A round-up of stories from around the country.
Fifth death on roads since month began
A 59-year-old man died last night after the car he was driving was in collision with a lorry at Carr's Hill on the main Cork to Carrigaline road shortly before 5pm.
The man, who was from the Cork harbour area, is the fifth person to die on the roads so far this year. The driver of the lorry, a man in his 30s, was uninjured.
At about 6am yesterday a 38-year-old Lithuanian man, Arvydas Bruzas, Loughcrew Hill, Oldcastle, Co Meath, died when the articulated lorry he was driving struck a ditch at Coolamber, Lisryan, Granard, Co Longford.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Galway and Bus Éireann have launched separate investigations into the death of an elderly man who was struck by a bus on Tuesday.
Jimmy Grealish, Kiltulla, Oranmore, Co Galway, was struck by a Bus Éireann bus at about 6pm on January 3rd as he was crossing a road near his home.
Racist attacks on delivery men
Take-away delivery men are being called out to false addresses and subjected to racist beatings, according to Labour Party councillor Aodhan O'Riordain. In a statement yesterday, he said that there had been more than half a dozen attacks in Dublin over Christmas.
"What they're doing is ringing up, giving false addresses, realising the delivery men are going to be non-nationals, and then giving them a hiding. It doesn't even seem to be money-orientated, it's just a sick way of getting their kicks," he said.
In one recent case, a foreign delivery man was injured after being struck in the face. "He was just sitting there crying, bleeding from the eye and wondering why this had been done to him," Mr O'Riordain said.
He added that many delivery workers did not report the attacks because they were afraid of their immigrant status being investigated.
The market for take-away food from Chinese, Indian and pizza outlets has boomed and many of the deliveries are carried out by recently-arrived immigrants. Gangs of youths are believed to be responsible for most of the attacks.
320 arrests for drunk driving
During week four of the Christmas/New Year road safety campaign a total of 320 arrests were made for suspected drunk driving, according to figures released yesterday by the Garda Press Office.
This brings to 1,297 the total number of arrests since the campaign began on November 27th and it represents an increase of almost 14 per cent on the same period during 2004/2005 (1,138 arrests were made during the first four weeks of that campaign).
The operation continues until January 8th.
Man downloaded child pornography
A civil servant from Derry, who yesterday admitted downloading pornographic images of children from the Internet, is to be sentenced next month.
John Reginald Bond (45), Fergleen Park, Galliagh, pleaded guilty to a total of 25 Internet downloading charges when he was arraigned at the city's crown court yesterday. He committed the offences between February and April 2004.
A defence barrister told Judge Emma Loughran that Bond, who had no previous criminal convictions, had admitted a series of very serious charges.
Bail refused to murder accused
A man accused of murdering Derry blues musician Jim Gilchrist was refused bail in the High Court yesterday.
Daryll John Quigley (18), Woodland Walk, Limavady, is one of three men accused of murdering Mr Gilchrist (62), whose body was recovered from the River Foyle last September.
A second accused man was refused bail on two occasions and the third defendant has yet to seek bail.