• Dublin farming seen as having role in slowing urbanisation

  More than 40 per cent of Dublin's 1,450 farmers have been the victims of vandalism in the past five years, and six of them have had to pay as much as £10,000 to repair the damage, a report shows. p
  

• Study of GM foods planned

  The US administration has announced plans to study the long-term impact of GM foods on the environment. Details of the study, a significant response to consumer concerns, were outlined by Agriculture Secretary Mr Dan Glickman, who insisted worries about the crops - especially strong in Europe - were "scientifically unfounded". p
  

• Private bus services to operate at Dublin Airport

  Aer Rianta has welcomed two new private bus services which will begin operating at Dublin Airport from September. p
  

• `Riverdance' house £1.13m

  The Riverdance promoters, Mr John McColgan and Ms Moya Doherty, yesterday secured £1.13 million at auction for their Co Meath country house. The couple is shortly to build a large home at the Baily in Howth. p
  

• Former footballer charged

  Former Wolves and Northern Ireland soccer star Mr Derek Dougan (61) has been accused of aggravated burglary, police said yesterday. p
  

• Warning on traffic delays

  Gardai are advising motorists that serious traffic disruption is expected on the main Dublin-Galway Road on Friday evening, due to a National Hunt meeting at Kilbeggan Racecourse. p
  

• Dell recruits abroad

  Dell Computers, based in Limerick, is recruiting workers abroad. The company revealed yesterday it is so difficult to find people in Ireland with relevant skills in information technology that it is looking everywhere for new recruits, including Russia and India. The company says there is now a huge competitive market in information technology due to the booming economy. p
  

• 80,000 farms earn under £10,000

  Direct payments to Irish farmers last year from the EU and national funds accounted for 69 per cent of farm income, Teagasc figures published yesterday show. p
  

• Government recommends High and Supreme Court appointments

  The Government decided yesterday to recommend the appointment of Mr Justice John Murray, currently at the EU Court of Justice, to be a member of the Supreme Court, and Mr Iarfhlaith O'Neill SC to the High Court. p
  

• Council to appeal decision on skid

  A Circuit Court decision holding South Dublin County Council responsible for an accident on a rain-slicked carriageway is to be appealed to the High Court. p
  

• EU to take the State to law again

  The European Commission has set in train two further legal proceedings against Ireland for non-implementation of environmental directives, this time concerning drinking water and air pollution. The Government's attitude to such directives was yesterday described as "cavalier" by the Dublin Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna. p
  

• Fidelma Macken

  Ms Justice Fidelma Macken has barely had time to warm her seat on the High Court bench to which she was appointed last December. p
  

• Iarfhlaith O'Neill

  Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill comes to the High Court after 10 years at the senior Bar, during which his practice was largely commercial and personal injury. p
  

• John Murray

  Mr Justice Murray's appointment to the Supreme Court has been almost inevitable. It follows two stints as Attorney General, the first in the short-lived Fianna Fail government of February-December 1982, the second from 1987 to 1991, and eight years as a member of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. p
  

• Stand-up apology for urinating suffices judge

  A Dublin man who urinated at a bank cash machine was left without a criminal record yesterday when a court was told he had carried out four hours of public shaming. p
  

• Information Act scope extended

  The operation of the Freedom of Information Act has been extended to a number of new areas in the public service. p
  

• Man on murder charge due in court again today

  Mr John Crerar sat hunched over, covering his head with his hands throughout yesterday's court hearing, on a charge of murdering Ms Phyllis Murphy almost 20 years ago. p
  

• Woman denies having sex after alleged rape

  A 23-year-old woman has denied she had sex several times with her former lover in the months following an alleged rape. p
  

• Businessman asked to explain cheques from liquidated company

  A businessman, Mr Harry Crosbie, yesterday attended before the Master of the High Court for examination about the affairs of Eastland Warehousing Ltd, a company which is alleged to have misappropriated funds and to owe the Revenue more than £1 million pounds. p
  

• Bus driver admits false report about robbery

  A bus driver who mutilated himself and claimed disability benefit having made a false report to gardai alleging he had been robbed has had his sentence deferred by Judge Elizabeth Dunne. p
  

• Abuse of process over accomplice witnesses, says Meehan lawyer

  Lawyers for Mr Brian Meehan, who is accused of the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin, yesterday applied to the Special Criminal Court to stop the trial. p
  

• 5 years' jail for robbing woman (90)

  A heroin addict who robbed a 90-year-old woman and then forced her to go home to get more money has been jailed for five years. p
  

• Youth rape trial nearing its end

  The concluding stages have been reached at the Central Criminal Court in the trial of a youth accused of raping a girl in a south Dublin wooded area where teenagers met to drink. p
  

• Labour candidate to contest count

  A defeated Labour candidate is to mount a legal challenge to a result in the Laois County Council elections. p
  

• DPP challenges dismissal of assault charges

  The Director of Public Prosecutions has taken a High Court challenge to a district judge's decision to dismiss assault charges against a Co Roscommon man. p
  

