European banks are to invest €170m in a major plan by Limerick City and County Council to transform the city centre into one of biggest commercial districts outside of Dublin.

The rebuilding of Limerick City centre advanced to a new stage yesterday with the commencement of the planning process for another huge segment of the urban renewal plan.

Accumulated profits at the bloodstock firm co-owned by former Kerry Group supremo Denis Brosnan last year climbed to €4.2m.

Construction has begun on a 100,000sq ft office development in Limerick city centre — kickstarting the €500m Limerick 2030 economic plan.

One of Ireland’s leading businessmen, Denis Brosnan, has told of how no one yet knows of Brexit implications but advised companies dependent on UK markets to start exploring business streams elsewhere.

A film studio is set to call “action” on Limerick’s €500m development plan, launched earlier this week.

A former sweet factory is destined to add new vibrancy to Limerick city centre, it emerged yesterday.

University College Cork is to become the country’s first third-level institute to use electricity supplied entirely from renewable sources.

Ray Ryan reports on the new era for Irish food development, heralded with the formal opening of Kerry Group’s new innovation centre in Naas.

Limerick is destined to become the country’s most advanced city, but it must keep “the shoulder to the wheel” to get there, former Kerry Group chief Denis Brosnan said yesterday.

Amalgamating Limerick city and county councils has had its issues, but it should result in better local administration, writes Mid-West Correspondent Jimmy Woulfe

The biggest 10-year real estate project in a city centre, outside of Dublin, was given the go-ahead in Limerick yesterday.

A €75m support fund has been established to invest in mid-sized profitable export-orientated firms.

A high-powered think tank made up of leading business and financial figures is being put together to drive the €250m Limerick 2030 plan drawn up to revive the city.

The green light has been given for a combined heat and power plant (CHP) which is expected to create up to 35 full-time jobs in north Kerry when it becomes operational.

The Flat season gets under way this weekend, although it will be a low-key opening for me due to the weather.

Willie Mullins’ Tarla proved far too good for Rebel Fitz in the www.racinghomeforeaster.com Hurdle at cold and wet Cork yesterday when thousands of students were on site.

Elizabeth Dunne

A masterplan unveiled yesterday for the unified Limerick city and county councils provides for the halving of management posts in the new authority.

Legislation to facilitate the taxation of offshore betting will be in place by the end of February but horse racing will not be in a position to fund itself directly as a result.

The future for staff at an independent Shannon Airport is far more secure than under the Dublin Airport Authority, the chairman of the Mid West Task Force has said.

There was a time when a micro-economy depended on Denis Brosnan.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has said he is to proceed with implementing the recommendations of a major report into the horse racing industry.

It looked competitive on paper, but Burrenbridge Lodge turned the featured Lartigue Hurdle into a procession at Listowel yesterday.

A planned rebranding of Limerick will change the image of the city, business leaders were told yesterday.

Data released this week by the Irish Aviation Authority underscores the challenges facing Irish airports and their role in our economic recovery.

It was a chance for the Red Army to pay homage to its spiritual leader.

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan yesterday played a key role in giving Limerick City Council the green light to proceed with a huge property deal in Limerick city centre involving a three acre-plus site that was falling into dereliction.

A MOVE to develop a “ghost” shopping site in a Limerick suburb is causing fears it may further erode city centre retailing.

AS own goals go this was a beauty.

FIVE-FIGURE bonuses awarded by Horse Racing Ireland to its chief executive, Brian Kavanagh, are to be repaid in full to the State.

The chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland is to repay to the State bonuses awarded to him in May.

A THIRD care home in Britain run by Castlebeck, the Irish-owned care company at the centre of allegations of abuse against vulnerable patients, is to close.

IRISH businessman Denis Brosnan last night said he was “shocked and appalled” at the conditions found in British care homes owned by his investment firm.

THE newly-elected Fine Gael mayor of Limerick yesterday warned the city would effectively be abolished by a Government decision to unite the city and county councils as one administrative body from 2014.

THE merger of Limerick city and county councils under a directly elected mayor will herald a major shake-up of local government across the country, the Environment Minister has revealed.

IN 1933 President Franklin D Roosevelt extended the lifetime of all mortgages to double (ie $200 a week over 20 years became $100 a week over 40 years, etc).