In Short

A roundup of today's other stories in brief:

A roundup of today's other stories in brief:

Almost €825m paid to victims of institutions

Almost €825 million has been paid out so far to people who suffered physical, sexual and emotional abuse in childcare institutions and their lawyers.

However, the Residential Institutions Redress Board has only made awards to 10,796 of the 14,541 people who have sought compensation for what happened to them in the institutions from the 1930s onwards.

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The latest newsletter from the board says that up to June 30th last, the average award was €65,376, with 25 people receiving the maximum compensation award payable of between €200,000 and €300,000.

Five questioned over explosive

Five men were being questioned last night by gardaí in connection with the discovery of a "viable explosive device" in Waterford city.

Acting on a tip-off, gardaí stopped a car on Catherine Street just after 1pm yesterday. The device was found in the front of the car, which was carrying the five men. A nearby courthouse, offices and fire station were evacuated and the Catherine Street and Beau Street areas were sealed off by gardaí.

The men, who are all in their mid-20s, were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and were taken to Waterford and Tramore Garda stations.

Shots fired during Leixlip robbery

Gardaí in Co Kildare are investigating the armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van yesterday morning.

Two men made their escape by running through a schoolyard, where they were seen by a number of children.

The robbery took place at 11am as a van was delivering money to an ATM at the Supervalu supermarket in the River Forest shopping centre in Leixlip.

The men wore balaclavas and were armed with what gardaí believe was a starting pistol.

They fired two shots as they took a quantity of cash believed to be about €15,000.

Duty of care to bar clients urged

A jury has recommended that licensed premises should take their duty of care towards clients more seriously. The call came at an inquest into the death of a teenager who died after he was struck by a car after being ejected from a nightclub because he was intoxicated.

A jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure under the direction of coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty.

Mark David Flood (19), Castleknock, Dublin, was out with a group of work colleagues for a post- Christmas party on the night of Saturday, January 19th last, when the incident occurred.

Repossession order ruling

A second High Court judge has declared that a provision of the Housing Acts, allowing local authorities to secure a court order for possession of a council house, is incompatible with article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights.

This was because of the lack of any safeguard for the person's rights such as an independent inquiry into a genuine dispute.

The declaration of incompatibility granted yesterday by Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill to Liam Gallagher comes just months after Ms Justice Mary Laffoy granted a similar declaration in another case involving Anthony Donegan.