A wrap-up of some of the day's other stories.
Fall in visitor figures from N America
The number of tourists visiting Ireland from North America has dropped, according to figures issued yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.
While overall tourist numbers have increased for January to July 2005, visitors from North America had dropped by 11,400 on the same time last year.
Yesterday's CSO figures showed that almost four million visitors came to Ireland in the first six months of the year. Tourists from Britain and other European countries increased to two million and just over one million respectively.
And Irish tourists are travelling abroad in ever-increasing numbers.
Some 3.5 million Irish trips were taken abroad in the first half of this year compared to 2.8 million for the same time in 2003.
Jimmy Deenihan TD called for an urgent review of Ireland's tourism product and an intensive overseas advertising campaign to address the drop in tourists from North America.
Charged over drugs seizure
A 22-year-old man has appeared in Limerick District Court charged in connection with a major drugs seizure more than three months ago.
Christopher McCormack, Hyde Road, Prospect, Limerick, was charged with possession of 200kg of cannabis resin for sale or supply at Rathuard, Ballysheedy, Co Limerick, on June 7th. The court heard the drugs had an estimated street value of €1.4 million.
Judge William Earley said he was refusing bail based on the seriousness of the charge and because there were concerns over the exact address of the accused.
He was remanded in custody to appear again on October 4th.
July 12th rioting brings new charge
The 20th person to be charged arising out of rioting in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on July 12th appeared in court yesterday. Gabriel Osborne (36), Brompton Park, Ardoyne, was remanded in custody on a charge of riotous assembly.
Blast bombs and petrol bombs were thrown at police, and more than 100 officers were injured when rioters attacked them as an Orange parade was passing through the area.
Irish evacuated in cruise fire
A fire on a cruise boat docked on the river Nile at Aswan, Egypt, resulted in the evacuation of all 84 Irish passengers last Saturday morning.
Two were treated for minor injuries but did not need hospitalisation, according to a Budget Travel spokeman.
Motorcyclist in fatal crash named
Gardaí have named the 22-year-old motorcyclist killed in Monday's crash in Tallaght as Colm Rothwell, New Lyons Grove, Athy, Co Kildare.
New food safety standard launched
A new international food safety standard was published by Minister of State for Trade and Commerce Michael Ahern yesterday.
The ISO 22000:2005 will apply to all organisations involved in the food chain. It harmonises food safety certification across the globe and will be necessary for any organisation supplying to the domestic and international markets.