In Short

Other stories in brief.

Other stories in brief.

Man's body found at flats block

Gardaí investigating the discovery of a man's body in south Dublin yesterday morning are not looking for anybody else in relation to the death, writes Conor Lally.

The body of the man in his 30s was discovered at 8am yesterday outside an apartment complex at Charlotte Quay, Ringsend. Gardaí believe he may have fallen from the third floor of the block.

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One avenue of inquiry is that the dead man was linked to a break-in in the area. A number of items believed stolen in the robbery were found on his body. He sustained head injuries in the fall from the apartment block.

The scene was sealed off for technical examination and the man's body was removed to the Dublin City Morgue for a postmortem. His identity has been established but his name not been released by gardaí last night.

HSE care units policy praised

A new admissions policy being implemented by the HSE for special care units is operating effectively in the interests of high-risk children, a High Court judge said yesterday.

A new HSE programme to identify the needs of about 200 young persons in the high-risk category will be completed by December this year, Mr Justice John MacMenamin also noted. It was expected it would take some three years to implement various initiatives.

Since the National Admissions Committee was set up in January of this year, no situation has arisen where a court has been unable to make an detention order on grounds that no place is available in a special care or high support unit, he said.

There had also been a very substantial reduction in the number of legal challenges brought on behalf of children by parties other than the HSE, he noted.

Kingston Construction Ltd

In the course of coverage of the reconstruction of Eyre Square in Galway, Kingston Construction Limited, a company based in Dublin, was inadvertently identified as the relevant contractor. The company had no involvement with the reconstruction work and The Irish Timesapologises to Myles Carey and Timmy Griffin for so identifying it.

New unit to tackle NI financial crime

A new unit of more than 60 specialist financial investigators is to support a crackdown on organised criminal gangs, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has announced.

According to the PSNI's financial investigation unit, detectives can apply to the High Court for powers to stop suspects selling on their property to fund lavish lifestyles.

The announcement follows a series of successes for the police who are tackling criminal gangs including the seizure of some £580,000 (€862,000) in cash last year.

State to boost overseas aid fund

The Government is to contribute more than €5 million to projects aimed at helping developing countries trade more effectively, it announced yesterday, writes Mary Fitzgerald.

Irish Aid, the development division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, will increase its funding for the Aid For Trade initiative, which tackles challenges faced by the world's poorest countries in the global trading system.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Michael Kitt said the pledge of €5.2 million reflected Ireland's commitment to play its part in EU pledges to increase collective Aid For Trade spending to €€2 billion by 2010.The Aid for Trade initiative was launched two years ago at the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Hong Kong.