Limerick City and County Council has been accused of trampling on public opinion with a plan to erect a €15m footbridge along the Shannon near the city centre.

While bridges have featured in famous war films The Bridge over the River Kwai and a Bridge Too Far, a former mayor of Limerick yesterday warned battle lines are being drawn up over a planned €15m “bridge to nowhere” on the Shannon.

Tourist numbers in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, have increased considerably after the local tourist office moved from a side street to a main street location and initiated a ‘meet and greet’ for coach tours.

A Limerick mother-of-one has begun stalking Take That star Gary Barlow, in a bid to get him to sing at her wedding in August.

More than 10,000 volunteers of all ages clad in hi-vis gear swept through Limerick city and county yesterday leaving a trail of spick-and-span neighbourhoods in their wake.

Brendan O’Neill felt a sense of peace and wellbeing on a visit to the Treaty city.

Consultants have been appointed to carry out a strategic review of the tourist firm that operates Bunratty Castle and six other attractions in the Shannon region.

Donal MacIntyre’s TV3 programme Breaking Crime made a valid point about the need to tackle petty youth crime in disadvantaged areas of Limerick but it was not a balanced portrayal of the current feeling in the city, says Robert McNamara.

An award-winning garden created for Bloom 2014 has been given a permanent home in the heart of Limerick to mark the city’s status as Ireland’s first National City of Culture.

Shannon Development is to carry out a strategic review of its tourist arm which operates Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in Co Clare as well as six other attractions in the Mid-West.

Munster coach Colm McMahon is confident South Africans CJ Stander and Gerhard Van Den Heever will play key roles when they take on powerful opposition in the inaugural Limerick World Club 7s at Thomond Park on August 9-10.

Uncertainty surrounds the 2015 Munster SFC after Limerick, Waterford, Clare and Tipperary stepped up their threat to withdraw from next year’s competition if the seeded system remains in place.

Waterford football captain Shane Briggs insists they will join Limerick, Tipperary and Clare in walking away from the 2015 Munster championship if the seeded draw remains in place.

Irish cities have plenty of famous sights, says Pól Ó Conghaile. He focuses on smaller, off-radar discoveries in his new book, Secret Dublin.

After gathering momentum all year, the organisers of Ireland’s biggest ever tourism promotion were not about to let the pace slacken on the last night of 2013.

A huge fireworks display will kickstart the City of Culture celebrations, writes Colette Sheridan.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan yesterday urged an end to the row which has centred on the appointment of the new CEO of Limerick City of Culture 2014 Patricia Ryan.

Almost 100 years after they were lost to their families and their country, half of them never accorded the dignity of a funeral, 1,100 Irish men and women who lost their lives in the first world war were remembered in a ceremony which will ensure their names will never be lost.

BACK in the late 1990s Nick Cave took to the stage of Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre.

With the recession over and an offer of as much money as he could wish for, things appear to be looking up for Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan.

Workmen unearthed a burial site near Limerick’s King John’s Castle which may date to the 13th century.

Limerick’s King John’s Castle re-opened yesterday following a €5.7m redevelopment.

I wish to register my complaint with the Irish Examiner’s outdoor marketing campaign in Limerick to sensationally sell its upcoming crime feature.

A leading magician has told how he managed to bag a “priceless” new year gift after completing an escape in honour of his hero Harry Houdini.

Organisers of the Gathering festival have defended giving a showpiece contract for the first official event in the year-long celebration of Irishness to a UK firm.

A daredevil stuntman from Limerick is to be ‘burned at the stake’ this weekend as part of the city’s inaugural Elemental Arts and Culture Festival.

Peace broke out under the battlements of Limerick’s King John’s Castle yesterday between a leading barrister and a top publisher who had been locked in a war of words over tomato ketchup.

The weather gods are set to look favourably on tomorrow’s highlight of the fifth annual Waterford Festival of Food, with thousands expected to flood into the streets of Dungarvan to sample the best in artisan fare.

Angela Hartnett worked alongside Gordon Ramsay for years, so the Michelin star-holder should be well able for anything the Waterford Festival of Food throws at her today.

Thousands of foodies are expected in Dungarvan this weekend as the fifth Waterford Festival of Food celebrates the best of local artisan food producers.

A landmark castle will have to celebrate its 800th birthday a year late.

The chief executive of tourism firm Shannon Heritage confirmed yesterday that he is hopeful of the firm recording a net profit in 2012 after moving towards a breakeven position last year.

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.

LIMERICK has received a major boost after one of the city’s popular drinking spots was named Best Tourist Bar in Ireland.

RECORD-BREAKING visitor numbers and international food writers and experts turned up at the weekend for the fourth annual Waterford Festival of Food.

AN economic boost worth over €1 million is set to be pumped into the south-east in the coming days with this year’s edition of the Waterford Festival of Food.

PLANS for a major redevelopment of the 13th century King John’s Castle have been lodged with Limerick City Council.

A BUNCH of craft “pigs” fashioned by local schoolchildren helped unveil the programme of events for this year’s Waterford Festival of Food, expected to attract thousands of visitors to the south-east.

FÁILTE Ireland and the Department of Tourism has approved €4.7 million for a major redevelopment of Limerick’s King John’s Castle. Shannon Development will allocate a further €1m.

SHANNON Development, the agency responsible for tourism promotion in the Mid-West, were yesterday called on to acknowledge that King John’s Castle has been a failure in drawing visitors to Limerick.

MEDIEVAL challenges and surfing lessons ‘as Gaeilge’ are just two of the 1,100 events which will make up this year’s National Heritage Week which runs from August 21-29.

ANYONE seeking proof of Ireland’s record as the most indebted country in Europe should probably avoid Punchestown.

LIMERICK rugby hero Keith Earls will line out in front of tens of thousands on St Patrick’s Day– but this time he’ll tog out in a different shade of green from his international kit.