A round-up of some other news reports.
Magic mushroom action fails
A Cork shopkeeper has failed to get a High Court order stopping Customs officers from seizing shipments of unprocessed magic mushrooms which she wants to continue selling in her Funky Skunk store.
Helen Stone had sought the injunction pending the outcome of legal proceedings which she has brought against the Customs and Excise Service.
The owner of the clothing and organic products store at Hanover Place in Cork complained that seizures of the mushrooms were having a bad effect on her business.
Ms Stone claims the mushrooms are imported in a fresh and unprocessed state from Holland, are not processed by her or her employees and are therefore not illegal.
While refusing to grant the order yesterday, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy said she would fix an early date for the hearing and listed the case for mention again on February 16th.
Woman expressed suicidal ideas
A depressed woman who was noted by nurses at St Patrick's psychiatric hospital, Dublin, as expressing suicidal ideas four days before she committed suicide should have been kept under closer observation by the hospital, a consultant psychiatrist told the High Court yesterday, writes Mary Carolan.
The care given by St Patrick's hospital to Catherine Madigan fell below an appropriate standard, Dr Paul McLaren, medical director of The Priory private psychiatric clinic in the UK, said.
Dr McLaren said he believed Ms Madigan could have recovered from a depressive episode had she been more closely observed after she returned on May 10th, 1998, to the hospital in a very low mood following a weekend at home.
Ms Madigan should have been considered a high suicide risk from May 10th, he believed.
Her husband had phoned the hospital earlier that day to say she had wanted to throw herself into the river that morning.
He was giving evidence in the continuing action for damages brought by Joseph Madigan, Bridge Street, Callan, Co Kilkenny, alleging negligence relating to her care at St Patrick's in 1998.The case resumes on Tuesday.
Priest fails to stop sex offences trial
A priest has lost a High Court bid to stop his trial on four charges of indecently assaulting a woman when she was in her early 20s.
The assaults allegedly occurred in the early 1980s and include alleged assaults at a church where the young woman's mother was a sacristan. A formal complaint of assault was first made in May 2002.
Yesterday Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne found the priest, now in his 70s, had failed to establish that his right to a fair trial had been prejudiced on grounds of delay in making a formal complaint of assault.
Shelbourne Hotel gets drinks licence
Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel, which is undergoing its first complete restoration since 1847, has been granted a declaratory order by the Circuit Licensing Court.
The order means that the new development, which includes more than 100 new bedrooms, will automatically receive a drinks licence.
The court was told it was hoped the hotel would be opened again by the end of the summer.
Two injured in explosion
Two people were slightly injured in an explosion at a butcher's shop in Harold's Cross in Dublin on Saturday. The pedestrians were passing the shop on Harold's Cross Road when the windows were blown out shortly after 8pm. The two injured people were taken to St James's Hospital. The cause of the blast has not yet been established.
Firefighters tackle forest fire in Killarney
Several units of the fire service were last night attempting to fight a forest fire on the main Killarney to Cork road. The fire on Killeen Mountain near Glenflesk on the N22 east of Killarney broke out in the afternoon and was visible for miles. Fire services had difficulty reaching the area because of the terrain and the extent of the fire.
500 attend 13th science olympiad
More than 500 second-level students descended on Dublin City University on Saturday for the 13th science olympiad. Science students from the 32 counties were nominated by their teachers.
This offers winners the chance to represent Ireland at the international science olympiads this summer in Argentina, Korea, Singapore and Mexico. Overall gold medal winners who received their awards from Minister for Education Mary Hanafin were: Moyra Lawrence (biology), Loreto secondary school, Balbriggan, Co Dublin; Clare O'Driscoll (physics), Mercy Heights secondary school, Skibbereen, Co Cork; Stephen Dolan (computer programming) Coláiste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal and Joseph Walsh (chemistry), St Columb's College, Derry.