DICK Roche’s plan for a special division of An Bord Pleanála to speed up approvals for major infrastructure is an unwarranted attack on the legitimate rights of people to oppose large projects.

PLANS to allow thousands of one-off houses to be built in the countryside will lead to major water pollution unless millions of euro are pumped into new schemes, An Taisce warned yesterday.

CORK County Council has given the green light to a €400 million redevelopment of Ballincollig, the biggest planning permission ever granted by the local authority.

OVER three-quarters of the planning permissions for one-off houses granted by local authorities were overturned following objections to An Bord Pleanála, their latest annual report has revealed.

THE controversial Corrib gas pipeline was promised a fast-track path through the planning process, documents reveal.

GAA president, Sean Kelly has welcomed An Bord Pleanala’s decision to grant planning permission for a new 232 bedroom hotel on Jones’ Road, opposite Croke Park.

TOP officials from the GAA and members of a local club whose grounds are under threat will make presentations to an oral hearing which begins today.

MORE than 100 objections are expected to be lodged with Bord Pleanála against the new Waterford to Kilcullen dual carriageway.

CORK County Manager Maurice Moloney maintained yesterday that a €200 million O’Flynn Construction project at Dunkettle could not be completed until road improvements are carried out in the area.

THE GAELIC Players Association has reacted angrily to “underhand” moves by GAA chiefs to lure players into a new official players’ body.

A €100 MILLION business and retail park in Cork has been given the go-ahead, subject to conditions, by An Bord Pleanála.

RESIDENTS in West Waterford say they will take whatever legal steps necessary to prevent a waste management company developing a plant in their area.

THE High Court has ruled against the challenge brought by objectors to works on the M50 motorway on the site of Carrickmines Castle.

WHAT have Maud Gonne, WB Yeats and the M3 motorway got in common? The answer lies deep within the hill of Tara, Ireland’s most revered archaeological site and the subject of a campaign to preserve this sacred place from the juggernaut of progress.

THE Government drive to encourage women to breastfeed could be jeopardised if the Indaver Ireland proposal for a hazardous waste incinerator goes ahead in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

THE Irish Doctors’ Environmental Association unreservedly condemns the decision by An Bord Pleanála to site a toxic waste incinerator in Ringsakiddy.

BILLIONAIRE financier Dermot Desmond is celebrating the success of yet another daring venture - he got planning permission for a dumb waiter.

A NEW national conference centre could inject up to €50 million into the economy, Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue said yesterday.

AN BORD Pleanála yesterday gave the go-ahead to a controversial landfill in east Galway despite strong local community objections.