Road Accident Tragedy

In a third road fatality within days, an elderly woman has died following a crash in Co Down. The woman, believed to be in her 80s, was a pedestrian and was fatally hurt when she was knocked down by a lorry at Windmill Street, Ballynahinch, on Tuesday evening. Two people have also died in separate road accidents at the weekend in different parts of NI.

Army Tackle Bomb

A pipe bomb has been thrown through the window of a house in Poleglass, outside west Belfast. It led to some homes being evacuated after the device was hurled at the property in Woodside Park at about 10pm on Tuesday. Army bomb experts later confirmed the device was a viable pipe bomb and residents were able to return to their homes before 3am this morniong.

Fracking In Focus

A South Antrim MLA has urged the Assembly to conduct further investigations into the potential impact of the controversial fracking process before it takes any definitive decisions. Danny Kinahan, who is the Ulster Unionist Party's (UUP) Environment spokesman, said: "We in Northern Ireland have a chance to find a source of energy from local shale gas, [so] we must explore how to exploit it whilst at the same protecting the environment." He added that an Assembly motion tabled by the Green and Alliance Parties called for a moratorium on onshore and offshore exploration development and production of shale gas by withdrawing licences for hydraulic fracturing (fracking), at least until the publication of a detailed environmental impact assessment into the practice and commented: "I believe it would be prudent to explore the extent of this resource. The UUP has called for a detailed environmental impact assessment that would confirm whether or not there would be any environmental damage before we permit hydraulic fracturing to take place. This is a balanced approach which I fully support," he concluded.

High Tide Mark

A Warrenpoint company has recently completed a move to larger premises with assistance from Invest Northern Ireland and Warrenpoint Harbour Authority. Tide Master now plans to manufacture composite tidal turbines for the offshore renewable energy industry from the new facility. Rory McManus, Chief Executive of Tide Master Ltd, who is currently participating on Invest NI's Propel programme, said: "With the confidence gained through Propel I will now be exploring opportunities for export sales from our manufacturing facility here in Warrenpoint." Rory, who has an engineering background, continued: "My company will manufacture composite tidal turbines, which harvest the kinetic energy of tidal currents in return for low cost, clean and renewable energy. With our new premises and Invest NI's continued support I am confident that we can successfully enter the potentially lucrative renewable energy market."

Ballykelly Debated
During Questions to the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in the Assembly, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness was pressed by East Londonderry DUP MLA Gregory Campbell regarding the need to fully utilise the former Army Base at Ballykelly, which has been taken over by the OFMDFM. "The focus must be about getting the best value for a site in an area, which is being very badly hit in this recession," he said. "The north-west area needs job promotion and this is an opportunity to provide it. Now people expect us to get on with it."

(BMcC/GK)