Vans and small trucks are a bellwether of economic activity, and sales of them have fallen 13.4%, says Brian Byrne.

Despite testing weather conditions around the country, the final pairings were confirmed in Divisions 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B, with all final round group stages games taking place this afternoon.

UCD 1-13 NUI Galway 2-9: Tipperary's Liam Casey emerged as UCD's last action hero at Santry Avenue where the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup final favourites eventually edged an epic encounter.

Let’s start off by applying some perspective here.

Five years, eleven finals, ten trophies.

Joey Carbery and Darren Sweetnam have both moved on since starring for Clontarf and Cork Constitution in last year’s Ulster Bank League Division 1A final, but Andy Wood insists there will still be plenty of talent to savour as the sides contemplate another decider this Sunday.

More as we have it …

The top six brands are responsible for 77% of sales in light commercial vehicles, a sector which saw a 11% fall in the year to date in registrations, writes Brian Byrne

Arthur Gaskin won his fifth Irish Senior squash title last weekend. The 32-year-old from Co Carlow has lived and trained in America since 2013, and moved to Orlando, Florida, before Christmas. 

Leinster SFC R1

Senior panellist Con O'Callaghan starred again for Dublin with 1-7 but Cillian O'Shea was the game breaker in Navan with a vital late goal to secure a three-in-a-row of EirGrid Leinster U-21 football titles.

St Pat’s/Mater Dei 2-14 IT Carlow 4-17: IT Carlow claimed victory after a highly entertaining Fitzgibbon Cup clash with St Pat’s/Mater Dei in the Na Fianna’s club grounds in Dublin.

The continuing growth in light commercial sales — and the first boost in HGVs for a number of year — is the strongest indication of all that the previously stricken Irish economy is on the way back up.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

A breakthrough into the US market for Dublin-based stove fan manufacturer IQ Design, has been triggered by a US distributor’s realisation that winter is coming.

Ulster 21 Leinster 24: A little half-time word in the ears of his charges gave new Leinster head coach Leo Cullen a perfect start to his tenure with what was in the end a comfortable warm-up victory over Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium last night.

“He was a wonderful raconteur and a fantastic presenter. He was a very unselfish man and he was very happy. His weight was down and he was enjoying spending time with his new grandchild and things were good. And then this happened.”

ULSTER BANK LEAGUE:

NOBODY can forget that heartstopping seven minutes during Eurovision 1994 when Ireland, quite suddenly, became the centre of the cultural universe. None of us, indeed, could have predicted what would swirl upwards and outwards from that brief entr’acte. But it happened, and a legend was born.

Hurley-wielding dancers feature in the latest music and dance spectacular by the producers of Riverdance called Heartbeat of Home.

KURT Elling plays the National Concert Hall, in Dublin, this evening, after a gruelling tour of the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovenia.

Louth ran up a sensational score when they obliterated Kilkenny in the Leinster U21FC at Ballyragget last night.

Two tries in three minutes helped fire Clongowes Wood to an emphatic victory in this Leinster Schools Senior Cup quarter-final at Donnybrook yesterday.

Waterford secured their first Allianz League victory of 2012 with a facile victory over Kilkenny at Fraher Field, Dungarvan, on Saturday night.

BY the time I had cast my vote for next month’s Golden Globes last weekend, I felt like I had been in the trenches and through the wringer.

ACTORS Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson have been nominated for Golden Globe Awards while Irish drama Albert Nobbs, which was filmed in Dublin, has received three nominations.

A film produced by an Irish production company has received three Golden Globe nominations today.

Irish actors Brendan Gleeson and Michael Fassbender have both received nominations for the 69th annual Golden Globe awards.

PUPILS from one of Cork’s most famous schools are set for the royal performance of a lifetime.

A Dublin student who invented a new type of ski boot has won the Irish James Dyson award.

A FORMER mayor of Limerick has been nominated by the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to the board of Shannon Foynes Port Company.

A LEADING Progressive Democrats activist in Limerick is to be the new chairperson of the troubled Foynes Port Company.

A TOP Limerick law firm has settled a huge legal bill with a semi-state company.

A case of mistaken identity which sparked a “riot” in a Tallaght housing estate has lead to prison terms and suspended sentences being imposed on a group of young men.

A GROUP of students are using flower power to impress the judges in an international technology competition by driving to the contest in Paris in a car fuelled by sunflower oil.

THE troubled Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC), which will have to pay out hundreds of thousands of euro in damages and costs arising from a recent High Court settlement now faces another court battle.

TRANSPORT minister Noel Dempsey has met with members of the financially troubled Shannon Foynes Port Company as details of huge compensation settlements have emerged.

AN IMPORTANT report pointing the way forward for Limerick docks will be published later this month.

A STATE company that manages shipping and ports in the Shannon Estuary is allegedly refusing to pay a €1 million-plus legal bill submitted by a Limerick law firm for the handling of an internal dispute.

THE Department of Transport has turned down a Freedom of Information request to disclose the legal costs incurred by Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) in its High Court settlement last October with former chief executive Brian Byrne.

AFTER a court case which is reputed to have cost Shannon Foynes Port Company several million euro to settle, the body has suffered another financial blow with the loss of a shipping customer at Foynes.