A round up of today's other stories in brief
O2 arena makes loss in 2008 of €569,000
The operators of the O2 arena in Dublin last year made a pre-tax loss of €569,481 due to the new venue only opening in December after a complete refurbishment, writes Gordon Deegan.
According to accounts posted by Amphitheatre Ireland Ltd and subsidiaries to the Companies’ Office, the company posted turnover of €2.4 million last year – down from €7.7 million in 2007.
The former Point Theatre closed in August 2007 for an €80 million renovation programme and opened last December to widespread acclaim. According to the directors’ report, they “expect the general level of activity to continue for the foreseeable future”.
A spokesman said: “The 2008 results were impacted upon by there being only four concerts staged at the venue in December of last year due to the refurbishment.”
Mother of Jimmy Deenihan TD dies
The death has occurred of Ellen Deenihan, mother of Kerry North Fine Gael TD Jimmy Deenihan, in Finuge near Listowel.
Ms Deenihan (90) is survived by the TD, her only son, and three daughters.
She had been widowed since 1975 and had been ill for a short time.
She will repose at Lyons’s funeral home, Finuge, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm today.#
One-millionth customer at Ikea
Ikea’s new Dublin store has welcomed its one-millionth shopper yesterday, less than three months after opening.
Paul and Cliona Lee with their three-month-old daughter Molly, from Ratoath, Co Meath, won a a €1,000 voucher when they entered the store in Ballymun.
Ikea says 15,000 people a day visited the store in the first month, and the average number of daily visitors now stands at more than 12,000.