The Irish Times back issues from May 2009:
REVIEW
May 04, 2009 ... ANTHEA MCTEIRNAN reviews Girls Aloud at the O[sub 2,] TONYCLAYTON LEA reviews Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festivaland LAURENCEMACKIN reviews Camera Obscura Girls Aloud O[sub 2] Dublin MAYBE THERE'S a supermarket somewhere in Barnsley missing itscheck-out staff. Maybe ...
Call to safeguard surveillance
May 20, 2009; ... NEW POWERS to carry out surveillance should require a judge'sauthorisation, the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has said. The Garda ombudsman's office should also be given power to carryout special surveillance, the commission added. The rights body has made a number of ...
O'Reilly defends FG 'Christian values'
May 20, 2009; ... NORTH-WEST RACE: LIBERTAS LEADER Declan Ganley has been accusedby his Fine Gael opponent in the North-West constituency Senator JoeO'Reilly of "disgraceful" behaviour in claiming that his party wasthe only one concerned with fundamental moral issues. Mr O'Reilly said that Fine Gael ...
No vote would be reckless - Martin
May 20, 2009; ... LISBON TREATY: THOSE URGING a rejection of the Lisbon Treaty fora second time are being reckless with the State's future, Ministerfor Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said last night. Addressing an Ibec meeting, the Minister said he was satisfied apackage of guarantees enabling ...
Pressure mounts on Kelly as ACCBank secures [euro]6.1m order
May 21, 2009; ... DEVELOPER PADDY Kelly faces mounting financial pressure afterACCBank secured a judgment against him for [euro]6.1 million overunpaid loans. An order for judgment handed down by the commercial division ofthe High Court comes three weeks after a judgment against him for[euro]3.4 ...
Suspect set to face court today over role in car boot murder
May 21, 2009; ... A SUSPECT being questioned by gardai in connection with themurder of a man found stabbed in the boot of his own car is expectedto appear before the courts as early as this morning. Gardai investigating the murder of David Sharkey (28) from theClaremont estate, Navan, Co Meath, ...
Systematic, endemic abuse in State institutions laid bare
May 21, 2009; ... THOUSANDS OF children suffered physical and sexual abuse overseveral decades in residential institutions run by religiouscongregations, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has found. The report published yesterday describes how children lived in "aclimate of fear" in the ...
Consortium accuses Ahern over Thornton Hall prison setback
May 21, 2009; ... THE CONSORTIUM with which the Government has ended talks onbuilding the proposed new super prison has accused Minister forJustice Demot Ahern and the Irish Prison Service of not explainingthe full facts behind the failed process. A source within the Leargas consortium said it was ...
Murder trial told of mobile phone records
May 21, 2009 ... THE JURY in the trial of the man accused of murdering MelissaMahon has now heard all prosecution evidence in the case. Ronald McManus (44), also known as Ronnie Dunbar, of RathbraughanPark, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Melissa Mahon (14)on a date unknown between ...
Local care better for diabetes sufferers than hospital
May 21, 2009; ... IRISH PATIENTS with diabetes receive a better quality of care andenjoy a higher quality of life when they are looked after by doctorsand other health professionals in the community rather than inhospital, a major research project has found. The study of more than 2,000 patients ...
Welfare funding to be used for job creation
May 21, 2009; ... THE GOVERNMENT is prepared to use social welfare funding to payfor a new initiative on job protection and creation, Taoiseach BrianCowen has told union leaders. In a letter to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions yesterday, MrCowen also signalled that the Government was willing to ...
Call to reverse 'disturbing' cuts in school book grants
May 21, 2009; ... IT IS "disturbing and disappointing" that the Department ofEducation has cut the school book grant to schools and libraries ina move that will "limit young people's access to books", thechairwoman of Children's Books Ireland has said. Jane O'Hanlon was speaking at the announcement ...
New autism centre delayed
May 21, 2009; ... MINISTER FOR Education Batt O'Keeffe has insisted that at themoment he does not have the funds to meet a Government commitment tohelp finance an all-island centre for excellence dealing with autismclose to the Border in Co Armagh. Mr O'Keeffe and Northern education Minister ...
