A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Gardaí think Doyle killing a Spanish feud
Gardaí are continuing to liaise with Spanish police in an effort to establish a motive for the murder near Marbella on Monday of Irish drug dealer Paddy Doyle, writes Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent.
Garda sources said their inquiries here since the shooting dead of the 27-year-old Dubliner had not unearthed any intelligence to suggest the killing is linked to a dispute involving Irish criminals.
They said from the outset that while Doyle had been involved in a drugs feud involving gangs from the Dublin suburbs of Crumlin and Drimnagh they were convinced his killing was related to his recent activities in Spain.
He had moved there following short stints in Liverpool and Manchester after the murder in November 2005 in Clontarf, Dublin, of Noel Roche (27), Drimnagh. Doyle was the chief suspect for the killing.
Engineer seized by pirates unharmed
An Irish engineer on a tugboat seized by pirates off the Somali coast is unharmed and has access to food and water, according to the ship's Danish owner.
Fred Parle (68), Aughnamore, Co Sligo, along with four Russians and a British captain were on the Svitzer Korsakov when pirates raided the ship last Friday off the coast of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northeast Somalia.
Yesterday, Svitzer Group officials were in contact with the ship and were told by the British captain "that the crew is unharmed and that food and water supply is sufficient".
Mr Parle, who is chief engineer on the ship, is a founding member of Sligo Sub Aqua club and has worked for decades in the international maritime industry.
Salmond will meet the Taoiseach
Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin next week ahead of Thursday's scheduled meeting of the British Irish Council.
This will be Mr Salmond's first official visit to the Republic since becoming first minister and leader of the minority administration at Holyrood.
Trawler crewman dies off coast
A 64-year-old crewman has died after taking ill on board an Irish trawler off the southwest coast this yesterday afternoon.
The man was fishing on board the Castletownbere- based Pilgrim Light some two miles off Dursey Island in West Cork when he took ill.
The man was airlifted to Kerry General Hospital in Tralee.
Man questioned after drug seizure
A man in his 30s was being questioned by gardaí in Co Clare last night following the seizure of almost 6,000 ecstasy tablets and a small quantity of cocaine.
The man was detained after gardaí raided a house at Rineanna View in Shannon town at about 10.30am yesterday.
The operation involved detectives from the Divisional Drug Team from Ennis and officers from Shannon town.
Gardaí went to the address after securing a search warrant and initially discovered a small quantity of ecstasy.
However as the search continued, a safe was located in the house which gardaí suspected contained more drugs.
On opening the safe, the estimated 5,500 additional tablets were discovered.
One man was later arrested at the house and was being detained at Shannon Garda station last night.
The man had not been in the house at the time of the Garda raid but it is understood that he returned to the scene later in the day and was arrested.
A woman, believed to be the man's wife, was also in the house at the time but was not detained.