A round-up of today's other home news in brief
Lorry driver awarded 1m in High Court
A lorry driver who was seriously injured when an unidentified driver drove into his path, causing him to swerve and overturn, has secured more than €1 million in settlement of his High Court action.
Gerard Keenan (42), Albert College Park, Glasnevin, Dublin, brought the case against the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland as the driver of the other vehicle involved had not been traced.
The settlement was approved yesterday by Mr Justice John Quirke. An application is to be made to have Mr Keenan made a ward of court.
In his claim, it was alleged Mr Keenan suffered very severe head injuries and had also sustained spinal and hip injuries as a result of the accident at Finglas Road, Finglas, on January 20th, 2000. Dublin fire brigade had to extricate him from his vehicle.
Seven-year term for importing drugs
A South African woman who claimed she agreed to import €84,000 worth of cocaine to pay for medical treatment for her infant daughter has been given a seven-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Blanca Butzer (22), of Bond Road, Durbanville, Cape Town, was caught at Dublin airport with 1kg of cocaine in her hand luggage. She pleaded guilty to having drugs for sale or supply on July 4th, 2008.
Judge Frank O’Donnell said he had seen several similar cases recently, and said there seemed to be a message in South Africa that “it’s no big deal” to bring drugs to Ireland. He imposed the seven-year sentence, and suspended the final two years on condition Butzer is deported on her release.
Boy gets €17,500 over dog attack
A 12-year-old schoolboy who was bitten on the arm by a neighbour’s dog has been awarded €17,500 damages in the Circuit Civil Court.
Barrister David McParland, for Kieran O’Toole, told the court that the boy’s arm had been punctured in three places and he received 17 stitches. Mr Mc Parland said Kieran, of Kilbarrack Road, Dublin, had been bitten by a dog owned by Bernard and Breda Megan, Kilbarrack Grove, Dublin. He told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery the incident occurred in June 2006 and Kieran had been treated in hospital for three lacerations to his forearm.
Ferry firm rejects intimidation claim
A Co Clare ferry company yesterday rejected a claim it intimidated out of business a rival operator at Doolin.
At Ennis Circuit Court, counsel for Aran Islands Fast Ferries Declan Chambers said the company “has been intimidated out of business”. However, counsel for Doolin Ferries, Kevin O’Brien and Bill O’Brien, Pat Whyms, said Mr Chambers’s statement was “completely rejected”.
Aran Islands Fast Ferries is seeking to have Kevin O’Brien and Bill O’Brien (not related) brought before the court to show why they should not be jailed for their alleged contempt of a 2004 court order aimed at easing tensions at Doolin harbour.
The case was adjourned to to July 20th to Ennis Circuit Court to allow any remaining affidavits be lodged.
Father in plea for help over daughter
A father yesterday appealed for help for his 26-year old daughter who doused him, an 18-month-old girl and the child’s mother with petrol. John McCarthy was speaking after a jury found Majella McCarthy, Galway Road, Ennis, guilty on three counts of assault causing harm to Mr McCarthy, Mary Kelly and Ms Kelly’s 18-month-old daughter at Spanish Point Road, Miltown Malbay, on March 4th last.
The court heard McCarthy first doused her father with petrol before opening the door of a parked car and pouring petrol over Aisling Kelly and her mother Mary.
Sentencing will take place next Wednesday, July 15th.
Challenge to Irish language ban dismissed
A legal challenge against a 270-year-old ban on the use of the Irish language in court proceedings in Northern Ireland was dismissed in the High Court in Belfast.
An Irish-language speaker, Caoimhin Mac Giolla Cathain, a member of the Shaws Road Gaeltacht in West Belfast, took the case after he was informed that his application in Irish for an occasional drinks licence could not be considered.
Court staff said the reason was that the Administration of Justice (Language) Act of 1737 stipulated that "all proceedings in courts of justice within this kingdom shall be in the English language".
The drinks licence was sought in connection with a musical concert in the Culturlann, Falls Road, Belfast.
The case was heard last October when Michael Lavery QC argued: “Key to this case is if you are going to afford them the dignity of being Irish or going to pay lip service to it and trammel it or impede it with unnecessary restrictions.”
In his reserved judgment yesterday Mr Justice Treacy dismissed Mr Mac Giolla Cathain’s contention that the 1737 Act was incompatible with the European Charter for Regional and Minorities Language and that the Act was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Protest at Dunnes over 'Irish lamb'
Sheep farmers held a demonstration outside a Dunnes Stores supermarket yesterday calling on the retail chain to sell exclusively Irish lamb, writes Michael McHale.
Up to 30 Irish Farmers’ Association members representing the Carlow-Laois region gathered outside Dunnes Stores at Graiguecullen in Carlow to show their dissatisfaction with the store’s policy of importing lamb from New Zealand instead of selling only Irish produce.
IFA national sheep chairman Henry Burns claimed the decision to import lamb was driving down lamb prices for farmers and putting jobs in the sheep farming sector at risk.
Dunnes Stores representatives were unavailable for comment yesterday.
Shale wine cooler fetches £43,250
A 290-year-old wine cooler, understood to be the product of the William Colles marble works in Co Kilkenny, sold for almost three times its estimated price at an auction in London last night.
The shale cooler, from the garden of Louis Cohen in Dublin, fetched £43,250 (€50,048) at an auction held at Christie’s in South Kensington.
A pair of fossilised giant deer or Irish Elk antlers made £3,000 (€3,472). They come from a collection at Kilrush House, Co Clare.
TALKS AREcontinuing between the Governemnt and US officials over the resettlement in Ireland of two Uzbek nationals who have been cleared for release from the Guantánamo Bay Detention centre, writes Mary Fitzgerald.
One of the two is understood to be Oybek Jamoldinivich Jabbarov (31).
Amnesty International has lobbied the Government to accept Jabbarov for resettlement in Ireland. The Uzbek national was living with his elderly mother and pregnant wife as refugees in northern Afghanistan when he was captured in 2001. Mr Jabbarov had not been involved in fighting between the Taliban and the Northen Alliance, his Boston-based lawyer Michael Mone told a US congressional committee hearing in May 2008.