NAMA chief executive Brendan McDonagh has today welcomed the announcement by An Bord Pleanála of its approval for the Dublin Docklands SDZ planning scheme.

The GAA has said it accepts recommendations put forward in the latest effort to resolve a row with residents around Croke Park in Dublin.

John O’ Connor, the chairman of An Bord Pleanala, today hit out at the use of retention rules by developers, the practise whereby unauthorised developments are granted planning permission retrospectively.

An Bord Pleanála has said it expects to receive an all-time record of more than 6,000 appeals this year.

The Government is determined to deliver more social housing, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said tonight.

Shell Ireland said today that any concerns about the safety of its onshore pipeline in Co Mayo would be addressed in an independent review currently underway.

Government plans to fast-track planning for major infrastructure schemes are designed to blame the public for delays, it was claimed today.

The employers' body IBEC is calling for the establishment of a special court system to speed up legal challenges to infrastructure projects.

Former junior minister Ivor Callely could reportedly be forced to demolish a garage conversion next to his Co Cork holiday home as it breached planning laws.

The Government is reportedly due to publish planned new legislation today aimed at fast-tracking major infrastructure projects.

A waste management company is to lodge a new planning application seeking to increase the size of a controversial incineration plant being built in Co Meath, it emerged today.

An Bord Pleanala is to be restructured in a bid to deliver major infrastructure decisions more quickly, the Government said today.

An Bord Pleanala has upheld an appeal against a €25m superdump planned for the Meath-Kildare border.

An environmentalist who lost his court challenge to the routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara today had legal costs of up to €600,000 awarded against him.

The €70m revamp of Páirc Uí Chaoimh was today given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.

An Bord Pleanála is to reconsider applications for two wind farm developments in Co Roscommon.

Dubin Port has seen an increase in imports and exports of 7.3% in the first nine months of the year.

Rural residents opposed to wind farms are planning to protest this morning outside a meeting of the Irish Wind Energy Association in Kilkenny.

Anti-wind-turbine protestors said today that the Government’s energy policy is flawed, and are calling for a re-think.

A PLANNING objection by a Cork solicitor and his wife could delay a kidney dialysis unit in Limerick by up to a year, the company behind the development said yesterday.