MAJOR players in the horseracing and leisure fields are expected today to publicly back a proposed €460 million hotel, casino and entertainment venue on an 800-acre rural site.

PLANS for a major retail development in the west Clare town of Miltown Malbay have been thrown out by a local authority.

THE setting up of a seaplane service from a pontoon on the Shannon near Limerick city centre has come under fire from rowers.

A FARMER who came to prominence after a multi-million euro land deal has failed in a bid to stop a couple building a family home on a neighbouring site.

AN APPEAL by the Department of the Environment against a Clare community’s decision to build a graveyard extension on the outskirts of Ennis “is unwarranted and heavy handed”.

HERITAGE body An Taisce has objected to plans to revamp one of Co Cork’s best-known hotels.

THE oldest hunt in the country has been denied planning permission for kennels after Bord Pleanála upheld an objection by the Brothers of Charity.

A MOVE to demolish buildings containing popular seaweed baths in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, has been turned down by An Bord Pleanála.

MAYO’S Conor Mortimer is contemplating undergoing knee surgery which could rule him out for the majority — if not all of — the 2011 season.

EXECUTIVES at multinational energy company Shell believe the Irish state could be in possession of massive gas resources off the west coast, “up to 20 times” the scale of the already discovered Corrib field.

A MAJOR hurdle has been cleared in a proposal to build a €500 million gas- powered electricity plant on the Shannon Estuary.

A JOBS boost for Co Clare was yesterday thrown into doubt after a claim that a planning decision giving a €4 million retail project the go-ahead is “illegal”.

BORD Pleanála has upheld the decision of South Tipperary County Council to grant permission for a cattle mart near Tipperary town.

THE High Court liquidation of five Whelan group companies has ended the quarry group’s 11-year long battle to construct a contentious €10 million explosives plant on the Shannon estuary.

CLARE County Council is to withdraw its planning application for a contentious €6 million pier at Doolin and re-lodge scaled down plans.

In 2012 when the topic of housing in Ireland came up for discussion, the terms ‘negative equity’ and ‘ghost estate’ were bandied about with numbing frequency.