A round-up of today's other Irish news stories in brief
Four years in jail for indecent assault on girls
A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for indecently assaulting nine girls aged between five and 15 years.
Edwin Curry (63), Kells Road, Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny was convicted of 189 counts of indecent assault on the girls over a 21-year period.
The trial at Kilkenny Circuit Court last November heard Curry used kittens and sweets to lure the children into a shed at the back of his parents’ house where the assaults took place.
The court heard he “repeatedly indecently assaulted” his victims on a “daily and weekly basis” between 1964 and 1985 and took photographs of two of the girls when they were naked.
Four of Mr Curry’s victims read victim impact statements to the court yesterday and expressed “disappointment” at the four-year sentence imposed by Judge Olive Buttimer. She said the offences constituted a “disastrous breach of trust” of children.
Ahern ponders tax-free status of autobiography
FORMER TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has not yet decided if he will avail of tax-free status under the artists’ exemption scheme on earnings from his autobiography, his spokeswoman has indicated.
His decision will be taken at the end of the tax year and will be based on the profits, “if any”, of Bertie Ahern: The Autobiography.
“At the end of the tax year, Mr Ahern will be making his tax returns and, depending on the profits from the book, if any, he will then make his decision,” the spokeswoman said.
The book by Mr Ahern, with Richard Aldous, was published by Hutchinson which is part of the Random House Group Limited, last year. It is understood not to have sold as widely as was originally anticipated.
However, on the basis of reports that Mr Ahern was paid an advance of more than €100,000 to pen the work, he could save in the region of €41,000 on the advance.
Mr Ahern has already applied for and been granted tax-free status for earnings from the book, a move which has prompted calls from Opposition politicians for the scheme to be revised.
The former taoiseach was among 69 new additions to the list of tax-free artists including 33 writers, 18 painters, five playwrights and scriptwriters, three musicians, three installation artists, three photographers, two sculptors and one illustrator.
Fire concerns close private nursing home
ST LOUIS convent in Monaghan town has been ordered by a judge to close its private nursing home following a health and safety case brought by Monaghan County Council.
At the end of a long-running legal battle, the case was decided against the convent by Judge Sean Martin McBride at Monaghan District Court.
He made no order for costs.
St Louis convent was established in the 1800s in what had been an old manor house in Monaghan town.
However, after various inspections by the chief fire officer for the council, Damien Treanor, the upper floor area, where up to 16 in-patients and some outside staff lived and worked, has been deemed a “serious and immediate fire risk”.
The court was told a lack of efficient fire escapes in the upper parts of the convent was one of the major worries the fire authority had with the building.
Last year, Judge McBride, along with fire officials, visited the convent to see the problems outlined by the fire authority, and eventually agreed that the building was a risk.
“The convent had been a great servant to the town for so many years,” he said.
After discussions as to when the nursing home should close and where the patients would be accommodated, a spokesperson for the HSE North East informed Judge McBride that it should be able to accommodate the 16 in-patients in the area within a matter of weeks.
A small number of full and part-time carers employed at the nursing home will lose their jobs.
The convent has the right of appeal against the closure order to the higher Circuit Court. However, it is thought unlikely it will pursue this course.
Waterford school wins Irish Aid award
A project on world hunger by students of a Co Waterford school was honoured yesterday by Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power.
Third- and fourth-class pupils from Crehana National School in Carrick-on-Suir were presented with the overall “Our World” Irish Aid award for their project Hunger in Our World.
Irish Aid said the project showed “everyone has a role to play in fighting hunger, whether through fair trade, taking care of the environment or becoming active on the issue”.
The awards encourage primary students to explore the lives of children in developing countries and learn more about international issues. More than 600 primary schools participated in the initiative.
The entries demonstrated a “high level of commitment among pupils and teachers to working with developing countries and to making a difference in the fight against global poverty and hunger”, Mr Power said.