In Short

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

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

Minister meets Shell protesters

Protesters against Shell's plans to build a gas terminal and pipeline in Erris, Co Mayo, yesterday met with Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, writes Mark Hennessy.

During a 75-minute meeting, the delegation presented Mr Ryan with a letter signed by three priests in the parish, Fr Michael Nallen, Fr Seán Noone and Fr Michael Gilroy.

READ MORE

The three said they hoped Mr Ryan's involvement would help to create a situation where "the genuine concerns" of locals are heard, and dealt with in a constructive manner.

The priests said the majority of the local community in Ballinaboy are strongly against Shell's gas terminal and pipeline.

Last night, the Minister's spokeswoman said the Minister had "been in listening mode" and had not made any concessions or promises.

Journalists move from unsafe office

Eight journalists are being moved out of an office in Leinster House because of concerns about their safety due to the condition of the floor.

While there is no immediate danger of the floor collapsing, the Office of Public Works has advised that it had become unstable.

The office is in the old 18th century section of Leinster House, which was originally build as the town house of the dukes of Leinster. A recent survey of the building conducted by the OPW concluded that the room should be evacuated.

Four of the journalists in the room work for the Irish Examiner, two for the Sunday Times, one for the Sunday Business Postand the other for the Irish Daily Mail.

The eight will be supplied with alternative accommodation in an office building across the road from Leinster House.

Recalling unsafe food warning

Food businesses that fail to act to recall unsafe food have been warned that they will face legal action and heavy penalties, writes Alison Healy.

At a seminar for food businesses yesterday, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said the onus was firmly on the industry to swiftly recall dangerous food from the marketplace.

Since January, the authority has investigated 80 separate food incidents and took action in 57 cases. Actions involved ranged from withdrawing the products from distributors to issuing food alerts and recalling the product from consumers.

"We've issued seven food alerts ourselves this year," said Jeffrey Moon, the authority's chief environmental health specialist.

He said the need to issue seven food alerts was "significant" because Ireland was a small country. "Things will always go wrong but what we are trying to get businesses to do is minimise the likelihood of this happening," he said.

Woman held over Cork death freed

Gardaí are to prepare a file for the DPP after last night releasing without charge a 44-year-old woman arrested for questioning about the killing of an Englishman whose body was found in a slurry tank in west Cork.

The British woman was released without charge by gardaí at Bandon shortly after 8pm after being held and questioned for over 20 hours about the murder of New Age Traveller, Garry Bull (37).