A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Councillor 'confident' Queen Elizabeth will accept Cork invite
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II looks set to visit Cork during her State visit to Ireland next month,
writes Barry Roche.
Sources have said the Queen, and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, will spend three to four hours in Cork. Cllr Michael O’Connell (Labour) wrote to the British ambassador, Julian King, last month extending an invite to the Queen to visit Cork and yesterday he expressed confidence that she would take up the invitation.
“I’d be quietly confident that Queen Elizabeth would come to Cork – it would be a great boost not just for Cork city but for the southwest region if she did visit as it would really bring us world attention and help promote the area as a tourist destination,” said Mr O’Connell.
It is believed the royals will attend an official reception at Cork City Hall and visit the English Market, one of oldest food markets of its kind in Europe, dating from 1788.
Locals detained after Cork raids
Gardaí in Co Cork were last night continuing to question a number of people after the seizure of several hundred thousand euro in a series of raids as part of an investigation into an international money laundering operation,
writes Barry Roche.
Local detectives backed up by members of the Criminal Assets Bureau from Dublin carried out raids on premises at locations in the county on Saturday and arrested a number of people including a couple in their 30s.
High-tech jobs boost for Galway
About 70 high-tech posts will be announced in Galway today as communications company Avaya expands its operation in the city.
The jobs boost will be announced by Minister of State for Jobs Seán Sherlock at the launch of a customer centre for Avaya at Mervue Industrial Park.
The jobs, all in the IT sector, are expected to be filled by the end of the year.
Avaya will be recruiting software engineers, developers, programmers and managers.
Protest over mental patients transfer
There was some controversy last night over the transfer of adult psychiatric patients from St Davnet's Hospital in Monaghan town to Cavan General Hospital.
The HSE confirmed yesterday the move will not mean the "complete closure" of the campus. A spokesman said it is planned that from May and June next all patients requiring acute adult inpatient care in mental health services in the region will be transferred to Cavan. The news sparked a protest from the Monaghan Hospital Retention Committee.