A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Westlife and X-Factor star Mary Byrne to perform for Queen
Westlife and X-Factor contestant Mary Byrne are among the acts to perform for Queen Elizabeth during an evening celebrating fashion, music and theatre in Dublin next month.
Queen Elizabeth will be joined by President Mary McAleese and 2,000 guests in an unnamed venue in Dublin’s docklands on the last evening of her State visit.
The event is being hosted by the British ambassador to Ireland on behalf of the Queen.
The show will be produced by entrepreneur Harry Crosbie with Riverdance founder John McColgan as artistic director and assisted by film maker Gerald Heffernan and magazine publisher Norah Casey.
ESB names design team for new HQ
A team led by Grafton Architects and O'Mahony Pike has emerged as the winner of an international competition to design a new headquarters for the ESB on Dublin's Fitzwilliam Street, writes FRANK McDONALD
The ESB confirmed yesterday that it would be commencing “exclusive negotiations” with the two Dublin-based practices with a view to concluding an architectural services contract for the scheme.
The announcement came two years after the ESB first said it was planning to redevelop the site.
U2's drummer to make acting debut
Larry Mullen jnr, drummer with U2, is to make his acting debut in a remake of Patrice Leconte's 2002 French drama Man on the Train, writes DONALD CLARKE.
Mullen plays a sombre hoodlum who, after arriving in a small town, makes friends with an elderly teacher, played by Donald Sutherland, and starts to envy the man’s sedate lot.
Mullen takes a role played by Johnny Hallyday, the French pop star, in Leconte’s admired original film. The film is directed by the Irish film-maker Mary McGuckian, Mullen is as a co-producer.