In Short

A round-up of today's other news stories in brief

A round-up of today's other news stories in brief

Chemical leak at Pharmachem plant in Cork

Six fire units were called to the Pharmachem chemical plant at Little Island on the outskirts of Cork city yesterday morning shortly after 7am to deal with a chemical leak.

A Pharmachem spokesman said the solvent spillage was caused by the over- pressurisation of a 200-litre drum in a storage area at the back of the plant. The company's emergency crews dealt with the spill. However, fire units from Cork City, Cobh and Midleton arrived on site to provide back-up.

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Nobody was injured and the company insists it had no environmental impact. The EPA and the Health and Safety Authority have been informed.

Body found in car off Galway

Gardaí searching for a Dublin woman who has been missing since New Year's Eve have found a body in a car off the Galway coast.

Rosanne Kenny (42) disappeared on New Year's Eve when she left a hotel in Connemara to go for a drive.

Yesterday, a car was taken from the water close to Rossaveal Pier in south Connemara, with one occupant inside.

The car was removed from the water and the body taken to University College Hospital, Galway.

Durty Nelly's pub sold

It has been confirmed that Durty Nelly's pub at Bunratty, Co Clare, has officially changed hands in a deal believed to be biggest of its kind for a pub outside of Dublin. It has been sold for for an undisclosed sum believed to be between €12 million and €13 million.

Larkin loan 'irregular'

The provision of a house loan to Celia Larkin by Fianna Fáil members in Dublin Central "was certainly a very unusual and irregular activity", Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said on RTÉ's The Week in Politics last night.

In a discussion on the Mahon tribunal and related issues, Ms Hanafin said: "I don't know of any other circumstances where that has happened around the country with Fianna Fáil money."

Meanwhile, the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C tracking poll, published yesterday, shows Fianna Fáil at 37 per cent (+1); Fine Gael 31 (-1); Labour 10 (no change); Greens 7 (no change); Sinn Féin 8 (-1); Progressive Democrats 2 (no change); Independents 6 (+2).

Fifty-three per cent said they did not believe the account given by the Taoiseach to the tribunal about his finances.

School bus victim funeral

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral on Saturday of Nicola Murray (16), Cabragh, Co Tyrone, who died last Wednesday after a lorry collided with the school bus in which she was travelling.

Her nine-year-old cousin Gráinne Mallon, who was badly injured, remains in a serious condition in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.