Monthly Archives: September 2011

Behold the extent of the major A5 Derry to Aughnacloy, county Tyrone road upgrade (in red on the map above). Nice isn’t it? You’re paying for nearly half of it.

The Irish Republic’s Department of Transport has told the BBC it has already spent £19m on the project.

The 55-mile long road from Derry to Aughnacloy will be improved into a high-quality dual-carriageway.It will create a key cross border business route linking Dublin to the north west.

The total cost will be £850m. Of this, £400m has been promised by the Irish government.

All comments in the spirit of cross-border harmony please.

Irish government has already spent £19m on A5 road upgrade (BBC News NI)

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Pity poor Gerry Harvey, billionaire owner of Harvey Norman – stuck in Irish lease contracts for the next 20 years, it’s estimated it could cost the company AUS$400 million to leave.

Announcing Harvey Norman’s annual results last week, executive chairman Harvey was customarily colourful, deflecting attention from his Irish woes and preferring to highlight the woes besetting his Australian customers. Headlines after last week’s annual results focused on Harvey’s comments about how Australians should be happy as ”pigs in shit” given the nation’s prosperity from the mining boom. But they masked the red ink besetting the Irish operations that continue to bleed.

In 2009, the loss was nearly $50 million. Last week, Harvey Norman said the operating loss in Ireland and Northern Ireland for 2011 was $38.6 million, comparing it with a $51.1 million loss in 2010.

Ireland Crushes Norman Conquest (The Age)

(Thanks Mark Geary)
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