A once-a-year opportunity comes up next weekend when buildings of architectural merit, that are not usually accessible by the public, open their doors, writes Carol O’Callaghan.

An international institutional investor and property developer with billions of euros in assets globally has acquired Cork city centre's Half Moon Street development, home to 700 Apple employees, for about 10% over its €34 million price guide.

As the annual Waterford Walls festival gets under way today, Richard Fitzpatrick chats to some of the artists involved about their previous work and plans for their allotted sites in the city

Orla O'Byrne is excited about embarking on a new career in art, having always maintained her interest in it while working as a baker and running her three cafés in Cork since founding the Natural Foods Bakery in 2002.

So that’s Friday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

A stunning new mural with a conservation theme has been unveiled on the quayside in Cork city as part of a new city placemaking initiative.

Cork City's curvaceous Half Moon Street development, anchored by Boots chemist at its lower level as its main flagship pharmacy in Cork, and occupied overhead by offices for Apple Europe, is for sale as an investment, with a guide price of €34 million.

Black metal act Altar Of Plagues operated on a different level to their peers.

A WELL-SET St Patrick Street Cork city retail investment directly opposite the completed and fully occupied Capitol mixed use development, which is let to Boots Chemists and earning a current annual income of €540,000 is for sale, guiding €5.75 million.

A third, institutional fund sale of a retail investment on the western section for Cork city’s main trading thoroughfare, St Patrick’s Street, is new to marekt.

The building that hosts Waterstones bookseller in Cork city centre is for sale for €6.25m, writes Property Editor, Tommy Barker. 

Like any good army, the Irish economy is marching back to full-bellied recovery on its stomach with up to a half-dozen new restaurants flooding into one section of Cork city alone. 

Landmark city centre building in Cork on sale for €6.25m, writes Property Editor Tony Barker.

A restaurant-building investment, in the belly of Cork City’s food district, the Huguenot Quarter, is for sale, with three tenants in all, including a long-established eatery, the Strasbourg Goose.

Cork City is due to get a significant new, branded Italian restaurant and deli — a Carluccio’s.

WITH nine days to go, there is plenty of time to think about Mother’s Day.

A heroin addict was found lying across a pew in a Cork church last Christmas Eve with the paraphernalia of drug use scattered around him and yesterday the 28-year-old was jailed for eight months for that and a series of shoplifting offences.

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Forget X-factor or The Voice: 11-year-old busker extraordinaire Milo McCarthy only has helping other people on his mind as he topped the €7,000 mark to aid refugees.

The classically styled limestone building on Cork city’s historical Coal Quay, occupied by the successful restaurant and bar the Cornstore, has been put up for sale as an invesment.

Some people sing for their supper, but not 11-year-old busker Milo McCarthy who plays the guitar on the streets for charity and has raised almost €3,000 in aid of Syrian refugees.

A further €1m-plus Cork city bar and nightclub sale has just concluded, with the Bowery on Tuckey Street selling off-market: it comes just as Wetherspoons are poised to reopen a premises now standing them a total investment of as much as €3.5m, a bar investment level seemingly back to boom time values.

The historic Woodford bar in Cork city centre, with a licensed and drinks trade link stretching back to 1750, has been bought out of receivership for c €1.25 million.

UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon will have its first Irish pub outside Dublin open by the start of September, in Cork city centre.

Cork driver Lorraine Kelly was left dumbfounded yesterday after being left an angry note on her car.

IS THERE a market yet for a pub sale in Cork city, significantly over the €1m mark? A bar in an historic building, long associated with wine and spirits company Woodford Bourne, aims to find out, as the Woodford Bar comes to market seeking a new Bourne identity.

The major extension proposed for the Bon Secours Hospital, in Cork City, has been approved by An Bord Pleanála.

The founding premises of homewares specialist store, Meadows & Byrne, in Cork City’s Academy Street will only be vacated and leased to restaurant chain, Nando’s, if planning is secured for change-of-use.

People encouraged to support local firms that ‘struggled along’

One of Cork’s most influential developers has called for free parking to be made available in the city and for a rethink on controversial cycle lanes.

New chapters beckon at the premises of one of Cork City’s longest-established bookshops, Connolly’s, as owner Adrian Connolly prepares to retire after decades dealing in old and rare books, new books, and records.

British pub operator JD Wetherspoon has acquired two more sites in Dublin and claims to have a strong pipeline of prospective sites identified for its Irish expansion plans.

Rita Ora’s retro lashes, luminous skin and bubblegum-pink bob are surprisingly easy to emulate. Rachel Marie Walsh has the scoop on her Manga-inspired look.

An historic home on Cork’s northside is in line to become a medical clinic after a recent grant of planning permission.

Can you imagine being so dedicated to vintage clothing that you wear it to work, going out at night, even doing your weekly shop? 

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon has outlined its plan to open a bar in one of Cork city centre’s busiest areas.

A recovery in trade in one of Cork’s city centre’s under-performing streets — Academy Street — is heralded with the opening this weekend of a new restaurant, CoqBull, which replaces hospitality supremo Jay Bourke’s long-established Cafe Bar Deli.

Bord Gáis is checking out of several of its office spaces on Cork city’s Lapps Quay — just as Cork City Council prepares a €2m quay upgrade, to include the €800,000 purchase of the old Cork Savings Bank at 1 Lapps Quay.

MOTHER’S Day is close and an indulgent breakfast is a terrific start to the day.