More news in brief
International goalkeeper Shay Given will be awarded the freedom of Co Donegal at a civic reception in Lifford today hosted by outgoing county mayor Dessie Larkin.
Given will be the first person to receive a badge and pin commissioned by the council for those on whom the freedom of the county is conferred.
Mr Larkin said: "I am delighted that one of the final acts of my term in office will be to honour Shay for his great achievements in soccer, for being a wonderful ambassador for the county, and a role model to all of its young people."
Two awarded Freedom of Carlow
The freedom of Co Carlow has been awarded to Fr Caoimhín O'Neill, president of Carlow College, and to Prof Jimmy Burke, head of the Teagasc research centre at Oak Park, Carlow.
At a ceremony on Friday night, the cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council, Michael Meaney, said this was the first time this honour was being granted and was awarded to "two exceptional people who have made a huge contribution to the people of Carlow".
Fr O'Neill, a native of Co Laois, was honoured for "his exceptional contribution to the development of an arts centre in Carlow, to education and to artistic and cultural life".
Prof Burke was born in Co Galway and is also an adjunct professor in the bioengineering department of NUI Maynooth and a research fellow at the school of botany at Trinity College Dublin. He was honoured "in recognition of his exceptional contribution to agriculture and economic development in the county".
Bishop ordains 10 priests in Nigeria
The Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady ordained 10 priests in Nigeria at the weekend. Members of the Missionary Society of St Paul the ceremony took place at Gwagwalada, near Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The invitation was extended to him to perform the ordinations by the superior general of the Missionary Society of St Paul, Fr Hyacinth Egbebo, who recently visited Ireland.
Police investigate attacks in North
A racial motive was being investigated by police last night for separate attacks in Northern Ireland.
A Lithuanian was attacked in a house in Castledawson, Co Derry. One man was arrested following the attack during which house in Riverside South was set on fire.
Earlier, the oil tank at the rear of a house in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, which is occupied by Poles was set on fire.
Meanwhile, a Latvian remains in hospital after suffering serious head and eye injuries when he was attacked by two men in Lisburn, Co Antrim.
Women injured in gas explosion
Two women were seriously ill in hospital last night after a gas explosion in a flat in Newry. The women were being treated in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital and the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald.