THE Government is hoping to speed up and save money on multi-billion euro transport projects following the introduction of a planning infrastructure bill.

A DECISION on whether a controversial halfway house for recovering alcoholics can be built has been deferred for another three months, during which time those behind the project hope to allay fears of locals.

A WASTE treatment company which wanted to develop a recycling plant in Co Waterford has been refused planning.

LIMERICK City Council have been warned their persistence in opposing a huge suburban shopping development will cost 2,000 jobs and €10 million in lost revenue.

A MONAGHAN company’s plans to build a €75 million biomass plant, that could have supplied 45% of the county’s electrical needs, has been scuppered by An Bord Pleanála.

The New Year sees the march to the right of the FF/PD Junta, to the tune of big business and vested affluent interest groups.

A planned €16m sports academy at the Institute of Technology Tralee has been delayed due to funding problems.

A CONTENTIOUS development spanning 195 acres that is to receive over 18 million tonnes of red bauxite residue at the Aughinish Alumina plant on the Shannon estuary is due to commence operating later this month.

DOONBEG Golf Club has been given until the end of July to demolish an eight-foot high wall reportedly built without planning permission.

ANTI-INCINERATION groups have criticised An Bord Pleanála’s decision yesterday to grant permission to Indaver Ireland to increase the size of its Co Meath incinerator by a third.

THE summer holiday plans of hundreds of families were in tatters yesterday following confirmation that a popular caravan park is to be sold after a long-running planning saga.

New laws designed to force the developers of large scale housing projects to act quickly on their planning permissions are unlikely to be introduced before Easter.

Developer Johnny Ronan has unveiled plans for a €350m residential development in Dublin’s Docklands.

Plans to develop “a landmark building” overlooking Ballinskelligs Bay, in the south Kerry Gaeltacht, have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.

Latest: An expert witness for Indaver Ireland has said Ringaskiddy and not Bottlehill is the appropriate site for an incinerator, writes Catherine Shanahan of the Irish Examiner.

A major row broke out between county councillors over a proposal to rezone an industrial area in a County Cork town to green belt, which would prevent a plastics factory from locating there.

The planning watchdog has shot down proposals to establish a new walkway at the historic final boarding point for the Titanic.

NATURE has blessed Sydney with the largest harbour in the world.