Seizures of illegal cigarettes have fallen 56% over the past four years, despite a continuing strong black market for smuggled tobacco.

A proposed cross-border car ferry linking Down and Louth could provide a €10m a year boost for the counties, an economic study has predicted.

Only one member of the Irish team for next month’s Home International Championship turned up for the South of Ireland at Lahinch over the weekend.

CARLINGFORD, Co Louth, is a small and particularly beautiful village situated in the extreme north-east corner of our little Republic — the very place, in fact, where you can see the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

THE families of two fishermen missing off the Dublin coast face another agonising day of uncertainty after widespread searches failed to locate the men.

IN spite of overnight lows of -12C and daytime temperatures of just -5C expected in some parts today, the country now looks likely not to have a white Christmas Day.

THIRTEEN players are separated by only two shots at the halfway stage of the Czech Open – and they include two of the men chasing a Ryder Cup place.

A dedicated Garda taskforce is needed to tackle the black market trade in smuggled cigarettes, shopkeepers claimed today.

A PROPELLER fault on the Rachel Corrie ship prevented more Irish citizens being caught up in the Israeli commando attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.

DISSIDENT republicans are suspected of being behind a shipment of up to 30 million smuggled cigarettes seized by Customs officers in Co Louth yesterday.

THE largest seizure of contraband cigarettes in the history of the state was made in Greenore, Co Louth, yesterday on a ship carrying up to 120 million cigarettes, enough to flood the Irish market.

THE 30th player in this week’s Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond will receive in excess of €30,000, comfortably more than the total prize fund of €26,000 on offer in the Irish PGA Championship which starts at the European Club in Co Wicklow this morning.

ON Monday the attention of the nation was focused on two funerals — that of Garda Robert McCallion, who was mown down in Donegal, and Roy Collins, the businessman shot in Limerick.

INVESTORS who hitched their star to One51 have been through some exciting times, thanks to the freewheeling style of its chief executive Philip Lynch.

ONE51’s annual general meeting last week failed to generate even one question from the floor despite the smouldering battle it has been engaged in for control of car ferries group ICG.

Michael McDowell refused to release the Justice Department file in line with the 30-year rule ... If McDowell had been in opposition, he would probably have said we were behaving a like banana republic!

A Latvian ship stranded off the Louth coast in a dispute over safety will return to land late tonight, the International Transport Federation (ITF) has confirmed.

The incoming Government is being asked to agree new procedures to prevent the exploitation of seafarers in Irish waters.

THE International Transport Federation (ITF) has claimed 11 crew members onboard a ship off the Louth coast are effectively prisoners, unable to go home to Latvia or berth in Ireland.

THE Irish shipping industry saw record growth last year.

Martin Fallon has a right to feel aggrieved.

THE Russian and Filipino crew of a ship refused entry to Dublin Bay yesterday have secured guarantees of double their existing pay and a halving of their working hours.

CREW members of a Latvian-registered ship have refused to move from the quay wall of Greenore harbour until they are paid the salaries which have been withheld from them for the past four months.

THOSE who take a keen interest in the agri-sector could be forgiven for thinking that property was the new food, or should that be drug?

Alison Murdoch has once again travelled from Canada to defend her Irish title at the ILGU Seniors Open Strokeplay Championship, Woodbrook Golf Club, September 11-12.

THE construction of a new £53 million (€77.5m) Coca-Cola plant in County Antrim has been given the go-ahead.

SHELL’S network of Irish petrol stations and fuel distributors has been snapped up by venture capital group Ion Equity.

Distribution and logistics company Topaz has bought the retail and commercial business of Shell in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The consideration was not revealed.

THE jobs of 290 workers in Dublin and Greenore are to be lost following Coca-Cola Bottlers decision to locate an €80m all-Ireland production facility in Antrim.

Coca-Cola announced tonight it had selected a Northern Ireland site for a new £53 million an all-island production plant.

ABOUT 1,000 Coca-Cola Bottlers employees in Dublin, Louth and Antrim were last night told by the company of its intention to consolidate production and warehouse operations at a greenfield site.

SOME weeks ago I wrote about a persistent rumour that the gardaí involved in the raid on Judge Brian Curtin's home had actually checked with the relevant authorities beforehand and were told to go ahead with a flawed search warrant.

Sweden’s Oskar Henningsson led the qualifiers in the West of Ireland Championship at Rosses Point thanks to a superb course record equalling 65.

FBI agent David Rupert agreed to testify against alleged Real IRA mastermind Michael McKevitt only after watching a heart-rending TV documentary on the Omagh bomb atrocity, he claimed today.

MICHAEL BRETT is the oldest of today's semi-finalists for the Golfsure Irish Amateur Close Championship.

Portmarnock's Noel Fox hit a two under par 70 to take a three shot lead into the final two rounds of the AIB Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin.

Neil Manchip fired a closing three-under-par 68 at Greenore to win the Killester Travel PGA Challenge Trophy tournament - his second major win of the season.

A putting tip from Bobby Browne half-an-hour before tee-off helped Liam Bowler to a course record at Greenore, during the opening round in the 36-holes Killester Travel PGA Challenge Trophy tournament.

A putting tip from Bobby Browne half-an-hour before tee-off helped Liam Bowler to a course record at Greenore, during the opening round in the 36-holes Killester Travel PGA Challenge Trophy tournament.

Brendan McGovern again shot to the top of the leaderboard after the Killester Travel pro-am tournament at Greenore, the curtain-raiser to the 36-holes PGA Challenge event there this week.

David Walker retained the £12,000 PGA Challenge title at Greenore with a closing four-under-par 67 for a two rounds total of five-under 137 and a three shots lead over the field.

Nuremore Club assistant Brian Kerley upstaged most of the seasoned professionals during the first round of the £12,000 PGA Challenge at Greenore.

David Walker likes the Greenore course.