A round-up of today's other stories in brief ...
Three men remanded over cocaine seizure
Three Britons have been remanded in custody after they appeared in court yesterday in connection with a €500 million cocaine seizure by the Naval Service, Garda and Customs off the west Cork coast last year.
Philip Doo (52), Brixham, Devon; David Mufford (44), Torquay, Devon, and Christopher Wiggins (42), Estepona, Malaga, Spain, were brought before Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday in connection with the huge drugs seizure on November 5th, 2008.
Judge Patrick Moran remanded the three in continuing custody to appear again at the next sessions of Cork Circuit Criminal Court commencing on April 21st.
Child kidnapping attempt alleged
A file is being prepared at Waterford Garda station for the Director of Public Prosecutions over an alleged attempted child kidnapping.
A man has been interviewed and released without charge, pending the file being sent to the DPP, in connection with the reported incident in the St John’s Park area in February.
A 12-year-old girl was allegedly approached near a shop as she made her way home from St Ursula’s primary school on February 9th. The girl claimed a man driving a car asked her repeatedly to get in.
Gardaí inquire about shots fired
Detectives in the Cavan- Monaghan Garda division are investigating an incident in which a number of shots were reported to have been fired at a house on the outskirts of Kingscourt in Co Cavan yesterday morning.
There were no reports of anyone having been injured.
Call for action ahead of horse fair
A county councillor has called on landowners to give gardaí written statements allowing them to evict Travellers from their land in advance of one of the country’s largest horse fairs.
David O’Brien of Carlow County Council said “action needs to be taken early by property owners whose land has been invaded and destroyed by people attending the Borris Fair”.
About 4,000 visitors arrive in Borris every summer for the two-day horse fair which is a key event within the Travelling community.
Residents have complained of rubbish left on the streets.
Hotel closed last year to reopen
A Co Clare hotel which closed last year with the loss of 40 jobs is to reopen this month, creating 50 jobs immediately and over 70 at the height of the season.
Last October, the Woodstock Hotel in Ennis closed after a liquidator was appointed to three hotels owned by the Dunne Hotels Group. The hotel is to reopen on March 27th under hotelier Noel Mulhaire as Woodstock Hotel, Golf Spa Resort.