In Short

Other news in brief

Other news in brief

Trial adjourned over lack of jurors

The trial of a former doctor charged with obtaining more than €80,000 by false pretences was adjourned yesterday after the court failed to secure enough jurors

The trial of Paschal Carmody (60), Ballycuggaran, Killaloe, Co Clare was due to start at Ennis Circuit Court yesterday.

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On Wednesday, before a jury of seven men and five women, Mr Carmody pleaded not guilty to 25 charges of obtaining €80,172 from six cancer patients and their relatives by deception between September 2001 and October 2002.

Two jurors asked Judge Rory McCabe to be excused from serving. He excused both and a further 11 people were called to serve to fill the two vacancies. However, before swearing in, all offered excuses why they should not attend.

Judge McCabe has excused 47 people from serving on the jury over the two days with 66 people having being called.

Salmon fishing resumes at Dingle

Commercial salmon-fishing by draftnet fishermen has resumed in the Castlemaine Harbour area of Dingle Bay, Co Kerry, after an emergency conservation bylaw introduced by the Minister for Energy, Communications and Natural Resources was overturned in the High Court on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the dozen or so salmon fishermen in Cromane who took the challenge said they were "absolutely delighted".

The ministerial bylaw introduced on May 14th, just one day after the draft net salmon season opened in Cromane, prohibited all wild salmon and sea trout fishing in the harbour.

The ban effectively put an end to all salmon draft net fishing in public waters in Kerry, although private fisheries within estuaries that met their conservation targets could continue.

Third dead foal found in Limerick river

Gardaí in Caherconlish, Co Limerick, have been notified of a third case where a dead foal was dumped in the Camogue river near Longford Bridge outside Bruff. Residents in Bruff said they were "sickened and outraged" that three dead foals had been dumped in the river in the past six months.

It has also been confirmed that the foal lay there for at least four days before being removed by Limerick County Council.

Noel Shinnors, an inspector with Limerick Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the council was obliged to remove the animal within 24 hours of the complaint and if it failed to do so, the council could be prosecuted. A spokesperson for the council's environment department said: "Unfortunately because of the location of the bridge, there has been difficulty in removing it."