THE PEOPLE living in a handful of newly-built houses in a small estate in Dublin were distinctly unimpressed when sewage started backing up into their homes earlier this year. It became clear that the problem wasn’t isolated to a single house or two so the residents employed an engineer to investigate the problem.

Need a nicotine hit? Want to beat the smoking ban? A smokeless cigarette could be the answer, for the long – or short – haul. Just be prepared for some funny looks, writesROSEMARY Mac CABE 

THE FIRST of the State's new inter-urban motorways, the 194km M4/M6 route from Dublin to Galway, has been completed six months ahead of deadline and is on schedule to open before the end of the year.

This week Christmas

MONITOR: THE PACKAGING IS distinctly understated, but boy does it feel good. Old-fashioned, lightly waxed paper, a drawing of somebody sitting astride a stool, milking a cow. Beurre Cru à la Baratte Bois Moulé à la Main written in pale red. What’s this? Raw butter? No pasteurisation? Okay, so at €3.50 per 125g it’s not cheap, but boy does it taste good.

“IT HAS BEEN FROCKS, frocks and more frocks for the past three weeks,” announces Louise Kennedy, fresh in from Florence where she has been working with manufacturers on prototypes for her winter 2010 collection. A few hours later she set off for Slovenia to work on her new crystal collection which will premiere at Showcase in January. Then it’s on to New Delhi in India for her annual six-week collaboration with the artisan craftsmen who bejewel and decorate her clothes so lavishly and in such detail. In the meantime, her outlet shop at Kildare Village, which she describes as “the most sophisticated method of clearing out my warehouse,” has been performing even better than expected since its October opening, attracting a new clientele to the Kennedy label.

From bust to boom, the Argentinian capital has changed beyond recognition sinceMICHAEL T LUONGO started writing about the city, after falling for its charms almost a decade ago