A round up of todauy's other stories in brief
Man charged over opera set drugs find
An Armagh man has been charged in the UK in relation to the discovery of cocaine with a street value of €420,000 in a truck in Dover which was transporting theatre sets to Ireland for a show in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre next month.
The drugs were found by UK customs officers after the truck had entered the country from Germany on Friday. The sets were to be used in Opera Ireland's winter season production of La Traviata. They were being shipped from Theatre Aachen, one of Germany's state theatres, which is co-producing the performance with Opera Ireland.
Opera Ireland chief executive David Collopy said the seizure would delay the show's rehearsals, which were due to start next week.
Belfast police seize fireworks
Police in north Belfast have seized a substantial quantity of illegal fireworks and other items following three planned searches yesterday afternoon.
Over 1,000 fireworks, along with 40 cartons of cigarettes, were seized from a house at Downview Gardens, off Antrim Road. The fireworks were mostly rocket-types.
Man injured in fall gets €200,000
An electrician who suffered serious leg injuries when he fell off a ladder after it slipped as he installed a CCTV camera cable at the Royal Dublin Society was awarded more than €200,000 damages at the High Court yesterday.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson said Gerard McQuade (30), Cherrywood Lawns, Clondalkin, has not worked since the accident and had been left "extremely" handicapped.
He had sued Trionics (Ireland) Ltd of Sandyford, Dublin and the RDS as a result of the accident on September 9th, 1999.
Man remanded on drink drive charge
A motorist was remanded on continuing bail on a drink driving charge arising out of an accident in which a schoolgirl died.
Joseph Murphy, Raheen, Bunclody, Co Wexford, appeared before Enniscorthy District Court yesterday on a charge of driving with excess alcohol at Bunclody on October 16th last.
Katie Byrne (15), Tullow, died in the accident.
Evidence ends in crash fraud case
The jury in the trial of a Longford businessman charged with conspiracy to defraud an insurance company may begin its deliberations today at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Aloysius Manning (57), Newtown Forbes, Co Longford, denies he conspired with Michael Byrne, Michael Byrne Motors Ltd, and Gerard Smyth, Strokestown, Co Roscommon, to defraud Guardian Royal Exchange by "staging" an accident at Drumsna, Co Leitrim on April 10th, 1994.
Man defrauded firm of €14,000
An accounts assistant who defrauded his employer of over €14,000 to pay for his wedding has received a two years suspended sentence from Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Stuart Mortimer (34), from Sittingbourne, Kent but living in Herbert Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to two counts of defrauding Softco Ltd, in Leopardstown, between August 29th, 2002 and August 21st, 2003.
Disability course for rail staff
A two-day course to improve disability awareness among Iarnród Éireann staff was launched yesterday.
Organised with the assistance of a number of disability groups, the course is aimed at helping rail workers to assist customers with disabilities.
