A round up of today's other stories in brief.
Suspected E.coli in west Limerick
Public health doctors in the HSE Mid-Western Area are investigating a suspected outbreak of E.coli in west Limerick.
A toddler who was recently transferred from the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, to Temple Street hospital, Dublin, was found to be infected with E.coli 0157.
Follow-up contacts revealed a number of positive samples among children in the area, which was not named. A local creche attended by some of the children has closed voluntarily, the HSE said.
Microsoft MD on board of HSE
The managing director of Microsoft Ireland, Joe Macri, has been appointed to the board of the Health Service Executive, which this year took over the day-to-day running of the health service from health boards, writes Eithne Donnellan.
He will take up the position vacated by Kevin Kelly, who was interim chairman of the board of the HSE and the HSE's acting chief executive before the appointment of Prof Brendan Drumm in August.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said Mr Macri was highly regarded nationally and internationally and had a track record of business leadership at Microsoft.
He was appointed in July chairman of the Small Business Forum by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin. He is a member of the management board of ICT Ireland and Ibec's national executive council.
Murder trial jury sent to hotel
The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering his estranged wife was sent to a hotel last night after it was unable to reach a verdict at the Central Criminal Court.
Gary McCrea (40), Laghy, Co Donegal, denies murdering Dolores McCrea (39), Ballintra, Co Donegal, between January 20th and January 22nd, 2004. It is alleged that Mr McCrea murdered his wife and then burned her body.
The jury deliberated for 2½ hours yesterday before being sent to a hotel by Mr Justice Michael Hanna.
Man charged with pensioner's murder
A Co Westmeath man has appeared in Mullingar District Court charged with the murder of a pensioner in September. Ian Kinahan (36), originally from Streamstown, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, was charged with murdering Mick Creighton (82).
Judge John Neilan remanded him in custody to appear at Cloverhill court on November 17th.
Teen remanded on prostitution charge
A teenage girl charged with prostitution has been remanded on bail by the Dublin Children's Court for a hearing next March.
The girl, now aged 18, was a juvenile at the time of the alleged offence at Stoneybatter, Dublin, on January 3rd. The court had heard that her mother and her sister, aged six, were present when she was allegedly engaged in an act of prostitution.
A recovering heroin addict, she was remanded in custody last week after a two-month period in which she had gone missing, had broken bail conditions, had failed to appear in court and tested positive for drug use.
Judge Timothy Lucey granted bail yesterday on condition that she resided in a hostel and provided regular urine samples.
Lorry driver fined on diesel charge
A Co Monaghan lorry driver was fined €1,900 yesterday when he was convicted on a charge of having tax-rebated coloured diesel in his vehicle.
Paul Traynor, The Square, Ballybay, failed to appear in court and was not represented. A Revenue officer told Judge Flann Brennan at Ballybay District Court that he was using prohibited tax-rebated fuel containing a dye which identified it as illicit diesel for commercial use.