A landscape gardener with 141 convictions for drunken behaviour on the streets was described yesterday as a gentle giant who is incapable of having even one drink without causing trouble.

International investors may be enticed as buyers for The Square Tallaght shopping centre, which has gone up for sale for €233m.

A 16-year-old girl has admitted the manslaughter of seven-year-old Katie Rough.

A leading Muslim figure has called for hate crime legislation after Islamophobic graffiti was sprayed at a park and a bus stop in Tallaght, south Dublin.

The Irish public’s love of the ‘Big Mac’ has shown no sign of abating as profits and revenues increased at the Irish arm of McDonald’s.

Pre-tax losses at the company that runs The Square shopping centre in Tallaght widened to €1.17m last year.

Tommy Barker visits a contemporary townhouse complete with basement in the heart of Ballincollig.

A chip shop owner and rate payer in Kenmare, Co Kerry, became so irate with a mobile chip van that was parked outside his door on busy weekend nights last October that he wielded an iron bar, Kenmare District Court heard.

A 5-year-old girl who, it is claimed, suffered an injury in a road traffic incident while in her mother’s womb has settled her High Court action for €100,000.

Christmas came early to customers of Ulster Bank in the West — thanks to an ATM glitch.

A former barman, who siphoned off over €45,000 from St Vincent’s hurling and football club when he was working there, was yesterday given a three-year suspended jail sentence and a 240-hour community service order.

Hotels in Tipperary and Wexford were among the 12 closure orders issued to food businesses last month, according to the latest figures from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Full planning permission has been granted for the extension of The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, which will create 300 construction jobs and 400 retail jobs when it is completed.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has served eight enforcement orders on food businesses in August for breaches in food safety legislation

WE set off, walking to the right along the beach, first fording a small stream.

Your top 10 esstentials for Ireland's most famous festival.

THERE are days when you just want middle-of-the-road, keep-the-show-on-the road food — days when you don’t need, or even want, poppy-seed brown bread knitted by celibate artisan bakers; days you just can’t summon up the joie de vivre needed to make the prospect of crabmeat or pan-roasted cod named after the port in which its captor buys his marine diesel, seem even vaguely uplifting. 

LOUGH GUR HERITAGE CENTRE

WE have parked opposite the old Post Office, marked on the OS map. Before setting off, we should certainly retrace our steps to the Blackwater Bridge — we will be re-crossing it on our return, but viewing it before we start will make us aware, when we see the Blackwater River upstream, of how romantic and wild it is in this gorge.

WITH our backs to the Town Hall we set off down Main Street, keeping to the left pavement. Skibbereen is, arguably, the most ‘typical’ of West Cork market towns, little changed in the last century.

A well-known Dublin restaurant popular with TDs and senators was just one of 10 premises forced to close last month for breaching food safety regulations.

Receivers have been appointed to Castleknock Golf Club in North Dublin.

Gardaí probing back-to-back gangland murders fear further violence after it emerged that one of Ireland’s top crime bosses is the godfather to a child of the latest victim.

Gardaí are examining CCTV footage for clues as to the identities of attackers who gunned down a 21-year-old man in west Dublin at the weekend.

Castleknock Golf Club was one of seven Monarch Properties companies to record a loss last year.

A woman with more than 300 previous convictions has been sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment for a number of thefts in Tralee and Killarney during the Rose of Tralee festival last year.

Two brothers have received three-year sentences for a vicious assault on a man beaten into submission over an alleged money debt.

Castleknock Golf Club was one of eight Monarch Properties’ companies to record a loss last year.

A BARMAN responsible for the day-to-day running of St Vincent’s hurling and football club stole almost €46,000 while working there.

DAVID Norris was in manic form. He leapt from voter to shopper, pressing his bumptious charm on everybody.

WHEN David Norris announced he was quitting his bid to be President on August 2 last, he quoted Beckett. “Fail again. Fail better.”

TWO closure and one prohibition order were served on businesses last month for food safety legislation breaches.

CASTLEKNOCK Golf Club was one of five Monarch Properties companies to record a profit last year.

'Dragon’s Den' TV star Niall O’Farrell has today settled a €38,000 claim against a former commercial tenant for unpaid rent and insurance premiums.

DUBLIN-based law firm William Fry has settled its legal action against developer Liam Carroll over his failure to pay €3.3 million of a €4.8m legal costs bill.

A KANTURK publican pointed a shotgun at a customer’s head and then raised the gun to fire a shot into the ceiling to let him know he was facing a loaded firearm.

FOR Kerry GAA fans, despite the success of this year’s Rose of Tralee, the festival is still threatening to become a nightmare.

WATERFORD veteran Ken McGrath says he wasn’ts urprised by the thrilling finish to Sunday’s Munster SHC final, when Waterford pulled out a last-gasp equaliser against Cork to set up a replay on Saturday evening in Thurles.

Four closure orders were served on food businesses last month, including three eateries in Roscommon.

DUTCH-owned ACC Bank is continuing its disposal of Irish bank branches in 2010, it has just confirmed at year’s end.

Developers and investors today vowed to create about 6,000 jobs in a massive regeneration of The Square at Tallaght.

Developers and investors today vowed to create about 6,000 jobs in a massive regeneration of The Square at Tallaght.

A POTENTIALLY lethal bug has been discovered in a west Cork town’s water supply, forcing a local authority to tanker in water for up to 800 homes.

IRISH Nationwide Building Society has secured a €78 million summary judgment order against Aifca, a company controlled by property developer Liam Carroll, over unpaid loans.