IT began when Michael Hyde went to plant trees on scrub land in the estate he inherited from a cousin in Co Galway nearly 60 years ago.

A farmer in Co Kildare is to be forced from his home after losing a High Court challenge to a compulsory purchase order on his land.

Subcontractors owed thousands of euro are threatening to blockade the site of a major new Pepsi development in Cork following the main contractor on the €10m project going into liquidation.

A farmer has brought a High Court action today aimed at stopping the Industrial Development Authority from acquiring his land.

The new year has started off with a bang, with lots of business and economy stories to get stuck into.

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton is coming under pressure from TDs within his own party to force the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to tackle unemployment in counties with some of the highest rates of joblessness in the country.

CAO applicants should look at courses in science, engineering, maths or languages, according to the IDA.

EMPLOYMENT prospects among multinationals in Ireland for 2012 are “encouraging”, the Industrial Development Authority said after reporting its best year for job creation in a decade.

IRELAND must become “jobs obsessed” to get people — and the country — working again, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton has said.

WE all know how disappointing it can be when someone prematurely points to what they believe, or want us to believe, are the “first green shoots of recovery”.

The Industrial Development Authority announced yesterday in a tweet that the social networking company Twitter is to open an international office in Dublin.

THE head of the Industrial Development Authority has hit back at criticism that the jobs agency does little to create employment in small towns.

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton has ordered state agencies to come up with a south-east employment action plan after admitting he is “not happy” with the Industrial Development Authority’s job creation performance.

CRITICISM of the Industrial Development Authority by Government ministers have been rejected by the investment promotion agency.

THE Industrial Development Authority needs to be “reined in” by the Government as its existing policy does little to create employment in small towns, a minister has said.

Minister of State for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock is right to highlight the performance of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) when it come to providing employment in small towns.

THE world’s fastest computers and longest-lasting mobile phone batteries could be operating within five years thanks to work about to get under way at one of the country’s leading research centres.

BORD Gáis and Airtricity will be increasing their electricity prices in line with the ESB when the public service obligation (PSO) levy is introduced in October.

Allegations that the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is “de-emphasising” the importance of Dublin and Cork would seem to be open to interpretation.

IRELAND’S elderly population needs to fight plans to extend the retirement age unless concerns over ageism and training for older people in the workplace are addressed, according to a new report.

IF YOU want to lead the next generation of Irish entrepreneurs, then you’d better get your skates on, because you have just a few days in which to get your application on the desk of the Endeavour people.

BRIAN COWEN was yesterday accused of “throwing in the towel” on mass unemployment as the Live Register hit another record level.

THE head of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) last night downplayed comments by Defence Minister Willie O’Dea that the organisation is talking to Dell in relation to up to 750 alternative jobs being created at the Limerick plant.

President Eamon de Valera accepted gifts from Colonel Gaddafi the same year Libya began arming the IRA, official state papers reveal.

More than 1,000 delegates from the small- and medium-sized business sector across the globe are meeting in Belfast today to discuss how to maintain their competitiveness in the current economic downturn.

THE Government’s chief science adviser has expressed concern about the state’s ability to encourage business start-ups.

PHARMACISTS have called off today’s planned withdrawal from the community drugs schemes after concessions by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the contentious new medicines pricing system.

THERE was mixed news on the employment front yesterday as 108 people lost their jobs in three Gaeltacht areas, while Cork is to get 150 jobs with the creation of a hotel call centre.

Ireland could attract the best brains in Europe if it fosters a cutting edge science and innovation environment, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

THE European Court of Justice is to issue a ruling today which could pose a threat to the future of some jobs at the Aughinish Alumina plant in Askeaton, Co Limerick.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern received more than £100,000 in connection with planning projects from Cork-based developer Owen O’Callaghan in the early 1990s, rival businessman Tom Gilmartin alleged at the Mahon Tribunal yesterday.

A €50 MILLION bioprocessing facility is planned for the Carlow region, it was announced yesterday.

FORMER taoiseach Albert Reynolds allegedly got the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to block developer Tom Gilmartin’s plans to acquire lands for a proposed shopping complex, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

IRELAND must continue to offer something distinctive to attract multinational companies and compete with emerging economies, the American Chamber of Commerce has warned.

JOBS at Pfizer’s newest manufacturing plant in Ireland could be lost after the decision by the world’s largest pharmaceutical company to halt production of its most important experimental drug.

THE State could be exposed to losses of over €40 million if it cannot find tenants for properties it has leased.

THE Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has shrugged off claims that it’s doing nothing to bring jobs to a part of Waterford that has been dealt a series of employment blows.

HOUSEBUILDER Joe Moran yesterday disclosed to the Mahon planning tribunal how he paid €20,000 in 2002 to Fine Gael county councillor Anne Devitt, who helped him get public road access to his lands.

A MASSIVE survey of international businesses has begun to help secure foreign investment to drive Cork’s multi-billion euro docklands plan forward.

THE IDA was cleared to give a €48.25 million grant to Johnson & Johnson’s new Cork plant, Centocor, by the European Commission yesterday.

EMPLOYERS have attacked the Industrial Development Authority’s (IDA) zero job performance in the mid-west.

EMPLOYERS have attacked the Industrial Development Authority’s (IDA) zero job performance in the mid-west in 2005.

The Industrial Development Authority has played down fears that a corporate tax amnesty introduced by US President George W Bush could reduce investment by US firms in Ireland.