The growing mountain of paperwork involved in running schools that have no proper management structures is putting student-focused reforms at risk, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has been warned.

The Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, has announced his intention to appoint Pat Delaney as the Chairperson of SOLAS.

The light and heat generated in recent weeks about the need for reform in Gaelic football has been entertaining, if a little inconclusive.

The partner of a Limerick man who was shot dead along with another woman in his home has told a trial one of the accused arrived at her house the day of the killings to offer his condolences but that he “seemed agitated”.

What have Kilkenny and Brian Cody been doing behind closed doors in Nowlan Park since the Leinster final loss to Galway?

For older generations of hurling supporters who witnessed Galway’s first-half demolition of Kilkenny yesterday there were shades of days gone by when a seemingly invincible team were similarly demolished.

FOR years the Kilkenny-Tipperary rivalry lay idle, softened by the few intermittent meetings that the passing summers deemed fit to bestow, but the Fenians club experienced its resurrection first-hand this time last year.

A €250m employment subsidy scheme was announced by the Government today in a bid to support up to 27,400 jobs.

They’re tied on 30 All-Ireland titles each, but there’s more at stake at Croke Park tomorrow for Cork and Kilkenny than statistics. Stars of the 70’s, Cork’s Brian Murphy and Kilkenny’s Phil ‘Fan’ Larkin discuss battles past and tomorrow’s semi-final with Diarmuid O’Flynn.

CONSUMERS have seen the price of basic groceries rise by three-quarters within four years, Fine Gael claimed yesterday.

EMPLOYERS from across the mid-west will gather for a bigr business meeting in Shannon tomorrow amid concerns that the loss of Aer Lingus’s Heathrow link will cripple the regional economy.

The airline carried 350,000 passengers from Shannon to Heathrow last year; its closure of the route has shocked and angered aviation and industry sectors in the region, writes Conor Ryan.

IBEC has advised companies to review plans in light of new risks, such as a possible flu pandemic.

Business groups have called for action to combat unemployment in certain areas of the country.

Two hundred jobs are under threat in Limerick.

The Examiner’s football correspondent Liam Mackey is fed, watered, refreshed, back from holiday and raring to get stuck in on the first week of the New Year.

THE employers' organisation IBEC has completed its first major strategic review since it was established in 1993.

The Examiner's football correspondent Liam Mackey is looking forward to the summer . . . lazing in the sun, listen to the sound of the oompah bands, watching men in leather shorts slap their thighs, appreciating the sound of lager being quaffed, and generally concentrating on things Germanic.

PATRICIA CALLAN has been appointed as the new director of the Small Firms Association (SFA), where she will succeed Pat Delaney, who has been appointed director of Business Sectors at IBEC.

The Small Firms Association has appointed a new director.

CONSUMERS are expected to spend 6% more next year as €16 billion in SSIA accounts begin to mature.

ONE in 10 private sector workers moved jobs this year and 60,000 employees quit because they did not like the people they worked with.

A new national poll by the Small Firms Association has shown that a record breaking 199,000 Irish workers left their jobs this year.

A STAGGERING €90 million has been spent on buying and decorating real Christmas trees this year.

The Director of the Small Firms Association, Pat Delaney, has said that consumer spending over the Christmas season will exceed €4bn for the first time.

Fine Gael is to launch a major childcare policy document at its national conference in Co Cork on Saturday.

THE Small Firms Association (SFA) has urged Brian Cowen to cut VAT rates in December’s budget.

The Small Firms Association has said that the economic outlook for the remainder of 2005 and into 2006 remains positive, but the spread of the economic growth is uneven. `

THE Competition Authority’s final report on the banking sector was welcomed by bankers yesterday, but small businesses warned its recommendations needed to be matched with action.

Business leaders say the impact of the latest gas and electricity price hikes on Ireland's economy will be enormous.

PETROL and diesel prices have edged closer to an average of €1.30 a litre, driven by supply uncertainty on world markets.

The Director of the Small Firms Association Pat Delaney has said today's announcements of 67 losses at the Clubman Omega plant in Donegal is further evidence our business model for the manufacturing sector no longer reflects the needs of a competitive economy.

At 134% of the EU average, labour costs are most significant problem for 81% of small Irish companies, according to a new survey from the Small Firms Association (SFA).

IRISH labour costs, at 134% of the EU average, are threatening thousands of jobs and businesses according to a new survey.

The Small Firms Association has warned that recent increases in energy prices are bad news for business, consumers and the Government.

THE Government must step in to stop “crippling” increases in the price of gas, electricity and petrol, the Small Firms Association (SFA) said yesterday.

EMPLOYERS will face rocketing wage bills unless the government acts to make housing more affordable, the Small Firms Association (SFA) warned yesterday.

The cost of housing has reached crisis point and is now a significant barrier to job mobility and wage inflation according to the Small Firms’ Association.

A report published today has revealed that people in Ireland are going into business at a record rate.

AN expert body is to determine which businesses will have to comply with strict new European Union money laundering requirements.

RETAIL stores, builders and garages are among businesses to be hit by tough EU money laundering laws agreed yesterday.

THE number of people at work will surpass two million for the first time this year, according to a new report by the Small Firms’ Association (SFA).

The Small Firms Association has called for the introduction of measures to improve the performance of local authorities.