Millstreet hosted the Eurovision 20 years ago, in an equestrian centre, for free. The town relished it, says Richard Fitzpatrick

The State paid out more than €655m over 10 years to firms and individuals providing accommodation for asylum seekers.

ONLY the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 has blemished the National Dairy Show’s 30-year record. No show was held that year.

Millstreet Horse Show returns to the international stage next week after a 12-year hiatus, with its popularity as strong as ever.

Ireland achieved a season’s best result in FEI Top League yesterday, when fourth in the Dutch Nations Cup in Rotterdam.

JAYNE DOHERTY yesterday smiled her way through her dressage test at the European Championships in Luhmühlen, Germany, and she had reason to continue doing so at the end of day one when placing a creditable 14th with The Only One on 51 penalties.

FRANCIS CONNORS has been competing at Millstreet Horse Show for “about 35 years”, and is determined to add to his good memories of the Cork event this week.

SHOWJUMPINGIRELAND has suspended its rule sanctioning members who attend unaffiliated shows, as it “digests” a Competition Authority report on the rule.

THIS week it emerged that:

LAST weekend’s Monte Carlo Global Champions Tour (GCT) contest caused difficulties across the board and Billy Twomey feels it would be unfair to draw conclusions from the performance of any horse, including his own Tinka’s Serenade.

NOVEMBER in Toronto and Dermott Lennon is in top form. Fourth in the World Cup qualifier with Hallmark Elite and, along the way, picking up a couple of decent placings.

KILDARE resident Christy Murphy is the new chairman of Showjumping Ireland (SJI) after defeating Connacht man Liam Murphy in a vote at the first meeting of the SJI’s national executive on Tuesday night.

THE recently-formed Irish Show Jumping Centres Group (ISJCG) is not hanging around.

CIAN O’CONNOR is unequivocal in his belief the €300,000 reportedly spent by Horse Sport Ireland on participation in the recent Alltech World Equestrian Games was not excessive.

THE Showjumping Ireland (SJI) national executive is to meet on October 6, when they will discuss the directive given by members at Tuesday’s AGM that fines and sanctions be scrapped for members and officials who participated at last month’s “independent” Millstreet Show.

SHOWJUMPING IRELAND chairman Ronan Corrigan last night reiterated the body’s insurance covered “all sporting activities”, but said “the organisers of any event have a duty to ensure the venue is safe and have made every effort to ensure everybody’s safety”.

SHOWJUMPINGIRELAND (SJI) has sent forward for legal examination its decision on the level of sanction to be imposed on those members and officials who participated in last month’s “independent” Millstreet All-Ireland Championships in Cork.

SHOWJUMPINGIRELAND (SJI) is to impose stiff sanctions on some of its members and officials, as it completes a list of those people it deems breached its rules at last week’s “independent” Millstreet Show All-Ireland Championships.

It was all systems go yesterday at both the unaffiliated Millstreet Horse Show All-Ireland Championships in Co Cork and the Showjumping Ireland National Championships in Co Kildare.

NUMBERS were better than expected yesterday at the opening of the Millstreet Horse Show All-Ireland Championships, as many of the show jumping fraternity defied the threat of sanction by the sport’s national governing body to attend the Cork event.

THE 26th national dairy show at Green Glens in Millstreet is being elevated this year to world status.

LIFETIME achievement awards were yesterday presented to three people described as icons of tourism development in the Blackwater Valley.

BUSINESSMAN Noel C Duggan wanted better roads leading to his concert venue and equestrian centre in Millstreet, Co Cork — so he jumped at the chance to meet former taoiseach Albert Reynolds, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

IT WAS one of Fianna Fáil’s best ever fundraising nights when former taoiseach Albert Reynolds was guest of honour at a private dinner attended by top Cork businessmen, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

ONE of the features of the silver jubilee National Dairy Show at Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, Co Cork, tomorrow will be the Irish Examiner Forum, where a wide range of topics will be discussed.

THE 25th National Dairy Show will be held next Saturday at its usual indoor venue, the Duggan family’s Green Glens Arena at Millstreet, Co Cork.

THE Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) yesterday vowed to follow through on its promise to sanction members and judges who participated in last Sunday’s unaffiliated show at Cavan Equestrian Centre.

HORSE buyers from Britain, other parts of Europe and the US are on their way to Millstreet, Co Cork, for next week’s big show.

THE Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) has not adapted quickly enough to meet the changing needs of the sport, but is working to address this, its chairperson, Patricia Furlong, said yesterday.

GREEN GLENS owner Noel C Duggan, the organiser of what is arguably Ireland’s biggest show jumping event, yesterday confirmed that he is to run independently of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI).

THE FIVE-DAY horse show which opens at Green Glens in Millstreet today has gone high-tech.

MILLSTREET becomes the epicentre of Irish show jumping next week, when it stages its annual summer show.

Ray Ryan, Agribusiness Correspondent

SHANE BREEN narrowed the gap on IJM TimberFrame League leader Conor Swail yesterday with victory in the Cahir Grand Prix.

CONOR SWAIL’S victory in the Dairygold Grand Prix at Millstreet over third-placed Edward Doyle last Sunday has ensured a mouth-watering finish to the SJAI indoor league at Cavan International Show this weekend.

“HE felt as good as ever,” were the words of Conor Swail yesterday after he won the Dairygold Grand Prix at Millstreet on Windgates King Koal, a horse lucky to be alive.

FRANCIS CONNORS was in a rush to get back to winning ways yesterday after being laid off for the summer through injury, when taking the honours in the first open horse class, a one-round speed contest, at Millstreet Indoor Show.

THE memories will come galloping back at the Green Glens of Millstreet over the next four days as 30 years of the celebrated horse show are marked.

THE discord between the Royal Dublin Society and the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) over the association’s headquarters at Ballsbridge escalated this week with the news that court proceedings are imminent.