A round-up of today's other home news in brief ...
Surfer (56) killed off Inis Oírr is named
A Dublin man who died in a surfing accident off the Aran island of Inis Oírr at the weekend has been named as David Deering (56), a father of two, from Mount Merrion.
Mr Deering was an experienced surfer and it is believed he hit his head in a fall from the surfboard off the southwest of Inis Oírr last Saturday evening. He was pulled ashore and his son administered first aid.
The crew of the Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopter from Shannon also assisted, but Mr Deering could not be revived. His body was flown to Limerick Regional Hospital.
Mr Deering was a keen sports enthusiast, who coached many pupils at Willow Park and Blackrock College schools. He was also director of a company which ran summer courses for children in soccer and rugby.
Crashed aircraft ‘starved of fuel’
Two parachutists jumped from an aircraft minutes before its pilot was forced to crash land in a ploughed field in Co Offaly, a report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit has found.
The 29-year-old Cessna plane, which was being operated by the Irish Parachute Club, lost a significant amount of power while climbing to 9,000 feet, most likely because of fuel starvation, and was forced to land short of the runway at Clonbullogue.
The preliminary report states that the aircraft, of which the pilot was the only occupant, suffered severe damage in the incident on March 15th. The pilot was uninjured.
The investigation found the left hand fuel tanks were found to be empty and the right hand tanks contained only two litres.
The report noted the plane had a modified fuel system and that readings were being taken with a calibrated dipstick, which made it difficult to accurately gauge the amount of fuel it was carrying.
Ryanair weight poll criticised
An online Ryanair poll asking if overweight passengers should be subject to extra charges has been criticised by the Equality Authority.
Ryanair said the idea had been put forward by its passengers, after the airline asked for suggestions for an additional revenue-raising charge.
Among the “top five” ideas published on the company’s website is: “Excess fees for overweigh [sic] passengers based on body mass index.”
However, a spokesman for the authority cautioned against implementing such a charge. “If they are considering disadvantaging people because of a personal attribute, I would advise them to await the outcome of the case before the Equality Tribunal about disability and obesity,” he said.
‘Bad Day’ author makes shortlist
The shortlist for the 2008 Hennessy XO Literary Awards was announced yesterday, with Bad Day in Blackrockauthor Kevin Power nominated in two categories.
Also in contention for the Emerging Fiction prize are Séamus Scanlon, Susan Lanigan, Sharon Irwin, Stephen Wade, Aiden O’Reilly and Colm Keegan.
Nominated alongside Power in the Emerging Poetry category are Stephen Kennedy, Connie Roberts, Louise Mahaffy, David Mohan, Celeste Augé and Melissa Diew. The writers nominated in the First Fiction section are Tom Clarke, Eimear Ryan, Barry McKinley, Selina Guinness and Donald Mahony.
Off-duty garda involved in fatal crash
The Garda ombudsman is to begin an investigation after it emerged a pedestrian who was killed in a road crash over the bank holiday weekend was struck by a car driven by an off-duty garda,
writes Ciara O'Brien.
Jack Whelan (23), Clontarf, died after he was hit by the car on the Clontarf Road at about 6.30am on Sunday. He was taken to the Mater hospital, but died shortly after. The driver of the car was not injured.
Arrests over January shooting
Two men were arrested yesterday morning in connection with the fatal shooting of a man in Dublin in January, writes Genevieve Carbery.
The men, aged 19 and 25, were being held at Tallaght Garda station. Stephen O’Halloran (20) was shot dead on January 19th as he sat in a car in the driveway of his mother’s house in Tallaght.
Third arrest over pensioner killing
A third teenager has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Co Tyrone pensioner at the weekend, writes Dan Keenan.
Frank O’Neill (78), a retired psychiatric nurse, was found dead in his Brook Valley home in Omagh. Police arrested a 15-year-old boy in Belfast.
A 16-year-old youth and an 18-year-old man were arrested earlier.
Green candidates seek Kerry seats
The Green Party will field four local election candidates in Co Kerry and will be contesting seats in the Killarney and Tralee town councils as well as in four of the five county council electoral wards, it said yesterday. The economy and local job creation would be the main issues, along with planning and conservation matters, candidates said.