A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Civil servant settles with department
A senior civil servant at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, who claimed there were "orchestrated endeavours at a high level" within the department to damage her career and reputation, has settled her High Court action for damages.
Deirdre Carroll, one of three assistant secretaries at the department, had brought the action against the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, alleging she sustained personal injuries due to work-related stress. The claims were denied.
The case was listed to begin yesterday. However, after a brief opening of the case, talks between the sides led to a settlement and Mr Justice John MacMenamin was told the action could be struck out with no orders. No details of the settlement were disclosed to the court.
Earlier, when briefly opening the action, Frank Callanan SC, for Ms Carroll, said she had been at the department since 2002 and had an exemplary record in the public service, which she joined in 1969, counsel said. In 1998, Ms Carroll was appointed to the board of the Foundation For Investing in Communities while in 2001 she was appointed to the board of the latter's subsidiary, The Community Foundation for Ireland.
Both appointments were made by the then minister for social affairs, Dermot Ahern, counsel said. In June 2002, she was appointed, again by Mr Ahern, as a member of the Dormant Accounts Board.
Equality body to assist in case
The Supreme Court has granted an application by the Equality Authority to be added to legal proceedings brought by an elderly Traveller couple in chronic ill-health aimed at securing a heated caravan with indoor plumbing.
Paddy and Bridget Doherty have been living for the past nine years in a decrepit mobile home on a temporary halting site in west Dublin and claim they are being discriminated against as Travellers in relation to securing appropriate accommodation.
The authority's application to be joined to the proceedings was opposed by the State and South Dublin County Council. The authority said it believed it could assist the court on several issues, including the proper interpretation of the Equal Status Acts and the Race Directive and issues relating to the provision of reasonable accommodation for disabled persons.
The State and council appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal yesterday.
McCabe killers' appeal starts
A bid for release by two men serving prison sentences for the manslaughter of Det Garda Jerry McCabe opened before the High Court yesterday.
Pearse McAuley and Jeremiah Sheehy claim the Government's refusal to release them breaches their rights under the Constitution, the Belfast Agreement and the European Convention on Human Rights.
McCauley, originally from Strabane, Co Tyrone, and Sheehy, from Limerick, were jailed for 14 years and 12 years respectively in 1999 after pleading guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court to the manslaughter of Det Garda McCabe during an attempted robbery outside Adare post office in June 1996.