Other news in brief
Woman held unlawfully gets 5,500
A woman has been awarded €5,500 in damages over her unlawful detention, during which she was asked to remove her clothing down to her underwear while being searched in a Garda station.
Keiva Dunne (27), Manor Road, Mountmellick, Co Laois, brought her High Court case against the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General, who had denied the claims.
The case arose from an incident on June 5th, 1999, when Ms Dunne, then aged 18, was on her way to a disco in Tullamore. She was asked to get into a car, driven by a garda, and brought to the Garda station in Tullamore.
She was taken by a female garda into a room, told to undress and was searched. Nothing was found, the court heard.
Yesterday, after almost four hours of deliberation, the jury found Ms Dunne had not been advised she was being detained for the purpose of a drug search when the garda met her on the street.
The jury found she had been detained by the garda on the basis of a reasonable cause to suspect she was in possession of drugs and that the garda had identified himself to her when he met her on the street.
They also found that she was clearly aware she was under detention when she was being taken by car to the Garda station, but found the garda she met on the street had not advised she was being detained for a drug search. On this basis, the jury awarded damages of €5,500. The issue of costs will be dealt with today.
Three arrested over drugs find
Three men were arrested last evening following a search by the Garda Organised Crime Unit and the Clondalkin Drugs Unit at an industrial estate in Clondalkin, Dublin. A quantity of cannabis and heroin was seized.
The men were detained in Clondalkin and Ballyfermot Garda stations under section 2 Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking Act) 1996.
Maze project cost now £700m
The development of the former Maze prison site to provide a shared sports stadium and a conflict transformation centre could cost more than £700 million over 30 years, Northern Ireland Assembly members have heard. This is almost three times the initial estimate of £240 million.
Paul Sweeney, a senior official dealing with sport at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, said this estimate included construction costs and other charges for maintenance and depreciation.
There are plans for a 35,000-seater stadium, which soccer and rugby authorities along with the GAA say they are prepared to share. The site, near Lisburn, Co Antrim, would house a retained H-block, to be transformed into a visitor centre, and business, hotel and exhibition facilities.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP are broadly supportive of the initiative, but many unionists are deeply sceptical.
Man dies after Cavan car crash
A man was killed in a single car crash in Co Cavan on Wednesday night. The driver died when his car went out of control at Scotchtown on the road from Ballyconnell to Derrylin at about 9pm.
He was Séamus O'Brien (22), Augheraskilla, Ballyconnell, Co Cavan.
Special PSNI road death unit urged
The PSNI must create a specialist unit to help lower the unacceptable number of dead and injured on the roads, a critical report has recommended.
Investigations by Northern Ireland police into fatal and serious crashes is "weak", says a report released this week by Criminal Justice Inspection and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
The report finds that children in the North are three times more likely to die on the roads than in the rest of the UK.