Esther N McCarthy rounds up ten top adventure activities in some of Ireland’s most beautiful locations.

A €1bn subsea power cable linking Ireland to France will help drive down electricity prices for Irish consumers, government leaders said today as they signed an application for some €600m in European grant aid for the project.

EirGrid has drawn up a new shortlist of land-based and electrical current converter sites as part of a €900m plan to lay a submarine cable to transmit electricity between France and Ireland.

Eddie O'Hare went along to Claycastle Beach in Youghal to check out this year's Munster Surf Lifesaving Championships.

A partly-closed car park, child safety risks, unauthorised tents pitched on a playground and restricted access to the beach all made for a disappointing time for sunseekers at three seaside locations in east Cork.

KUNG FU CORK

Restoration work has commenced on a robust 400m eco-boardwalk in Youghal, Co Cork, to replace the structure demolished in ferocious winter storms early last year.

East Cork tourism has been boosted after a local authority received planning permission for a motorhome parking complex.

A local authority is planning to reinstate a €220,000 boardwalk that was destroyed by storms earlier this month.

Youghal Town Council has been forced officially to close its boardwalk at Claycastle following extensive storm damage. Overnight winds of 80kmp and ferocious wave power dislodged several sections of the teak decking and uprooted piling on the 400-metre structure.

Youghal Town Council is to complain to An Bord Pleanála over a planning decision delay of almost a year which it claims is stifling investment in the town.

Bathing water at contaminated beaches in Cork had nearly four times the permitted EU level of the E.coli bacteria, which if ingested can cause severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some cases even death.

GARDAÍ have arrested a man who is alleged to have falsely reported a shooting to the emergency services which could end up costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of euro.

LOCAL authorities in Co Dublin have laid the blame for their abysmal performance in the Blue Flag Awards at the feet of the gods – the weather gods.

LAST summer’s torrential rain is being cited as the reason why five Irish beaches have lost their blue flag status.