One of the largest construction companies in the United States was asked for its advice on the State’s national children’s hospital, Ronan McGreevy and Shauna Bowers report.

The Gilbane Building Company, founded by Famine-era emigrants from Co Leitrim, is one of the largest developers of healthcare facilities in the United States. It remains family-owned to this day.

Elsewhere, the budget fallout continues. Irish film and television companies have expressed disappointment at the exclusion from last week’s budget of an enhanced tax break for regional productions, two years after the Government phased out the original scheme.