RETAIL giant Lidl has apologised to three politicians it accused of interfering in the planning process for political reasons.

THE handing over of Thomond Park to contractors for the €40 million redevelopment of the stadium has been delayed by one week.

A DELEGATION from the European Commission is to travel to Dublin next month to inspect the proposed site for an incinerator at Poolbeg.

CONFUSION surrounded the fate of the controversial Poolbeg incinerator last night after Tánaiste Michael McDowell said the project had collapsed, only to be contradicted by Dublin City Council.

IKEA’S plans to open up shop just off the congested M50 in North Dublin are to be put to the test at an oral hearing next month.

TALKS continued over the weekend to try and resolve the planning impasse which threatens to delay the€40 million development of Thomond Park.

WHEN the GAA’s Management Committee and Central Council meet today they should take stock of the decisions they are being asked to make as regards the use of Croke Park in 2008 for games other than those promoted by the GAA.

THE Limerick rugby club, which is objecting to the €40 million redevelopment of Thomond Park, yesterday pledged to resolve the issue.

ONE of Ireland’s wealthiest property developers has been refused planning permission to revamp one of Kinsale’s most noted hostelries.

ONE of the country’s leading anti-incinerator groups will today call for a change of government.

MORE than 2,500 formal objections to plans by the four local authorities in Dublin to build a large incinerator on a site in Poolbeg at the mouth of the River Liffey have been lodged.

POLITICIANS canvassing for votes in the general election are getting plenty of ‘stick’ on the doorsteps from people experiencing difficulties in obtaining planning permission in rural areas, a planning conference heard.

NAKED political opportunism is the charge confronting Tánaiste Michael McDowell following his declaration that the Progressive Democrats will not take part in any future Government which supports the incinerator planned for his Dublin constituency.

HUNDREDS of residents opposed to plans for a waste incinerator at Poolbeg are expected to show up at an oral hearing into the controversial project today.

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.

THE Dublin Airport Authority has claimed that its proposed second terminal at Dublin Airport is arguably “the most important public building in a generation.”

RYANAIR said yesterday that it doesn’t believe the European Commission (EC) will force it to sell its 25.17% stake in Aer Lingus.

RYANAIR has accused the Dublin Airport Authority of “monopoly abuse” over its plans to press ahead with a controversial second terminal at Dublin Airport.

YOU published a rather puerile letter headlined ‘Time to take a stand against urban sprawl’ (Irish Examiner, December 16).

CONTROVERSIES over planning and housing look set to continue in An Daingean in 2007.