Other stories in brief.
Revenue seize cigarettes after mix-up
Between eight and nine million contraband cigarettes were seized by Revenue officers in Co Laois yesterday.
The container of Super King brand cigarettes, with an estimated value of €3 million, was delivered in error to a business in Durrow, Co Laois, yesterday morning.
The haul originated in Spain and travelled through Dublin Port to the Co Laois business.
Customs officials opened the package at the premises having been contacted by the business owners.
The cigarettes have since been returned to Dublin Port for examination.
Minister urges more co-operation
Now that the powersharing executive in the North had been restored and there was renewed contact at ministerial level, it was essential to ensure cross-Border co-operation was extended to the community level, Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin said in Dublin yesterday. At the launch of the latest issue of The Journal of Cross-Border Studies in Ireland, she said this should take place in education, health and other areas.
There were new cross-Border opportunities for the trade unions with regard to training, equality and general economic issues and she pointed out that the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, for example, operated on a cross-Border basis.
In the sphere of tourism, she noted that North-West Tourism was marketing three counties on each side of the Border "as a unit".
In education, both sides of the Border had to deal with similar issues: "That's why it is very easy for us to work together."
Business ethos worries lecturers
Academics in third level colleges are increasingly concerned with the "pro-business" approach of management , according to a new survey.
The survey, on over 170 lecturers who are members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, highlights a range of changes that staff believe are rapidly undermining the traditional approach to lecturing.
These include: a business ethos in education policy; demotion of lecturing; increasing administrative workloads on lecturers; and long-term temporary contract and casualisation arrangements for newer staff.
New appeal over bedroom killing
Gardaí investigating the gangland-style killing of a man in Dublin a week ago have renewed their appeal for public assistance with their inquiries.
John Berney (29) was shot dead in front of his partner in the bedroom of their home at Castlelyon Drive, Newcastle, west Dublin, last Thursday night. Gardaí believe the gunman escaped in a Blue Ford Focus Zetec car. The car, registration 06 D 63122, was stolen from Dublin airport some time between January 9th and 15th.
They believe the vehicle may have been fitted with false registration plates before last week's murder.
Detectives are appealing for anybody with information on the movements of the vehicle since mid-January to contact them.
The Garda's investigation team can be contacted at Clondalkin Garda station on (01) 666 7600.
Peace honour for Belfast priest
Fr Alec Reid of West Belfast's Clonard monastery is to be honoured in New York tomorrow night for his role in the Northern Ireland peace process at America magazine's Top 100 dinner in the New York Athletic Club, writes Patsy McGarry.
At another ceremony in Queen's University Belfast later this year he is to receive an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work.
Fr Reid facilitated peace talks between Gerry Adams and John Hume which led to the ceasefires in Northern Ireland.
Bail for man charged with sex assaults
A 48-year-old man who was involved in a Cork youth group has been remanded on bail after he was charged with 12 sample counts of sexually assaulting a young girl over a three-year period at his home.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the complainant, is charged with 12 counts of sexually assaulting the girl, who was aged eight to 11 at the time, between January 1st, 1998, and December 31st, 2000, at his home in the greater Cork area. He appeared before Cork District Court yesterday.
Men on INLA charges get bail
Two men charged with INLA membership were granted bail at the Special Criminal Court yesterday. John McCrossan (46), Ballycoleman Estate, Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Neil Myles, no fixed abode, are charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the INLA on February 22nd, contrary to the Offences against the State Act.
The men were granted bail on their own bonds of €100 and an independent surety of €20,000 each.
They must reside in the Republic, obey a curfew, surrender their passports, report daily to a Garda station and not enter Co Cork.
Drugs sentence reduced on appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal has reduced from seven to three years the jail sentence on a man for having cannabis with a street value of €329,000.
The appeal court found sufficient weight was not given to the fact that Christopher Sweeney has Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, which affected his level of criminal responsibility.
Sweeney (27), Belgard Heights, Tallaght, Dublin, had pleaded guilty last April at Trim Circuit Court to having the drug on December 6th 2005 for sale or supply to others. He was caught following a surveillance operation. The trial heard Sweeney believed he was collecting two kilos of cannabis resin but there were 188 slabs or 47 kilos.