A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Bloody Sunday report expected late next year
The chairman of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry has confirmed that the inquiry's final report into the January 1972 killings by British army paratroopers of 13 civilians in the Bogside area of Derry will not be ready until late next year or early 2008.
Lord Saville, who chaired the 435-day inquiry, was responding to a letter written by a representative of the victims' families John Kelly.
Mr Kelly said Lord Saville had replied that it would be at least late next year and probably into 2008 before it is ready. "It's a pity it's taking so long, but as far as the families are concerned, we're prepared to wait for as long as it takes."
Forged and altered passports seized
Gardaí from the Garda National Immigration Bureau seized forged and altered passports after a search of a house in Clonsilla, Dublin, yesterday.
Seven men and three women, all non-Irish nationals, were arrested, and gardaí said five men appeared in Dublin District Court charged with theft and fraud offences.
The remaining three women and two men were released without charge.
Rosemary Nelson inquiry delayed
An inquiry investigating allegations of British security forces collusion in the 1999 loyalist paramilitary murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson has been put back by at least nine months.
The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry, which was to open in January, will not now start until September 2007 at the earliest.
"In view of the amount and the range of work which remains to be completed to enable the inquiry and the full participants fully and properly to prepare for the full hearings, the inquiry has decided not to set a specific date for those hearings to begin at this stage," the inquiry team said.
Petition over church pews
A petition is being organised to prevent the removal of timber pews from a 600-year-old Augustinian friary church in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, and to have them replaced with tiered seating for concert purposes.
An action group set up to fight the proposed move by the Abbey Partnership claims that removal of the pews would be the "thin edge of the wedge" and that eventually the entire church would be secularised.
Volunteers will be collecting petition signatures over the coming weekend seeking support for moves to have the friary church and adjacent graveyard preserved in its present state.
They are also seeking assurances that Mass and other religious ceremonies will be celebrated in the friary church on a regular basis with the full co-operation of the parish and diocese.
Recently the Augustinian Order leased the property to the partnership which includes representatives of Ballyhaunis Community Council and Mayo County Council.