A round-up of today’s other stories in brief
More reseeding of grasslands needed
Ireland needs to reseed 4 rather than 2 per cent of its grasslands annually to remain competitive, an international grass conference in Cork has heard, writes Seán Mac Connell.
While there has been an increase in reseeding levels this year, Teagasc’s Michael O’Donovan said more was needed to match other countries like New Zealand.Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle told delegates there were huge opportunities to grow and utilise more grass in Ireland.
Four out 10 TDs on Twitter, says study
Four out of 10 TDs now have Twitter accounts, according to new research by Murray Consultants. It shows that the micro-blogging site is growing in popularity among elected representatives, with 63 of the 163 TDs using Twitter.
Green Party TDs account for four out of the top 10 Dáil tweeters. Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan - with 2,385 followers - is the most popular.
Fellow Green Party member Ciarán Cuffe is the second most popular TD on Twitter, while Labour’s Joan Burton and Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney and Lucinda Creighton round out the top five.
Gardaí find guns and pipe bomb
A pipe bomb was dismantled in Co Dublin last night as part of a Garda investigation into dissident republican activities.
Two shotguns, a pipe bomb, and ammunition were found by detectives buried in wasteground at Kiltipper Park, Tallaght. The army bomb disposal team was called by gardaí. They arrived shortly before 5pm and made safe the pipe bomb, ammunition and shotgun.
The defences forces removed the pipe bomb for further examination and gave the rifle and ammunition to gardaí. The scene was declared safe at 7.45pm. No arrests were made and the investigation continues.
Failure to act on technology ‘will damage’ education system
The Government will permanently undermine our education system unless it takes action to make technology a key part of school work, the Irish Primary Principals’ Network has said.
Its president, Pat Goff, said multinational business leaders and educators agreed there was an urgency to put computers and technology at the centre of education. Ireland had slipped down the international rankings of integrating technology into classrooms. “As it stands, over 2,000 schools are still using fixed-line broadband, almost 1,000 have satellite and 760 have wireless. High-speed broadband is still only a dream for the majority of schools,” he said.