A proposed new town north of Cork City could become gridlocked with traffic if the National Roads Authority maintains its refusal to provide a full junction connection to the planned Northern Ring Road.

Councillors have claimed a new junction layout under construction on the main Cork-Mallow road will end up causing fatal accidents instead of preventing them.

With constituencies in general growing larger, parties will find it easier to implement gender quotas. But some areas will see unprecedented competition, writes Adrian Kavanagh

Cork’s county manager has promised to do everything in his power to prevent a repeat of Traveller families taking over a main road for sulky racing.

A county councillor is campaigning to have a new greenfield emergency hospital developed on the northside of Cork.

A TOTAL of 1,600 children were placed in care in the HSE South region last year — with “family difficulties” such as housing and finance the second most common reason for the moves.

CORK’S county manager is considering tightening bylaws to regulate casual trading in urban areas amid complaints that rate-paying businesses are suffering.

CORK’S county manager is considering tightening bylaws to regulate casual trading in urban areas amid complaints that rate-paying businesses are suffering.

HIGH-PROFILE election casualties Cork South Central’s Deirdre Clune, Kerry South’s Tom Sheahan and Wexford’s Michael D’Arcy are among those nominated by Fine Gael for the upcoming Seanad election.

THERE were four seats for the taking in Cork North Central but the big winner was certainly Jonathan O’Brien, the Sinn Féin city councillor who after three hard-fought but unsuccessful general election campaigns finally got a Dáil seat for the party in Cork city.

Sinn Féin's Jonathan O'Brien is the frontrunner in the election for the Cork North Central constituency after the first count.

In Cork North Central, there has been a rally in votes for Fianna Fáil's Billy Kelleher in final boxes, meaning he may top the poll by a slender margin, and now seems sure to secure a seat.

A FINE Gael candidate who sent election literature into an area of his constituency earmarked for a party colleague was under fire last night from senior party members.

LONG-SERVING Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen has given a public endorsement to just one of the two candidates in the Cork North Central constituency where he is bowing out of politics.

SINN FÉIN is set to make a historic breakthrough by winning its first seat in Cork North Central, with Fianna Fáil junior minister Billy Kelleher facing a massive battle to survive.

THE economy and jobs are by far the biggest issues influencing how voters in Cork North Central will cast their ballot, but candidates’ work on local issues is the single biggest factor in who they will choose to give their first preference.

THE transfers of the wealth of left-leaning candidates looks key to deciding the destination of the fourth and final seat in Cork North Central.

LABOUR look set to be the big winner in Cork North Central with the change of boundaries in the constituency as the party increases its share of the vote from 12% in 2007 to 33% in this poll.

THE unexpected retirement of two of Cork North Central’s political heavyweights has added a frisson of sorts to the campaigns of those seeking a seat in the 31st Dáil.

FIANNA FÁIL TD Billy Kelleher looks on track to win a seat in Cork North Central, according to an internal Fine Gael poll.

THE Labour party and Fine Gael are reporting a surge in people interested in canvassing with election candidates in Cork, while Fianna Fáil claims Micheál Martin’s elevation to leadership is warming the reception they receive on doorsteps.

A ROW has broken out between two election candidates about proposals to build a new hospital on the northside of Cork.

VETERAN Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen confirmed last night that he will not contest the general election.

THE Fine Gael General Election selection convention for Cork North Central constituency threw up a major surprise when the party’s standard bearer, Bernard Allen, was beaten into second place.

IT would have sold last time round for €35,000 to €40,000 per acre, but now, a small portion of a 600-acre site accumulated at Ballymacus, Kinsale, Co Cork made just over €13,000 per acre. And that’s considered good in the current market.

HOUSEHOLDERS in some of Cork’s worst hit flood areas criticised the Government last night for not funding a full-scale flood defence system because of its €100 million price tag.

THE crowd was so big for the auction of a 99-acre farm last Thursday that it was moved to the hotel venue’s ballroom. According to Dan Fleming of Fleming Auctioneers, there were well over 100 at the Vienna Woods Hotel for the sale of the farm at Ballinvriskig, White’s Cross, Cork

A LEADING tourist town whose Garda station was gutted by arsonists last year is finally getting a temporary station.

IT’S likely three auctioneers will end up grabbing four seats in this electoral area.

I WISH to highlight the inaccuracy of Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s recent suggestion that our current financial difficulties are global in origin. This is a totally disingenuous attempt to shift the blame from his own gross mismanagement.

AUCTIONEER Pat Burton is selling a tidy, 55-acre farm close to Charleville at Broadford, Co Limerick.

DIVIDE and construct may have been the motto at a small cottage on an acre that has had not one, but two, separate developments on its grounds.

A new range of residential units are being released at the Mount Oval scheme in Cork, where the supporting commercial units are now coming on stream.