WORKERS in Beamish & Crawford’s new €7m bottling plant looking for a €170 pay rise are voting this week on a Labour Court recommended increase of €77 a week.

BEAMISH & Crawford is investing €7million to replace its bottling facility which packages its own stout brand name plus Miller Genuine Draft, Fosters and Carling for the Irish and Northern Irish market.

SO a certain celebrated hotel in Kerry has acted above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that our esteemed Taoiseach could sip his favoured pint during his much publicised visit to the Kingdom.

Belgian brewing giant Interbrew has sold Carling Brewers to US beer group Adolph Coors in a £1.2bn deal.

London shares have continued climbing, boosted by a strong performance from the US markets.

The European Commission today fined Belgian beer giant Interbrew £30m for taking part in beer price fixing cartels.

Six Continents - formerly known as Bass - is expected to show the impact of September 11 and the economic slowdown when it reports on Thursday.

The Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is off 38.8 points at 5422.8 at mid-morning as tech and telecoms shares suffer more heavy losses.

Bass plans to change its name to Six Continents after selling off its traditional brewing operations.

The Footsie index of 100 leading shares is up 13.1 points at lunchtime to stand at 5810 after falling by 63 points in the first 30 minutes of trading this morning.

City analysts believe Bass may change its name to reflect its move away from brewing.

Telecom stocks are spearheading a revival in the London market that has added 126.8 points to the FTSE-100 Index.

Senior officials and directors at Premier League sponsors Carling are meeting today to decide whether to continue their eight-year association with English top-flight football.