News Brief

Kiely Inquest Adjourned

The inquest into the death of a 15-year-old who died after being struck with a baseball bat in Dublin has been further adjourned. Rebekah Kiely from Carpenterstown died from head injuries after being stuck near the Old Navan Road in Dublin on November 10 2006. Today Coroner Dr Brian Farrell granted an application by Inspector Colm Fox for a further adjournment of the inquest. The inquest will be listed for mention again in May.



Aer Lingus Confident Of Cost-Cutting Deal

Aer Lingus Chief Dermottt Mannion has said he is confident of reaching an agreement with unions on the company's cost-cutting programme. Yesterday's discussion deadline did not yield results however both sides are said to be making progress.



WWI Grenades Found In Dublin Home

Nineteen WWI grenades have been found at a house in the Ballsbridge area of south Dublin. Defence forces were alerted at 11am this morning after workers uncovered the grenades while renovating the house. The area was evacuated and an all-clear has been given.



N55 Blocked After Truck Jack-Knifes

The N55 has been blocked at Granard, Co Longford following a traffic incident this afternoon. A truck has jack-knifed on the main road between Edgeworthstown and Cavan. Roads are reported to be very bad in the area.



Cocaine Factory Discovered

Garda in west Dublin discovered a cocaine-mixing factory yesterday. A 36 year-old-man has been arrested in connection with the discovery in which cocaine with an estimated street value of ¤200,000 was found. Gardaí from the National Drugs Unit arrested the man yesterday afternoon at a unit on Elm Road in the Western Industrial Estate on the Naas Road. A Garda spokesman said a "significant quantity of drugs paraphernalia" was discovered. The man was taken to Clondalkin Garda Station. He is due to appear in court this morning.



Thousands Removed From Medical Card Lists

Thousands of vulnerable people are reportedly being systematically removed from the medical card scheme because of HSE bureaucracy. Reports this morning say the measure is being taken when patients fail to return annual review forms on time. Most of these patients later re-apply and obtain a new card, but have to pay their own medical costs in the intervening period. The situation has been revealed by a Dublin GP who reportedly had almost 1,500 patients deleted from his medical card list in just over two years.



Chad Deployment Reviewed

The decision to postpone the deployment of the first group of Irish soldiers to the central African nation of Chad will be reviewed today. The EU peacekeeping mission to the troubled nation was abruptly postponed last night amid reports that a rebel troop movement forced the closure of Chad's main airport in N'Djamena. Fifty-four members of the Irish Army Rangers were due to depart from Dublin Airport but remain in barracks this morning. Their aircraft remains on standby but it is unclear when the deployment will go ahead. Their job will be to set up camp and help create a safe working zone for the main body of 350 Irish troops who will be deployed to Chad in mid-March. Troops from France, Sweden, Poland and Romania will make up the rest of the mission.