A report headed "Fine Gael TD declines Labour offer" in last Friday's editions said Mayo Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Ring had stated that he had "declined an attractive offer to defect to the Labour Party".

The report also stated that a source close to Mr Ring had confirmed he had "open and frank discussions with the Labour Party". In fact, Mr Ring states that neither he nor anyone close to him had said this and that there is no truth in the story.

In Tuesday's reports on the return of Ronnie Biggs to England it was stated that Margate was in Essex. In fact, the town is in Kent.

The blood products which infected haemophiliac patients were manufactured by the BTSB in the mid-1980s, and not by the IBTS, which effectively replaced the BTSB in April 2000. The IBTS never claimed, as may have been implied in a leading article on Monday, that the infection had arisen only from imported products.

On the contrary, Dr Emer Lawlor, deputy medical director of the IBTS, gave evidence to the Lindsay Tribunal in June 2000 that the BTSB products had caused some infections.

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