Fifty jobs are to be lost in Limerick at a clothes manufacturer in the city's Tait centre. Staff at the company were told last week that Lorretto Bloom is to shut its doors by the end of the year.
It has been making ladies' fashions in Limerick for over 20 years and a spokesman said it is to close because of a "downturn in business combined with higher costs".
The spokesman said the company "will continue to trade for a number of months and that a final shutdown date had not yet been confirmed".
**********
Two injured in port accident
Two men were injured at the port of Waterford, Belview, Co Kilkenny yesterday when a steel girder fell on them.
The two men were unloading the girders off a ship after lunchtime to place them in a nearby storage area when a couple of the girders fell.
The two were brought to Waterford Regional Hospital, where they are being treated for fractures to their legs.
**********
Lidl backs down on milk price cut
The UK-based Farmers For Action organisation has won its dispute with the German multinational supermarket chain, Lidl, which had sought to cut the price it was paying its milk suppliers.
Yesterday, Mr William Taylor, Coleraine, Co Derry-based leader of the FFA in Northern Ireland, thanked the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association for its support in the dispute, which involved one Northern Ireland-based dairy which services all the stores in Ireland.
Mr Pat O'Rourke, president of the ICMSA, had warned co-operatives and processors in the Republic of Ireland not to become involved in the dispute after Lidl had threatened to source milk from the Republic when farmers in the UK blockaded milk processing and distribution plants.
Lidl had demanded a reduction in its supply price by 1.5p per litre to 16p per litre a fortnight ago.
There was an immediate reaction from farmers who said this would mean producing milk at below cost.
They blockaded the Lidl distribution centres at Livingstone in Scotland and other centres in England and Wales. In Northern Ireland, the Lidl distribution centre in Antrim town was also hit by a lightning blockade.
The company announced on Monday evening that it would would not be seeking the cuts.
**********
Pilots aim to fly Irish coastline
Two pilots from Northern Ireland will attempt to set a new world record on Sunday by flying the circumference of Ireland in a four-seated light aircraft.
The Fly Ireland team, Adrian Maginnis and Colin Fullerton, will take off from Newtownards flying club in Co Down to raise funds for the NSPCC and the ISPCC.
The pilots will land at 20 airports and airfields to refuel.