The ESB is to sell two power stations in Offaly and Longford in the next 12 months.
The company told workers of its plans this morning during meetings at West Offaly Power at Shannonbridge and Lough Ree Power in Lanesboro, Co Longford.
Both power stations are peat-burning and were scheduled to end their existing operations around 2020.
However, this morning's announcement to the workers has come as a surprise.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan will meet the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi later in Frankfurt to discuss Ireland's pending exit of the EU-IMF bailout.
Mr Noonan held what were termed constructive talks with the European Commission Vice President Olli Rehn in Strasbourg last night.
Away from the media, Mr Noonan and Mr Rehn held what were called exploratory talks on the options available to Ireland as it leaves the EU-IMF programme.
A major aspect of this is whether or not whether Ireland applies for a precautionary credit line to help ease the country's transition from bailout to raising money from the markets.
This subject will also be discussed when Mr Noonan meets the ECB President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt today. The minister will also meet officials from the International Monetary Fund later.
In a statement after last night's meeting, Commissioner Rehn said the final decision on post-programme options is one for the Irish authorities.
Yet a significant factor in determining the Government's approach would be what conditions the EU, ECB or IMF might seek to apply when offering any additional post-bailout support.
The new limit on the amount of tax relief people can get for putting money into pensions will deliver €130m less in revenue than the Government originally expected.
The disclosure has emerged in a written reply from Finance Minister Michael Noonan to Fianna Fáil's finance spokesman Michael McGrath.
In Budget 2013, the Government said it expected the changes would deliver €250m in additional tax revenue annually when introduced in 2014.
However, in his reply to Mr McGrath, Minister Noonan said the figure would be €120m.
It is understood the pensions industry had provided the Department of Finance with data that showed the yield from the introduction of the limit would by higher.
But when officials from the Department analysed the proposals they found the tax revenue it would deliver would be much lower.
At the Dublin Economic Workshop in Limerick last Friday, Minister Noonan said: "I fulfilled my side of the bargain and the industry who gave very detailed figures did not fulfil its side of the bargain so when they come back to me and deliver I will take away the (pensions) levy."
In Budget 2014 last week, Minister Noonan said the pensions levy would increase to 0.75% next year, before falling to 0.15% in 2015. It had been expected that there would be no pensions levy in 2015.
Michael McGrath said the Minister could have achieved the savings by targetting relief on "high value pensions". "Minister Noonan is now extending the levy on all people paying into pensions. That will put largest burden on those with modest pensions," he said.
It is understood the levy is also going to fund the continuing VAT reduction for the tourism industry.
Jerry Moriarty, chief executive of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, said the measures implemented by the Department of Finance were introduced in a different manner to pensions industry proposals.
He said this had the effect of diluting the impact of the measures.
The Health Service Executive is reporting a current gross deficit of €93.7 million and estimating a year-end deficit of around €105 million.
This deficit figure could rise further, due to lower than expected savings in health under the Haddington Road Agreement and advance payments from private health insurers not now expected until 2014.
According to a monthly performance report to August, just published, there are 45,155 adults and children waiting for day case or inpatient procedures.
A further 7,000 to 8,000 patients are waiting for a gastro-intestinal endoscopy.
The report shows that there are also 374,104 patients waiting to be seen for the first time by a consultant at an outpatient department.
Of these, 2,236 patients are waiting four years or more and over 84,000 are waiting for a year or more to be seen.
Under a recent policy, patients who do not attend an appointment will be contacted along with their GP and if there is no reply, the patient will be taken off the outpatient waiting list.
The HSE says that waiting lists are falling.
The report shows that 86% of all adults are waiting less than eight months and 79% of all children less than 20 weeks for a day case or inpatient procedure.
The hospitals most heavily overspent are: St James's in Dublin, at €10m over budget; St Vincent's, €8.6m over; Galway University Hospital, €7.2m; Limerick Regional, €6.4m; and Cork University Hospital, at €6m over.
The HSE says the overspend at St Vincent's is due to an extra 60 beds being opened to cope with the complexity of cases presenting at the Emergency Department.
The HSE Director General has written to all hospitals over budget asking them to bring their spending back into line before the end of the year.
There are now 75,020 people with a discretionary medical card or GP visit card - nearly 4,000 fewer than last year.
The HSE says some of these people will now have been given a full medical card or GP visit card.
