Westport House in Co Mayo has been bought by a local family who have pledged to retain all staff and spend €50m on developing the estate over the next five years.

Fr Peter McVerry visited the Kinsale Peace Project last night where he spoke about his trust’s efforts to tackle the scourge of homelessness.

Irish companies participating in this week’s Enterprise Ireland trade mission to the Czech Republic and Poland, have secured new contracts with a potential value of €17m.

THOUSANDS of construction workers are approaching the industry holiday not knowing if they will have a job to return to after the two-week break, a building trade union has claimed.