Close to 80 jobs are to be created in Cork and Limerick on the back of investments worth a combined €5.5m.

An Irish company which specialises in designing, building, and operating water and sewage treatment plants worldwide will today announce that it is creating 50 full-time ‘high end’ jobs at its headquarters in Mallow, Co Cork.

Irish Water has sanctioned a new €12m waste water treatment plant which will enhance an east Cork town’s potential for further industrial and residential development.

Toby Flood will be named in England's RBS 6 Nations squad today after a citing for an alleged tip tackle was dismissed at a Rugby Football Union hearing.

Shares in Dublin were on the decline once again as markets await further news of intervention by the ECB in tackling the eurozone debt crisis.

Anglers have expressed fears a river’s salmon and trout stocks will be wiped out by pollution which they claim is possibly emanating from a waste treatment plant and a speciality cheese factory.

Delon Armitage’s future as an international rugby player appeared to be hanging in the balance last night.

London Irish and England full back Delon Armitage has been suspended by the RFU after being arrested in connection with an alleged assault in a nightclub.

MIKE TINDALL’S Test career appears to be over after his off-field behaviour during the World Cup resulted in him being kicked out of England’s elite squad and fined £25,000 (€29,000) by the England RFU.

A NEW €900,000 purpose-built water treatment plant located in Clare is lying idle for over two years — after a rural group water scheme reverted back to its old system.

CLARE County Council has expressed concern that there may be a repeat of an incident last weekend where tankers had to be used to keep a local reservoir topped up because it was unable to meet the demand of over 30,000 consumers.

GARDAÍ are not “being used as virtual social workers” at night time, the office of the Minister for Children Barry Andrews has insisted.

GARDAÍ have sought a meeting with Minister for Children Barry Andrews to discuss their ongoing concerns about “not being trained or resourced to act as virtual social workers” to children who require out-of-hours emergency foster care placements.

GENERAL insurer FBD warned yesterday that claims resulting from recent flood damage will add up to €9m to its underwriting losses in the current year.

DCC, a distributor of energy and computer games, said sales in the first quarter were behind last year’s.

Global chip-maker Intel last night reported better-than-expected results for the second quarter to the end of June in what will be seen as a positive signal for the PC industry and the prospects of global recovery.

THE reckless lending by the Irish banking sector came home to roost yesterday as AIB, the country’s largest bank, announced it was forced to write off a massive €1.8 billion in bad loans in 2008.

ENGLAND’S elite rugby director Rob Andrew yesterday warned players who land lucrative club contracts abroad risk jeopardising their international careers.

IN its latest report on Irish banks, the investment research arm of global financial services giant Citigroup has downgraded its recommendations on Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank, and said that those two, as well as AIB, will probably see earnings decline in their next financial year.

Merrion Capital says it is reducing its organic profit expectations for CRH’s products and distribution divisions by between 5% and 8% in 2008.

ZAMANO, the Dublin-listed developer of premium rate text message services and mobile phone applications, saw revenues double in 2007.

KERRY’S results for last year showed profits rose by 35% to €298 million, while sales pressed ahead by 6.7% to €4.8 billion for the year.

THE Irish market suffered another setback yesterday as the banking sector fell significantly.

NCB Stockbrokers says the equity market will recover in 2008 despite the tougher global trading outlook.

OVER 200 tonnes of polystyrene will be diverted from landfill in the greater Dublin region over the next 12 months as a result of a new recycling service launched yesterday.

IF present trends continue, there could be an extra million people living in Ireland by 2021.

WATER company EPS has officially opened its €4 million headquarters at Quartertown in Mallow which accommodates 130 staff.

KILKENNY-headquartered Glanbia, the operator of one of the largest dairy processing plants in the world in New Mexico, will deliver strong double-digit earnings growth in 2007.

MERRION Stockbrokers has downgraded its rating on Kerry Group, believing the recent strong run in the company’s share price now fairly values the business.

ANGLO Irish Bank says first-half earnings will rise by about 40% on strong lending growth.

PROFITS at Roche Holdings leapt 34% 2006 on strong sales of cancer treatments Herceptin and Avastin and flu drug Tamiflu, but worries over margin growth hit the stock yesterday.

IRELAND’S largest food company, Kerry Group, has sold its primary poultry processing operations in Britain and Ireland in a drive to improve margins.

SHARES of the Nasdaq Stock Market plunged to their lowest levels in over a month after the London Stock Exchange LSE.L urged shareholders to reject a £2.7 billion (€4.02bn) hostile bid from the largest US electronic stock market.

The ISEQ index has rebounded after five negative days and closed in positive territory up 108.37 points to 7790.73.

More than 20 groups have joined forces to accuse a Government minister of failing the environment.

The FTSE 100 Index suffered its heaviest daily fall since the July terrorist attacks today as investors fretted over losses in New York.

AIB has revised its earnings forecast for 2005 in its pre-close trading statement for the first six months of the year.

IRISH firms will sign a number of “sizeable” new contracts in China this week.

A SURGE in television advertising has helped push up first-half profits at Ulster Television to £6.2 million (€9.1m).

KERRY GROUP managed a meagre 1% rise in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year to the end of June over the same period last year.

Hewlett-Packard has reported a 9% rise in its third-quarter revenue.

The challenge of dealing with large scale terrorist attacks and other major disasters will be put under the spotlight at an international conference in Belfast, it was announced today.