Marlene Enright is from Bantry, Co Cork. She is music booker for The White Horse in Ballincollig, and is also a musician and songwriter. She is about to release her debut solo album, Placemats and Second Cuts, writes Des O’Driscoll.

An extract from Sean Ó Sé’s new book recalls wartime in West Cork and those first steps towards a life in music.

For any business, customer loyalty is vital, particularly during a summer routinely described as a washout. However, as Noel Baker discovered, one West Cork town is ensuring rain is not a spoiler by offering visitors more cultural events and a greater choice of eateries

Four restaurants and three pubs have been hit with closure orders for breaches of food safety regulations.

A dairy farmer from Co Mayo was chosen as the winner of the prestigious FBD Young Farmer of the Year award in Bantry, Co Cork, last night.

As he prepares to play in Bantry, Ricky Skaggs talks bluegrass, country greats and Irish links with Ed Power

The Oireachtas has welcomed a court decision that a committee was entitled to make findings against a senator after he misrepresented his normal place of residence for expense purposes.

Willie Pa’s Bar & Restaurant, Colomane Cross, Bantry, Co Cork; tel: 027-50392

A head shop owner who stored a cannabis-like chemical substance was told yesterday that her offence “merited” a few days in jail.

An officer running a live fire army exercise where a soldier was killed while in a safe haven was recommended for “supervision” after struggling to pass his course.

Construction of a €10m Tesco outlet in Bantry, Co Cork, is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2013 after An Bord Pleanála gave permission for the 25,000 sq ft facility at the weekend.

Tighter gross margins at the company that operates the State’s only oil refinery resulted in the firm recording a pre-tax loss of $34.4m (€26.9m) last year.

Tighter gross margins at the company that operates the State’s only oil refinery resulted in the firm recording a pre-tax loss of $34.4m (€26.9m) last year.

Seaview House Hotel, Ballylickey, Bantry, Co Cork; tel: 027-50073/50462; www.seaviewhousehotel.com

FOR fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes, every Masters of Tradition festival in Bantry, West Cork, is special, so how to celebrate its 10th anniversary?

NO matter where we live, summer brings a freedom from care that is unlike any other time of the year. The season is full of playfulness, wild flowers, light and relaxation.

An inspirational Kerry teen is sitting his Junior Certificate at home.

A Royal Irish Regiment ranger, described at his funeral Mass as a gentle giant, was laid to rest with military honours yesterday after he was killed by a stray bullet during a training exercise in Wales.

Senator Ivor Callely's High Court action aimed at quashing a a finding that he misrepresented his normal place of residence in order to claim expenses has been adjourned to October.

KILCROHANE in west Cork is the kind of place that makes you believe in God. With this week’s Mediterranean skies and glorious sunshine, it was somewhere that few would be capable of driving through without giving in to the urge to pull up at the roadside and drink up the view over Dunmanus Bay.

FEAST your eyes on a Christmas winter wonderland that has been 20 years in the making.

Ponaire Coffee Limerick: Ponaire (Irish for bean) import their own raw coffee beans from around the world and roast, blend and package them in their roastery in Annacotty, Co Limerick.

WHILE other local election hopefuls are pounding the streets, one is laid up in hospital at “the worst possible time”.

SIPTU workers at the Conoco Phillips oil facility in Bantry, Co Cork, are beginning a 48-hour work stoppage this morning.

A VAST collection of historic documents which sheds light on the early work in Cork of submarine inventor John Phillip Holland was presented to the country’s maritime college yesterday.

AN IRISH school teacher has wheelspun her way into the final of a prestigious British rally driving competition which could see her competing with sponsorship in the coming season.

GARDAÍ are to question a number of people involved in the controversial Liberty pyramid system following formal complaints from investors who lost money in the €20 million scheme.

Leaders from Canada and Ireland are this week joining families of the victims of the 1985 Air India crash off the Irish coast for a memorial service to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

THREE businesses were shut down in May and one received a prohibition order because they were a danger to public health, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland confirmed yesterday.

A TRAUMATISED young boy who walked over a mile in torrential rain to get help for his mother and sister who later drowned was still asking for his mother last night.

IT was a landmark year for agriculture in Ireland and across the EU with decisions taken that will shape the future structure of farming for the early part of this century.

I’D LIKE to thank Minister Eamon Ó Cuiv for his courage in sticking up for section 32 in the Language Bill.

FARMERS have their backs to the wall like never before, the IFA claimed yesterday, when it announced details of a family farm survival campaign.