Seven retiring local authority chiefs executive last year enjoyed a pensions bonanza walking away with a combined pension lump sum of €1.8m.

A Cavan man who has waged a 25-year campaign against the local authority over the county’s potholes has been ordered not to paint on the roads for the next two years or he will face three months in prison.

The number and size of fines don’t do enough to deter, reports Claire O’Sullivan.

A NEW way of reporting pollution is welcome, but tricky. An iPhone app, launched by the EPA, makes it easy to contact your local authority, on-the-spot, with a complaint.

Lakeland Dairies chief executive Michael Hanley cited the excellent quality of milk in border-adjacent counties, when picking up the two main honours at the inaugural Cavan Business and Tourism awards.

A number of local authorities have said they are considering the possibility of withholding grant payments from students where householders have not paid the €100 household charge.

The Department of the Environment has written to all county and city managers giving updated details of the sums deducted from their funding as a result of the non-payment of the €100 household charge.

The current controversy over septic tank inspections seems to have provoked a resistance campaign marked by political opportunism and cowardice, self-induced hysteria and sheer bloody-minded selfishness.

Senator David Norris has won the support of Waterford City Council in his bid to secure a nomination for the presidential election, bringing to three the number of local authorities backing him.

TIM CLIFFORD, a Cork-based site assessor and owner of www.siteassessor.com, expects the system of national septic tank inspection to follow that of Cavan County Council closely.

TWO of the most high-profile candidates in the race for the presidency suffered setbacks yesterday when they were snubbed by local authorities.

Galway City Council has voted not to allow Senator David Norris to address the council in his bid to secure a nomination to run for president.

COUNCILLORS are paid an annual salary or representational payment of about €16,700.

Complaints about smells from rubbish dumps grew tenfold since 2004, environmental experts warned today.

A LARGE proportion of complaints against landfills related to odours emanating from the site, an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) report has found.

ALMOST 9,000 insurance claims have been made against local authorities since 2005 on foot of pothole damage to vehicles with councils forking out €1.2 million to successful claimants.

THE Irish co-operative movement has presented Cavan farmer and dairy industry leader Dessie Boylan with the Plunkett Award.

PHARMACEUTICAL company Abbott Vascular and Cavan County Council were announced as the overall winners of the O2 Ability Awards in Dublin last night.

Fine Gael are making gains in the local elections all over the country.

MORE that 60% of local authorities have increased their charges at a time when the focus of the economy should be on reducing costs, Chambers Ireland said last night.

ONE-THIRD of all local authorities countrywide are failing to reach the 3% target of employing people with a disability according to new figures.

A memorial for two teenage victims of a loyalist car bomb is to be built in a small Cavan town, it emerged today.

IRELAND’S largest business group today warned that entrepreneurs were being stifled by added costs involved in setting up companies.