A businessman who hopes to double his workforce by building a €500,000 food production facility in Co Cork says his plans have been stymied by cuts and changes to the State’s Leader funding scheme.

Our creaking health system is overwhelmed by our unhealthy relationship with alcohol, writes Alison O’Connor.

One in 10 supermarkets and grocery stores are failing to comply with the industry’s own code on the display and sale of alcohol products.

TWO prime Waterford City investments worth €13.5m — one next to where Wetherspoons have acquired a 4,000 sq ft city footprint for a new bar — are new to market for a local family of investor/owners.

Two convictions and 25 enforcement orders have been secured against a range of businesses for misleading and overcharging consumers in the last six months.

The National Consumer Agency secured one conviction and 45 enforcement actions against businesses who overcharged customers and failed to display prices in the first six months of the year.

They came, they saw a sea of red — and were duly conquered.

Below-cost selling and the rise of the discounters is hitting family retailers hard, writes Kyran FitzGerald.

SUPERVALU is having a difficult week, with news that the data breach of customer information was worse than previously feared — affecting 62,500 customers. A further 8,000 customers at insurance company Axa may also have been affected.

An Irish bakeryhopes to double its workforce and take a major slice of the global bakery market after making a major food technology breakthrough which is poised to revolutionise the sector.

Three samples of meat out of 1,228 tests have come back positive for traces of horse, food safety chiefs have revealed today.

THE man in the uniform said: “Mr Keogh, why don’t you cook your potato? If you cook them, you don’t have to talk to us.”

The price of bread is set to rise in 2013 as millers, bakers, and retailers feel the knock-on effect of poor global wheat harvests.

A family food company employing a recent Irish contestant on UK TV show 'The Apprentice' is insolvent.

Those who want to get healthy are embracing the benefits of Virginia Health Food’s products writes Trish Dromey

CHICKEN curry, vegetarian chickpea soup, chilli con carne and stew.

A deep recession has reshaped the retail landscape and will continue to do so over the coming years. Casualties are anticipated, and the big-name stores have as much to fear as anyone, reports Kyran FitzGerald

MARTIN McGUINNESS’s bank manager has released a statement and documents showing the Sinn Féin presidential candidate receives regular funding of £1,605 (€1,862) a month.

Superquinn's proposed sale to Musgraves is set to proceed after a petition seeking to have the company put in examinership was withdrawn.

The Musgrave group has set up a €10m fund to help cover losses experienced by some Superquinn suppliers since the supermarket went into receivership.

A number of Directors at Superquinn are back in the High Court today in a bid to overturn the appointment of receivers at the chain.

Musgraves have said thay have established an initiative to help small Irish suppliers affected by Superquinn's descent into receivership.

In the wake of the Musgrave Group’s purchase of Superquinn today – The Food and Drink Industry Ireland (FDII), the Ibec group that represents the food industry, questioned whether suppliers owed up to €100m by Superquinn will be paid in full for goods provided.

The Mandate trade union has been meeting with Superquinn’s senior management team since 8am this morning.

The Musgrave Group has purchased Superquinn, subject to regulatory approval.

CORK will get another jobs boost today when Taoiseach Brian Cowen announces the creation of around 150 positions at a Blackrock firm.

Musgraves is recalling some pre-cooked ham products from a number of SuperValu and Centra stores.

NO surer sign of the economic downturn is the ongoing expansion of some of the country’s most cost-conscious stores, not just the Lidls and Aldis, but our own cost-conscious traders like Heatons.

A CORK ready-meals company that employs 125 people is said to have a reasonable prospect of survival following the appointment of an examiner.

Superquinn has confirmed that it is evaluating a number of expressions of interest from possible buyers of the supermarket chain.

BOWEN, the Cork-based construction company, made a loss of almost €10 million in its last financial year.

Wholesaler Musgraves has received regulatory approval for its acquisition of cash-and-carry business J&J Haslett in the North.

Ireland’s biggest food and grocery distributor announced today the acquisition of J&J Haslett, the major food wholesaler and cash and carry business in the North.

The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) has rightly condemned the practice by some companies and recruiting agencies of exploiting immigrant employees.

INTENSELY private, Joe O’Donovan is the man behind many of Cork’s biggest land deals.

ROCHES STORES has instructed the 100 buyers in the company to stop ordering goods, due to the impending deal with British retail giant Debenhams.

Food and grocery distributor Musgraves has announced pre-tax profits of €72.5m for the year ended December 2005, up 5% on the previous year. After-tax profits increased by 8% to €55.9m.

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has increased its Irish market share further from 25.8% to 26.4% in 2005.

Ian Guider

The SuperValu/Centra chains are due for further expansion in this country with an extra 20 stores opening by the year’s end, Musgrave Group chief executive Chris Martin has disclosed to the Evening Echo.

Conor Keane, Business Correspondent