The five-star Dromoland Castle has stopped plans by Applegreen to extend its national network of motorway service areas into Clare.

The general manager of the five-star Dromoland Castle hotel, Mark Nolan, said yesterday that he expects the revenues at the hotel and adjoining Inn at Dromoland to top €17m this year.

Increased capital spend at the firm that operates the five-star Dromoland Castle hotel last year contributed to pre-tax profits at the business decreasing by 73% to €63,816.

By Ray Managh

A High Court judge has reserved judgment on an application by Lord Inchiquin for the recovery of 37 ancestral portraits, including one of Brian Boru.

The 18th Baron Inchiquin turned up at Dromoland Castle Hotel in the early hours of the morning with a Northern Ireland removals company in a bid to unlawfully take family portraits off the walls, the High Court has been told.

Lord Inchiquin is to ask the High Court today to direct the return to him of 37 ancestral portraits that have hung in Dromoland Castle for decades before and since it became a hotel.