A former mayor of Cork county has accused two leading developers opposed to a merger of the city and county councils of opportunism and of using scaremongering tactics.

John Cleary will decide this week if he will allow his name to be considered for the vacant Cork senior football team manager’s post.

The absence of transatlantic flights from Cork Airport is costing the county jobs, the developer of a huge office campus at the centre of Cork’s latest jobs boost has warned.