Aer Rianta has decided to put on hold the sale of the Torc Great Southern Hotel in Killarney pending clarification of staff issues.
In a joint statement issued yesterday after a meeting between senior SIPTU and Aer Rianta officials, both sides said they had agreed to reserve their positions until a joint high-level review "to address and resolve staff issues raised".
For its part SIPTU, whose members in the eight Great Southern Hotels had voted for strike action, has postponed the threatened strike.
The review group is expected to meet next week.
Airline to retain limited services
Euroceltic Airways has reversed a decision to withdraw passenger services from the South East Regional Airport in Waterford with effect from January 26th.
The future of the airport was thrown into serious doubt in December following the announcement by the Irish-owned airline that it intended discontinuing services.
Some 22 employees were placed on protective notice, and a question mark hung over the helicopter search-and-rescue service operated from the airport by CHC Ltd on behalf of the Irish Coast Guard.
Efforts had been under way to secure a replacement airline while the airport's future is also on the agenda for a meeting on January 22nd at which business leaders from Waterford will lobby the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen.
However, the chairman of Euroceltic Airways, Mr Noel Hanley, said yesterday that the airline now intended to provide a reduced service on the Waterford-London Luton route. Flights will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until March 29th, with daily services thereafter.
Mr Hanley said the decision to continue providing a limited service was contingent on the airport withdrawing proposed increases in landing and ground handling charges.
A spokesman for the South East Regional Airport said last night that the board would consider the initiative while continuing to seek a sustainable future for the airport.
Boost for research on rare diseases
A Cork institute which researches rare diseases received a cash boost yesterday after a leading pharmaceutical company and the Department of Health donated €200,000 to the project.
Pfizer made public its donation of €100,000 in seed-funding to the European Institute for Clinical Trials in Rare Diseases at the centre's base in University College Cork (UCC) yesterday afternoon.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, announced that his Department would match the pharmaceutical company's funding.
The institute will provide clinical trial services on a not-for-profit basis for designated medicinal products in rare diseases.
Rare diseases are defined in the EU as individual diseases or conditions that affect fewer than five per 10,000 citizens. About 3,500 rare diseases fulfil these prevalence criteria. Collectively, they affect about 25 million citizens of the European Union.
Rule on size of structures opposed
Members of Clare County Council have expressed their opposition to a new regulation that says that a dwelling that replaces an existing structure in the countryside should be of similar size.
The leader of the Fianna Fáil group on the council, Cllr P.J. Kelly, said yesterday the policy was "a non-runner".
Clare's landscape is dotted with dilapidated houses from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
"I never thought the council would come up with such an absurd policy where it expects people today to live in the type of houses of 250 sq ft to 400 sq ft that were around during Penal Law times," Cllr Kelly said.
He would lodge a motion to delete the policy from the County Development Plan at the council's March meeting, he said.