Today's other stories in brief
Tralee assault 'self defence', says accused
A 28-year-old man was brought before a special sitting of Tralee District Court yesterday charged with assault causing serious harm to a Polish man in Tralee on Saturday.
Michal Kurowski, of Old Gallows Field, Tralee, who the court heard was a Polish national, was charged with causing serious harm to Michal Skotak on May 16th.
Det Sgt Fearghal Patwell gave evidence of arresting Mr Kurowski. The accused replied “it was only self defence”, Sgt Patwell told the court.
Judge Mary O’Halloran remanded Mr Kurowski in custody to appear on May 20th.
Pilgrims refuse to board aircraft
Irish pilgrims on their way home from Medjugorje in Bosnia were delayed for several hours when they refused to board an aircraft at Dubrovnik airport after it had suffered a technical fault.
There were angry exchanges with airport staff on Saturday night when 164 passengers refused to reboard a Dubrovnik Airlines MD-80 jet after earlier being forced to disembark when it braked suddenly and screeched to a halt when taxiing for take-off.
A replacement aircraft was located and the flight to Dublin eventually took off at midnight – eight hours behind schedule.
Farmer’s body found in lake
A Garda sub-aqua team yesterday recovered the body of a 56-year-old man from one of the Castlereagh lakes near Irishtown, Co Mayo.
The remains were taken to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar.
It is understood that the remains are those of a bachelor farmer who had been missing for some time. There are no suspicious circumstances.
Report backs farmers in west
A report on the future of farming and fishing in the west, which found the majority of farmers there believed they were no better off since the introduction of the Single Farm Payment, has been endorsed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture.
The report, which called for the reversal of recent budget cuts in agriculture, was drawn up by Sinn Féin’s Martin Ferris and will now be sent to the Cabinet.
Mr Ferris said 60 per cent of farmers in the west believed their situation has got worse since introduction of the Single Farm Payment.
Boom ruined wild rural areas
The “development” of the countryside in the recent building boom was an act of “national folly” but was really perpetrated at local level, the Irish Wildlife Trust said in a statement to mark Biodiversity Week, which began yesterday, writes Seán Mac Connell.
The trust said Ireland has lost woodland, wetland and wildlife-rich grassland in the construction of often unsuitable and unwanted housing estates and retail sites in the building boom.