Fás wrote off more than €1m on a temporary office in Offaly and is selling a site it bought for €1.5 million for just €150,000.

Food companies can gain a competitive advantage from Irish research tracing the relationship that exists between diet, gut bacteria, and the health of older people.

MORE than 40,000 unemployed people in line for a state-provided job or training course failed to turn up for interview.

FÁS management have drawn up a major reconfiguration plan for the state training agency after an internal report found problems with over half the private companies contracted to provide courses for the unemployed.

A private contractor providing training schemes for scandal-hit employment agency FÁS has been referred to gardai for suspected fraud, it emerged tonight.

JOBS agency Fás has vowed to continue efforts to secure EU funding despite the agency being “battered” with financial scandals and allegations.

THE board of Fás was kept in the dark for months about an EU probe into how the state training agency was using millions of euro of social funds which have now been withdrawn.

POLITICIANS probing the bank guarantee have obtained up to 40 files on ministers’ meetings, legal advice and the role of banks on the night the state assurance on deposits was agreed.

THE state’s jobs agency, Fás, has admitted it is unlikely to recoup taxpayers’ money from a company which falsified the results of a computer training course.

FÁS has missed the opportunity to make a fresh start, according to Fine Gael, which claimed the new board of the troubled state training agency is “dominated by insiders”.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan was embroiled in an explosive row last night over the leaking of parts of confidential reports into financial controversies in Fás.

FÁS has admitted that it is concerned about the validity of qualifications in up to 15 more courses run at its training centre in Dundalk, Co Louth.

THE “fragmented” board of Fás is expected to resign next Thursday amid accusations of neglect in the oversight of excessive spending at the state training agency.

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan has been pressed to account for her support of the board of Fás when details of its wastefulness emerged — only to completely change her stance last month.

THE 10 highest earning bosses at Ireland’s state and semi-state companies each earn more than US president, Barack Obama.

Tourism Ireland today announced the appointment of Niall Gibbons as its new Chief Executive.

TOURISM chiefs are targeting high spenders in the Middle East, India and China in a bid to halt the slide in the number of visitors travelling to Ireland.

The North must use the crash in the value of the pound against the euro and dollar to boost visitor numbers, Tourism Minister Arlene Foster said today.

TOURISM IRELAND is to spend €47 million on promoting Ireland as a holiday destination over the next three years as visitor numbers are expected to decline this year for the first time since 2001.

A FIFTH of all domestic summer holidays are booked online, figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday revealed.

A fifth of all domestic summer holidays are booked on-line, it emerged today.

Tourism chiefs will reveal plans today to boost the number of visitors to Ireland over the coming months.

Ireland's tourism-related businesses were warned today by the country’s top tourism bodies that conditions could be difficult this year.

Tourism chiefs have to pull up their sleeves to ensure the Shannon region stays on the destination map, it was claimed today.

Tourism chiefs believe a massive gathering of travel agents this weekend will generate €2m for the economy.

AER LINGUS plans to turn Dublin Airport into a major European hub for flights to and from the US on foot of the Open Skies agreement signed by EU transport ministers yesterday.

Tourism Ireland, the organisation responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas, has welcomed the decision by Flyglobespan to commence scheduled services from New York and Boston into Ireland West Airport Knock in May of this year.

Tourism Ireland has welcomed the details of the NDP Tourism Programme announced today by Minister for Tourism John O’Donoghue.

INCREASING numbers of Americans without Irish roots are visiting here, according to new research by Tourism Ireland unveiled last night.

More than two million overseas visitors have travelled to Ireland this year already, a jump of 13%, figures released today show.

Dublin Airport Authority was today urged to ensure delays do not plague terminal upgrades as new figures showed passenger numbers could increase by almost a third this summer.

The head of Tourism Ireland Paul O’Toole has said he hopes the recent Irish Ferris dispute will not have a long-term negative effect on travelling by boat, as his organisation seeks to market Ireland abroad as a holiday destination.

Tourism chiefs are going green this week to attract Disney fans to Ireland.

OVERSEAS visitors to the mid-west spend less and have briefer stays than visitors to any of the seven tourism regions, according to Fáilte Ireland.

CORK’S designation as Europe’s cultural capital will be vital in attracting tourists to Ireland this year, an industry meeting was told yesterday.

IRELAND is on course to meet its target for visitor numbers this year, Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said yesterday.

Ireland is on course to meet its target for visitor numbers this year, Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue said today.

The number of American tourists visiting Ireland could hit the million mark for the first time in five years next summer with the launch of new transatlantic flights.

TOURISM IRELAND is to spend €50 million on a campaign to attract more overseas visitors to rural locations.

THE number of bed nights generated by foreign holiday makers outside the Dublin region in 2003 was a massive 2.7 million less than it was in 1999.

A RECORD number of people will visit Ireland this year, according to early indications.

The increase in the number of flights to Ireland could boost tourism to eight million overseas visitors this year, it was claimed today.