Fewer than half the potential homes that NAMA believed could be used for social housing are suitable for that purpose, Minister for Housing Jan O'Sullivan has told the Dáil.
So far, only 443 houses have been transferred from NAMA's property portfolio for social housing, despite a housing waiting list of more than 100,000 people.
However, out of a list of 4,319 possible homes identified by NAMA, only 1,900 can be used for social housing, local authorities have found.
Many of the houses are in areas where there is no social housing need, the Dáil has heard.
Ms O'Sullivan, who met with NAMA recently, said the process of transferring homes from the agency is complicated.
Overall, she said that around 5,000 homes are going to be provided by the Department of the Environment this year to reduce the housing waiting list.
The results of DNA tests on a Roma family are expected later this evening to determine the parentage of a seven-year-old girl who was removed from her home in Tallaght two days ago.
The family insist the child is theirs and have co-operated with the gardaí and the HSE.
Genetic profiles were generated to compare the girl with her parents to determine lineage.
The process took up to eight hours today and the results are expected later this evening.
The child remains in care.
A second child, a two-year-old boy, who was also taken into HSE care in Athlone in Co Westmeath was returned to his family earlier today.
The child was removed from his home last night after gardaí were contacted by a member of the public and decided to act under the Child Care Act.
Following inquiries the two-year-old was returned to his family.
Concerns raised over reporting of Roma cases
The Executive Director of the European Roma Rights Centre has expressed concern at the way two cases of children removed from Roma families in Ireland and Greece are being reported.
Dezideriu Gergely said he was worried that a link between the two stories was being made prematurely.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Gergely said reporting has to be focused on fact and not on assumptions based on the Roma community.
He said there was an emphasis of criminality being put on Roma in Europe, which was unfair.
Mr Gergely said it is important to remember that not all Roma are dark-skinned and many do have pale skin and blonde hair.
He said: "The concern related to these cases is that, one way or another, if these cases are not discussed from all angles possible, there's this, if I can say, trap to fall into, basically labelling the whole community for being responsible for something, which needs to be looked at from an individual point of view and responsibility point of view".
Child's best interest is always paramount - Minister
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said that, while she could not comment on individual cases of children being taken into state care, she insisted the child's best interest is always paramount.
"Child protection is at the centre of any decisions that are taken, where gardaí or social workers act in cases where children are taken into care," Ms Fitzgerald said.
"It's always about child protection and the best interest of the child."
The minister said there are currently 6,000 children in state care in Ireland - a number that has been rising.
"Children coming into care unfortunately is a common occurrence in Ireland at present, but compared to other countries we do not take many children into care," she said.
She encouraged members of the public to remain vigilant and contact the authorities if they have suspicions about the welfare of a child.
"As Minister for Children, I would be encouraging people to report if they are concerned about children," she said.
"We are going to put Children First (national guidance for the protection and welfare of children) on a statutory basis to make sure if there are real concerns about child abuse of child protection that they are reported. It is extremely important that the public are vigilant."
Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has collected the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament - 23 years after she was selected for the award.
In an address to the plenary, she urged MEPs to maintain pressure on the regime in Burma, also known as Myanmar, because the quest for democracy there was not at an end.
When Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the prize in 1990, her political party, the National League for Democracy, won 82% of the vote in an election.
But the military regime suppressed the result and she was placed under house arrest.
She received a rapturous welcome from MEPs in Strasbourg today, with European Parliament President Martin Schulz saying: "Twenty-three years later, we welcome you here and it is a great moment."
In her speech, Ms Suu Kyi said collecting the Sakharov Prize was a joyous and deeply meaningful occasion, but she warned that fear is still very much a part of society in Burma.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner urged the EU to maintain a healthy scepticism about the current political situation, which has allowed her to take a seat in parliament, but the army-dictated constitution disqualifies her from becoming president.
She said any constitution must be meaningful and ensure it enshrines the right of the people to shape their own destiny.
Ms Suu Kyi also appealed to the EU to maintain the diplomatic pressure to ensure that happens.
Lawyers for an Irishman man described by the FBI as being the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet have mounted a fresh challenge to have him prosecuted in Ireland instead.
Eric Eoin Marques is wanted in the United States on four charges linked to website images described as being extremely violent, graphic and depicting the rape and torture of pre-pubescent children.
Defence barrister Remy Farrell told the High Court in Dublin he wished to make a submission to the Director of Public Prosecutions on Section 15 of the Extradition Act.