Presidential praise: 'Irish Times' honoured for support of the arts
May 21, 2009 ... THE IRISH Times, Ulster Bank, Bord na Mona and Mundipharmayesterday received Allianz Business to Arts Awards for innovativecollaboration between the business and arts organisations. PresidentMary McAleese presented the awards to nine winners at a lunch inCastletown House. She ...
In short
May 21, 2009 ... A round-up of today's other home news in brief ... Warning on travel to Mexico lifted Irish citizens are no longer being advised by the Government notto travel to Mexico unless their journeys are essential. The traveladvice was introduced following the outbreak of H1N1 flu ...
Physical, emotional and sexual abuse was widespread in State institutions
May 21, 2009; ... PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL and sexual abuse was "endemic" ininstitutions run by the religious congregations throughout the 20thcentury, blighting the lives of thousands of victims, theReport ofthe Commission to Inquire into Child Abusehas found. The Department of Education failed to carry ...
Victims angry at being excluded
May 21, 2009; ... PRESS CONFERENCE: ANGRY SCENES erupted at the Conrad Hotelyesterday as victims of child abuse and representative groups werebarred from attending the press conference announcing thepublication of the commission's report. At one stage, gardai were called as a crowd formed around ...
Body set up after Ahern apologised
May 21, 2009; ... WHAT THE COMMISSION DOES: ON MAY 11th, 1999, the then taoiseachBertie Ahern apologised in the Dail on behalf of the State tovictims of childhood abuse. Following Mr Ahern's apology, the Commission to Inquire intoChild Abuse was established statutorily in May 2000 to hear ...
Main recommendations
May 21, 2009 ... A look at the main recommendations of the Report of theCommission to Inquire into Child Abuse - A memorial to victims of abuse in institutions should beerected, bearing the words of the apology made by the taoiseach in1999 - The lessons of the past should be learned. The ...
Brutality and dire conditions in climate of fear
May 21, 2009; ... CHRISTIAN BROTHERS: THE CHRISTIAN Brothers issued apologies thatsome abuse had taken place but failed to accept any congregationalresponsibility for such abuse, the Commission to Inquire into ChildAbuse reported. The commission said the congregation engaged with it in a way"which ...
Most complaints concerned physical abuse
May 21, 2009; ... SISTERS OF MERCY: THE SISTERS of Mercy ran 26 industrial schoolsduring the period investigated by the commission, making them thelargest providers of care by nuns. It became a unified congregation in the 1980s but before that,all convents operated independently of each ...
Institutional life 'in itself abusive'
May 21, 2009; ... ROSMINIANS: THE COMMISSION commended the Rosminian Institute ofCharity, which ran industrial schools at Upton and Ferryhouse, forits attitude to the investigation committee. "They sought to understand abuse, in contrast to othercongregations who sought to explain it," the report ...
Floggings and 'sadistic cruelty'
May 21, 2009 ... OTHER INSTITUTIONS: St Conleth's Reformatory School, Daingean, CoOffaly Opened: 1940 Status: Closed 1973 Management: Oblates of Mary Immaculate DAINGEAN WAS, according to the commission, different from all theother institutions into which it inquired. Unlike the ...
Poorest of the poor put away on word of 'the cruelty man'
May 21, 2009; ... ORIGINS OF SYSTEM: THEY WERE the poorest of the poor, childrenwho were sent away to industrial schools for no other reason thanbeing needy, orphaned, or failing to attend school. Much smaller numbers were young offenders, typically sent toreformatory schools for minor offences like ...
Law allowed use of cane, strap, birch
May 21, 2009; ... CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS were legally entitled tophysically punish pupils in accordance with laws which authorisedcorporal punishment, but the regulations governing the schoolsadvocated caution in the use of such punishment. The common law position was that a teacher ...
Victims haunted by childhood experience
May 21, 2009; ... EFFECTS ON LATER LIFE: THE EFFECTS of abuse remained with victimslong after childhood, with many giving accounts of troubledrelationships, alcoholism, mental illness, aggressive behaviour,social isolation and self-harm in later life. In its private hearings with 1,090 men and women ...
