A round-up of today's other stories in brief
INMO claims 487 patients on trolleys
There were 487 patients on trolleys waiting for beds in emergency departments across the State, figures released yesterday by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) have indicated.
Minister for Health James Reilly said he would be meeting the clinical directors of hospitals in coming days, and would discuss with them immediate actions that could be taken to alleviate the situation.
He said there seemed to be a lot of “smoke and mirrors” around numbers of patients on trolleys, and he urged all stakeholders, including the INMO, emergency department physicians and patients’ groups, to agree a way of conducting the daily trolley count.
The HSE counts trolleys in the afternoon, while the INMO does its trolley count every morning, when figures are higher.
Grenade launcher found in Leitrim
Gardaí believe an 'improvised' grenade launcher found in a field on the outskirts of Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, may have been there for some time.
The Army bomb disposal unit was called to make safe the device and two .22 rounds of ammunition.
The launcher, which was described as being 'in poor condition', was found in a ditch on land that had been acquired recently by the Department of Education for a school.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, a bomb exploded under a car in Ballyfermot in the early hours of yesterday.
The explosion occurred outside a house at Rossmore Drive shortly after 2am. No one was injured.
An Army explosive ordnance team was called to the scene and arrived there at 4.40am. The area was subsequently declared safe at 7am.
Three held over teenager's killing
Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with the death of another teenager who was stabbed to death on March 19th.
David Byrne (19) died in the car park of the Emmet Court apartments in Inchicore, Dublin. The teenagers are being held at different Garda stations in Dublin city.
To date 14 people have been arrested in connection with the investigation.
Gardaí believe Mr Byrne left his home at the Davitt House complex, Drimnagh, just after 10pm.
He was chased by a gang into the Emmet Court complex and stabbed several times by one of the gang while accomplices kept a lookout. When gardaí and paramedics arrived Mr Byrne was still alive, but he was later pronounced dead at St James's Hospital.