The Kerry-based hotel group behind the last-minute legal challenge to the €50m state-funding package for Cork's event centre has been accused of lodging a “nasty, vexatious, commercial ambush” on the stalled project.

A €51,562 spend by a local authority on revamping its main meeting room including an outlay of €31,093 on a ‘bespoke’ table and 22 chairs has been described as an ‘extravagance and unnecessary’.

Cork County Council is to write to the European Commission seeking an investigation into why the government continues to stall on releasing Leader funding for rural development projects.

Live streaming of county council meetings in Kerry would be fraught with danger, officials advised due to the risk of some councillors “getting carried away” in full throttle.