A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
UN convention on disability to be 'court issue'
The way people with disabilities were treated in institutions here "will become an issue in the Irish courts", once the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities comes into being, one of the foremost legal experts on disabled people's rights has warned, writes Kitty Holland.
Prof Gerard Quinn of NUI Galway, who is advising the UN on writing the convention, was speaking at a conference yesterday on the draft convention, due to be completed in August. He said people with disabilities here were "legally invisible and actually invisible".
Referring to the working text of the convention, Prof Quinn also said the right to life guaranteed in Article 10, would become an issue here, in the context of abortion of unborn babies with disabilities, and euthanasia.
He said Article 15 would guarantee: "No person with disabilities shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
"One can safely say this will become an issue in the Irish courts," he said.
60% of jail terms under six months
Almost 60 per cent of prison committals in the Republic were for six months or less in 2003 and could be replaced with community alternatives at less expense and with greater social benefit, according to a report on alternatives to prison launched yesterday, writes Fiona Gartland.
Alternatives to Custody, written by Maireád Seymour, found the average cost of keeping an individual in prison in the Republic for six months is just under €44,000 and a quarter of those sentenced for six months or less are imprisoned for non-payment of fines. A community service order costs €1,500. The report found more than €300 million was spent on the prison service in 2003, while only €40.7 million was spent on the Probation and Welfare Service.
The report was commissioned by Business in the Community Ireland and the Community Foundation for Ireland and supported by the Cyril Forbes Fund. Ms Seymour said that in Scotland the recidivism rate among those given community service was lower.
Children escape injury in bus crash
A group of young children on a school outing in Inishowen, Co Donegal, had a lucky escape yesterday when their minibus was involved in a collision on the main Derry to Letterkenny road. A car carrying two men was involved in a crash with the bus, which was carrying up to 12 senior infants. The car overturned following the impact, about a mile from Burt village.
The schoolchildren, from the Killygordon area of Co Donegal, were returning from a day out at Redcastle.
Sgt Gerry Burke said none of the children were hurt in the accident.
Suspended sentences for garda
A Donegal garda who stole more than €6,000 in fines was given three suspended sentences at Letterkenny District Court yesterday. James McDwyer, Lisnennan Court, Letterkenny was charged with 16 counts of theft and two counts of the larceny of €6,175 from Convoy Garda station.
The thefts only came to light when McDwyer became "consumed with guilt" and confessed to his sergeant what he had done.