Other stories in brief.
Shannon gas plan no harm, board told
A liquified natural gas facility on the Shannon estuary would not threaten the resident bottlenose dolphin population, the nearby Ballylongford oyster beds or the salmon population, a Bord Pleanála hearing has been told, writes Anne Lucey.
Independent experts retained by Shannon LNG to study the effects of the project on the ecology of the estuary told the sixth day of the oral hearing in Tralee that the increase of five or more per cent in shipping channel traffic brought about by the 125 LNG ships would not harm marine life.
They said Shannon LNG had agreed to conditions suggested by the Department of the Environment and would ensure discharges were treated before entering the estuary.
Earlier MEP Kathy Sinnott told the meeting on behalf of the Kilcolgan residents that "LNG is both dirty and dangerous".
Tall building gets go-ahead in Clare
Clare County Council yesterday granted planning permission for Clare's tallest ever building, which forms part of the €200 million Westpark business park in the Shannon Free Zone, writes Gordon Deegan.
With permission secured, Westpark anticipates that work will begin on the 11-storey building in March and April next and be completed in May 2009.
One six-storey block has already been completed on the Westpark campus.
' Dead' Kilkenny man resurfaces
Residents of the Co Kilkenny town of Graiguenamanagh were yesterday bemused to discover that a local businessman who had supposedly died 15 years ago is alive and living in southwest France, writes Michael Parsons.
The Irish Sun newspaper claimed to have found Walter Dominy (71), who allegedly faked his own death by staging his disappearance from the Rosslare to Fishguard ferry in October 1993. He had left a "suicide note" and was presumed drowned.
The Irish Timeshas confirmed that the English businessman moved to Ireland in the late 1980s with his wife and four children, bought Brandondale House in Graiguenamagh and set up a printing business.
Mr Dominy's tragic death had saddened the community, said local Labour Party councillor Ann Phelan. Now he is reportedly living in Bagnac-Sur-Célé, a small town in the Midi-Pyrénées region.