Former US president Bill Clinton was conferred with an honorary doctorate at Dublin City University.

Pre-tax profits at the family-owned hotel group that owns a number of hotels, including the Europa Hotel in Belfast, the Culloden in Co Down, and also co-owns Dublin’s Merrion Hotel increased 21% to £4.9m (€5.5m).

The Naughton Foundation, which makes donations to education in engineering, science and technology has received €20.4m from one of the firms in Martin Naughton’s Glen Dimplex group.

Television personality and hotelier Francis Brennan has given up complete control of his luxury five-star Park Hotel in Co Kerry.

The wealth of Denis O’Brien has fallen by $1.1bn (€1bn), but the telecoms businessman still remains one of the country’s richest people, according to the annual Forbes list of the world’s mega rich.

Pre-tax profits at Glen Electric, the Northern Ireland-based division of electric appliance giant, Glen Dimplex last year decreased by 39% to £41.75m (€56.71m).

IT CAN only be a matter of time before someone brings out the boxset — put in your order now, 48 seasons of the Rose of Tralee live from the capital of Kerry.

I am enormously proud of the fact that I am a Cork person — not a Cork city or Cork county person. I’m a Cork person, writes Sean O Driscoll.

Pre-tax profits at the hotel group that co-owns the luxury five-star Merrion Hotel, in Dublin, increased 9% last year to £2.19m (€3m).

The Ireland Energy Efficiency Fund (IEEF) has landed an €8.5m investment as it moves further towards being fully invested by the end of 2016.

Just 10% of the funding earmarked to help business transition to renewable energy has been invested in the last 12 months.

Richard Bruton, the minister for jobs, has announced a major campaign to reduce chronic low awareness levels amongst SMEs of the various government assistance programmes on offer.

Pre-tax profits at Glen Electric, the Northern Ireland-based division of electric appliance giant Glen Dimplex, last year increased by 13.5% to £68.5m (€87.2m).

Darina Allen, owner of the world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School, was last night honoured by Cork Chamber for her years of service and achievement in the food industry.

Up to 100 jobs will be created after the Government-backed BDO Development Capital Fund announced an €8m investment in Irish IT services company Version 1.

The rich just got richer, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, which indicates that the total wealth of the country’s richest 250 people increased by just under €3bn last year.

A €75m support fund has been established to invest in mid-sized profitable export-orientated firms.

Pre-tax profits at Glen Electric, the Northern Ireland-based division of electric appliance giant Glen Dimplex, decreased by 4% to £60.3m (€72.4m) last year.

Two companies have announced expansions that will see the creation of 115 jobs and millions of euro invested in research.

One of the best known five-star hotels in the country, the Merrion Hotel in Dublin, last year increased pre-tax profits by 7% to €1.6m.

Pre-tax profits at Glen Electric — the Northern Ireland-based division of electrical appliance giant Glen Dimplex — fell by 15% last year to £62.8m (€76.8m), figures show.

Cork business people have to make a choice — stay in Cork city for the summer and make the city thrive or disappear to their holiday homes in West Cork.

Google is the largest exporting company in the country with total exports for 2011 reaching €10.1bn, which is a 55% increase on the €6.5bn of exports posted by the internet giant in 2010.

Demand for green energy solutions has helped boost pre-tax profits at Irish manufacturing group, C&F Tooling, almost threefold to €6.8 million in 2010.

STOCKBROKERS have urged investors to be cautious in their stock choices this year; expressing doubt that predicted growth across European and US equity markets can actually be achieved and predicting a secondary recession for the eurozone.

TWO elderly women died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a grill door on a cooker was left closed.

A national internship scheme has been launched to give up to 5,000 unemployed people critical work experience.

LEADING business figures and former politicians including Sean O’Driscoll of Glen Dimplex and telecom tycoon Denis O’Brien have drafted an economic recovery plan that urges the Government to slash 30,000 jobs from the public sector.

PRE-TAX profits at Glen Electric, the Northern Ireland-based division of electrical appliance giant Glen Dimplex, increased last year by 13% to £66.3 million (€77.6m) in spite of a decline in revenues.

HEATING and renewable energy group Glen Dimplex and its US partner General Electric (GE) are working on a strategy to increase their joint presence in China, Glen Dimplex managing director, Sean O’Driscoll has revealed.

PUBLIC sector pay should never again be set by a review body, but should instead be based on an average EU equivalent rate, according to Glen Dimplex managing director Sean O’Driscoll.

A HORSE trainer and a property developer are among a “secret” group of 17 people advising the Health Service Executive (HSE) on reconfiguration of health services in the South.

LOUTH company Bitech Engineering is to close with the loss of more than 200 jobs, it has been announced.

Two hundred jobs are to go with the closure of Bitech Engineering in Dunleer in Co Louth.

TRADE unions are more culpable than bankers in this country for what has happened over the last two decades, according to one of the country’s top businessmen.

“OUR economic situation, while urgent and grave, is not unique. As we are integrated into global trade and production networks our recovery will be intrinsically linked to a recovery in global trading. Now is our time to fight to regain our place in the global economy.

ONE of the country’s plushest hotels, the five star Merrion in Dublin remained in the red last year although losses eased.

IRISH companies are not doing enough to penetrate the huge Japanese market, according to the country’s ambassador to Ireland, Toshinao Urabe.

A MOVING novel chronicling the life of an 11-year-old boy dying of leukaemia has been named among the best debut works of 2008.

LOCHLANN Quinn has been appointed chairman of the ESB.

Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan has today announced that the Government has approved the appointment of Lochlann Quinn as the new chairman of ESB.

GLEN Dimplex, the electrical goods company owned by Martin Naughton, has acquired a British firm Applied Energy Products.

HOME appliance firm Glen Dimplex is investing €2.5 million in the development of a global energy centre in Louth.

Wax Digital, the UK-based spend management software company, has today announced the opening of its new overseas sales office in Dublin.