In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Pharmacists to take legal action against HSE

A group representing 150 pharmacists has announced plans to take legal action against the HSE as part of the ongoing row over the price of wholesale medicines.

The Independent Pharmacy Ownership Scheme says the HSE is acting in breach of pharmacists' individual contracts and will put the future of the community pharmacy at risk by reducing pharmacists' profits by as much as 75 per cent.

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However, HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm said it was his job to ensure value for money for the taxpayer. While individuals were entitled to take legal actions, he said existing margins were more than double those in other European countries.

Man (22) dies in motorcycle crash

Gardaí in Co Waterford are investigating a motorcycle crash in which a 22-year-old man died yesterday.

The fatal incident occurred when the motorcycle the man was travelling on collided with a car near Ballymacague, Dungarvan, at 12.50pm.

The man was removed to Waterford Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Gardaí said no one else was injured.

Language support urged for schools

Primary and secondary schools need more Government support to help parents of minority language pupils, a conference has heard.

Such supports must extend beyond the provision of English-language classes for immigrant students, the conference was told.

The Cultural Mediation in Irish Schools - Learning from other Experiences conference in Dublin was organised by the Schools Cultural Mediation Project, which supports 10 schools in the Dublin 7 area.

Unionist anger over Dutch video

A unionist councillor has complained to the Dutch ambassador to the UK about an interactive programme available at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Michael Copeland says a constituent told him the video portrays Orangemen in Northern Ireland in a context linking it to Nazi totalitarianism and apartheid in South Africa.

He said the Order had been "lumped in with Nazis and other despots in an interactive human rights question-and-answer game". "To find that a picture of Orangemen is being used in an interactive learning game for children and parents asking whether it is right for them to walk in Catholic areas is deeply disturbing and deeply offensive to many people," he added.

Man held after €70,000 drug raid

A 28-year-old man was arrested last night after cocaine worth €70,000 was seized.

Gardaí raided an address in Churchtown, Dublin, yesterday evening and discovered 1kg of the drug.

It had arrived earlier by air freight from Canada into Dublin airport.