AS Irish hotel sales inch up to an end-of-year €500m tally, more hotels, north and south of the Border, have found new owners in the past week, in Wexford, Galway and Fermanagh.

I HAVE travelled the road to Castletownbere en route to the Bere Island ferry many times over the last few months, and the sudden stunning vistas were never as striking as on the eve of winter solstice.

A 37-YEAR-OLD postmaster from Castletownebere is poised to become the youngest mayor of Ireland’s largest local authority.