In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Appointees to airport board named

Knock airport has appointed aviation entrepreneur Ulick McEvaddy and a number of other figures to its board.

Ireland West Airport, Knock, said yesterday that it has appointed Mr McEvaddy, auctioneer Arthur French, Western Development Commission member Lisa McAllister, consultant John Travers and parish priest Mgr Joseph Quinn to its board.

All bar Mr Travers, who is from Cork, have roots in either Mayo or the west of Ireland.

US Fed Reserve minutes released

US Federal Reserve officials agreed at their December meeting that inflation was the predominant concern, but some felt the "subdued tone" of economic data meant risks to growth had increased, according to minutes released on Wednesday.

"Several members judged that the subdued tone of some incoming indicators meant that the downside risks to economic growth in the near term had increased a little and become a bit more broadly based than previously thought," said the minutes of the meeting on December 12th.

"Nonetheless, all members agreed that the risk that inflation would fail to moderate as desired remained the predominant concern." - (Reuters)

Dublin claims system goes live

Dublin-based financial software company Fineos announced yesterday that the claims management system which it provides to Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in New Zealand has gone live.

This project is Fineos's largest to date and is reportedly worth some €23.1 million.

Green contract to Gunne agents

Energia, a unit of electricity group Viridian, has won a contract to supply green energy to Gunne Residential, the estate agents. Energia will supply more than 250,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year from renewable sources to eight of Gunne's offices in a deal that is estimated will remove as much as 1,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere - equivalent to taking 300 cars off the road a year.

Diamonds firm for Aim trading

West African Diamonds, an exploration group spun off from African Diamonds last year, will start trading on London's Alternative Investment Market (Aim) today.

The company, which has assets in Sierra Leone and Guinea, will raise about £2.7 million (€4 million) from the placing of 33.5 million shares at an initial price of 20 pence each. Following the placing, the group plans to get to work immediately on bringing its mines in Sierra Leone and Guinea into production.

Chance to sponsor at Cheltenham

Cheltenham racecourse and Anglo Irish Bank have launched their 2007 Cheltenham Irish SME Sponsorship Award competition.

It gives small and medium-sized businesses the chance to win a €45,000 sponsorship package for a race at the course's April meeting, or a marketing package for the same value.

Shannon ballots under way

The result of a union ballot on the €35 million survival plan for Shannon airport could be known by the middle of next week.

About 540 workers are expected to vote in the deal, which, if accepted, will see more than 200 workers take voluntary redundancy.

Siptu has been balloting its members at the airport this week and the balloting of Impact members is due to get under way in the next number of days, with a result as early as the middle of next week.

A Siptu spokesman said the unions intended to count the ballots at the same time.