A wrap of some of the day's other news.
Search for missing teenager
The Galway inshore lifeboat crew were involved in a search in Galway late last night for a young girl reported missing during a gathering of teenagers in the city centre.
The teenagers were due to travel on buses from the Galway cathedral carpark to an alcohol-free disco in Gort, and the alarm was raised when a young girl fell into the canal close by. She was rescued and taken to University College Hospital, Galway, for treatment, but it then emerged that a second girl could not be located.
It is understood some of the teenagers had acquired alcohol before travelling to the disco. Gardaí said they would be investigating how alcohol was acquired.
Website offers hospital data
The National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has launched an online database to provide information on the numbers of people waiting for treatment in Irish hospitals.
The Patient Treatment Register, launched yesterday, will provide access to waiting numbers and waiting times for thousands of procedures performed in major hospitals in the State.
The website has been designed to give GPs and patients access to waiting time information to assist with referral decisions.
The PTR also collates waiting list information to assist hospitals, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health and Children to plan healthcare services and delivery.
The project is being implemented on a phased basis. Data on the following seven hospitals is included in the first phase: Beaumont Hospital, Dublin; Tallaght Hospital, Dublin; James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown, Co Dublin; Mater Hospital, Dublin; St James's Hospital, Dublin; St John's Hospital, Limerick; and St Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin.
The site can be accessed at www.ptr.ie
Sun has new Irish editor
Michael McNiffe, a senior journalist with the Irish Mirror, has been appointed editor of the Irish Sun.
Mr McNiffe replaces Paddy Clancy, who was editor of the Irish Sun for a number of years. As a result of his departure, Paul Clarkson becomes deputy Irish editor of the Mirror.
SF takes to the road in Kerry
A converted transit van is to be used as a "mobile constituency" by Sinn Féin in Kerry North in an attempt to take politics out of the pub. The service is part of a new drive to reach rural voters in the constituency.
The mobile service will mean that Sinn Féin can come to constituents who are unable to travel to the party's offices, the Kerry North TD Martin Ferris said.
"Pubs were acceptable places for many people, and we have no problem with that, but the new mobile service will give privacy," Mr Ferris said.
"We feel that people should be entitled to meet their public representatives in privacy."
Kerry man's death treated as suspicious
Gardaí in Co Kerry are treating as suspicious the death of a bachelor farmer after his body was found in the bedroom of his house near Lispole on the Dingle peninsula earlier this week.
James Griffin (67), Ballinasteanig, had watched the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Tyrone on Sunday and had afterwards gone with a group of those watching the match to a disco at a Dingle hotel. He arrived home early on Monday.
A neighbour discovered his body on Wednesday. He had not been seen since the night out.
A Garda spokesman in Dingle said the matter "required investigation".
A postmortem examination was being carried out yesterday by Dr Margot Bolster, assistant State Pathologist, and Garda forensic experts were on their way to the house, where Mr Griffin had lived alone.
'Pisces' captain for trial next month
The owner and skipper of the Pisces, which sank off the Wexford coast with the loss of five lives, will face trial before Judge Pat McCartan at Wexford Circuit Court on November 8th.
Patrick Barden (64), Ralph, Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, faces eight charges including the unlawful killing of Martin Roche, John Cullen, James Cooney, his son-in-law Séamus Doyle, and grandson Mark Doyle.
The Pisces, an 8m (26ft) open-deck boat, sank with 10 people on board off Fethard- on-Sea on July 28th, 2002.
Five people, including three generations of the one family, died.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
Thousands likely at horse fair
An influx of more than 30,000 horse-lovers is expected in Ballinasloe this weekend, and gardaí expect lengthy traffic delays for motorists travelling between Dublin and Galway.
The world-famous annual October Horse Fair attracts visitors from all over Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. The king of the fair, a tradition which died out 25 years ago, has been revived, with five local men nominated to fill the vacant king's chair.
Local charities and the fair and festival committee will benefit.
Man charged with rape of girl (16)
A man was charged in Mullingar District Court yesterday with the rape of a 16-year-old girl. The man, who is in his 50s and cannot be named to protect the girl, is alleged to have raped her last April in Co Offaly.
He was arrested and charged on Thursday night. He was remanded on his own bail of €100 to appear in Tullamore District Court on October 5th.
A condition of bail is that he must not have any contact with the girl.
Bail for man on hoax bomb charge
A man charged with making hoax bomb calls to Dublin airport has been remanded on continuing bail to allow his lawyers to obtain full medical reports.
Seoirse Glynn (34), Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, is charged with making false reports on July 22nd last by allegedly making phone calls claiming a bomb had been put on an aircraft.
Dublin District Court heard yesterday that his defence was not in a position to deal with the case as it had not received all documents relating to his medical condition.