterford last night may have been overcome by fumes from material he had been burning.

Gas supplies in the west of Ireland should be switched back on a phased basis over the weekend, energy chiefs have said.

Thousands of natural gas customers in Connacht have been told to shut off their gas supplies becasue odourless gas has got into the network from the Corrib Gas terminal.

A new picture of the economy shows it is much smaller and the country’s debt burden is much heavier but also suggests that the domestic economy is powering ahead.

A new way of measuring the size of the economy has shown the legacy of debt from the crash is much higher than previously estimated, and will likely hem in government spending for years to come.

Figures from the Central Statistics show that GDP contracted by 2.6% in the first quarter of this year, while GNP went down by 7.1%.

The CSO plans to develop a new measure of economic growth which is designed to defuse the “leprechaun economics” jibe Ireland faced when revised GDP figures portrayed the economy surging at a rate of over 26%

Britain’s refusal to pay a bill going back more than 12 years and now totalling €2.1bn to the EU’s budget could substantially increase the sum Ireland must pay.

Britain has been warned that if it wishes to reopen the methodology for calculating its contributions to the EU budget, it could be opening a Pandora’s box that could put the controversial rebate in question.

IRISH consumers are still paying a fifth more than their average EU counterpart for goods and services despite the country’s GDP having fallen by more than 13% in the past three years.

IRELAND intends to maintain the target of contributing 0.7% of gross national product for development aid by 2015, despite the economic crisis, Jan O’Sullivan, Minister of State for Trade and Development, said.

FORMER Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald is heading a campaign to push the Government to honour its commitments on overseas aid despite the recession.

HOME-BUYERS who bought at the end of the housing boom had to take out mortgages at more than three-and-a-half times the size of those who got on the property ladder a decade earlier.

The EU is committed to cutting 20% of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, but that was never going to be more than a fine aspiration unless something practical is done to encourage people to amend their wasteful ways.

IRELAND has some of the most able students in the EU, despite having bigger class sizes and above average student-to-teacher ratio, the CSO report reveals.

Ireland remains one of the most successful EU states at attracting foreign investment, with direct inward investment flows representing 6% of GDP in 2004, according to a major new report from the Central Statistics Office.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was urged by the Irish Farmers Association yesterday to tell British prime minister Tony Blair there can be no question of the 2002 decision by the EU heads of Government on the Common Agricultural Policy budget being re-opened.

THE European Commission yesterday backed moves to tax aviation fuel to help fund aid to developing nations - a step that would increase airfares.

The European Commission today backed moves to tax aviation fuel to help fund aid to developing nations – a step that would increase air fares.

THE rate of growth for the 12-country euro zone area for 2003 has been reduced to a mere 0.4% from the dismal April prediction of 1%.

ECONOMIC experts who were surveyed for the European Central Bank’s latest monthly bulletin have cut their forecasts for eurozone growth this year from 1.8% to 1.4%.