Tommy Barker looks back at a year when pubs adapted to the smoking ban and the arrival of new competitors.

PROPERTY investors got a soft landing yesterday with a three-year phased removal of tax reliefs, instead of them being axed next July as previously expected.

Developers and investors in residential and commercial property markets expect the current building boom to continue, at least in the short term, according to a survey conducted at the Ulster Bank CBRE Gunne Property Conference 2005 this week.

OPPOSITION politicians last night questioned the payment of €150,000 to an agent involved in finding and buying the site of a new prison in north Dublin.

SHOP or pub? That’s the option facing Killarney’s O’Riains High Street bar.