THE development of the new National Children’s Hospital, due to open in 2016, will not be contingent on charitable donations, Health Minister Dr James Reilly said yesterday.

Land giveaways are rare in Ireland. Oliver Moore reports on the thinking behind octogenarian David Rowe’s decision to donate his entire five-acre holding in Co Carlow to a land trust.

THE HSE South has been refused planning permission to remove a large Christian statue from above the main entrance of the Killarney Community Hospital, which it took down and then replaced at ground level.

THE final cost of the controversial Corrib Gas project is now expected to near €3 billion, as one of the partners admitted that it may not be until late 2014 when gas is finally flowing.

ANTI-PYLON protesters have expressed hope that an international commission, which is to examine the controversial North-South electricity commentator, will recommend that power lines for the project be placed underground.

THE board tasked with developing the new national children’s hospital has slashed by almost 50% the amount it is hoping to raise in charitable donations towards the estimated €650 million cost of the project.

A NUMBER of GPs in Killarney, along with a development company, have been forced to seek planning retention for the use of a building they moved into as a new medical centre last year.

BUSINESS and tourism interests have warned of a “negative impact” for an east Cork town where planning was granted for a sludge treatment plant.

A SCHOOL at the centre of bitter controversy over plans for a new building has invited public representatives to an open day today to hear its side of the story.

A NUMBER of property development companies co-owned by well-known Limerick businessmen, Joe Hanrahan and John Shee recorded combined losses of over €12 million in 2009, new accounts show.

A DECISION on the funding of a new national children’s hospital has been put off until September when the Government will establish how much money is available for the project.

CORK County Council is continuing to charge fees and development contributions for school building applications despite planning laws allowing them to waive such charges.

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.

A GROUP of Killarney pharmacists has lodged yet another objection to a local GP-led healthcare centre.

A WASTE management contractor who has run a recycling business without planning permission for more than six years has given an undertaking to cease operations at the site in north Kerry by May 31.

A WASTE management company that lost its bid to develop a 240,000-tonne incinerator in Cork harbour is to seek the re-opening of the 2009 An Bord Pleanála hearing into the planned project.

THE former chairman of An Bord Pleanala, John O’Connor, received a lump sum payment of €364,617 when stepping down from the role this year.

ONE of Shell’s partners in the €2.5 billion Corrib Gas project has conceded that gas will not now be brought ashore until 2014.

HERITAGE campaigners have told An Bord Pleanála they fear an historic city landmark will become nothing more than a “curiosity” if a €150 million events centre goes ahead on the site of Ireland’s oldest brewery.

NOTHING stands still: not time, not the ground we stand on, and certainly not a city.