A round-up of other stories in brief...
Two children killed by vehicles
Two children were killed in vehicle incidents in Longford and Dublin yesterday.
An 18-month-old girl died in Longford when she was hit by a camper van at the back of her house.
The girl was fatally injured by the vehicle at about 3pm and the incident was reported to gardaí by St Joseph’s Hospital Longford at about 3.30pm.
Earlier, an 11-year-old girl was killed when she was hit by a car in Castleknock, Dublin.
The young pedestrian was struck by the car at about 1.50pm on the Diswellstown Road, Carpenterstown.
She was pronounced dead at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown.
The man driving the car was not injured.
Gardaí in Blanchardstown, Dublin, are appealing to a man who was jogging in the area and who helped at the scene, as well as a driver of a blue car who was travelling from the direction of Diswellstown Bridge, to contact them at 01-666 7000.
Man held over 'unwarranted approach'
Gardaí in Athlone were last night holding a man over an “unwarranted approach” to young women in Co Westmeath on Monday night.
The approach occurred as two teenagers and a woman in her 20s were walking into Athlone. A car pulled up as they neared Bonavalley Bridge shortly after midnight.
A man got out of the car and approached them before fleeing. A man in his 20s was later arrested. He is being held at Athlone Garda station.
Bonavalley Bridge was the scene of four serious attacks on females in 2007 and 2008. Supt Aidan Glacken said “at the moment we are not suggesting any linkages”.
HSE tells suppliers of 8% spending cut
The Health Service Executive has told its suppliers that it will be seeking cuts of a minimum of 8 per cent on its spending on goods and services, writes Martin Wall.
In a letter to companies, the authority said the National Procurement Operating Unit had instructed all Government departments, local authorities, agencies and public bodies to approach their supply bases to achieve this level of reduction.
The HSE has had an effective freeze in place on the amount it paid out to suppliers for the last year.
Planners reject Trinity's pub plans
Trinity College Dublin has been refused permission for a large pub and restaurant in the ground floor and basement of the former AIB Bank in Foster Place, writes Tim O'Brien.
The application included the development of a new shop in Foster Place South, the removal of a 19th-century bank vault, and internal revisions at 3 and 4 Foster Place, as well as a new upper floor extension linking through to buildings on Anglesea Street.
Planners said it would lead to “an excessive concentration” of pubs in the area.
'Smartphones' lead to longer workdays
While websites such as Facebook have been blamed for reducing worker productivity, a new survey has found that Irish workers with smartphones work an estimated 40 per cent more than those without the phones.
Irish employees with expensive company phones such as iPhones and Blackberries work 16 hours a week more than those without, a new survey has found.
Over half of these workers said they check and answer work e-mails before they go to bed at night and first thing in the morning.
Some 56 hours of work a week are put in by employees with smartphone access compared with the 40 hours a week by those without the phones, the survey of more than 650 Irish employees revealed.
Employment law firm Peninsula Ireland, which carried out the study, said work-demands and the availability of mobile technology was turning people into workaholics.