Unions at RTÉ have warned the broadcaster’s board that if the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is taken from its control, it will “be undermining its own strength and place in Irish society”.

THE opportunity to become Irish franchisees for fashionable children has been seized by Waterford husband-and-wife team, Trevor and Maeve Cooke, who have opened the first, of what they plan will be a chain of Orchestra outlets, at Georges Street in Waterford City.