The €159m Mahon Tribunal has been forced to overturn a series of corruption findings against former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke and key businessmen in a damaging blow to the investigation.

The €13 million sale agreed of East Cork’s Castlemartyr Resort to UK buyer Martin Shaw could prove fortuitous: business sources say interest is picking up for a major new biotech employer for a sizeable portion of the Amgen pharma site in Carrigtwohill east of Cork city, which was moth-balled after a major infrastructural investment and land-buying spree almost a decade ago.

THE €25 million beef slaughter plant to be developed in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, by two of the country’s leading meat groups, Dawn Meats and Kepak, is expected to be operational by 2012.