More regional news in brief.
DPP to get file on garda over sex allegations
Gardaí are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after yesterday releasing without charge a garda who had been arrested and questioned about a series of alleged sexual assaults, writes Barry Roche.
The officer, who is in his late 40s and stationed in Co Cork, was arrested at his home early yesterday morning and brought to Bandon Garda station for questioning.
The Garda Press Office yesterday confirmed that a member of the force was arrested in Co Cork but did not disclose any further details other than to confirm that the man was released at about 4pm and that a file would now be prepared for the DPP.
Three young women in their early 20s have made complaints to gardaí that they were sexually assaulted by the man over a period of time in the 1990s when they were young girls.
The garda has been suspended from duty for the past several weeks, pending an investigation which is being carried out by senior officers from outside the district where the officer is stationed.
It is expected that the investigation will take a number of weeks to complete.
A file will then be prepared and forwarded to the DPP for a decision on whether charges are to be brought.
Officers treated after fire in cell
Three prison officers were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation after a fire in a cell at Limerick Prison.
The incident happened at about 8.15pm on Wednesday after two prisoners barricaded themselves into a cell and set it alight.
Staff at the prison had to force their way into the cell to rescue the prisoners.
Two units of Limerick Fire Service attended the scene and spent nearly an hour in the prison bringing the fire under control.
The two inmates at the centre of the incident were recently jailed for possession of firearms with intent to endanger life and assault causing serious harm.
They were jailed following their role in a gun attack last year on a house in Patrickswell, Co Limerick, in which two men were shot and injured.
After the fire was brought under control, three prison officers and one of the prisoners were taken to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.
The prisoner and two of the prison staff were later discharged.
One of the prison officers was still being treated in hospital yesterday and was undergoing tests.
Gardaí at Roxboro Road were yesterday investigating the circumstances of the fire.
A Garda spokesman said they were treating the incident as a case of criminal damage and arson.
Dogs worth €7,000 stolen
A widow in Co Limerick has spoken of her heartbreak when she discovered that nine of her prize Chihuahua dogs, worth more than €7,000, had been stolen, writes Karl Hanlon. In the most recent break-in at the kennels of Peggy Hennessy, near Kilfinane in Limerick last weekend, nine of the dogs, including five two-month-old Chihuahua pups, were stolen.