THE loss of thousands of jobs across the country has been well documented in recent months but, whereas others are feeling the cold hand of recession for the first time only this year, parts of Cork saw the Celtic Tiger shot and skinned many years ago.

SO, the day of reckoning is at hand. If all goes as promised we will, sometime in the next few hours, find out if we are governed by people with real leadership skills, with the vision and the sense of urgency required to stop the haemorrhaging of public finances; an objective central to restoring our economy and our shattered confidence.

KOSTAL expects that up to 50 of the 200 workers who are to lose their jobs at their car component manufacturers plant in Abbeyfeale will opt for voluntary redundancy.

LIMERICK County Council is to go ahead with a trip to China, despite the fact that a promised report on the benefits of a previous mission costing taxpayers €32,000 was never produced.