The head of the Land Development Agency has hit out at local authorities for failing to use available funds to tackle the housing crisis.

Ambitious housing plans are being prepared for a former asylum building on the northside of Cork city which has been boarded up since it was gutted in a suspected arson attack just over two years ago.

Almost a year after it was launched by the Government, a new agency designed to use empty landbanks across the State for housing needs remains in a legal limbo without powers.

The chairman of the Land Development Agency, John Moran, has called for the public to support plebiscites for directly elected mayors in Cork, Limerick and Waterford.

A TASK force looking at models’ body image aims to put new guidelines for catwalk shows in place by the next London Fashion Week.