A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Siptu votes to act on Great Southern
More than 80 per cent of Siptu members at the State-owned Great Southern Hotels yesterday voted for industrial action.
The eight hotels have been put up for sale as going concerns by their owner, the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
Donal Tobin, the union's Killarney branch organiser, said the ballot "follows the decision by the Dublin Airport Authority and its agents to continue to promote the sale of the Great Southern Hotels without reaching agreement with staff on outstanding issues - including full compliance with the collective agreements, pensions for employees in the future, reckonable service and reckonable pay for calculating redundancy payments".
The Labour Court's invitation to both parties to attend a hearing next Wednesday has been accepted by the union.
"In advance of the Labour Court hearing, Siptu's national negotiating committee for the Great Southern Hotels will meet to decide on the course of action to be taken if the parties fail to agree on the outstanding issues," Mr Tobin said.
Family hopes to move mauled girl
The family of the 19-year-old Co Derry student who received serious arm injuries when she was bitten by a Siberian tiger in Dublin Zoo earlier this week hopes she can be moved soon to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry from Dublin's Connolly hospital.
Róisín Brolly, a University of Ulster psychology student from the village of Foreglen near Claudy, scaled two security fences before she attempted to stroke Siberian tiger Turlough.
Members of her family were at her bedside in Dublin yesterday but curate Fr Michael McCaughey, who spoke to the family before they travelled to Dublin, said Róisín's parents were deeply upset about what happened to their daughter and hoped she could soon be moved.
"It has been a very traumatic experience for them all, for the entire family. They are deeply worried naturally enough and like the family, everyone in the area is hoping that Róisín makes a full and speedy recovery.
"They are a quiet, hard-working family.
"Her mother Theresa went down to Dublin immediately she got the news and all the rest of the family spoke to Róisín before they went down.
They are finding it very difficult to cope with what has happened to Róisín and we pray for a speedy recovery and we pray that the family will be strengthened when it is all over for them," Fr McCaughey said.
Rooskey is first 'Heartsafe' village
Rooskey, Co Roscommon, is to become the Irish Heart Foundation's first "Heartsafe" village.
The title has been awarded to the community in recognition of their attempts to tackle heart disease, writes Hélène Hofman.
The village aims to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) available within a four-mile radius. Already seven AEDs have been placed in the village, and 60 people have been trained in their use.
Applications for "Heartsafe" certification can be made to the Irish Heart Foundation by any town, club or group.