A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Athlone man died from natural causes
A former republican prisoner, whose body was found in a derelict house in Athlone at the weekend, died from natural causes, a postmortem has revealed.
Ray Moore (52), who had lived rough around Athlone for the last number of years, had served a jail term in Northern Ireland.
The postmortem yesterday, in the Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar, confirmed there was nothing suspicious about his death.
Mr Moore, who had been before the local court on public order offences in recent years, was known to be a heavy drinker.
His body was discovered in a derelict house on Griffith Street, just off Dublingate Street, at about 4am on Monday.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy visited the scene on Monday for a preliminary examination, and the scene was preserved until after the results of the postmortem.
Mr Moore's body was found in a boarded-up house just across the road from a multi-million euro development.
Homeless hostel likely for Ennis
A hostel for the growing number of homeless people in Ennis may be in place before the end of the year.
According to Joe Arkins (FG), chairman of Clare County Council's special policy committee on housing, the St Vincent de Paul has entered discussions with Ennis Town Council on a property in Ennis which the organisation is considering purchasing to use as a hostel.
As a result, Mr Arkins told a meeting of the committee yesterday, the hostel may be in place before the end of the year. He added that two people had died sleeping rough in Ennis in recent years. "In a wealthy society, we should be appalled that people are dying on our streets."
Castlebar votes to develop land
Castlebar town councillors have voted for a change in their town development plan to allow the sale of land, owned by the local boys national school, for the development of six apartments.
The motion to rezone the land at Garryduff, Castlebar, from institutional/ recreational to residential went before a special meeting of the local authority over the weekend.
Six of the eight councillors present voted to materially contravene the Mayo county town plan to facilitate the development for St Patrick's Boys NS, which involves about a third of an acre.
A number of local residents are against the development of apartments at this location and two of the eight councillors agreed with the residents.
The plan should raise the necessary funds for the school to upgrade its facilities. The upgrade includes five new classrooms, a PE hall, a playground and a sports pitch.
Two held after heroin seizure
Two local men in their 30s have been interviewed at Ennis Garda station following the overnight seizure of €15,000 of heroin in Ennis.
They were arrested during a raid on a hotel room shortly after midnight early yesterday and were being held under section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.
Last night, one of the two men were released without charge and a file is to go to the DPP.