Occasional kind words bolstered children in brutal landscape
May 21, 2009; ... POSITIVE EXPERIENCES: STAFF WHO "did not hit" and who spokekindly to children or called them by their first names rather thanby a number or surname were recalled warmly by some formerresidents. In the five-volume report's 11-page section devoted to positivememories and ...
Brother's trail of abuse in school after school
May 21, 2009; ... REPEAT OFFENDER: A FORMER Christian Brother who was sacked asprincipal of a primary school in Co Offaly after complaints weremade that he was molesting boys was given a "glowing reference" onhis departure from the school, the Commission to Inquire into ChildAbuse found. Its ...
Cardinal says he is deeply ashamed over suffering inflicted
May 21, 2009; ... APOLOGIES: THE PRIMATE of All Ireland Cardinal Sean Brady saidlast night he was profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that childrensuffered "in such awful ways" in institutions run by a number ofreligious orders. Children deserved better "especially from those caring for themin the ...
Agencies of State colluded in reign of terror
May 21, 2009 ... ANALYSIS: The State agencies so feared religious orders that theyutterly failed to protect children, writes PATSY McGARRY . IT TAKES an extraordinary perversity of nature to thwart theinstinctive drive to nurture and care for the young. What theCommission to Inquire into Child ...
'We can't get on with our lives. It's just not that easy. . .'
May 21, 2009 ... VICTIM REACTION: MICK WATERS THE CHILD abuse commission has donea "fantastic piece of work", according to Mick Waters, a formerpupil at Artane industrial school and the founder of Survivors ofChild Abuse (Soca) UK, which works with victims of child abuseliving in Britain. "I'm ...
Evidence of beating and sex abuse ignored
May 21, 2009; ... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: THE DEPARTMENT of Education was stronglycriticised by the commission for failing to ensure rules in relationto corporal punishment were adhered to in institutions, and forfailing to properly investigate some complaints, while completelyignoring ...
Many lessons to be learned from report, say groups
May 21, 2009; ... CHILD WELFARE GROUPS: CHILD WELFARE groups yesterday said it wasvital that authorities learn lessons from the inquiry report toensure today's vulnerable children are protected. Fergus Finlay of the children's charity Barnardos said it wasclear the abuse suffered by children, as ...
Anonymity
May 21, 2009; ... MR JUSTICE Ryan announced in 2004 that the commission would notname individuals believed to be guilty of abuse so as to givealleged perpetrators the right to his or her good name. Naming was part of the original remit of the commission, underthe Commission to Inquire into Child ...
Cost of the inquiry
May 21, 2009 ... THE FINAL cost of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse maybe more than [euro]100 million, a note with yesterday's reportrevealed. The total cost of the commission up to April 30th was some[euro]60.8 million. This included almost [euro]18.5 million in legalcosts for third ...
Helpline numbers
May 21, 2009 ... THE HSE National Counselling Service is available to anyone whoexperienced abuse as a child. Counselling is available at 60locations in Ireland and can be accessed by calling freephone 1800-235234. See also: www.hse-ncs.ie. Connect, the HSE-funded ...
Local elections a verdict on Coalition - Kenny
May 21, 2009; ... FINE GAEL CAMPAIGN: THE LOCAL elections will be decided on theGovernment's handling of the economy and the State's finances, FineGael leader Enda Kenny has said. Predicting that the party would make historic gains in the June5th poll, he said: "All of the local issues that would ...
Poster Dan and shy and private Dan locked in uphill battle
May 21, 2009 ... ON THE CANVASS with DAN BOYLE: THE MUGSHOTS used by candidatesfor their posters can sometimes employ a tad of artistic licence.Take the one used by Dan Boyle, the Green Party's torchbearer in theSouth constituency, writes HARRY McGEE You watch Boyle shift batches of posters from ...
New grouping calls for radical alternative to mainstream parties
May 21, 2009; ... LEFT-WING ALLIANCE:AN ALLIANCE of left-wing councillors andactivists says it is hoping to give Fianna Fail a pasting in theJune 5th local and European polls and provoke a general election. Calling for a new left-right alignment in Irish politics,alliance members said radical change ...
