A round up of today's other stories in brief
Big rise in number of overseas trips
Despite the threat of an economic recession, the number of overseas visits made by Irish people increased significantly in the first four months of this year, figures from the Central Statistics Office have confirmed.
Irish residents made in excess of 2.3 million visits abroad between January and April, an 8 per cent increase on the corresponding period last year.
Some 1.1 million of these trips were made to Britain, almost 700,000 people travelled to other parts of Europe and 230,000 visits were made to North America by Irish residents.
However, the growth of the Irish tourism sector, which received a record allocation of €170 million in last year's budget, slowed considerably in the first third of the year to just 0.8 per cent. The figure represents a drop of 3.6 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
In April, the number of visitors from Britain, Ireland's largest tourist market, fell by 16 per cent to 301,200.
Kevin McLoughlin
In a report of a road accident published on April 22nd, 2008, we inadvertently stated that Kevin McLoughlin of 33 Castle Park, Newtownforbes, Co Longford, was the driver of a car in which a passenger died and that he was the respondent in a claim for compensation and loss against the MIBI which covers the liability of uninsured drivers. Mr McLoughlin was not responsible for the accident, the deceased was not travelling in his car and he was fully insured. No court order was made against him. The Irish Times apologises to Mr McLoughlin for the distress which the article caused him.
Man dies in crane accident at track
A man died and another was seriously injured after a cherry picker overturned while they were working at a sportsground in Mountmellick, Co Laois.
Gardaí say the two men were using a cherry picker to intall floodlights over a running track when the vehicle overturned.
The accident happened at around 2.45pm, said a Garda spokesman.
The Health and Safety Authority is investigating the accident.