A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
Hanafin deal to save school under threat
A pre-election deal to avert closure of a secondary school in south Galway is under threat due to the apparent failure of the Mercy Order and the Department of Education to reach agreement, writes Lorna Siggins
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin had agreed to retain a school in Kinvara, when the Mercy Order withdraws from education at Seamount College. This was subject to agreement by the Mercy Order that Seamount would remain "fully operational", accepting first year students from September next and up to and including the 2010-2011 school cycle.
However, the Mercy Order has not given this level of commitment, while agreeing to accept new first year pupils this September.
The Department of Education said last night that a board of management had been established to manage the transition and it had sought clarification.
A spokesman for the Mercy Order said that there had been an exchange of correspondence between the Mercy Sisters and the department and there were issues needing clarification.
26,000 in CAO change of mind
Figures released yesterday show that more than 26,000 students opted to make changes to their CAO application before the deadline for submission of change of mind forms passed on July 1st.
CAO statistics show that 24,772 applicants changed their choices online. A total of 1,821 submitted a change of mind form by post.
The first round of offers, will be posted today and can be viewed online tomorrow. A list of courses with places will also be placed on the CAO website tomorrow.
ICCL warning on discrimination
The Government could be brought to the European Court of Justice if it fails to fully implement EU rules banning discrimination on the grounds of race and ethnic origin, according to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties.
ICCL director Mark Kelly, of was speaking in Dublin last night at the launch of the annual report for 2006.