A round-up of other home news in brief
Man (20) hit and killed by car in Derry
A man has died after being knocked down by a car in Derry. Leo Brennan (20), from Drumleck Drive, Shantallow, sustained fatal head injuries yesterday when he was hit by a car at Madams Bank Road.
A man appeared before the local Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged in relation to Mr Brennan’s death.
Andrew McGlinchey (20), a construction roofer from Cornshell Fields, faced a number of charges including dangerous driving causing death. He was remanded in custody to April 23rd.
Man held on death of soldiers bailed
A man (19) arrested on Thursday and questioned in connection with last month’s dissident republican murders of two British soldiers in Co Antrim has been freed on bail, writes Dan Keenan.
He had been arrested in the Bellaghy area of south Co Derry by the PSNI and taken in for questioning about the murders on March 7th of army engineers Mark Quinsey (23) and Patrick Azimkar (21).
Gardaí called to row at halting site
Up to 20 gardaí from the riot squad were called to defuse a disturbance at a halting site in Oldcastle, Clondalkin, west Dublin, yesterday afternoon.
“Between 30 and 40 people were involved in a public order disturbance at the site”, a Garda spokeswoman said. It is believed a family feud got out of control and threatened to turn into a mini-riot.
Gardaí entered the site at 12.30pm and seized weapons. No one was arrested and no one was injured.
O’Reilly to stand for FG in Europe
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has announced that Senator Joe O’Reilly is to be a candidate for the party for the European Parliament elections in the constituency of Ireland North-West, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Political Correspondent.
Mr O’Reilly will join sitting MEP Jim Higgins on the ticket.
Physio campaign launches next week
Physiotherapists are to begin a national advertising campaign next week to generate new business and stop the haemorrhage of graduates from the country.
An estimated 60 per cent of the 150 physiotherapists who graduated last year are either unemployed or have emigrated, with more expected to be unemployed when they graduate this year.
The “Did You Know?” campaign, fronted by Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, aims to inform the public that physiotherapists can treat many illnesses, ranging from oncology and palliative care to helping children with intellectual disabilities.
‘Kerryman’ goes compact
One of the State’s most popular regional newspapers, the Kerryman, has been published in broadsheet format for the last time in its 105-year history, writes Anne Lucey.
From next week, the paper will be in compact format, its readers have been told in the current edition.
In a front-page editorial, editor Declan Malone says: “Many readers no longer have the leisure of spreading the Kerryman out over the kitchen table at home and they find broadsheet just a little difficult to handle.”
Prison Easter lily appeal rejected
A republican prisoner yesterday lost his appeal against being banned from wearing an Easter lily within Maghaberry Jail.
Christopher Donaldson, who is being held in a separated regime at the prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim, was challenging a prohibition on the emblem being worn outside his cell.
Lord Justice Higgins said that while poppies and shamrocks were permitted within the prison, Easter and orange lilies were banned within the general confines because they were classed as conflict emblems.