A round-up of today's other news stories in brief...
Tainted milk not a threat - department
The Department of Agriculture has said that contaminated milk from two dairy farms in the North, which was distributed throughout Ireland, poses no threat to human health.
Milk from the two dairy farms was stopped from entering the food chain after test results showed dioxin levels which surpassed legal limits.
It is thought the milk was produced by cows fed with the same contaminated feed which caused contamination in some pork and beef products in December.
A statement from the department said that while some small quantities of milk from the affected farms were used in the manufacture of milk-related products in the Republic, no liquid milk went on sale to the general public.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the North has said it is not seeking a withdrawal of milk products. The agency said: “Although breaching regulations, these levels of dioxin are much lower than those found in pork and beef affected by feed contamination last year.”
The contamination was discovered when two herds, with more than 100 cows in each, were being screened for the effects of environmental pollution.
€3 million in sundry expenses
Government expenses for taxis, press conferences and storage of departmental archives and material amounted to more than €3 million for the past two years, writes Marie O’Halloran. According to the latest statistics, storing furniture, archive material, e-voting machines, students’ completed exam papers and practical projects cost about €2 million.
More than €1 million was spent on taxis and just over €200,000 on press conferences in 2007 and 2008, based on the figures supplied by a number of departments.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes said there was no need for most of the storage in education which had costs of €82,801.37. “They keep all completed exam papers and all the practicals and assessments. They keep them for 10 years before destroying them, and there is no need to retain all this stuff.”
Man questioned over blaze deaths
Gardaí investigating a fire in Bray, Co Wicklow, which resulted in the deaths of two part-time firemen were yesterday questioning a man in his 50s.
The man was arrested yesterday morning under section 13 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act (endangerment) and is being held at Bray Garda station.
He is the third person to be questioned over the deaths.
A woman was arrested in October while a man in his 40s was detained in September. Both were released without charge.
The two fire fighters, Mark O’Shaughnessy (26) and Brian Murray (46), died on September 26th, 2007, when they were called to the scene of the fire at a disused factory in the town and the roof collapsed.
HSE not to publish report
The Health Service Executive has said it will not be publishing a report into how the health services dealt with a 25-year-old man who sought medical help three times in the days before he killed Offaly man Michael Hughes, writes Eithne Donnellan.
However, it said its internal review of the case indicated mental health services were made available to Thomas Connors, of Manor Court, Mount Argus, Harold’s Cross, Dublin, “in a timely and expeditious manner”.
It said it was constrained from publishing the internal report for reasons of client confidentiality but stressed the case had been examined “in depth” in accordance with appropriate protocols.
Earlier this week Mr Connors was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.