• Dublin man had heroin in trousers

  A Dublin man who had £100,000 worth of heroin in his trousers after being taken to a Garda station on suspicion of theft has been jailed for six years. p
  

• Gardai suspected murder accused was drug dealer

  A man accused of murder was arrested initially on suspicion of being a drugs dealer, a jury in the Central Criminal Court has heard. p
  

• Lords to get time for debate on amendments

  The British government is expected to adjourn the Northern Ireland Bill in the House of Lords later today, following Ulster Unionist Party insistence that it will not form an executive with Sinn Fein ahead of IRA decommissioning. p
  

• NI executive in balance as UUP's policy is unchanged

  The formation of a new power-sharing executive in the North hung in the balance last night. Plans to seek nominations for the 10 ministerial posts are due to go ahead at Stormont today, but the intentions and strategy of the Ulster Unionists remain in doubt. The UUP is entitled to three ministerial posts, but if the party fails to bring forward any nominations, sources said the review procedures of the Belfast Agreement would be invoked, whereby the parties would regroup in September to discuss ways of resolving the continuing difficulties over decommissioning. p
  

• UUP sticks to policy on NI plan

  A meeting of the 110-strong Ulster Unionist executive ended last night after only 15 minutes with the party leader, Mr David Trimble, informing reporters that policy on The Way Forward document remained unchanged. p
  

• Rabbit in Blair's hat seems more like a mouse

  Against all the odds, and the expectations of many, there was an agreement on Good Friday last year. The mood in the days leading up to the final deal was negative and bleak. The first inkling that it was all turning out right in the end came early on the morning of Good Friday when Lord Alderdice, then leader of the Alliance Party, announced with disbelief written all over his face that it looked as though there was a deal. p
  

• Parity of discomfort, but no deal

  Gerry Adams led his Assembly team down the stairs of Parliament Buildings, Stormont, into its great hall to translate into words for waiting journalists what was already clear on his face. Traditionally the Sinn Fein leader opens his press conferences in the Irish language. But before he switched from Irish into English, journalists didn't need an interpreter to explain to them that "fearg" meant anger. p
  

• DUP ministers will act as opposition, says Robinson

  The two DUP ministers in the Northern Ireland administration will act as "effectively ministers in opposition", according to the deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Mr Peter Robinson. p
  

• How d'Hondt functions

  The d'Hondt system of allocating ministries in the Stormont Assembly is named after a 19th century Belgian lawyer, Victor d'Hondt. Parties are initially ranked according to the number of seats won in the Assembly elections. p
  

• Adams says amendments are `greatest blunder'

  The Sinn Fein leadership reacted angrily to British government amendments to failsafe legislation designed to ease the internal party pressure on the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble. p
  

• NI unemployment lowest since 1979

  The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Northern Ireland has fallen to its lowest level since November 1979, the British government announced yesterday. p
  

• Two killed in traffic accidents

  A 75-year-old woman passenger died yesterday in a two-car collision on the N4 in Co Sligo. p
  

• Man's body is found in river

  The body of a man was recovered from the river Lagan at Lisburn, Co Antrim, yesterday. p
  

• Pledge urged on decommissioning

  The Northern Ireland Workers' Party has called on paramilitaries to give a public pledge that decommissioning would start once an executive was set up. The party's Northern secretary, Mr Tommy Owens, said it was "time to decommission past prejudices". p
  

• 2 contenders for Bar Council post

  There are two contenders for the position of chairman of the Bar Council of Ireland. They are the current vice-chairman, Mr Rory Brady SC, and Mr Liam McKechnie SC, chairman of its professional practices committee. p
  

• Teenager airlifted off mountain

  Ms Marie McDonald (17), from Sligo town, was airlifted by helicopter off Knocknarea Mountain yesterday afternoon after breaking her leg after falling from a horse. p
  

• Record numbers through Shannon

  Record passenger numbers passed through Shannon Airport during the first six months of the year, according to figures issued by Aer Rianta at Shannon yesterday. It handled 925,879 passengers, an 18 per cent rise over the same period last year. p
  

• Industrial park is refused

  Kildare County Council on Tuesday refused outline planning permission for an industrial and business park, including a waste incinerator, at Boycetown, Kilcock. p
  

• Jobs lost as ESB cuts back at peat-fired power stations

  UP TO 150 jobs could be lost in Offaly and Westmeath because of an ESB decision to cut back on generation at two power stations. p
  

• Soldiers dismantle Drumcree barriers

  Security forces have started dismantling the barricades surrounding Drumcree church. The operation began early yesterday morning and involved the removal of the huge concrete barriers which had been set up to block the Orangemen's path to the nationalist Garvaghy Road. p
  

• Document is critical of RUC over complaints by Nelson

  The chairman of the Independent Commission on Police Complaints (ICPC), Mr Paul Donnelly, has written a 15-page "commentary" containing detailed criticism of the handling of complaints against the RUC made by the murdered solicitor, Ms Rosemary Nelson. p
  

