The National Development Plan should stay focused on developing regions and cities outside Dublin as a policy response to offset economic divergence, a leading ESRI economist has said.

Ambulances are called to accidents on the Cork-Limerick road roughly once every week on average, according to HSE figures.

The Taoiseach has hit out at Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin comparing him to a priest who secretly goes behind the altar to engage in sin himself.

Housing and public transport deficits need addressing urgently if Cork is to overtake Dublin as the leading job growth region by 2022, as predicted by a recruitment expert.

The Government is under mounting pressure to scrap planned road upgrades in the National Development Plan in favour of measures to tackle climate change.

He said that the National Development Plan and the National Broadband Plan contradicted each other with one encouraging more focus on villages and towns with the other offering “one for everyone in the audience.”

The declaration that there is a climate emergency must lead to Government action campaigners and opposition politicians have said.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the National Development Plan is now "in shreds" and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe can no longer say he will find the extra money for spiralling costs of rural broadband, the national children's hospital and the proposed metro in Dublin.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has accepted the €3 billion National Broadband Plan is an “unprecedented risk,” but insisted it is a risk worth taking.

Cork County Council members are questioning the cost of a new design for the proposed Cork-Limerick motorway and the likely delay in securing planning, again, for the M20 route.

A €15m contract has been awarded for the design stage of the 100km Cork-Limerick motorway. However, it is unlikely that the planned €900m M20 will be completed before 2027.

The European Commission will impose fines on us for busting our renewables and emissions targets. We may pay out €3bn in fines over the next decade, writes Victoria White.

The Government is set to double the gambling tax as part of next Tuesday’s budget, according to Government sources.

All but two Irish universities have fallen again in a global ranking system that sees Trinity College Dublin drop out of the top 100.

Strong support is needed for our domestic base through what looks set to be tricky times — a challenge that could be as great as that of 2011, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

We've got the reaction as it comes in, after the Government today unveiled the National Development Plan, billed as Project Ireland 2040.

Farmers on environmentally sensitive lands along the Shannon estuary are seeking restoration of ‘Farm Plan’ schemes compensating them for restricting their land use.

Some 175 commercial horticultural producers are to receive grants totalling €4.4m under a scheme unveiled yesterday by Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister.

Fáilte Ireland representatives and tourism groups on the Ring of Kerry are to pressure the Office of Public Works to postpone the closure of Derrynane House, the museum home of Daniel O’Connell, in the year of The Gathering.

The way has been paved for a €1.2m upgrade of Derrynane House, the museum home of the “Liberator” Daniel O’Connell in south Kerry.

AFTER nearly 10 years in the dark, the magnificent Cobh Cathedral is to be illuminated again — at a fraction of the previous cost.

A DECISION on the funding of a new national children’s hospital has been put off until September when the Government will establish how much money is available for the project.

THE future of regional airports including Galway, Kerry, Donegal and Knock is in doubt with more than a third of state support to be slashed under the four year plan published last week.

Housing charity Respond! has expressed "extreme disappointment" with the Government’s austerity plan released today.

THERE are few things people take for granted as much as they do water.

ONE of the country’s largest construction firms BAM Contractors fell into the red last year, recording pre-tax losses of almost €10m. This compares to a profit of €22.5m in the previous year.

LAKELAND Dairies yesterday unveiled a €20m milk powder plant that can customise products for clients, facilitate research and feed excess energy back into the national electricity grid.

CAPITAL spending on roads, public transport, schools, health facilities and other infrastructure is to be slashed almost by half in what the Government presented as a “stimulus” to get the economy back on track.

FURTHER construction layoffs are inevitable as the Government’s capital spend is running 25% behind its budgeted plans for 2010, say quantity surveyors Davis Langdon PKS (DLPKS).

A €1 MILLION grant to support improvements in the breeding of cattle and sheep in 2010 was announced yesterday by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith.

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) has been severely criticised for objecting to a major office project in Cork which has the potential to create 1,500 jobs.

IF the average household was to manage its income the way local authorities do, virtually every family in the country would need MABS, the service that advises people in financial trouble about money and budgeting.

A 23km bypass of Waterford City including the country’s longest cable-stayed bridge opened today, 10 months ahead of schedule.

STUDENT leaders have promised they will continue to oppose any form of college fees or loans system ahead of an announcement by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe in the coming months.

A report released by Minister Noel Dempsey has revealed that Dublin Port throughput will continue to decline in 2009 and into 2010.

CONSTRUCTION chiefs have accused the Government of rowing back on promises for development in the mid-west, saying there will be “huge implications” for jobs and tourism.

The Labour Party is calling for the National Development Plan (NDP) to be re-drawn in order to prevent the economy from going bankrupt.

THE vast majority of school leavers feel the education system has not prepared them for adult life or work, a study by the Government’s economic think-tank has found.

THE Smarter Travel sustainable transport policy document published by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey (February 5) takes the public for fools.

ACTIONS, not words, are now needed to help cash-strapped small businesses, which are set to benefit from a pledge by recapitalised banks to increase lending.

BUS ÉIREANN passengers can expect real time travel at the touch of a button thanks to a multimillion euro information system set to launch later this year.

PUBLIC sector workers have been told by a top economic think-tank to take a pay cut to help the Government balance its budget.