Dail expenses being abused, Adams
May 21, 2009; ... EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: THERE IS absolutely no doubt that Dailexpenses are being abused just as they are at Westminster, Sinn Feinpresident Gerry Adams said at the launch of the party's Europeanelection manifesto for the Northern Ireland constituency. Urging voters in Northern Ireland ...
In Short
May 21, 2009 ... A round-up of the day's election news in brief Standing room only for George Lee It was standing room only atThe Goat Bar Grill in the Dublin South constituency last night for aquestion and answer session with Fine Gael's star candidate in theforthcoming byelection, writes ...
Revenue secures orders freezing assets of SUV dealers
May 21, 2009; ... THE REVENUE Commissioners, in an unprecedented application to theCommercial Court, have secured orders freezing the assets of twomajor sports utility vehicle dealers below a total [euro]10.1million arising from their alleged "long history of tax evasion". Mr Justice Peter Kelly ...
Supreme Court refuses to strike off solicitors
May 21, 2009; ... THE SUPREME Court has refused to strike off two solicitors whoadmitted 50 charges of gross misconduct. The charges involved multiple serious breaches of solicitors'regulations and operating secret accounts in which multimillion eurosums were lodged in a deliberate bid to evade ...
Restaurant owner hit teenage girl with brush
May 21, 2009 ... THE OWNER of a fast-food restaurant has received a three-monthsuspended sentence for assaulting a 14-year-old girl who was on thefootpath outside his premises. The girl broke down as she described how Frank O'Connor (63)caught her around the neck with a sweeping brush and dragged ...
[euro]115,000 settlement for family of girl who died in fire
May 21, 2009 ... THE FAMILY of a six-year-old girl who died in a fire at acorporation house in Sligo have secured [euro]115,000 in settlementof their High Court action alleging Sligo Borough Council hadnegligently failed to maintain a safe electrical system in thehouse. The settlement is without ...
Truck dealership seeks to halt action
May 21, 2009 ... A TRUCK dealership owned by multi-millionaire businessman PinoHarris has asked the High Court to halt its prosecution under healthand safety legislation over the sale of a lorry crane unit acquiredby the company after the unit was involved in a fatal accident. J Harris Assemblers ...
Alleged rape victim has Alzheimer's and is unable to testify
May 21, 2009 ... A CONSULTANT psychiatrist who treated an 86-year-old woman that aMonaghan man is accused of raping in her home, has told a CentralCriminal Court jury that she has Alzheimer's disease and is unableto give evidence. Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, read the jury a deposition givenby ...
In short
May 21, 2009 ... A round-up of today's other court news in brief ... Riedo inquest to open tomorrow An inquest into the death of Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo, whowas murdered two years ago, is to open in Galway tomorrow morning. Ms Riedo's body was found on wasteland in Galway on October ...
Plans for super prison to proceed, Government vows
May 21, 2009; ... MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern insisted there was adifference of "hundreds of millions of euro'' between the originalprice and what was finally suggested in the building of a new superprison in north Dublin. Both the Minister and Taoiseach Brian Cowen insisted theThornton ...
Educate Together second-level plans warmly received
May 21, 2009; ... EDUCATION AND SCIENCE COMMITTEE: , THE CAMPAIGN by the multi-denominational school group Educate Together to expand into secondlevel received a boost yesterday when its submission was warmlyreceived by members of the Oireachtas Committee on Education andScience. There are now ...
Gormley leaves others to talk horse manure
May 21, 2009; ... DAIL SKETCH: A LOT DUNG, more to poo. That phrase has a familiarring to it. Wasn't it a Fianna Fail election slogan, not so longago? It was Fine Gael's Tom Sheahan who brought it to mind. The deputyfor Kerry South spoke about a very serious matter in the Dail onTuesday night ....
'Unseemly glee' of judges in dismissing charges criticised
May 21, 2009; ... A GOVERNMENT Minister has sharply criticised judges who dismisscases with "unseemly glee" because of technical faults and hugelyincrease costs as a result. Minister of State for Finance Dr Martin Mansergh said "if we canoverride technical defects in applications of the European ...
