A round-up of other regional news in brief
Former Eircom man fined for having child porn
A former Eircom employee has been given a 10-month suspended sentence, fined €1,900 and placed on the sex offenders register for six years after he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on a workplace laptop computer.
Micheál Ó Cearbhaill (51). who was also a lieutenant commander of the Naval Reserve, An Slua Muirí, Cork, admitted possessing 169 images of child pornography at the Eircom Building, Mount Agnes Road, Fairhill, Cork between February 1st and 15th, 2007.
Ó Cearbhaill, Curravarrahane, Gaggin, Bandon, Co Cork, was caught through a security scan on his work laptop.
Ó Cearbhaill told Judge Con O'Leary that he had completed a treatment course at the Anchor Treatment Centre which had helped him understand how a habit could develop into an addiction and later a compulsion.
Man stole 40,450 from bank
A Longford man has been given a four-year suspended sentence for theft of more than €40,000 from a bank.
Damien Gargan (32), Glasson Lodge, Prospect Wood, was a drug addict living in hostel accommodation when he took €40,450 from Bank of Ireland in Blanchardstown, Dublin, on July 18th, 2006.
Judge Katherine Delahunt told Gargan in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that if he failed a drug test in the next four years, she would activate his sentence.
Councillor resigns from Green Party
The only Green Party councillor in Donegal has resigned from the party.
Letterkenny town councillor Neil Clarke accused the party leadership of failing to support him when he raised questions about planning in Donegal. He is calling on voters to support the new Letterkenny Residents Party at next year's local elections on the planning issue.
Man loses case on grazing rights
A Wexford man who lost a long-running dispute with the Health Service Executive in the High Court recently said he planned to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Jim Breen (52), Devereux Villas, claimed adverse possession and grazing rights to about two acres of land beside the HSE clinic on Grogan's Road, Wexford town. He claims his family had used the land for decades.
However, a recent High Court ruling confirmed the HSE's sole ownership of the land.