More than 20 families have been forced to pay local property tax (LPT) for the past five years due to an administrative oversight which should have excluded them because they live in an unfinished estate.

The trial use of street lamps as electric car charging points is expected to lead to a quicker national rollout of power-up options for drivers and an increased changeover to emission-free vehicles.

The Government and opposition have united in anger over An Bord Pleanála’s approval for an incinerator at Ringaskiddy, insisting the move is a “kick in the teeth” to a community playing a key role in the future of Cork City.

A planning decision on a proposal to build a €160m incinerator in Cork Harbour is due by Friday, almost two years behind schedule.

Cork County Council wants Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to create a national emergency committee to tackle the housing crisis — one which will act with the same urgency which addressed the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the North in 2001.

The Government considered using explosions to remove oil from the Kowloon Bridge, a cargo vessel shipwrecked off the West Cork coast in November 1986.

Plans to phase out flat-rate waste collection fees are delayed once again, and will not come into force until the autumn. However, the 12-month price-freeze agreed with the waste collection industry will expire as planned tomorrow.

A special taskforce has helped slash the number of ghost estates in County Cork from a record national high of 280 seven years ago to just 56.

A jury has been selected for the trial of Solidarity TD Paul Murphy and six other men on charges of falsely imprisoning Joan Burton in Tallaght in 2014.

Planning Minister Simon Coveney is being urged to reverse a decision to grant a licence to a biotechnology company to mechanically harvest 1,860 acres of native seaweed forest in Bantry Bay.

After three years of protests, debates during elections and claims of a “failed” charging regime, TDs have voted in the Dail to abolish the current system and scrap water charges.

High rents and homelessness are just some of the problems. Here are the Government’s five pillars of the housing strategy. 

Irish Water has said it is liaising with the OPW and its consultants about concerns that a €8m flood prevention scheme might not work properly if there is no division between storm water and sewage drainage.

Legislation protecting Irish Water from being privatised could be over-ruled by a Dáil majority and a referendum on its public ownership overturned, a Department of Environment official said.

The cost to the State of funding Irish Water as its ‘sole customer’ would amount to some €1.2bn this year, a committee examining the future of water services heard.

The State’s ethics watchdog has said it is “unreasonable” for small political parties to fully audit their accounts, after the first report on what organisations received and spent for 2015.

Local authorities are being urged to beef up their financial security after international criminals attempted to defraud Meath County Council of €4.3m and have the money transferred to Hong Kong.

The State spent more than €19,000 for every homeless person in the country last year on services and supports alone.

The latest inquiry into allegations of planning corruption in Donegal has run aground amid fresh uncertainty over how it should proceed.

Incentive payments for first-time buyers to purchase newly built homes will be finalised for the budget.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney has pledged local authorities will significantly ramp up their housing construction after just building 72 units last year.

Families living in isolated flood-prone areas will be paid to relocate under proposals being considered by the Government.

The Anti-Austerity Alliance have called on the newly appointed head of the expert commission on water charges to resign, complaining that he is a supporter of the levy.

Five stray or unwanted dogs were put down in pounds every day last year.

Minister for Local Government Simon Coveney has announced a review of the controversial merger plan for Cork city and county councils in a bid to find a compromise.

A county councillor in Cork has claimed the local authority “could do more” to tackle the current housing crisis, by building on its own existing housing-zoned landbanks of nearly 130 acres.

Gerry O’Brien, who is father to a 30-year-old man with severe cerebral palsy, has raised concerns over the cost of disposing of his son’s 30 nappies a week when the pay-by-weight regulations come in on July 1.

The percentage of septic tanks in Cork failing inspections has increased this year, with the worst failure rate in the west of the county.

Enda Kenny’s new Cabinet has received mixed reaction with praise after he appointed more women to government, but also questions about the role he gave certain ministers.

Open fires can cause breathing difficulties for people with asthma and respiratory problems, according to the Irish Asthma Society. The comments come after it emerged the most recent building regulations actively discourage homeowners from installing open fireplaces.

A planning expert has accused the Department of the Environment of reverting to the ‘shoe-box’ apartment size guidelines of the 1990s and said the current floor area requirements will impact the most vulnerable in society.

Cork County Council has been forced to sell homes owned by people in shared ownership schemes which were repossessed after they fell behind in their mortgage repayments.

Households are using 50% less water than had been initially predicted, according to early Irish Water meter readings.

The first signs of a new government emerged last night as Enda Kenny made an historic offer to Micheál Martin of an “equal partnership” in power.

Measures to stop land hoarding, create a more efficient planning system, and greater access to information, would start addressing the issue, writes Kieran Rose

Almost 120 families will be housed in a development announced yesterday in Dublin, putting a dent in the growing homelessness crisis in the capital.

Chronic under-staffing in Cork City’s library service has resulted in unplanned branch closures, reduced opening hours, and the closure of specialist sections.

IT might be an overreach to suggest that the worldwide network of Carnegie libraries were the internet of their time but not by much. 

Environment Minister Alan Kelly’s department has failed to pay almost €6.5m in emergency funding to local authorities for repairs and the clean-up of flood-hit areas.

It a dog’s life for strays in Co Cork, but far worse for unwanted horses.