The chairman of the Community Games, Mr Michael O'Brien, died suddenly yesterday. Mr O'Brien (62) suffered a heart attack while driving near his home in Cork city.
A life-long Community Games activist, he was elected national chairman of the organisation last January. Funeral details will be announced later today.
Mr O'Brien is survived by his wife Marion and children Stephen, Michael, Alan, Derek, David and Clodagh.
The 33rd annual Community Games will be held in Mosney, Co Meath, over the final two weekends in August.
Pensioner on drugs importation charge
A South African pensioner arrested at Dublin Airport on Monday was remanded in custody yesterday charged with the illegal importation of €75,000 worth of herbal cannabis.
Mr Kenneth Fordred (71), Marine Drive, Durban, was charged with having 30kg of the drug in his luggage as he came off a flight from Paris.
His solicitor asked that a free legal aid certificate be granted as he was retired and received a small pension of about €50 a week. "He also works occasionally as a tour operator but at the moment had not been getting any work."
Judge David Anderson granted legal aid and remanded him in custody to appear on August 15th in Cloverhill District Court.
Girl (2) is critical after Donegal crash
A two-year-old girl remained critically ill in the intensive care unit of Letterkenny General Hospital in Donegal last night following a crash earlier in the day.
Her mother is recovering in the same hospital from injuries received when their car was in collision with a passenger bus at Ballyraine, outside Letterkenny. No one on the bus was injured.
Gardaí are anxious to hear from witnesses to the accident and can be contacted at (074) 22222.
Man is questioned over oil slick
Gardaí in Fermoy, Co Cork, were last night questioning a man about a 30-mile oil slick which caused half a dozen minor accidents on the main Dublin-Cork road yesterday.
Several cars skidded on the diesel slick which stretched from New Inn, Co Tipperary, to Mitchelstown, Co Cork, but nobody was injured.
Gardaí believe a leak in a lorry's fuel tank was responsible for the incident. Local fire services and county council crews gritted the road.
Appeal to teenager to return home
Gardaí have called on a missing teenage girl who is believed to have run away from home to contact her family.
Ms Stacey Thompson (14) vanished from Prosperous, near Clane, Co Meath, early on Monday. She is five feet three inches with light brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, white runners, a pink-and-blue top and a denim jacket.
Travellers want meeting deferred
The Mayo Travellers' Support Group has urged the Vintners' Federation of Ireland to defer an emergency meeting of its national council scheduled for tonight in Portlaoise. The meeting is to discuss the ban on Travellers in Westport pubs.
"Reports that the ban on Travellers may become a national one are extremely worrying," said Ms Cas McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the group. "It is our view that no further action should be taken at this time."
The group intends to contact the Human Rights Commission and urge it to carry out an independent investigation into the incidents which led to the ban in Westport.