A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Evacuation at airport after gas leak
Some 200 people were evacuated from a building at Dublin Airport yesterday morning following a gas leak in a car park near the Aer Lingus headquarters. The leak occurred shortly before 10am when a contractor ruptured a gas main.
Bord Gáis, Dublin Fire Brigade and the Dublin Airport Emergency and Fire Services attended the scene. There were no injuries and passenger services at the airport were not affected.
No shots fired at car, say gardaí
Gardaí investigating damage to a car on the M50 in Dublin have dismissed reports that a shot had been fired at the vehicle.
They believe the damage to the roof of the sports utility vehicle was caused by a stone thrown from a bridge the car was travelling under.
The incident took place on Monday as a Dublin man was driving on the motorway close to Blanchardstown. It is being investigated as criminal damage rather than a gunfire incident.
Ireland to endorse human rights text
Ireland is to become a signatory to an international convention aimed at preventing and punishing the enforced or involuntary disappearance of individuals. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan will this morning announce the Government's intention to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance at the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
States which become parties to the Convention are obliged to make enforced disappearance a crime and punish the perpetrators. The HRC adopted the text in June 2006 and it was subsequently approved by consensus at the UN General Assembly.
Speaking ahead of his address to the Council, Mr Lenihan said: "Ireland was proud to be one of the states to co-sponsor the resolution adopting this Convention at the UN General Assembly last December and I am delighted to be able to confirm that we will shortly be signing the Convention."
Papal honour for tribunal head
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Judge Peter Smithwick, retired president of the District Court, as a knight commander of the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great. This is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed on a lay member of the Catholic Church. Judge Smithwick has been president of the Irish association of the Order of Malta since June, 2000. He is currently heading a tribunal of inquiry into alleged Garda collusion in the IRA murders of RUC officers Harry Breen and Robert Buchanan in south Armagh in 1989.
Woman (76) dies in fire at home
The body of a 76-year-old woman was discovered at a fire in her Waterford city home yesterday morning.
A carer raised the alarm shortly before 11am after noticing smoke billowing from the house at Farran Park - a local authority estate. The deceased, named locally as Vera Stafford (76) who lived alone, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.
Calls for mediator in hospital row
Calls were made yesterday for a mediator to be appointed in the row over staffing levels at the new €75 million Cork University Maternity Hospital.
The facility is due to open on March 24th and an emergency hearing of the Labour Court will be convened in the near future to discuss nurses' grievances on staffing levels.
Cork Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael McGrath said the issue was now so serious that Minister for Health Mary Harney should intervene personally and appoint a mediator.