A round-up of today's Irish news stories in brief
All carriage horses need 'dung catchers'
All horse-drawn carriages for public hire in Ireland should be fitted with dung catchers, according to Fine Gael senator Paul Coghlan.
Mr Coghlan said St Stephen’s Green in Dublin was being soiled on a daily basis by carriages operating for tourists.
He was commenting on the fact that most Killarney jarveys have returned to work following nine months of being locked out of Killarney National Park for refusing to use dung catchers.
Mr Coghlan, who is from Killarney, said the Kerry town had led the way. “It is now up to the Minister for the Environment to ensure that all operators are on an equal footing by ensuring that dung catchers are worn across the board.”
The Senator said he was glad the Killarney dispute had finally been resolved.
Former personal assistant settles case with FitzGerald
A CASE alleging unfair dismissal taken against former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald and the Department of the Taoiseach by his former personal assistant has been settled, writes Elaine Edwards.
The case taken by Sharon Kelly was settled before a hearing scheduled at the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Dublin yesterday .
The terms were not disclosed. The scheduled proceedings were delayed while the parties engaged in private negotiations.
When the hearing opened, Conor Power for Dr FitzGerald told tribunal chairman Peter J O’Leary the time had proved “fruitful” and that the parties were pleased to say all issues had been resolved “satisfactorily between them”.
In those circumstances, the claim could in due course be struck out.
Eamon Keane quits Newstalk
Radio presenter Eamon Keane has left his lunchtime show on Newstalk. Mr Keane resigned amid speculation he was moving to RTÉ.
Son of actor Eamon Keane, nephew of Kerry playwright John B Keane and brother of BBC journalist Fergal Keane, the presenter had hosted a two-hour show on the station.
Some 68,000 people listened to Lunchtime with Eamon Keane, according to JNLR results in February.
The station confirmed Mr Keane had resigned.
There was speculation Mr Keane may return to RTÉ radio. However, a spokesman for RTÉ said it was not planning any announcements on new presenters “over the next while”. Mr Keane was not contactable last night.
His representative, solicitor Gerald Kean, said his client would make a statement next week.
Minister confident of deal on passports
Talks were adjourned at the Labour Relations Commission last night in an attempt to resolve an ongoing dispute at the Passport Office which has resulted in a backlog of 61,086 passport applications.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said he was “confident” the talks would bring about agreement to let normal service resume.
The CPSU last night called on management at the Passport Office to give priority to those with immediate travel needs.