As we move into the second half of the year, it is possible to look back on the first six months with a certain degree of positivity.

Almost €100,000 in social welfare payments was claimed fraudulently by a man over a period of more than nine years and yesterday his sentencing was put back until July 3.

A silent auction of rare film memorabilia has raised more than €20,000 for the creation of a film hub in West Cork.

A silent auction of rare film memorabilia has raised more than €20,000 for the creation of a film hub in West Cork.

Lucy O’Donoghue is the new manager of the Exxcel programme for proactive female entrepreneurs in the Rubicon Centre, CIT.

Here's your lunchtime bulletin.

A member of An Garda Síochána who pleaded guilty to 11 charges related of deception, theft, and receiving corrupt payments has resigned from the force, it was confirmed yesterday.

A debit card belonging to a 72-year-old man who denies impeding the prosecution of his son for a fatal hit- and-run was used to pay for his son’s flight to Australia following the incident, a jury was told yesterday.

A businessman's bid to prevent the sale of shares held by the government in AIB bank has been struck out by the High Court.

University College Cork acquired a private business college without picking up the tab for its pension scheme, which previously had a deficit of more than €10m.

The annual awards of Cork Business Association — which is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2017— has heard rousing calls for Cork people to embrace what they have in their city if it is to thrive to its full potential.

Banks have had it their own way for too long, a judge said yesterday, adding that he would bend over backwards to facilitate anybody who makes a genuine effort to deal with their indebtedness.

Headway, the Acquired Brain Injury charity, has purchased the former AIB Bank branch at 9/11 William Street in Limerick, which AIB shut in 2013.

A Co Cavan estate agent sold a Dublin woman’s holiday apartment in Turkey before “falsely and dishonestly misleading her and misappropriating” the €42,000 proceeds in a personal AIB bank account, a judge was told yesterday.

A raft of repair works to a housing estate, once branded one of the worst unfinished estates in Cork City, are poised to begin.

A Cork-based voluntary housing association has issued an urgent appeal to companies for help in preventing seven families from being evicted.

A woman has been found not guilty of the theft of over €102,000 from a retired chef’s bank account after a judge said the evidence was confused and inconclusive.

SIX shopping centres, including the largest in the Midlands, have been put up for sale in one lot, guiding at €115 million. The mix, in one lot only and called the Cornerstone Portfolio, has almost 170 shop units plus 150 apartments, and 670,00 sq ft of retail in all.

A man has told a court he never gave permission to a woman to take over €102,000 from his bank account.

A Fine Gael senator has had a summons for illegal parking against him dismissed after he told the court he never saw the notice placed on his windscreen or any follow up warnings — and his wife would have made him pay the fine if the notice arrived at the house.

A second multi-million euro Waterford sale — the AIB bank branch in the heart of the city for close to €2.25 million to a private investor - is imminent. It comes on the back of the just-concluded sale of the Fitzwilton Hotel, to an Austria-based investor, for €3.2m.

Private investors are being invited to become ‘King of the Castle,’ as a Tralee town centre bank, occupied by Bank of Ireland on Castle Street, is being touted for sale, with an attractive rental income of €277,000 pa.

An end of year sale closure is aimed for the in €1.1m-plus investment sale of an AIB bank branch in Kinsale, Cork.

A US online custom design and sales firm, Zazzle, is setting up a European HQ on Cork City’s Union Quay, capable of hosting 150-200 employees in an IDA-backed expansion.

A record number of buildings in Cork City will unlock their doors for the 10th anniversary of Cork  Heritage Open Day.

A main street 8,000 sq ft property "in the heart of Munster, Charleville", is for sale for new uses, having previously served as a community centre, and before that, a school.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a woman and her two children were involved in a carjacking in Rathgar in Dublin yesterday.

A woman and her two children were threatened by an armed robber this afternoon in a Dublin suburb when their vehicle was carjacked.

Seven out of 10 Irish technology companies upped their turnover by an average of 30% last year.

A West Cork couple who lost the family business as a result of the recession has secured a debt write-down of up to €100,000 on their mortgage.

People in mortgage arrears were yesterday warned that “sticking your head in the sand will not help”.

A gambling addict used his next-door neighbour’s bank account and forged his signature to withdraw a total of €3,400 from his account in three separate transactions.

RTÉ has it all to do this morning to stop listeners twiddling their radio dials towards rival station Newstalk.

'Jail the bankers' protests will take place in Dublin and Galway today.

In response to the ninth quarterly review of the Credit Review Office, AIB bank has said they had an approval rate in excess of 90% for small business loans.

We now know 87,000 people emigrated in the year up to April 2012.

DOUGLAS, CORK €330,000

The Emerald Expo 2012 is now one of the great landmark shows on the annual agricultural calendar organised by the Irish Holstein Friesian Association in association with Alltech Ireland.

New entrants to dairy farming over the past three years are budgeting for profitability of 5 cent per litre, equivalent to €422 per hectare, or €677 per cow.

AIB Bank is open to lending money to start-up businesses and house hunters, one bank executive said yesterday in reply to criticism from a loan applicant.

INCUBATION companies in Irish third-level institutions could create up to 66,000 jobs within 10 years, according to one leading academic.