Ireland’s most expensive house was allowed to become derelict to gain a development advantage, it was claimed at yesterday’s An Bord Pleanála hearing.

A group opposed to wind farms in north Kerry has pledged to "to fight to the last man" an appeal against a Kerry County Council decision to refuse planning permission for a development near Listowel.

Kerry is to seek to declare itself an island from the rest of Ireland, a councillor and former All-Ireland football medal winner with Kerry has said.

Planning notes

Páirc Uí Chaoimh should be chosen to host All-Ireland quarter or semi-finals when it reopens in 2017 following a €70 million upgrade, according to the Cork County Board chairman.

The mystery owners of Ireland’s most expensive house were the subject of a heated exchange at yesterday’s Bord Pleanála appeal hearing over plans to build homes on the site.

Mystery surrounds the ownership of a Dublin 4 house sold last year by Sean and Gayle Dunne ahead of a hearing into plans to build four new homes on the grounds. Niall Murray reports.

An equestrian centre near the Cork suburb of Rochestown could become a retirement village if a recent planning application is successful.

Kerry County Council has refused planning permission for a 10-turbine wind farm proposed for the Ballyhorgan area, near Listowel

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.

It was once a quiet rural village with a one-sided main street. But following the opening of retail giant Tesco’s latest Irish store in Ballincollig, Co Cork, yesterday, the town on the western outskirts of Cork City now boasts one of the widest retail choices of any town in Ireland.

The taxpayer has no way of clawing back almost €72m in money spent on the national children’s hospital if the project falls at the planning permission hurdle again.

New plans have been lodged for a motorway service area off the M8 motorway near Fermoy in north Cork.

The increase this month in the Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy, that all electricity users pay to support the renewable energy industry, should prompt a pause for thought about the rollout of this industry here.

Objectors to the Port of Cork’s plans for a €100m expansion of its terminal in Ringaskiddy have expressed shock and anger at a revelation that the National Roads Authority does not know when it will upgrade roads to service the development.

The Port of Cork has admitted it was involved in a serious incident last year, when dust from cargo being unloaded in Ringaskiddy clogged the air filters of a major pharmaceutical plant.

The Irish Maritime Development Office, operating under the auspices of the Department of Transport, has given its backing to the Port of Cork’s plans for a €100m-plus upgrade of its deep water container facilities at Ringaskiddy.

An appeal has been lodged in relation to the recent grant of permission for changes to the Douglas Court Shopping Centre on Cork’s southside.

The Port of Cork is to adopt a web booking system for hauliers which has been pioneered by an English port to cut down on traffic gridlock at peak times.