Six people were treated in hospital following the release of a mysterious gas at a crowded disco in Tramore, Co Waterford at the weekend.
Gardaí were called to the Hi-B disco at 2.40 a.m. on Sunday. During a fracas, someone in the crowd released a canister containing a gas, suspected to be mace.
A number of people became ill with several people suffering breathing difficulties and sore eyes. Six of these were brought to hospital but have since been released.
Two men were arrested at the scene for public order offences. A garda was assaulted during the disturbances.
There have been no arrests in connection with the gas incident, but gardaí are following a definite line of inquiry.
Ship will cut travel time to Europe
The new ship launched with fanfare and fireworks in Waterford yesterday afternoon will reduce the journey time between the port and mainland Europe by eight hours.
Maersk Waterford is the first purpose-built container ship of its type to use the port of Waterford and will service the Rotterdam route operated by Norfolkline, a subsidiary of the Danish-based AP Moller group.
Norfolkline's container division was established in 1997 to connect Waterford with Rotterdam following the demise of Bell Lines. Sustained growth since then has seen Norfolkline become one of the main sea cargo providers between Ireland and mainland Europe.
The company says the new vessel, berthed at the North Wharf in Waterford yesterday, will increase service reliability and enable transit times to be reduced from 42 to 34 hours with a capacity for about 240 containers.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, attended yesterday's launch and noted ports like Waterford are vital gateways for trade.
"Sea transport and ports must be as efficient, responsive, competitive and reliable as possible to serve our exporters and importers. As the nearest port to mainland Europe and located within 100 miles of Dublin, Waterford undoubtedly represents a real alternative to the now seriously congested east coast, offering facilities of a high standard and 24/7 operations," said Mr Cullen.
Workers in row over redundancy pay
Workers at one of Wexford's oldest industries, Pierce Engineering, are staging a sit-in over redundancy payments.
Up to 50 workers, who are to be made redundant, commenced the sit-in last Friday and continued their protest yesterday. They are demanding four weeks' pay per year of service from Pierce's parent company, Waterford Stanley.
The company has offered one week for each year's service and this has been rejected by the workers.
Sixteen workers in the Pierce Pack Division have not been issued with redundancy notices and are continuing to work normally.
A spokesman for the company said they are still awaiting a response from the union as to why the sit-in is taking place in light of a forthcoming meeting involving the union, management and the Labour Relations Commission.
O'Sullivan Beare march ends today
The last leg of an epic 250 mile walk ends today in the village of Leitrim when a group of walkers from the Beara Peninsula in Counties Cork and Kerry complete a 400-year re-enactment of a march.
The walkers set out 15 days ago in the footsteps of Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare when he and 1,000 followers were forced to flee the Beara Peninsula in January 1603.
The reception in almost 20 villages along the route was tremendous, according to co-ordinator Mr Jim O'Sullivan.
The walkers were paving the way for a European Greenway route which should be in place next year, said a spokeswoman for the event.
The idea was to draw attention to the historic heritage of places off the beaten track such as Portumna, Ardpatrick and Creggs, she said.