Other stories in brief...
Man wounded in shooting at funeral
A man was wounded yesterday following a shooting at a funeral near Dundalk, Co Louth.
The incident took place at about 2pm at the burial of a member of the Travelling community at St Patrick's Cemetery in Dowdallshill, north of Dundalk.
The man, believed to be in his 30s and from south Dublin, received gunshot wounds to the side and was taken to Louth County Hospital.
He was later transferred to a Dublin hospital, but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening. Two firearms were recovered at the scene.
Gardaí at Dundalk have appealed for witnesses.
Boys (15) detained over attacks
Two 15-year-old boys, who were part of a gang that attacked gardaí with kicks, bites, punches, stones and bottles and hit a female garda in the stomach with a brick, have been detained for two years by Judge Bryan Smyth at the Dublin Children's Court.
A third boy, also aged 15, who had a lesser role, was detained for two months.
Judge Smyth said they had been involved in "very serious acts" in Ballymun, Dublin on the night of May 13th last and he hoped the sentences would be in their best interests.
Two are to be held in the Trinity House detention centre, while the boy who received the two-month term is to serve his sentence in Oberstown Boys' Centre.
383 drink-driving arrests in week
There were a total of 383 drink-driving arrests in the past week, according to provisional figures released by An Garda Síochána yesterday.
The figures, for the seven-day period from December 4th-11th, are an increase on the 374 arrests for drink-driving recorded during the previous week.
At the beginning of November, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy revealed at an Oireachtas committee that 2,700 people were arrested for being over the limit since random breath-testing was introduced in July.
Tributes paid to prison governor
Tributes have been paid to the Governor of Limerick Prison, Pat Laffan, who died in Dublin at the weekend.
Mr Laffan, who had been battling cancer for some time, died in the Bon Secours Hospital on Sunday night. A native of Caherconlish, Co Limerick, Mr Laffan (57) had been governor since 1995.
Chief officer at Limerick Prison Eamon Mullane said yesterday that Mr Laffan was extremely innovative and presided over fundamental changes at the prison.
Mr Laffan, who is survived by his wife Catherine and three children, will be buried tomorrow following Mass at St Nicholas Church in Westbury.
Customs seize 1.2m cigarettes
Customs officials yesterday seized 1.2 million cigarettes, with an estimated street value of €360,000, at Waterford Port.
The cigarettes were concealed in a container on a vessel that arrived from Rotterdam and were found by Waterford Port officers from Revenue's Customs Service. The haul posed a potential loss of revenue of €290,000.
No arrests were made but inquiries are continuing.
Two questioned about murder
A man and woman were being questioned yesterday about the murder of a pensioner in her home. Annie McCartan (75) was beaten and stabbed to death in her house at Summer Hill in Warrenpoint, Co Down, last June.
Ms McCartan had been shopping in Newry before getting the bus home during the afternoon of June 15th. Detectives believe she was preparing food in the kitchen when her killers struck. - (PA)
Man for court over post office murder
The man charged with the murder of Kilkenny postmaster Alan Cunniffe will appear at Cloverhill District Court this morning at 10.30am.
Shu Shen (24), an unemployed Chinese man of no fixed abode, was arrested in Kilkenny and appeared at a special sitting of Kilkenny District Court on Sunday morning charged with the murder of Mr Cunniffe at Wolfe Tone Street and with robbing the post office at John's Green of €13,760. Mr Shen was granted legal aid and remanded to Cloverhill Prison.
Sex assault charges ruled out
Three of the charges against a Kildare man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter have been ruled out by Mr Justice Barry White following legal argument at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Justice White said he will direct that "not guilty" verdicts should be returned on one rape and two indecent assault counts and will leave one rape charge and six charges of indecent assault on the now 38-year-old complainant to be decided by the jury.
The 59-year-old man had pleaded not guilty to two charges of rape between 1976 and 1985 and eight charges of indecent assault on his daughter between 1976 and 1982.
Man denies threats
A garda has told a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury that a knife and hatchet were found when a Turkish man charged with threatening to kill his former landlord was arrested.
Ismail Guler (40), North Circular Road, Phibsboro, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to four charges alleging threats to kill or harm and two charges of demanding money with menaces.
He denies issuing a threat to Darren Foster on January 11th and to Gerard Corbally on January 25th, 2006 that he would kill or cause serious harm to John Finnegan. He also denies he made threats to Mr Finnegan that he would kill him or cause him serious harm. He further denies two charges of demanding €3,000 from Mr Finnegan with menaces.The trial continues.
Two charged with demanding money
Two men were sent for trial yesterday to the Circuit Criminal Court on charges of allegedly attempting to obtain €80,000 from a Co Monaghan family living in an isolated rural area, when they appeared on separate charges at a sitting of the District Court in Carrickmacross.
Patrick Byrne (33), Leege, Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and Joseph Brady (22), Muirhevnamore, Dundalk, Co Louth, were charged with demanding money by menaces from Patrick Martin, at Drumgurra, Corduff, Co Monaghan, on May 26th last.
Mr Brady faced an additional charge of using an imitation firearm with intent to obtain money by menaces. Both were remanded on their own bail to the Circuit Criminal Court at Monaghan, on January 15th next year.
Man jailed for rampage on island
A Dublin man who went on a rampage on one of the Aran Islands off Co Galway, stealing two cars and crashing one of them into a wall, appeared before Galway District Court where he was sentenced to five months in prison.
Christopher Whelan, Parslickstown Green, Blanchardstown, Dublin, pleaded guilty to stealing two cars on Inis Mór, on October 12th, 2005.
Veronica Guerin bursary in DCU
A Veronica Guerin memorial bursary has been established for journalism students in DCU.
As of 2007 applicants for the masters in journalism programme will be able to apply for the bursary worth €8,500.