The news of the day in brief...
Cork gardaí try to identify those behind kill-threat leaflet
Gardaí investigating the activities of dissident republicans in Cork have begun studying CCTV footage from city pubs in a bid to identify those behind the issuing of a leaflet warning that they will kill drug dealers, writes Barry Roche.
In the leaflet issued by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement on behalf of the Real IRA, the paramilitary group claimed responsibility for the shooting dead of convicted drug dealer Gerard Stanton in Cork last month.
Following Garda raids on 16 premises in Cork, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement yesterday accused gardaí of being more concerned with the activities of republicans than with drug dealers in the city.
A statement from the movement said the State had allowed heroin and cocaine to decimate working-class communities and it was only when republicans intervened to defend these communities that the State showed concern on the issue.
New car sales stall in January
The anticipated bounce in car sales on the back of the Government’s new scrappage scheme has so far failed to materialise, with data for January showing a further decline in new vehicle registrationsNew private cars licensed last month were down 4.8 per cent, at 10,469, compared with the same month last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
January is normally a barometer month for car sales, accounting for about a quarter of total annual sales.
Industry specialists blamed the tame start to the year on the freezing weather in the early part of the month.