A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
School coach sentenced for sex assaults
A former school basketball coach has been sentenced in Cork to three months in prison for the sexual assault of a student more than 20 years ago.
Jim Long (57), a married man, Bishopstown Cork, assaulted the girl as she cleaned classrooms in a basement of the Cork city school where her mother worked as a cleaner.
He pleaded guilty to 12 counts of sexual assault between September 1981 and May 1982.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that the injured party initially contacted gardaí in September 2006. She said as she cleaned two basement classrooms on her own she was approached by Long, who was the school basketball coach.
In a victim impact statement which she read to the court, the victim outlined the effect that the abuse had on her life. Now aged 40, she said she had suffered from depression most of her life and had attempted an overdose at the age of 14. She started self-harming in her early teens.
Thurles castle to be renovated
Permission has been granted for the renovation of Killahara Castle near Thurles, Co Tipperary by North Tipperary County Council
Local men Patrick Noel Ryan and Tom O'Neill plan to renovate the castle near Dovea and to reinstate the centuries-old property as a private residence.
The renovation of the recorded structure will mainly comprise the refurbishment of the existing Victorian adapted interior with the installation of flooring and new quarry slated roof, timber fenestration and essential conservation maintenance works to structure and fabric.
A new single-storey detached utility room and proposed new entrance, are also part of the plan.
Man held after car-jack attempt
A woman and her five- year-old son received medical attention after they were dragged from their car on Dublin Road, Athy, Co Kildare, in an attempted car- jacking incident. The woman, in her early 30s, had stopped for a man who flagged her down while walking in the middle of the road. The incident happened shortly before 7pm on Tuesday.
Sgt Jim Bergin said the woman was dragged from her car by a man and thrown to the ground. The man then tried to drive away. It is understood she managed to open the back door and rescue her son from the car as her attacker attempted to restart the engine.
Other motorists came to the woman's assistance. One woman said she saw three men chase after the attacker as he ran from the scene when the car failed to start. He was pinned to the ground and held there by a number of men until gardaí arrived.
Sgt Bergin said the woman, who is from Athy, was traumatised and received medical attention from a local doctor. The child was unharmed.
The man, who is also from Athy, was arrested at the scene and taken to Athy Garda station. He was later released and was moved to a hospital for psychiatric care.