A round-up of today's Irish news stories in brief
Youth allowed payment for birth expenses
A 16-year-old schoolboy has been allowed to draw down €1,000 from an accident settlement to cover expenses of his girlfriend’s pregnancy.
Barrister John P Kehoe told the Circuit Civil Court that Patrick Kenna, Kilmartin Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin, had been offered a €5,000 settlement for injuries.
Mr Kehoe said the boy had been walking to school on September 29th, 2004, when he was struck on his right forearm and elbow by the wing mirror of a passing car, suffering abrasions which kept him out of school for a week.
Mr Kehoe told Circuit Court president Mr Justice Matthew Deery that his client’s girlfriend was expecting their child in March and he had been asked to apply for a payment of €1,000 to cover basic expenses at the birth.
Mr Justice Deery approved the settlement offer and directed that there be a €1,000 payment to the boy.
Warning on alcohol after tragic death
A coroner has issued a warning about the dangers of drinking alcohol following the tragic death of a young Irish plumber in Canada after drinking three large bottles of beer on New Year's Eve, writes Georgina O'Halloran.
David O’Donnell (23), originally from Old Bawn, Tallaght, was pronounced dead in the west Canadian city of Vancouver last New Year’s Day, Dublin County Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.
Coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said: “I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions the dangers of drinking. A lot of young people drink excessively and don’t realise it can cause death. Alcohol works as an anaesthetic and if you drink too much, it can become toxic.”
Charlie O’Donnell said his son didn’t usually drink alcohol. On the evening, he drank three large bottles of beer with friends while watching TV. Each bottle, which had an 8 per cent volume of alcohol, contained approximately 1.5 litres of beer.
Manslaughter trial collapses
The trial of a man charged with manslaughter has collapsed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Judge Tony Hunt discharged the jury on day 11 of the trial and at the close of the State’s case.
Paul Gibbons (27), Moatview Drive, Priorswood, had pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing Valeri Ranert (27), an Estonian national, at Naul Road, Swords, on April 30th, 2007.
He had also pleaded not guilty to unlawfully seizing by force Mr Ranert’s car.
Judge Hunt told the jurors he felt they should not have heard certain evidence concerning Mr Gibbons’s Garda interviews and that this may have had “huge implications” on the balance of the trial.
He thanked the jurors, said he hoped they found their time in court “instructive” and exempted them from jury service for 10 years.
Appeal against IRA conviction lost
A Dublin man has lost a bid to bring an appeal to the Supreme Court against his conviction for IRA membership.
The three-judge Court of Criminal Appeal, with Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan presiding and sitting with Mr Justice Daniel Herbert and Mr Justice John MacMenamin, found yesterday that Vincent Kelly (23) had not shown his case raised any point of law of exceptional public importance which required determination by the Supreme Court.
Kelly, Empress Place, Ballybough, was convicted of IRA membership in June 2006 and jailed for five years.
Ten-year term for engineer drug smuggler
A South African engineer who tried to smuggle €200,000 worth of cocaine into the country has been sentenced to 10 years with three suspended at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Mark Shilling (33), Ahswin Avenue, Waterville, Durban, pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply after he was stopped by Customs officials at Dublin airport on December 21st, 2008.
Shilling initially claimed that he had travelled to Ireland to see a friend and was not aware of the drugs. He later revealed that he was to deliver the bag to a woman in a Dublin hotel and would receive €7,000 for doing this.
Emily Logan reappointed
The Government has reappointed Emily Logan for a further six years to the post of Ombudsman for Children, following a decision by the Cabinet yesterday.
Ms Logan, a former children’s nurse, was the first person to hold the position in 2004.
The McCarthy report on public expenditure had recommended that the Ombudsman for Children’s Office be merged with other bodies into a single ombudsman commission.
Population census set for April 2011
The Government has decided the next census of population will take place on Sunday, April 10th, 2011. The decision was announced following yesterday's Cabinet meeting. The last census in the State took place on April 23rd, 2006. The population at that time was 4,234,925 people, compared with 3,917,203 in the previous census in April 2002. This represented an increase of 8.1 per cent over a four-year period and was the highest population figure recorded since the 1861 census, which had yielded a figure of 4.4 million.
Paschal Mooney to run for Seanad
Former senator Paschal Mooney is set for a return to the upper house having been selected as the Fianna Fáil candidate for the Seanad vacancy following the death of Peter Callanan.
Mr Mooney, from Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim, was a senator for 20 years but narrowly lost his seat in 2009. A journalist and broadcaster, he contested the European election for Fianna Fáil in the Ireland West constituency in June.
Cloyne inquiry given further six months
The Government has granted the commission inquiring into the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in the Catholic diocese of Cloyne another six months to complete its work.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern yesterday asked the Cabinet for an extension on behalf of the Murphy commission, and the investigation of the Cloyne diocese will now continue until June 30th next year.
The Government earlier this year asked the commission to extend its work to deal with Cloyne because of concerns which had arisen in relation to that diocese.
Actor's two-year sentence quashed
The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed a two-year prison sentence imposed on an actor for having 10 stun guns without a firearms certificate, and replaced it with a three-year suspended sentence. Robert Scales (38), Waterloo Road, Dublin, had pleaded guilty to the offence and was on bail pending appeal. He has appeared in films including King Arthurand Braveheartand in the RTÉ soap Fair City.