More news in brief.
Group plans co-located hospitals
The Beacon Medical Group announced yesterday it has formally applied for planning permission to build three co-located hospitals on the sites of Cork University Hospital, the Midwest-Regional Hospital in Limerick and Beaumont Hospital.
Total investment in the three hospitals, it said, will amount to about €800 million. They will provide an additional 495 beds.
Libelled rugby fan wins damages
An Ulster rugby fan attacked by former Irish international Trevor Brennan has been awarded new libel damages by two newspapers. The Irish Starand the Sunhave agreed to pay damages to Patrick Bamford, an accountant from Belfast, over their reporting of the incident at a match between Toulouse and Ulster last January.
Teacher on child porn charges
A teacher at Sullivan Upper grammar school in Holywood, Co Down, has been charged with downloading indecent images of children from the internet, writes Gerry Moriarty. The teacher has been suspended from the school pending the outcome of the case, the school confirmed yesterday.
Man wins age bias case
A Co Down man has won the first case of ageist job discrimination in the North in a case taken under legislation introduced in Northern Ireland in October 2006.
An industrial tribunal found in favour of Terence McCoy from Newtownards in a case of ageism that he took against Belfast timber firm James McGregor and Sons Ltd. Mr McCoy, when aged 58, had applied for two posts with the firm, and after two interviews was told he was unsuccessful. The tribunal found that but for his age Mr McCoy "would more probably than not have been selected for one of the two posts".
Judge warns on complaint cases
In future, court prosecutions will not be delayed pending outcomes of complaints made by defendants to the Garda Ombudsman, a judge said yesterday. Judge Denis McLoughlin made his comment while presiding at the Dublin Children's Court, when a solicitor for a teenage boy charged with engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour asked for the case to be put back pending the outcome of a complaint lodged by the defendant to the Garda Ombudsman, arising out of his arrest.
Murphy for trial at Special Court
Prominent Republican Thomas "Slab" Murphy has been sent forward for trial at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin for alleged revenue offences. He applied for free legal aid when he appeared at Dundalk District Court yesterday.
Mr Murphy (58) was prosecuted after an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.