The number of merger and acquisition deals involving Irish companies increased by 30% to 38 in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the same period a year earlier, the latest M&A tracker survey from corporate finance specialists Ion Equity reveals.

IRISH companies were involved in merger and acquisition (M&A) deals worth over €3.8 billion in the three months to September, according to new figures from corporate finance specialists Ion Equity.

Irish companies were involved in mergers and acquisitions worth almost €4bn in the first quarter of 2005, almost double the value of transactions in the same period in 2004, according to the latest M&A Tracker survey from Irish corporate finance firm Ion Equity.

MERGERS and acquisition deals involving Irish companies soared in 2004 to €10.4 billion, up 33%.

A senior Special Branch officer told the Special Criminal Court today that he went to Bray garda station after he was told by one of his officers that he believed five men arrested for theft were members of the Provisional IRA.

Two Dublin Sinn Féin members were convicted at the Special Criminal Court today on charges of IRA membership.

A Dublin man accused of IRA membership gave the minutes of a Sinn Féin cumann meeting to a Special Branch detective who was searching him, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

Merger and acquisition activity involving Irish companies has remained flat in the third quarter.

The names of three former Justice Ministers were on an alleged IRA document found by gardaí in the home of a Dublin man accused of IRA membership, the Special Criminal Court was told today.

THE value of mergers and acquisitions involving Irish companies has almost trebled in the fourth quarter of 2003 to 2.2 billion compared to the same period in 2002.

The number of mergers and acquisitions involving Irish companies is set to rise again in 2004 after latest figures revealed a near three-fold increase at the end of 2003.

MERGER and acquisition activity in the third quarter maintained its upward momentum but the value of completed deals fell by 82% year-on-year to €1.5bn, it emerged yesterday.