ONCE upon a time, long ago, I spent a summer employed as a yardman in a concrete mixing depot in north London. It was a serious operation in which sand and gravel were transported to the depot by train, unloaded, and fed into the mixer by a JCB. I had a handy number, but so did the man driving the JCB, a native of Killarney who went by the name of Fran.

The evidence points to the fact that stringent building controls are needed to protect the interests of citizens, but the current controls appear to be more about optics than anything else more substantial, and a review of these is unlikely to change anything, writes Michael Clifford

The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland has warned that public safety and building standards could be compromised if the requirement to comply with building regulations for single houses or extensions is removed.

The Doing Business Report 2015 was published this week and the good news is Ireland’s ranking has improved by four places to 13th out of 189 countries.