• Mine's fate due to ore price and age

  Tara Mines is the most costly plant in the Finnish-owned Outo kompu group, which has 14,000 employees worldwide. Tara is also costlier to operate than 90 per cent of its competitors. Even if the 150 miners were to take pay cuts of £10,000 to £12,000 which they say would result from the management survival plan, they would still be earning significantly more than their counterparts at Galmoy, who are on about £20,000 a year. p
  

• Donegal exercise by Army

  A large Defence Forces exercise with more than 600 troops will take place in the Loch Gartain area of Donegal from next Sunday until the following Thursday. p
  

• Efforts to settle train disputes continue

  Efforts were continuing last night to resolve the dispute between Iarnrod Eireann and two of its employees in Cork, which could cause further disruption to passenger and freight services this Sunday. The company is also taking disciplinary action against drivers who refused to operate trains during an unofficial dispute in Athlone last Friday. p
  

• Employer, union chiefs lead talks to avert Tara shutdown

  Intensive talks to avert the closure of Tara Mines are to begin today. The president of SIPTU, Mr Jimmy Somers, and the IBEC director, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, are to join local trade union and company representatives at the talks. p
  

• Taoiseach warns against taking social partnership for granted

  The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has warned all sectors of the economy against taking social partnership for granted. With talks about to begin on a successor to Partnership 20000, he said: "Ireland must retain its winning formula of flexibility, innovation and competitiveness". p
  

• `Sweetie' is finally arriving at your local book store

  Billed as the book that made Terry Keane spill the beans, Sweetie is finally arriving on a bookshelf near you. p
  

• Hearing told plan for Mullaghmore will not generate tourism in the area

  Visitor facilities proposed for Mullaghmore in the Burren National Park are fundamentally different in principle and function from a visitor centre and will not generate tourism in the area, a Bord Pleanala hearing heard in Ennis yesterday. p
  

• Today In The Oireachtas

  10.30 a.m. Select Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights, Room G5, Kildare House. Agenda: Strategy Statement of the Dept of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. p
  

• Keating apologises to abused for failure to protect them

  The former minister for industry and commerce, Mr Justin Keating, has apologised to those who were abused in religious institutions during his term of office. He asked that other ministers who served with him do likewise. p
  

• Verdict awaited in Flood dispute

  The Supreme Court has reserved judgment on a challenge by the Criminal Assets Bureau to a High Court decision that the Flood tribunal may decide whether documents seized by CAB from the former Dublin assistant county manager, Mr George Redmond, are privileged. p
  

• Fertility treatment committee is divided

  The division in a medical committee set up to examine the ethics of fertility treatment has highlighted the need for the establishment of a regulatory body to govern practices in this area. p
  

• `Sadness' at diver's drowning

  Members of the diving community and staff at the Co Galway diving centre where a 25-year-old Co Down man was drowned on Wednesday have spoken of their sadness at the incident. p
  

• Climate Change

  Should Ireland continue in its current "business as usual" mould, it will fail to meet its obligations under the UN Kyoto agreement to curtail greenhouse gases. p
  

• Waste Production

  Every person in the State is generating half a tonne of waste a year. Between 1984 and 1995 there was 62 per cent increase in household and commercial waste. p
  

• Problems of the environment are intensifying - EPA

  Environmental problems are intensifying with economic growth and could gravely undermine Ireland's "tiger economy", according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. p
  

• Unit to check air quality

  The Environmental Protection Agency has received a new mobile unit which will be used to monitor air pollution in cities and towns. p
  

• Irish Benedictine priest made `Servant of God'

  An Irish Benedictine priest has been declared "Venerable" by the Vatican. Dom Joseph Columba Marmion was abbot of the Belgian monastery of Maredsons when he died in 1923. He is among eight to be declared a Servant of God. The others were mainly founders of religious orders. p
  

• River Pollution

  Only 67 per cent of Irish rivers are now classified as unpolluted. That is 10 per cent less than a decade ago, and reflects a continuing trend of decline in their water quality going back more than 25 years. p
  

• 50-metre pool to be ready by next year

  After years of debate and disagreement with various sports ministers, it was announced yesterday that Ireland's first 50-metre pool will be located close to the National Coaching and Training Centre (NCTC) on the University of Limerick campus. p
  

• Old heating system is blamed for oil spill from factory into Donegal Bay

  An old heating system with an underground oil pipe was being blamed yesterday for a serious oil spillage from a factory owned by a large multinational company into Donegal Bay on Monday. p
  

• Traffic Strain

  The number of vehicles on Irish roads increased by 49 per cent during the 10-year period from 1987 to 1997, reflecting strong growth in the economy. Private cars (84 per cent) accounted for most of the increase. p
  

• Photographer wins Glen Dimplex artists' award

  An English artist, Catherine Yass, won the 1999 Glen Dimplex Artists' Award last night at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. She is a photographer, and at the current exhibition in the IMMA she is showing photographs of unoccupied capsule hotel rooms for businessmen in Tokyo and of empty urinals. p
  

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