Up to €2m will be invested in about 100 indigenous food businesses in Cork over the next three years as part of an ambitious joint city and county council strategy that aims to make the region the food capital of Ireland.

Signs that the UK economy is half way to an unprecedented triple dip recession failed to reverse this week’s bullish mood on world markets.

Hopes that European leaders had made genuine progress towards stemming the eurozone debt crisis lifted investors’ spirits after yesterday’s banking sector bloodbath.