A round up of today's other stories in brief.
Council to investigate Gama claims
South Dublin County Council has began an investigation into allegations that a member of staff recently gave evidence to a Turkish court on behalf of the construction company, Gama.
In a statement yesterday, the council said it had not authorised or consented to any member of its staff giving evidence on behalf of the company. The council employee had been employed to oversee work on a local authority housing project.
Those who previously campaigned for Gama workers recently raised the matter with the local authority, alleging that the council employee had supported Gama's claims that workers had not consistently worked long hours. This has been continually disputed by the former employees of Gama.
It is expected that the evidence provided by the council employee will be contested by former employees of Gama who are suing the company in Turkey. They are claiming they were underpaid while working in Dublin on local authority housing developments.
Aer Lingus may fly direct to Far East
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has indicated that Aer Lingus could in future fly direct to China, the Far East and Australia, writes Martin Wall.
He said there were huge opportunities for the company and the "open skies" agreement offered great potential for growth on the transatlantic routes. Already the company had started services to the Middle East. "We want to look beyond that to direct flights into China and Far East and eventually Australia."
Mr Cullen said the sale of Aer Lingus would definitely take place this year. A June date had never been put forward by him or by the Government, he said.
Labour calls for more holidays
Labour's enterprise spokesman Ruairí Quinn has called for two additional public holidays to be added to the calendar.
Ireland lagged well behind the rest of the EU with just nine statutory days off per annum while the average in the EU was 11, Mr Quinn said.
UCC position for High Court judge
High Court judge Mr Justice Carney has been appointed adjunct professor in the faculty of law in University College Cork.
Mr Justice Carney has presided over the Central Criminal Court for much of the time since he was appointed to the High Court in 1999. This court hears rape and murder trials.
In recent years he has brought the court to provincial towns for the first time, and to date it has sat in Limerick, Ennis, Sligo, Castlebar, Cork and Tralee.
His duties as adjunct professor of law will include delivering guest lectures and seminars as well as contributing to the development of postgraduate research in the field of criminal justice in the university.
Traffic cordon for Bon Jovi concert
Cordons and traffic restrictions will be in operation around Croke Park, in Dublin, from early Saturday for the Bon Jovi concert. More than 80,000 fans are expected to attend the event.
The band are to go on stage at 7.45pm. The performance is expected to finish by 10pm, in accordance with Croke Park restrictions, said Peter McKenna, the stadium manager.
A traffic cordon will be set up at about 10am, similar to match days, and junctions around the stadium will have restricted access.