Actor David Murray has been spared a jail sentence after he was convicted of attacking his former partner, who accused him of hitting and strangling her during a domestic row.

A taxi driver who dragged a passenger along a road with his car for 250 metres following a disagreement about a fare has been spared a jail sentence and a road ban.

The happiest group of people at last night’s low-key annual delegates meeting of the Munster Branch of the Golfing Union of Ireland in Mallow were the representatives of Ballyneety Golf Club, formerly Limerick County, who were awarded the Munster Branch Club of the Year award for 2014.

A deputy crèche manager has been cleared of wilfully neglecting two toddlers who escaped and were found wandering by a stream.

A crèche told parents and gardaí that two toddlers had gone missing for three or four minutes and were found outside the front door when, in fact, the children were missing for more than 20 minutes and were found by a stream almost 200m away.

Spectacular conditions on Roaringwater Bay rewarded the 76 boats competing in Cork Dry Gin Calves Week yesterday as the race committee opted to bring forward the long race around the Fastnet lighthouse from today’s original schedule.

SAILING: A soft day marked the opening race at Cork Dry Gin Calves Week yesterday and with it, light to moderate winds and thundery rain just as racing ended.

Fashion stylist Maria Fusco has been spared a criminal conviction after she pleaded guilty to shoplifting €21 worth of groceries from a supermarket.

A second former executive at Anglo Irish Bank is to stand trial on revenue charges.

A judge has slated Garda authorities after hearing they may bring internal disciplinary proceedings against an officer, even after successfully prosecuting him for stealing a tax disc from his station and fraudulently using it on his own car.

With a blue chip client base of some of the world’s top oil, gas and mining companies, and with its work backlog valued at $2.73bn, engineering group Kentz is confident about its growth plans, CEO Christian Brown tells John Daly

Hugh O’Donnell may be the only presiding electoral officer to have music played to him during voting in this referendum.

HUGH O’DONNELL is to stand down as chief executive of Kentz — the Irish-founded construction and engineering services group — next month, after 12 years at the helm.

KENTZ, the oil and gas industry construction company, said its backlog of work had risen 52% at the end of the third quarter, compared to the second, and predicted continued double-digit earnings per share.

CLONMEL engineering firm Kentz posted a 50% rise in first-half pre-tax profit, driven by its construction and technical support services units, and said it expected to exceed its previous targets for the full year.

KENTZ, the Clonmel-headquartered international construction and engineering services group, has increased its full-year dividend for shareholders by nearly 70% on the back of a strong 2010 performance, which saw pre-tax profits rise by 52% to $67.5 million (€48m).

RADIO and TV presenter Baz Ashmawy has been fined €350 and banned from driving for two years and a day after pleading guilty to drink driving.

KENTZ Corporation, founded in Clonmel in 1919 has secured a $35 million (€25.5m) contract from the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref).

START-UP businesses have until January 26, to apply for entry to Endeavour, the funding programme run by entrepreneur Jerry Kennelly, Kernel Capital and Kerry Group.

KENTZ Corporation, the global engineering and services group which employs 10,000 people internationally, has delivered strong first-half results.

THE Clonmel-based international contracting group Kentz Corporation reports that the current year has started well.

Irish engineering company Kentz today reported a 9.2% rise in pre-tax profits to $44.5m (€32.9m) for the year to end December, 2009.

CONSTRUCTION and engineering group Kentz has signed a potentially lucrative long-term international service deal with global oil and gas giant ExxonMobil.

A MARRIAGE planned this week between a Pakistani man and a 19-year-old Latvian bride-to-be will not go ahead following a Garda investigation into bogus marriages.

INCREASING global demand for oil has strengthened the already upbeat operational outlook of the Co Tipperary-based engineering and construction services company, Kentz.

KENTZ, the Clonmel- headquartered engineering and construction services company, has begun the new year positively, by winning a $69m (€48m) contract to build the main processing plant for a significant new coal project in Mozambique.

IRISH engineering services company Kentz has been awarded an $85 million (€57.3m) contract to build support services in Qatar, in a deal which brings the company’s total project pipeline to $1.5 billion in value.

A MAN has been charged in connection with last week’s tiger kidnapping in Dublin in which more than €300,000 was withdrawn by a bank employee whose partner had been kidnapped.

A man was charged in court this morning in connection with a so-called tiger robbery in Dublin last week where more than €300,000 was withdrawn by a bank employee whose partner had been kidnapped.

KENTZ, the Clonmel-based international engineering company, has reported a 10% increase in first-half profits on turnover that was flat over the period.

A Dutch truck driver was charged today in connection with the seizure of cannabis worth more than €8m, at Dublin Port on Wednesday last.

KENTZ – the Clonmel-headquartered engineering firm – has won an €87.6 million (Aus$150m) add-on infrastructure contract to a development it is already working on in western Australia.

IRISH engineering group Kentz has won a €285 million contract via a joint venture agreement to build a village to house construction workers who are due to begin work on a major gas field development off the coast of western Australia.

KENTZ chief executive Hugh O’Donnell told shareholders yesterday that trading for the first half of this year at the Irish engineering group has been in line with market expectations and the company’s performance during the same period in 2008.

IRISH engineering group Kentz has reported a pre-tax profit of $40.7 million (€30.9m) for 2008 — comfortably ahead of market expectations.

KENTZ, the Irish construction and engineering firm, has been awarded a $35 million (€27.1m) development contract in Saudi Arabia, which will see it oversee the expansion of the industrial districts of the Red Sea port cities of Jubail and Yanbu.

IRISH construction and engineering company Kentz is expecting to beat analyst expectations when it reports its full-year results for 2008 at the end of March.

INTERNATIONAL engineering company Kentz Corporation, which listed on London’s secondary market in February achieved strong results in its first six months as a quoted company.

ENGINEERING group Kentz has announced solid financial results for 2007 with turnover and profits up significantly.

A MURDER suspect was yesterday remanded in custody over the brutal killing of a man in Dublin.

A man charged with the murder of his wife today had his case sent forward to the Central Criminal Court.

Sentencing of a teenage actor found guilty of handling a stolen satellite navigation unit and mobile phone, after a judge a found his performance in the witness box unconvincing, has been adjourned.

A MAN has been charged in connection with the violent death of Finbarr Dennehy in Dublin last week.