A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Fishing crew rescued off Donegal coast
Rescuers yesterday braved 30ft waves to save a fishing crew stranded off the Irish coast.
The Lough Swilly RNLI team received the SOS call after the six-strong crew reported their boat's engine had failed 12 miles off the Donegal coast.
But winds were so strong that the lifeboat's tow rope snapped twice while attempting to pull the boat to safety.
Eventually, after a nine-hour operation, the two vessels docked in Greencastle harbour shortly after 9am.
No one was injured.
Barry Stevenson of the Lough Swilly rescue team said it had been a "hairy" experience.
"It was certainly one of the most difficult rescues we have been involved in for a long time," he said.
The rescue has reignited a row over problems facing the Donegal RNLI crew.
A build-up of silt at Buncrana harbour means the crew is only able to launch its vessel at certain times.
The Department of the Marine has provided €500,000 in grants to carry out dredging work and for the construction of a breakwater.
However, the work has yet to be carried out and Mr Stevenson said this could be putting lives at risk.
"Today's rescue once again highlights the need for action to sort this problem out. We received the call just before midnight, but if it had been a couple of hours later, we would not have been able to launch the boat.
"If that had been the case, we don't know what would have happened these men."
Woman assaults garda in park
A garda was treated for lacerations to the face and a broken nose when he was assaulted by a woman with a bottle at Memorial Park, Kilmainham, in Dublin, last evening, writes Seán Mac Connell.
He had been called to the scene shortly after 6pm to investigate reports that a woman had been attacking members of the public with a bottle in the park.
The woman hit the garda in the face with a bottle.
He was taken to St James's Hospital for treatment and the woman was arrested.
Power cut affects Greystones area
ESB repair crews were last night trying to reconnect more than 1,000 householders in Greystones, Co Wicklow, following a blackout at teatime.
The cause of the outage was being investigated.
Farmer retirement pay rise costs €33m
Pay rates to farmers in early retirement schemes have been increased from November 1st, Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan has announced, writes Seán Mac Connell.
The Minister said 5,000 retired farmers would benefit from these increases, costing €33 million.
The increases will be funded by the Irish taxpayer.
Pension payments are currently being made under two EU-funded schemes of early retirement from farming.
The first of these was open to farmers who retired between 1994 and 1999.
The maximum payment under this is being increased from €12,075 to €14,075.
The second scheme was launched in 2000 and is due to close to new applications on December 31st.
The maximum payment under this scheme is being increased from €13,515 to €15,000.
"There have been repeated calls for these pensions to be increased and index-linked, but I was consistently told by the European Commission that increases for existing participants would not be eligible for EU funding and that index-linking was ruled out by the EU regulations," Ms Coughlan said yesterday.
"I was able, however, to establish that the commission would not oppose increases that were fully funded from the national Exchequer," she said.
Judgment reserved in murder appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal has reserved judgment on appeals by two Limerick city men against their convictions for the murder of a 42-year-old schoolteacher in a riverside park in the city.
Jonathan Tuohy (21), Edward Street and Darren Wallace (23), Assumpta Park, Lee Estate, were convicted at the Central Criminal Court in August 2004 of the murder of Noel Carmody at Arthur's Quay on September 27th, 2003. They were jailed for life and also given concurrent seven-year jail sentences for robbery.
Boy refused bail on assault charge
A 15-year-old boy, who allegedly took part in an assault on a woman and broke her leg and arm while she held on to her baby, has been refused bail and further remanded in custody for two weeks.
The Tallaght boy has been charged at the Dublin Children's Court with assault causing harm to the woman and his cousin on October 31st in Rathfarnham.
Man pleads not guilty to rape
The trial of an Armagh man accused of raping a woman following a wedding reception in 2001 has begun at the Central Criminal Court.
The 39-year-old married man has pleaded not guilty to raping the woman on September 15th, 2001 at a hotel in Monaghan.
The 34-year-old south Armagh alleged victim told Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, she was attending a wedding reception where the accused was also a guest.