Cork County Council is preparing to go to court to vigorously defend cutting roadside hedges during the ‘off-season’ after gardaí launched an investigation into an incident involving the local authority in West Cork.

One of Cork County Council’s most senior officials has warned that a significant number of farmers face prosecution in the district court for failing to help the local authority maintain roads in a good condition.

A West Cork town is under a virtual siege from the invasive Japanese knotweed, a plant which can destroy buildings.

Councillors have expressed their anger at a presumed snub by the National Roads Authority over desperately needed funding for the upgrade of the only national secondary road servicing West Cork.

At the current rate of allocations, it will take at least three years before enough money is made available to secure land needed to construct a badly needed bypass in mid-Cork.

The Government has been accused of ignoring the huge potential for jobs creation in the dairy foods sector in Cork, as funding in the county’s roads network continues to plummet.

Landowners in Cork who refuse to allow their land to be used for drainage channels to alleviate road surface water could face prosecution.

DAMAGE from floods and ice to roads in Cork county has been estimated at more than €20 million.

THE National Roads Authority is refusing to provide money for the upgrade of a dangerous road in Co Cork which has claimed the lives of 10 people in recent years.

ONE of the potentially most exciting archaeological excavations ever undertaken in Co Cork is set to start early next year.

BEADS that originated in Africa are some of the treasures archaelologists have found as they begin to explore an ancient settlement in north Cork.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered what they believe to be part of a large medieval village and the remains of a castle at separate sites in north Cork.

SO, the mighty Blackwater and many other rivers across the country have broken their banks and flooded farms, homes and businesses leaving bills amounting to millions in their devastating wake.

BUSINESS owners and householders were left counting the cost yesterday as large parts of Mallow and Fermoy in Co Cork were under water after serious flooding.

A TWO-HOUR meeting yesterday between senior Cork County Council officials and Michael Flatley could lead to a resolution of difficulties concerning his €30 million restoration of Castlehyde House.