All across Europe, communities struggle to sustain the relevance and soul of city, town, and village centres.

Although the auction of 55 acres at Gurtacrue, near Midleton, Co Cork, was cancelled at the last minute by the selling agents CCM (the property featured on these pages on January 18), there has been no shortage of action behind the scenes.

Ogham is a ancient writing that uses a system of ticks on a vertical line. Either that or it was an ancient advertisement for clothes pegs, writes Colm O’Regan

THIS is not an ordinary build, but then, there aren’t many of those on Lough Derg, fast becoming Ireland’s byword for some absolutely fabulous properties and other which are just big.