The gardaí withdrew charges yesterday against a man who had threatened to turn a high-profile new housing scheme on the north-side of Cork city into a “hell of hassle and damage” after his subsequent promise that there would be no trouble was borne out.

A father-of-nine threatened to destroy a new €5 million Traveller housing facility in Cork city and told gardaí: “We’ll make your lives hell in the new site.”

It is has cost the State at least €300,000 to provide round-the-clock Garda security at a Traveller accommodation building project in Cork City.

Gardaí are providing round-the-clock security at a Traveller accommodation building site after claims of threats and intimidation directed at workers on the scheme.

A four-minute sulky race that resulted in over a year of YouTube notoriety was back in court yesterday where five of those involved had their five-month jail terms reduced by two months and their six-year driving bans cut by a year.

The youngest of the men convicted of involvement in a sulky race on the main Cork to Limerick road, which became a YouTube sensation, avoided jail yesterday for his part in the dangerous escapade.

Five men are each facing five months in jail and six-year driving bans after being convicted of dangerous driving during a sulky race on the main Cork to Limerick road.

Five of the six men charged in connection with a sulky race on the main Cork to Limerick road which became a YouTube sensation have indicated they were pleading not guilty to all charges against them.

Five men have been charged in connection with a sulky race on the main Cork to Limerick road earlier this year which became a YouTube hit.