Abuse report to show State failings - Cowen
May 21, 2009; ... STATE FAILURES would be highlighted in the report of theCommission to Inquire into Child Abuse, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said. Speaking in the Dail in advance of its publication, Mr Cowenwelcomed the report. "It fulfils the Government's intention insetting up the commission so that ...
Food retail sector like 'wild west'
May 21, 2009; ... IRELAND'S FOOD retail sector has been compared to the "wildwest", where supermarket multiples are "slaughtering" the Republic'ssuppliers. Fine Gael agriculture spokesman Michael Creed told the Dail thatin August last year, multiples had a 177 per cent mark-up for milk,for which ...
Abuse of children continues , says Fine Gael House leader
May 21, 2009; ... SEANAD REPORT: THE RIGHTS of the child would not be properlyprotected in Irish law until there was a change to the Constitutionspecifically guaranteeing it, Denis O'Donovan (FF) said. He made the observation after Frances Fitzgerald , Fine Gaelleader in the House, had stated that ...
Threatened Irish species mapped on website
May 21, 2009; ... IF YOU want to find out where our remaining red squirrels live ortrack the progress of the migrant hawker dragonfly, a new websitelaunched yesterday will give you all the answers. The National Biodiversity Mapping System has gathered allavailable information on Ireland's flora and ...
Protester leaves Corrib hearing
May 21, 2009; ... A CORRIB gas protester removed himself from the oral hearing ofAn Bord Pleanala on the modified pipeline, branding it "nonsense"after the board's chairman refused to entertain a submission on itsjurisdiction. Edward Moran was the third local resident to leave the Belmullethearing ...
Call to 'ring-fence' funding for public libraries
May 21, 2009; ... LABOUR PARTY president Michael D Higgins has called on Ministerfor the Environment John Gormley to "ring-fence" funding for publiclibraries which have been severely affected by budget cuts. "The cuts represent more than philistinism. They are anti-socialactions and must be brought ...
Aircraft had Guantanamo link, man alleges in Ennis court
May 21, 2009; ... FORMER ARMY officer Dr Ed Horgan claimed yesterday that theaircraft he had demanded gardai search at Shannon airport last Junehad been to the US government's Guantanamo Bay detention camp onseven occasions. Dr Horgan made the allegation yesterday after being cleared at aspecial ...
Limerick murder accused in custody
May 21, 2009; ... THE MAN charged with the murder of 35-year-old businessman RoyCollins in Limerick city last month has been further remanded incustody. James Dillon (23), of no fixed abode, but originally from thesouth side of Limerick city, appeared before Limerick District Courtyesterday. Mr ...
Expenses disgrace increases pressure on Labour
May 21, 2009 ... Conservative pressure for an election is building, while thegovernment appears likely to delay as long as possible, writes FRANK MILLAR , London Editor TORY LEADER David Cameron is attempting to convert public outrageover the Westminster expenses scandal into irresistible pressure ...
Spain seeks agreement on protocol to add 18 more MEPs
May 21, 2009; ... SPAIN IS pressing its EU partners to agree a new protocol to theLisbon Treaty to alter the number of sitting MEPs if the treatyfinally enters into force. Madrid wants all 27 EU leaders to sign up to the protocol at nextmonth's European summit and then ratify it in national ...
Claim Berlusconi paid perjury bribe
May 21, 2009; ... ITALIAN PRIME minister Silvio Berlusconi this week finds himselfin a familiar, if uncomfortable place. For the umpteenth time in his15-year political career, the prime minister faces seriousaccusations of corruption following the release of themotivazioni(the judge's full explanation) of ...
Doctor uses domestic drill on boy's skull to save life
May 21, 2009 ... A DOCTOR in rural Australia used a domestic electric drill tobore a hole into the skull of a boy with a severe head injury,saving his life. Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike on Friday in the small Victoriastate city of Maryborough, hitting his head on the pavement. By the time ...
Spanish officers jailed for falsifying death certificates
May 21, 2009; ... A SPANISH medical corps general has been sentenced to three yearsin jail and two other officers to 18 months each for lying andfalsifying the death certificates of 30 members of the Spanish armedforces killed in a plane crash six years ago as they were returningfrom a humanitarian ...