A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Dublin invests 2m in flood defence study
Dublin City Council is to invest €2 million to help research ways to combat flooding in the capital, writes Charlie Taylor.
The council said yesterday it has been allocated €1 million in EU funding and will contribute a further €1 million of its own funds to look at ways to bolster the city's flood defences.
Dublin City Council received the assistance to participate in a new project that will focus on flooding arising from extreme rainfall. The council, along with several other European cities, has formed a consortium to identify how to defend a city against flooding.
The council's participation in the new project coincides with the completion of the Safer project, an early warning system which combines information on weather conditions and tide levels to predict the risk of a tidal surge.
The system, which was introduced in the aftermath of the February 2002, provides a warning of potential flooding four days in advance.
State should compensate staff
The Labour Court has recommended that the Department of Education should pay €60,000 to four members of the Irish Federation of University Teachers who took early retirement when St Catherine's College of Education for Home Economics, Dublin, closed last year, writes Seán Flynn
The Labour Court found "there was a level of inadequacy" in the department's role in helping the claimants find alternative positions.
The court said the decision to remove the claimants from the payroll was "unfair in the circumstances".
Dissidents blamed for grave attacks
Dissident republican factions may be behind the desecration of a cemetery in Lurgan, Co Armagh on Tuesday evening.
Some 40 graves were damaged at Dougher Cemetery in Victoria Street, the oldest cemetery in Lurgan which dates from the 1700s.
Gravestones and ornamental crosses were smashed and floral displays uprooted. Glass bottles were also smashed and many of the older gravestones and ornamental crosses have been destroyed. There has been rioting in Lurgan several nights this week.
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "The possibility that the attack was carried out by dissident republicans is one line of enquiry that we are pursuing at the moment."
However Republican Sinn Féin denied this. "Two graves belonging to republicans were also desecrated," said RSF director of publicity, Richard Walsh.
Trinity to honour Island founder
Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records which was the first label to sign U2, is to be honoured by Trinity College's Philosophical Society in October, writes Kitty Holland.
Blackwell will become an honorary patron of the society on October 3rd. The event coincides with the annual music industry exhibition at the RDS, the Music Show.
Run by Hot Press magazine, the Music Show is being opened this year at the Philosophical Society's event for Blackwell. He will be interviewed by deputy editor of Hot Press, Stuart Clarke.
Blackwell signed U2 to Island Records in 1980. Others made honorary patrons of the society include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof and Al Pacino.
Stepaside to get bus service
THOUSANDS OF residents in new developments in the Stepaside area of south Dublin will finally be provided with a regular bus service after years of waiting.
A new number 47 Dublin Bus route will begin on September 8th from Belarmine in Dublin 18 via Stepaside, Sandyford, Stillorgan and UCD to Donnybook.