CORK’S political leaders have joined forces to secure Government funding for the design of a bridge which could unlock the city’s docklands for regeneration.

MAJOR planning and banking bills have been passed by the Dáil in contentious circumstances.

THE Government must take a long-term view and invest in vital infrastructure to help regenerate Cork’s docklands, a respected developer said last night.

ON August 4 the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, issued a directive, under EU regulations on birds and natural habitats, aimed at protecting special areas of conservation and special protected areas from potential damage and disturbance caused by quad bikes and scramblers.

TRANSPORT Minister Noel Dempsey has continued to insist the second phase of the Dublin-Navan rail service will go ahead, even though there is no specific reference to the project in the Government’s revised capital spending programme.

AN TAISCE are appealing against the planning approval granted last month for a proposed €460 million casino, sports and leisure venue in Co Tipperary.

THE development of a DART underground line is the essential “missing link” in the Dublin commuter rail network, An Bord Pleanála has been told.

LIMERICK City Council has been called on to carry out an urgent inspection of the site of the on-hold Opera (Shopping) Centre in the city centre as may of the buildings there are over 100 years old and have been unoccupied for years.

A MAJOR building programme at its Dublin headquarters is essential if RTÉ is to maintain its position as the national broadcaster into the digital age, director general Cathal Goan told a Bord Pleanála hearing yesterday.

ALDI has been refused planning permission for a store in Kenmare, for the second time.

DEVELOPMENT and infrastructure in Cork is being stifled by the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Government agency inaction – at a time while Dublin is poised for infrastructure developments like Metro North and the DART underground which could cost billions.

A PROPOSAL by a Killarney hotel to demolish 108 bedrooms and, instead, build shops and restaurants has been turned down by An Bord Pleanála.

SPANISH energy giant Endesa must provide more information on environmental issues as part of its planning application for a €500 million gas-fired power plant at Tarbert.

CONCERNS over flooding have led Bord Pleanála to refuse planning permission for a €80 million private hospital in Cork city.

THE National Roads Authority (NRA) is to spend €200,000 on signs to direct motorists to services in towns and cities in response to criticism over the lack of service stations and lay-bys on the country’s motorway network.

BUSINESS people in Kerry were yesterday urged to get behind a campaign to build a golf links, projected to create 65 jobs.

THE company behind contentious plans to construct a seaplane base at Mountshannon on Lough Derg have dismissed appeals against the plan as “exaggerated and misrepresentative”.

WEST Clare could be in line for a significant jobs boost after a planning application to develop a €4 million supermarket and community development in Miltown Malbay was lodged yesterday.

PLANS for a private day care hospital have been given the green light by Limerick City Council.

ONE of the country’s leading developers said he may seek a judicial review after An Bord Pleanála refused him permission for the second time to construct a €400 million housing project.