Two of Dublin’s leading bar and restaurant groups are to merge to form a near €50m revenue-generating business with control of many of the capital’s leading hospitality venues.

Mark Keogan, brother of TV and radio star Hector Ó hEochagáin, was today awarded €85,000 compensation for unfair dismissal in September 2009 as manager of The George Pub and Nightclub in Georges Street, Dublin.

THE examiner of companies in the Capital Bars Group which operate several well-known Dublin bars, including Cafe en Seine, The George and Howl At the Moon, has until next Thursday to secure investment vital to his preparation of survival proposals for the companies. Some 175 jobs hang in the balance.