A round-up of other stories in brief...
PSNI deals with 'very large bomb'
Police in Co Fermanagh said yesterday they were dealing with the components of what they called “a very large bomb”.
The discovery was made by a man working on farmland on Tuesday in the Dernawilt area of the county close to the border with Monaghan.
This follows a dissident republican warning made last month that a device had been left along the road between Donagh and Roslea.
The PSNI said last night it could not comment on the detail of the bomb parts which were found in a beer keg. But a senior officer did confirm that the discovery included some 50kg of fertiliser. PSNI commander in the area Chief Insp Alywin Barton said the explosives could have killed.
Call for Belfast investment
Former head of the IDA Padraic White has called on the Northern Executive to grant a special investment status to nationalist west Belfast and the neighbouring loyalist Shankill in order to “release the economic potential” of the area.
Mr White, chairman of the West Belfast and Greater Shankill Enterprise Council, yesterday unveiled the second stage of a plan aimed at helping create jobs and promoting enterprise in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of Northern Ireland.
Mr White is part of a group of entrepreneurs whose goal is to stimulate growth in the area. Last November they published a “master plan” to transform the west Belfast and Shankill district, which has a population of about 100,000.
Cancer-practice competition
The National Cancer Control Programme will run an annual competition to encourage best practice in cancer treatment, the programme’s director, Prof Tom Keane, has said.
Speaking at the seventh international cancer conference at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, Prof Keane said the competition would involve a “substantial” award.
“The Cancer Control Programme will in the next year have an annual competition open to all professional groups, hospitals, care-giver groups. I haven’t decided finally on the magnitude of the award but it will be substantial,” he said.
Prison officers assaulted at court
Three prison officers were hospitalised after being attacked by a prisoner wearing handcuffs in Ennis courthouse yesterday.
Prison Escort Corps member Mary Kiely told the court yesterday afternoon that three of her colleagues were at Ennis General Hospital’s accident and emergency department after being assaulted by Daniel Darcy (30) of Tannery Wharf, Rathangan, Co Kildare, in the front hall of Ennis courthouse.
Ms Kiely said one of the officers was receiving treatment for being bitten twice, a second had an injured wrist and a third sustained an injury to his arm.
Mr Darcy was yesterday appearing in court in relation to an assault charge in Shannon on June 13th last. He was remanded in custody to May 21st.
Wicklow national park extended
The Wicklow Mountains National Park has been expanded by almost 3,000 hectares – or about four times the size of Dublins Phoenix Park.
The State acquisition, announced yesterday, encompasses an area of the Wicklow gap on the park’s western boundary and takes in lands on either side of the Laragh to Hollywood road.
The cost of the additional land was €4.5 million, or about €137 per acre.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said he believed “the cost of the land would pay for itself many times over through enhancing Wicklow as a tourist destination.”