A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Date set for trial on illegal membership
At the Special Criminal Court yesterday the trial of a Cork chef who was arrested as part of a Garda investigation into IRA money-laundering was set for March next year.
Don Bullman (31), a chef, of Fernwood Crescent, Wilton, Co Cork, was charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA, on February 16th.
The head of the Garda Special Branch, Det Chief Supt Philip Kelly, had told the court that gardaí recovered £54,000 in a washing-powder box when Bullman was arrested.
He added: "I suspected that the £54,000 was a money-laundering operation on behalf of the IRA."
The court set a trial date for March 22nd next year. The accused was remanded on continuing bail.
Attackers called 'drunken louts'
Three young men who were part of a gang that smashed the caravan and van of a Traveller family with iron bars and pieces of timber were described in court yesterday as "drunken louts".
Judge Pat McCartan also said that if it was the reverse situation and members of the Travelling community had set upon a settled person's home "there would be headlines in the media."
He made his comments as Derek McKenna (19), Alan Malone (22), and Gerard Brennan (19) all of Ardee, pleaded guilty to disorder at Kildemock, Ardee, Co Louth, on April 24th, 2004.
Dundalk District Court heard that six youths in all were arrested as part of the Garda investigation, but that the other three, because they were under the age of 18, were dealt with through the Juvenile Liaison Scheme.
Each of the six paid €1,000 towards the cost of replacing the caravan shortly after the incident, the court heard. They each also had €3,000 in court as compensation for the family.
Judge McCartan said they had terrorised the family who must have suffered "an appalling experience." He imposed 18-month prison terms, but suspended them on condition the men keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the next two years.
He also directed that they each pay an additional €3,000 to the family and the children as compensation.
€30,000 award for unfair dismissal
A Co Wexford man who was dismissed following a claim by a colleague that she saw him mistreating a resident in the care home where he worked has been awarded €30,000 by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The tribunal found that Sunbeam House Services (SHS) in Bray, Co Wicklow, had unfairly dismissed the care worker.
A colleague alleged that when she was about to enter the workplace she saw him bend over and pull a client by the hair.
At a hearing the woman was questioned about the reason for the delay, and the tribunal said it had become clear from her evidence that her recollection of events was "imperfect".
In a finding that has just become available, the tribunal said it was "of the view that the woman was probably mistaken in what she thought she saw on the day of the alleged incident.
She did not report what she claimed she had seen for a lengthy period.
The man strongly denied the allegation, and there were no other witnesses.