Limerick is preparing for a tasty €10m economic French dressing as thousands of Toulouse supporters throng the city today in advance of the Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Munster in Thomond Park tomorrow.

Marks and Spencer will open a new flagship store in Co Limerick and will overhaul its Grafton St store in Dublin following a review of its Irish operations.

As one plan to transform Limerick City got its baptism yesterday, another framework with a vision for the Shannon Estuary gave birth to its first big investment at the port of Foynes.

A forecast of cold weather over the next few days combined with the potential impact of the budget on spending has sent a chill through retailers across the county.

Naomi Carroll’s late point sealed a shock victory for Clare against Meath in Saturday’s TG4 All-Ireland ladies SFC qualifier at St Brendan’s Park, Birr.

SAINT GERVAIS, a dual bumper winner who has proved a trifle disappointing since launched over flights, got his act together with a smooth victory in the two miles plus Maiden Hurdle at Clonmel yesterday.

ALMOST 29 months to the day since “Black Thursday” heralded 1,900 job losses at Dell’s Limerick facility, a spring returned to the city step yesterday with the jobs announcement from the US computer giant.

A FORUM has been formed to stem thefts from shops and to fight other city-centre crime in Limerick.

SIGNIFICANT savings can be made on hands-free mobile phone sets in Limerick this month, thanks to a campaign by the gardaí and Limerick Chamber to reduce road accidents and carnage.

LIMERICK Chamber of Commerce yesterday accused the city council of turning a blind eye to a big decline in city centre business.

GIOVANNI Trapattoni is the toast of Limerick, even before a ball is kicked at Thomond Park where the Republic of Ireland this evening take on Australia in a friendly soccer international.

WHETHER it was “in the name of the fada” in Irish or the “reasonable and fair” maths papers, student-friendly was the catchphrase which most appropriately summed up the fourth day of the 2009 Leaving and Junior certificate exams yesterday.

A SOLE objector has succeeded in halting a massive €40 million commercial and retail development in Limerick city centre which would have given work to 600 people.

LIMERICK CHAMBER,in association with Peninsula Business Services, is to host an employment law evening on Thursday in South Court Hotel from 6.15pm to 8pm, focusing on employment legislation in the workplace, specifically aimed at owners and managers in the area.

Top European officials are to investigate a €50m aid package the Polish Government used to attract computer giant Dell away from Ireland, it was confirmed tonight.

THE chief executive of Limerick Chamber of Commerce warned that as many as 15,000 jobs in the mid-west would be at risk if the Dell plant closed.

THE Competition Authority was yesterday called on to investigate the €10 government ticket tax being levelled on passengers when they travel out of Irish airports following a warning from Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary that it would kill his airline’s growing business at Shannon.

SUPERMARKETS have many two-for-one offers to entice buyers. Anything from bacon to biscuits is used to get the tills ringing.

LEAVING Certificate students faced into a second round of maths papers yesterday morning with reports that the ordinary level exam was much fairer than the one taken on Friday.

LIMERICK city motorists are facing a big disc parking hike but business leaders have welcomed the move saying it will help make shopping more user-friendly.

BUSINESS interests in the Shannon region have said they will put their full weight behind the Cityjet service to Paris and prove Aer Lingus was wrong to pull its Shannon to Heathrow flights.

LIMERICK chamber of commerce has received government backing for a skills training initiative.

FOR a second successive day, the mid-west yesterday took another serious hit on the jobs front.

BUSINESS groups across the west coast will today launch a joint campaign to reinstate Heathrow flights at Shannon Airport.

LEADING employers in the mid-west yesterday warned how the loss of the Heathrow service to Shannon will threaten job prospects throughout the region.

WORKERS reacted angrily last night to news that 44 jobs were to be axed at Shannon after its lucrative Heathrow route was scrapped.

THE second week of State exams began with second papers in maths followed by geography yesterday afternoon.

I WISH to comment on the presentation of the article by Jimmy Woulfe, headlined ‘City centre scores €5m in rugby spending spree’ (Irish Examiner, January 22).

BUSINESS organisations in towns and cities on the western seaboard are demanding a motorway scheme.

A TOP businessman joined Limerick Chamber of Commerce yesterday for a confident declaration that Limerick city centre is poised for a huge shopping take-off.

A NEW super roadway connecting Shannon with Galway and the west is essential to secure the future of the airport, business leaders warned yesterday.

LIMERICK Chamber of Commerce has organised a day long seminar to help companies keep up to speed with employment legislation.

THE first maths papers faced Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate candidates in hundreds of schools around the country yesterday morning.

MORE than half the top industries in the mid-west predict increased turnover in the next six months.

LIMERICK city and county councils must amalgamate and create a single super-authority to halt the current degeneration of the city, Junior Health Minister Tim O’Malley warned at the weekend.

A POTENTIALLY massive damages claim facing Limerick City Council also poses a major threat to shopping in the city, business leaders warned yesterday.

INDUSTRIAL growth in the Mid-West is falling dangerously behind other regions, the chief executive of Limerick Chamber of Commerce warned yesterday.

EXAM students got stuck into their second maths exams yesterday morning and the general feeling was that Leaving Certificate papers were fairer than those of last Thursday.

THERE were angry reactions from some teachers to yesterday’s higher level Leaving Certificate maths Paper I.

THE appointment of two women to the top executive positions in Limerick Chamber of Commerce should be seen as a welcome signal to businesswomen, new chief executive Maria Kelly said yesterday.

THE examiners who set the papers for the State exams obviously do so much earlier in the year than when the thousands of students receive them.

EDUCATION MINISTER Noel Dempsey has banned dignitaries such as lord mayors and bishops giving half days to school children.

TV PROVIDERS Chorus and Ntl are calling for regulatory constraints to be removed so they can compete on a level playing field with Sky.