Airport Car Park to Close

Dublin Airport Authority is to refurbish the short term car park at Terminal 1 which will result in the temporary closure of the facility.

Block A will close in July and August with Blocks B and C closing on a phased basis over the following six months. Some motorists planning to use the facility will be diverted to the Express Red Car Park which is located between Swords and the Malahide Road. This diversion will add about 20 minutes to the time it will take these motorists and their passangers to reach the Terminal 1 building.

Obamas to Lunch in with Bono

Michelle Obama will have lunch with Bono to-day in Finnegan's pub, Dalkey.

The U2 singer has invited the family to join him in his local pub, which has been the subject of a major security scan in recent weeks.

The Obamas will visit Dalkey on their way back to Dublin from Glendalough.

Meanwhile images of Fermanagh's green fields, blue hills and a silver lake were beamed around the world yesterday as a backdrop to interviews conducted with the G8 Leaders at their Summit.

Some media however strongly featured the economic difficulties of the host hotel as a metaphor for the world recession which the Leaders are atttempting to address.

Overall the coverage of Northern Irerland has been positive despite some comment on the heavy security which has been compared to that evident during the Troubles.

The reaction to Michelle Obama and her daughters was glowing with media highly praising her talks to students  and children in Belfast and Dublin. There was also extensive coverage of the family visiit to Trinity College as the girls examined documents tracing their Irish roots.

Sasha (12) showed a keen interest in birth recordsand old maps showing the family homestead, and other documents tracing the ancestry of her father, US President Barack Obama, to Co Offaly.

Malia, 14, examined a gold-framed portrait of John Kearney — a distant ancestor who was chair of oratory in Trinity in 1781.