A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
IFA warning on dogs after sheep kill
The Irish Farmers' Association has warned dog owners to keep their animals under control following a serious sheep kill in Co Wexford where dogs attacked 150 ewes, writes Seán MacConnell.
The attack, at Clonjordan, Ballindaggin, Enniscorthy, left 37 sheep dead and others injured at the farm of Bertie Warren last Tuesday night.
He came across three dogs which had pinned the 150 ewes against a gate. With the help of neighbours, the dogs were held at bay until gardaí and dog wardens arrived and the dogs were captured.
Challenges for Adoption Board
The Adoption Board will need to be proactive on the needs of adopted children from outside Ireland in the coming months and years, according to Geoffrey Shannon, chairman of the Adoption Board, writes Carol Coulter.
Mr Shannon was speaking following the launch of two documents by Minister for Children Brendan Smith yesterday. These were a report on the first two years of the National Adoption Contact Register and the Framework for a National Information and Tracing Service.
He pointed out that children adopted under the 1991 Act legalising inter- country adoptions, many of whom were two or three at the time, will be coming up to their majority in the coming months.
The international experience had been that such young people sought out information on their origins, he said, and that under international conventions, it was the right of the child to know his or her identity.
Four rescued from sinking trawler
Four fishermen were recovering yesterday after being rescued following the sinking of their vessel north of Howth, Co Dublin.
The four were taken from rocks near Howth at about 4am after the 15-metre Crystal Sea sank. Howth RNLI lifeboat carried out the rescue, with aerial support from the Irish Coast Guard's Dublin-based Sikorsky helicopter.
The vessel was returning to port after a fishing trip for lobster and crab when it struck a rock and began taking in water.
Joycean show by Norris
Senator David Norris is performing his Joycean one-man show, Do You Hear What I'm Seeing?, at the Clontarf Castle Hotel on Sunday at 8pm.
This special performance, which covers the full range of Joyce's work and life, is in aid of a clean water project in an impoverished village in Hebron, Israel.
4.5m Europeans using cocaine
An annual report on drug use has found that about 4.5 million Europeans are likely to have used cocaine last year - a million more than in 2005, writes Steven Carroll.
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said: "Cocaine is now, after cannabis, the second most commonly used illicit drug in many EU member states and in the EU as a whole."
An estimated 107 tonnes of cocaine was seized in 2005, the agency said in its report on the EU, Norway and Turkey. The biggest consumers of the drug were adults aged between 15 and 34 in Britain and Spain.
The report also found 11 per cent of Irish people smoked cannabis, 2.5 per cent used ecstasy and just over 1 per cent used amphetamines in 2003.
Garda hearing action ends
The High Court has reserved judgment on an action for damages by a Garda dog handler for alleged hearing loss as a result of "constant barking" from dogs under his control.
Garda Thomas Donnelly (55) alleges hearing problems in both ears after being exposed to what he says was constant high noise levels by the dogs under his control.