County Council officials stood on platforms so they could peer over a high metal fence to see if a small-time businessman they were pursuing through the courts was complying with planning on a remote section of the Ring of Kerry, a court in Killarney was told yesterday.

DESPITE danger warnings, a 57-year-old construction worker died in a trench collapse near Kenmare, Co Kerry, on October 26, 2005, an inquest was told in Killarney yesterday.

TWO contractors were yesterday fined a total of €55,000 after pleading guilty to breaches of the safety regulations arising from the death of one man and injuries to another in a building site accident in Kenmare, Co Kerry.