One of the country’s largest trade unions has called on a local authority to scrap plans to lease some of the vacant council homes it cannot afford to repair to voluntary housing groups.

The Cork Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association would like to express its disappointment at the attempts to ban church gate collections on the southside of Cork City.

FIRES which raged through forest plantations over the holiday weekend have caused more than €1m in damage, an expert said yesterday.