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News in Brief

A man brought a suspect device to gardaí in Mullingar
A man brought a suspect device to gardaí in Mullingar

Mullingar Garda Station and nearby school evacuated

A garda station and a school in Mullingar were evacuated after a man brought a suspected explosive device into the station to report it.

It is understood the man found the device in his garden.

The area was sealed off and an Army Bomb Disposal team was called in.

Two Dublin sports facilities face closure

Two Dublin community sports facilities are facing closure after the Government turned down a grant renewal application for nearly €750,000, saying it was not up to standard.

The City of Dublin Education and Training Board had applied to renew funding for community facilities at sports centres in Crumlin and Inchicore, worth €216,000 a year for the next three years.

The money was to be used to pay staff to run community facilities outside of school times.

But the Department of Social Protection said there were "weaknesses in the business plan" and "in the manner in which the key criterion of the Community Services Programme were addressed".

Coveney accepts 21-year ruling

Minister for Defence Simon Coveney has accepted a third party ruling which rejects a call to extend the 21-year service rule for certain ranks of the defence forces.

The mandatory rule forcing the retirement of hundreds of soldiers after 21 years of service is due to take effect this year.

PDFORRA, the Association representing about 8,000 soldiers, sailors and aircrew of the Defence Forces, PDforra, had asked that it be relaxed.

Mr Coveney said that he believed the ruling "strikes a reasonable balance" in that it "maintained an appropriate age profile to meet the challenges of a modern military force".

Visiting restrictions implemented at GUH

Visiting restrictions have been implemented at Galway University Hospital to curtail the spread of the winter vomiting bug. 

The hospital is appealing to people to avoid making non-essential visits and to ensure children are not brought onto wards. 

In a statement this afternoon, hospital management said only essential visits should be made during scheduled hours from 2pm -4pm or from 6.30pm-8.30pm.

NCT car depots open to meet demand in Dublin and Cork

24-hour national car testing depots are opening in Dublin and Cork to help meet the needs of motorists who urgently require NCTs.

Measures to help address the concerns of people unable to book the service due to a backlog, were announced by Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe last night.

The service will be shared between North Point in Ballymun and Deansgrange in Dublin while the Cork facility is in Little Island.

Fire warning over dishwashers

Manufacturers have warned "that there is a low risk that electrical components fitted to a limited number of Hotpoint and Indesit dishwashers produced prior to 2011 and sold in the Republic of Ireland may cause overheating and in rare cases a potential fire hazard".

The model numbers of the products affected begin with: DC/DI/DP/DW/FD/ID/LF/LS/SD

The Hotpoint customer care number is 0818776188.

Models can be checked at the company’s website

Relatives of Flight MH17 visit plane wreckage at Dutch airbase

The first of around 500 relatives of those killed in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine last year have visited the charred wreckage of the plane at a Dutch airbase.

Sections of the fuselage were brought to the airbase in the Netherlands late last year as part of a probe into what brought down the Boeing 777 in July, killing all 298 people on board.

Around two-thirds of those killed were Dutch nationals, while citizens from a total of 11 countries died in the disaster.

Relatives of the victims have until Saturday to visit the base.

Charlie Flanagan addresses UN Human Rights Council

Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this morning.

In his remarks, Mr Flanagan focused on extremism, freedom of religion or belief, gender equality, the rights of LGBTI individuals and freedom of expression.

He also addressed a number of pressing human rights crises, including in Syria and Ukraine.

Dublin City Council announces 1916 Rising Commemoration Fund

Dublin City Council has announced a new grants scheme to encourage public participation in the commemorations of the 1916 Rising.

€150,000 in funding has been made available for equal distribution across the five Local Areas in the Council’s administrative district.

Community groups and organisations in Dublin city who want to organise events marking the centenary of the 1916 Rising can now apply to the city council for funding.

Dublin Lord Mayor Christy Burke said: “I welcome this funding initiative which supports public history in the city and enables communities to get involved and commemorate the 1916 Rising in their local area.”