Austin Darragh says he's a 'scientific auditor.' Indeed he's made a mint testing many of the drugs in your medicine cabinet. DUBLIN--Austin Darragh is a frequent flier, but only between April and September. Better weather conditions then mean fewer flight delays - and hunting isn't in season. So, during spring and summer he's often on night flights visiting his clients along the U.S. eastern seaboard. "It gives me a kick to see all the twinkling little lights on the streets below," says Dar

DUBLIN—An environmental institute praised for the quality of its research is being closed by the Irish government as part of a new round of civil service cuts to combat the country’s financial crisis. About 100 environmental scientists expect to lose their jobs at the An Foras Forbartha (AFF), which was set up to do research and provide technical information for the Department of the Environment. AFF is the most serious of several blows to science in the government campaign to tr

DUBLIN—The Irish government, after months of delay and speculation, has committed itself to a science and technology development program with a special emphasis on biotechnology. Although the Irish government is in the midst of making sharp cuts in public spending, Prime Minister Charles Haughey said this new allocation to develop science and technology "will be a permanent feature of the annual budget." Ireland spends about $600 million annually on science, a significant sum for a country