A round-up of today's other news in brief...
East Wall handgun recovered
A handgun was recovered yesterday by gardaí investigating the fatal shooting of Aidan OKane in Dublin last weekend. Senior Garda sources last night said it was the gun used to kill Mr O'Kane. It will now be subject to forensic and ballistic tests. The weapon, which is understood to be a Magnum, was recovered by gardaí along with small quantities of cocaine and cannabis, during searches of houses in East Wall, Dublin, and the north inner city yesterday. It is believed the items were found in a disused factory.
Meanwhile, one male was still being questioned by gardaí last night in connection with the shooting. A 32-year-old woman was released without charge from Pearse Street station earlier.
56 Nigerians are deported
A group of Nigerian citizens was deported on a flight from Dublin last night.
They were on a charter flight which left Dublin airport for Lagos in Nigeria at about 10pm. Fifty-six Nigerian nationals boarded the flight in Dublin while 12 people had earlier boarded the flight in the UK.
Woman dies after being hit by lorry
Gardaí at Charleville, Co Cork, are investigating a road traffic fatality on the N20 at Main St, Charleville yesterday afternoon. A woman pedestrian, believed to be in her 70s, was killed when she was hit by a lorry.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Refunds as travel agency collapses
A small number of Irish passengers are believed to be affected by the collapse of UK-based Landround Travel Ltd.
The bonded travel agency and tour operator ceased trading on December 10th and the Commission for Aviation Regulation said affected customers in Ireland could apply to it for a refund as it is "highly unlikely that bookings will be honoured".
Landround operated a "Buy Fly" rewards scheme on behalf of a number of retailers here, including Tesco, Tierney Co and O2.
HSE decision on regions deferred
The Board of the HSE has deferred a decision on new regional structures to be established as part of plans to streamline the operation of the organisation.
It had been expected that the exact number of regions to be established and the specific areas to be covered by each would be set out following a meeting of the board of the HSE yesterday.
However, in a statement last night the HSE indicated that further work needed to be carried out in this area.
Postmortem on dead woman
A postmortem is to be carried out this morning at Letterkenny General Hospital, Co Donegal, on the body of a 42-year-old woman found in a house in Milford, Co Donegal, yesterday. The dead woman had been visiting her brother and his wife in her native Milford.