The act relates to not extraditing a defendant when the alleged offence was committed in Ireland.
The DPP is considering a criminal file in the case.
Patrick McGrath, for the State, said he had no objection to the application.
Mr Justice John Edwards remanded Mr Marques in custody for three weeks when the case will be mentioned again.
Mr Marques, who has Irish and US citizenship, was previously denied bail after the judge accepted evidence from the FBI and gardaí that the 28-year-old is a flight risk or likely to destroy evidence if released.
He is wanted in connection with four counts involving the advertising of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, conspiracy to advertise child pornography, and conspiracy to distribute child pornography.
If convicted in the US on all four counts, he could be jailed for up to 100 years.
Marques, of Mountjoy Square in Dublin, is accused of being the sole administrator of an anonymous hosting server called Freedom Hosting where the FBI claim thousands of members allegedly posted millions of images of child pornography.
He was not in court for the brief hearing.
Australian firefighters are working desperately to try to contain a series of massive wildfires burning in mountains west of Sydney.
Air pollution in parts of Sydney spiked to dangerously high levels as smoke and ash blanketed the city and high temperatures and winds are forecast for tomorrow.
More than 200 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales since last Thursday, after fires tore through farm and bush land and scattered communities on Sydney's outskirts.
The insurance council of Australia said claims of more than A$93 million (€65m) were expected to increase and the NSW government has declared a state of emergency.
One man died of a suspected heart attack last week while trying to defend his home from a fire north of Sydney.
Around 60 fires are still burning, with the largest and most dangerous in the Blue Mountains around 100km west of Sydney, New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said.
Thousands of firefighters, hundreds of fire engines and 90 aircraft are battling the blazes, which have burned through more than 300,000 acres and have a perimeter of 1,600km, he said.
With steep terrain carpeted by tinder dry eucalyptus forests and dotted with small communities, the Blue Mountains are a popular day trip from Sydney.
However, its rugged and often inaccessible terrain can become a fire nightmare during the long, hot Southern Hemisphere summer.
"You are talking about some of the most beautiful, scenic country in the world but it is an awful challenge for firefighting and fire management," Mr Fitzsimmons said.
Efforts had been concentrating on back-burning vegetation to reduce the fuel available for the fires, bulldozing containment lines, and merging two large fires into a single blaze that would be easier to control.
A storm cell is moving towards the region, while strong, dry westerly winds gusting to 80km/h and temperatures in the mid-30 degree Celsius range are predicted.
Police arrested two boys suspected of starting fires in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney.
With dry weather and a massive land area, Australia is particularly prone to brushfires.
In 2009, the "Black Saturday" wildfires in Victoria state killed 173 people and caused $4.4bn worth of damage.
New South Wales has just experienced the warmest September and warmest 12 months on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Health Service Executive is applying to the District Court for an interim care order for a child removed from a house in Dublin.
Gardaí removed the child from a Roma family in Tallaght and placed her in care.
Officers intervened to take the seven-year-old girl away yesterday following an investigation.
It is highly unusual for gardaí to remove a child from a family, but they have a duty to do so in law under certain circumstances.
The Child Protection Unit at Tallaght Garda Station received a call from a member of the public concerned about a child living with a Roma family.
The gardaí had had prior dealings with the family and at around 4.30pm yesterday officers called to the house.
They spoke to the parents and saw there were a number of children in the house, one of whom was distinctive, a seven-year-old child with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The parents informed the gardaí the child was their own and was born in 2006 at a city maternity hospital.
However, initial checks there failed to confirm this.
The gardaí were also dissatisfied with documents produced in relation to the child.
They spoke with a consultant at another Dublin hospital who informed them that while not impossible, it would be unusual for a Roma family to have a child with such contrasting features.
After two hours in the house, the gardaí then decided to act under Section 12 of the Child Care Act and officials from the HSE took the child into care.
The HSE is currently in court in Dublin seeking an interim care order under Section 13 of the Child Care Act under which the child can remain in care for up to 28 days while the garda investigation continues.
The development comes a day after a Roma couple in Greece were remanded in custody for allegedly abducting a four-year-old girl.
The couple claimed the girl's biological mother willingly gave her to them as a baby because she could not look after her.
The discovery of the girl, known as Maria, has prompted thousands of calls with leads from across the world as authorities try to track down her real parents.
DNA tests have shown that the girl was not born to the Roma couple.
