A round-up of today's other Irish news stories in brief
President signs Nama Bill
President Mary McAleese signed the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) Bill 2009 at Áras an Uachtaráin yesterday, reports Mary Minihan.
The aim of Nama is to take large loans related to property development and land speculation away from domestic banks. Nama will pay €54 billion for the loans.
The Bill setting up Nama passed all stages in the Dáil and Seanad on November 12th. The Dáil debate lasted for more than 90 hour and another 36 hours were spent on the Seanad debate.
Funeral of pedestrian killed by car
The Church of St Vincent de Paul in Marino, north Dublin, was full to capacity on Saturday for the funeral of Anne Fitzsimons (53).
The mother of two was killed when a car mounted the kerb and struck several pedestrians on the Malahide Road in Fairview in the early morning eight days ago.
Parish priest Fr Tom Noone officiated with six other priests who had known Mrs Fitzsimons through her work as a scout leader.
Prayers were said for her late husband Paddy, her children Claire and Patrick and for fellow scout leader Tom McKiernan who remains in hospital.
Call to show photos of aborted foetuses
Anti-abortion campaigners have been urged to show the public photographs of aborted foetuses to highlight the reality of a terminated pregnancy. Eoghan de Faoite, chairman of Youth Defence,
told the organisation's anti-abortion conference that the public needed to see what an abortion involved. "There is no single thing . . . more powerful to change people on abortion than by simply showing them the pictures of what abortion does to a baby," he said.
Priest asked to leave North post
A priest in Northern Ireland has been asked to leave his post over child abuse claims dating back to the mid-1970s, it was announced yesterday. Police launched an investigation into Fr Paul Symonds’ conduct when he was working in England, church authorities said, adding that they did not know where he had worked. He is now a curate in Ballymena, Co Antrim.
Nephew of Bertie Ahern dies
The death has taken place of Dylan Ahern, a son of former Fianna Fáil councillor Maurice Ahern and nephew of former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He was a member of Clonliffe Harriers athletic club. A club statement on Saturday last said: “It is with profound shock that we learnt of the tragic loss of a member of the Clonliffe family: Dylan Ahern who died suddenly this morning.”