In Short

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

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

Body taken from sea at Howth

Gardaí from Howth Garda station, Co Dublin, are seeking assistance to identify the body of a man which was recovered from the sea beside the summit in Howth yesterday.

Believed to be in his 40s, the man is described as about 175cm (5ft 9in), of average build, with brown hair and a full beard going grey.

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He was wearing a tan and navy hip-length jacket and white Reebok runners.

Four held over murder of man in Sligo

Detectives investigating the murder of a man in Sligo last December 30th arrested four people yesterday.

The three men and a woman, all from the Sligo area, are held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act for questioning about the murder of Sam Smith (25).

He was shot after he answered the door of his sister's house in Cranmore, Sligo, and died at Sligo General Hospital the day after the shooting.

Two of those arrested were being questioned at Sligo Garda station last night and the others at Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim.

Magazines record strong increases

Several Irish magazines recorded strong increases in readership in 2005, according to the Joint National Readership survey, writes Emmet Oliver.

The biggest percentage increase in readership was for music magazine Hot Press, which managed a 46 per cent increase. It now has 57,000 readers. Also making strong gains were women's magazine IT, which saw its readership boosted by 29 per cent, Irish Tatler, U magazine, VIP, Image and the RTÉ Guide, which was up almost 10 per cent.

Jury fails to reach verdict in tax case

The jury in the trial of a social welfare recipient charged with failing to make tax returns has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Christopher Griffin (37), of Ridgewood Green, Swords, had pleaded not guilty to three charges of failing to make tax returns relating to his income, profits or gains for the tax years 1993 to 1996.

Judge Frank O'Donnell remanded Mr Griffin on continuing bail for fixing of a new trial date later.

65 to lose jobs in north Dublin

There are to be some 65 redundancies at Jabil Global Services in north Dublin as part of a scaling-down process, it was confirmed yesterday. The company, which repairs printed circuit boards for the electronics industry in Clonshaugh, started a consultation process yesterday.

The remaining 71 staff will be retained, said a company representative.

Georgian Society founder honoured

The founder of the Irish Georgian Society, Desmond Guinness, was yesterday awarded a prestigious European Union prize which recognises continuous dedication to heritage conservation.

Councillor seeks to stand with Higgins

A Labour councillor in Galway intends to seek a nomination to run for the Dáil in Galway West along with the party's president, Michael D. Higgins.

Catherine Connolly said the vast majority of members felt there was room for two candidates.

The barrister and married mother of two said it concerned her that party headquarters in Dublin had made the decision for a long time that only one candidate could go forward from Galway West.

Waste firm fined over worker's death

A Co Galway waste disposal company has been fined €80,000 for breaches of health and safety regulations following the accidental death of one of its employees at its waste transfer station in 2004, writes Ann Healy.

Seán Curran, principal shareholder and director of Bruscar Bhearna Teoranta, trading as Barna Waste, pleaded guilty on behalf of the company at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to four counts of breaching safety, health and welfare at work regulations.

Pádraig O'Malley (24) died when a Volvo-loading shovel, driven by another employee, reversed over him in May 2004 at the company's waste transfer station at Carrowbrowne, Headford Road, Galway.

Mr O'Malley had worked for the company since 1998 and had acted as supervisor when Mr Curran was not around, as was the case on the date of the fatal accident.

The National Authority for Occupational Health and Safety investigated the accident and the company was prosecuted for allowing the loading shovel to be driven by an employee who had not been trained in the safe driving of such a vehicle as required by health and safety regulations.

The company was also charged with failing to install auxiliary devices to the shovel which would improve visibility for its driver, with failing to draw up and follow safe traffic rules in the work area where such equipment was in use, and with failing to take appropriate measures to ensure employees on foot in the transfer station would not be injured by equipment.

Imposing a fine of €20,000 on each of the four counts before the court, Judge Raymond Groarke described the accident as a huge tragedy, not only for the O'Malley family but for Mr Curran as well, whom he acknowledged was a close friend of Mr O'Malley.

Bernadette Gannon said that while most of her 28 recommendations to improve health and safety at the transfer station were implemented almost immediately, the company was "sluggish" when it came to implementing others.

She inspected the site last week and was now satisfied all of her recommendations had been addressed.

Five rescued after fire on fishing boat

Five crew from a Northern Ireland fishing vessel were rescued by the Irish Coast Guard off Co Louth yesterday after their boat caught fire.

The Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopter based in Dublin flew the five to safety from a life raft 23 miles east of Clogherhead, Co Louth. One of the five, all of whom are non-nationals, was treated for smoke inhalation in hospital in Drogheda.

The Ocean Harvest 2 had issued a Mayday alert after fire broke out on board. The Sikorsky responded, along with RNLI lifeboats from Clogherhead and Kilkeel.