A BILL that stigmatises gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval last week in Russia’s lower house of parliament.

The wife of former Tánaiste Peter Barry was described at her funeral Mass yesterday as “a lady in the best sense of the word” who had a caring heart that reached out to all.

AN Irishman hit the headlines in Kiev yesterday but enough about Sean Quinn — the real story arrives today when Giovanni Trapattoni lands at Boryspil Airport just outside town.

THE board at Cork Airport has had a turbulent few years battling against resignations and controversy.

THE Government’s attempt to resolve the bitter debt row between Dublin and Cork airports is “entirely flawed”, the country’s largest business network said yesterday.

CONFIDENTIAL Garda files show about 100 gardaí were put on duty for a surprise landing of General Idi Amin in Ireland.

MY fellow Dubliner Peter Molloy has accused Cork people of building a Taj Mahal airport (Irish Examiner letters, April 9).

A GOVERNMENT Senator launched a scathing attack on the Government yesterday over the controversial Cork Airport debt issue.

A SENIOR Ryanair executive told a group of Cork TDs and senators yesterday that the airline may have to reduce its services from Cork Airport because of high landing charges.

SOLICITOR Denis Murnaghan told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday he warned backers, of an industrial project near Dublin Airport, “to have nothing to do” with lobbyist Frank Dunlop.

AER Rianta suspected corruption was behind some Dublin County Council rezoning decisions in the 1990s, former general manager Brian Byrne told the Mahon Planning Tribunal yesterday.

Former political lobbyist Frank Dunlop has begin giving evidence to the latest module of the Mahon Tribunal into alleged planning corruption in Dublin.

The Mahon Tribunal has begun the latest phase of its investigation into alleged planning corruption in Dublin.

The Mahon Tribunal resumes today after the summer holidays with a new module investigating the rezoning of lands near Dublin Airport.

The trial of five anti-war protesters accused of criminally damaging a US aeroplane at Shannon Airport has reached its closing stages at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

All evidence has now been heard in the trial of five anti-war protesters accused of criminally damaging a US airplane at Shannon Airport.

THE internationally-acclaimed Shannon College of Hotel Management (SCHM) is to transfer from the ownership of Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to become part of National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG).

AN AER RIANTA telephonist, who claimed she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after taking a bomb call which later turned out to be a hoax at Dublin Airport, yesterday settled her action for damages in the High Court.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen faced a barrage of criticism in the Seanad last night after insisting the Government’s position on the break-up of Aer Rianta had never changed.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen faced a barrage of criticism in the Seanad last night after insisting the Government’s position on the break-up of Aer Rianta had never changed.

The row over the Cork Airport debt has descended into the realm of farce with the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) apparently assuming prerogative over the elected Government.

GOVERNMENT balking on a cut-and-dried promise it had made in relation to Cork Airport’s debt-free status is palpably jeopardising the economic welfare of the city and the wider Munster region.

ENTERPRISE Minister Micheál Martin is not prepared to say who should pay the €160 million debt for Cork Airport's new terminal until a team of consultants give their view on the issue.

THE Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) last night defended its handling of the process designed to break the impasse on the controversial €160 million Cork Airport debt issue.

A BOEING 737 jet was forced to make an emergency landing on one engine at Dublin Airport after one of its engines was struck by a flock of racing pigeons.

BLARNEY Woollen Mills has denied its decision to take the company private has anything to do with paying tax to the Irish exchequer.

AS retired airport workers regroup to fight for better pension rights, the former manager of Aer Lingus in Shannon said yesterday he remained angry at the way his retired former colleagues at the airport have been treated.

Annual reports show that few semi-State bosses got major wage rises, writes Ian Guider.

FIVE euro. That’s what it costs to land a passenger in Dublin. To put it more precisely, that, on average, is what it costs an airline to land a passenger in Dublin.

By Harry McGee, Political Editor

A security officer sacked for harassing Glasgow Rangers fans at Dublin Airport turned up to his disciplinary hearing wearing a Celtic jersey, an employment appeals tribunal heard today.

EARLY results showed opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has won the presidential election in Ukraine.

THE clock has stopped on Aer Rianta, but the chairman of the departing board, Mr Noel O’Hanlon, decided to spend €45,000 on five board members in the form of a €9,000 Cartier watch for each.

THE new Dublin Airport Authority appointed Oliver Cussen as its acting chief executive yesterday at its first board meeting.

AER RIANTA chairman Noel O’Hanlon yesterday delivered a swinging parting shot at Fianna Fáil Minister Seamus Brennan on his last day of office.

ALTHOUGH much of yesterday’s reshuffle was immediately branded more of the same by the opposition, Mary Harney in particular will be anxious not to repeat her predecessor’s experience of the job.

Political reporter Michael O’Farrell looks at a reshuffle of few surprises.

AER RIANTA chief executive Margaret Sweeney has sensationally quit her job after a bust-up with the Government over her future.

The chief executive of Aer Rianta announced tonight she is to step down having failed to secure agreement on her role in the future Dublin Airport Authority.

EAMONN McKEOWN, the chief executive of the Great Southern Hotel group, has stepped down from his position.

Several acres of land belonging to Shannon Airport are to go under the auctioneer's hammer in two weeks time.

THE proposed break-up of Aer Rianta has been given a boost with a leading credit ratings agency saying that it does not see the split having a major impact on the company's ability to repay its debt.

Low fares airline ThomsonFly.com will begin operating a daily service from Shannon Airport direct to Coventry in November.

The debate over the State Airports Bill is due to continue in the Seanad later today.