Planning & Environment

Local authorities are unfairly advantaged over private operators in the waste management sector as a result of several shortcomings in government policy in the sector. By Malachy Browne

A deal reached between Bertie Ahern and Finian McGrath, Independent TD for Dublin North Central following the general election included assurances to McGrath that no further infilling of the bay would occur in return for McGrath's support for Fianna Fail in government.

The defining archaeological feature associated with the major prehistoric royal centres of Navan Fort, Co Armagh, Knockaulin, Co Kildare, Rathcroghan, Co Roscommon and the pre-eminent royal site of Tara, Co Meath, is the concentration of large-scale, high-status and unusual monument types, many of which are of a funerary, ritual or ceremonial nature. It has long been recognised that each monument within the Tara landscape is an integral part of Tara.

A large site on the Tara motorway route is unlikely to be saved, despite it having been declared a national monument. By Emma Browne

Dublin City Council has struck a controversial deal with JC Decaux that grants the outdoor advertising company a 15-year lease on billboards on public property, mainly in the Dublin's northside. Eoin Bassett reports.

Geneticists who have tested DNA throughout Britain and Ireland are struck by the overall genetic similarities between Irish, English, Wesh and Scottish people, leading some to claim that both Britain and Ireland have been inhabited for thousands of years by a single people that have remained in the majority, with only minor additions from later invaders like Celts, Romans, Angles , Saxons, Vikings and Normans.

The Shell to Sea campaign staged a protest today at Shell headquarters in Dublin "to show solidarity with the peoples around the world who are paying the price of Shell's profits, including the people of Erris, County Mayo" where a natural gas refinery and pipeline is being constructed. The Anglo-Dutch energy company today announced profits of approximately €19bn, up nearly 33% on 2005 profits.

Local residents in Tallaght have grouped together to protect the historic Tallaght Village from overdevelopment. By Emma Browne

Plans for a 'dramatic redevlopment and expansion' of the Clarence Hotel, situated in Dublin's Temple Bar, will soon be submitted to the Dublin City Council for consideration. Computer-generated images of the finished development have been provided to Village by the architecture company leading the redevelopment, Foster and Partners.

A public hearing on the tolling scheme for of the controversial M3 Clonee to Kells motorway is to begin on 17 January in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan, five years after the scheme was announced. The hearing is being held by the National Roads Authority and will examine objections lodged in relation to the draft tolling scheme.