Two senior trade union officials were the signatories to a bank account at the centre of a State training scheme expenses controversy, it emerged today.

UNLIKE many property developers, whose public profile matched the size of the buildings they were constructing, Paddy McKillen is the very definition of low key.

IT is both interesting and ironic that the entrepreneurs behind the proposed wind farm on Slieve Callan in Co Clare say the venture might become a tourist attraction (Irish Examiner, February 16).

THE Minister for Children Barry Andrews has said one of the first priorities of the Government in the wake of the damning Ryan report will be to examine a memorial for the victims of abuse.

Fast food giant McDonald’s today opened a state of the art training facility to boost the skills of its workforce during the economic downturn.

THE prospect of cutbacks in foreign aid given to poor countries has not been ruled out by Overseas Development Minister Peter Power.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday accused lawyers for the Mahon Tribunal of trying “to set me up and stitch me up”.

A man from Blarney who smashed the window of a Garda patrol van outside the GPO during the ‘Love Ulster’ Parade riots was given a three-year sentence by Judge Des Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

MYSTERY surrounds a stg£30,000 sum Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has told the Mahon Tribunal he acquired at his Dublin bank in 1995.

A BANK lodgement of IR£28,772.90 made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, on December 5, 1994, did not equate with any sterling amount received that day in AIB branch in O’Connell Street, Dublin — but tallied with $45,000, the Mahon Planning Tribunal heard yesterday.

THE ability of Bertie Ahern to last an unprecedented third full term as Taoiseach may very well hinge on what could now be termed “the $45,000 question”.

In a deliberate attempt to initiate a much-needed debate Archbishop Diarmuid Martin launched his annual Lenten pastoral letter yesterday by emphasising the damage to society being caused by excessive drinking. The launch appropriately took place in O’Connell Street, Dublin, at the statue of Fr Theobald Mathew, the internationally famous 19th century temperance campaigner.

A Dublin businessman who paid almost €10m in the largest ever Revenue settlement is to be sentenced today for tax evasion.

THE opinion poll placing P H Pearse, the 1916 leader, as the most popular choice for a position of honour in a refurbished O’Connell Street, Dublin, is an interesting indication of the high level of appreciation and admiration Irish people hold for our patriots.

Brian Dowling, the winner of this year’s Big Brother show on Channel 4, makes his first visit to Ireland since his victory on July 27, later today.