Inevitably some wit is going to suggest that the EU Birds and Habitats Directives signed into law yesterday by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan is for the birds.

THE green jobs initiative spearheaded by the GAA is developing momentum after a successful launch in Clonakilty six weeks ago.

Shell Ireland has received a fresh cash injection of €90 million from its parent company to deal with the spiralling costs of the Corrib gas field project.

PROMOTERS of the proposed super-casino in Tipperary have vowed to press ahead with their plans despite the Government yesterday ruling out legislation allowing so-called large resort-style casinos.

GAA chiefs have received an official request from the IRFU to play Leinster’s Heineken Cup game with Brive at Croke Park on Saturday – should the RDS be deemed unplayable.

IKEA is on the hunt for locations for new stores in the Republic, raising hopes that hundreds of jobs could be created by the Swedish retail giant.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche yesterday warned local authorities that it will be unacceptable to increase charges to the public in order to fund pay increases due next year under benchmarking and national wage agreements.

A CONSORTIUM of investors won out when the sale of the Wilton Shopping Centre, owned by Tesco, went to best bids last Tuesday.

PRESSURE was mounting on the Government last night to stop the State’s first toxic waste incinerator being built after two new studies found an increased incidence of stillbirths, deaths and heart disease in the vicinity of incinerators.

A PROPOSED waste incinerator will pose a further threat to the health of residents of the Ringsend area of Dublin in a suburb that had already suffered considerable pollution, an oral hearing of the Environmental Protection Agency was told yesterday.

HOLIDAYMAKERS are expected to ignore today’s deadline to vacate a caravan park that is shortly due to be placed on the market.

THE Department of the Marine is taking a man to the High Court for ignoring its ultimatum to remove unauthorised marine structures from a West Cork bay.

DESPITE strong warnings from county manager Martin Riordan and senior planning officials, councillors in Kerry are continuing to rezone an excess amount of land for housing, planners have claimed.

CORK County Council has granted a number of significant planning permissions, including an extension to the Rochestown Park Hotel, which will make it the second largest hotel in Munster.

Tourists and locals were “frustrated” at the lack of progress on a western access road to Killarney National Park, the town’s mayor has said.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (formerly the National Roads Authority), has finally agreed to fund the redevelopment of one of the busiest roundabouts in Co Cork amid fears traffic using it would grind to a halt.

Traders in one of Munster’s oldest suburban shopping centres have given a qualified welcomed to plans for a €100m regeneration of the complex.

IT’S AN upland landscape that has inspired poets and traditional musicians for centuries, but it could soon be dominated by lofty wind turbines, writes Donal Hickey