Long before the national ambassador programme, Killarney already had “a track record in local ambassadors”, attracting conferences worth hundreds of thousands of euro and filling the town’s hotels, restaurants, and parklands, the Kerry launch of the Fáilte Ireland national ambassador programme heard yesterday.

Pfizer Ireland is to make a €100m investment at one of its key Cork plants over the next two years, but shed 25 full-time positions.

THE tracks were cleared yesterday for a €500 million development on the CIÉ-owned Horgan’s Quay site in Cork and for a €25m revamp of the city’s Kent railway station.