ireland.com - The Irish Times

Heaney wins TS Eliot prize for poetry
Every artist begins a journey but few have sustained it as eloquently and as doggedly as Seamus Heaney who has won this year's TS Eliot prize for poetry. The award, worth £10,000, was presented last night in London for Heaney's latest collection, District and Circle . It has previously been won by Les Murray and Ted Hughes, as well as Paul Muldoon and Michael Longley. p

Seamus Heaney: winner TS Eliot Prize 2006
Anahorish 1944 from the collection District and Circle p

Ahern says he had misgivings over Mater site
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claimed yesterday he had had certain misgivings about the siting of the new national children's hospital on the campus of Dublin's Mater hospital. p

Funding for key roads to hit €1.5bn this year
Another year of record funding for road building is to be announced by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen this afternoon. p

Other Stories

Action to restrain broadcast settled
The widow of the late educational publisher Albert Folens has settled her High Court action aimed at restraining the broadcast of an interview with her late husband as part of a documentary on Ireland's Nazis. p
Died from stab wounds inflicted by girlfriend
A man found in the hallway of his house died from stab wounds inflicted by his girlfriend, an inquest was told yesterday. p
Sheltered housing needs of elderly set to increase
The provision of sheltered housing for elderly people will have to increase by at least 30 per cent in the next eight years, one of the foremost providers of such accommodation will warn today. p
Clúid's sheltered housing scheme just the job for satisfied residents
For the first few weeks when he moved to his new apartment in Dublin's north inner city, Jim Higgins (62) would wake in the night thinking "someone was going to knock on the door and tell me I wasn't meant to get a place here, there'd been a mistake". p
Man on protest charge back in prison
The man arrested on Christmas Eve for allegedly placing placards outside the home of RTÉ broadcaster Pat Kenny has been returned to Cloverhill Prison for breaching his conditions of bail. p
Kerry students have sentences adjourned
Two secondary students, one of whom twice set Dingle's boys' secondary school on fire, had sentencing further adjourned yesterday at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee. p
Nine years for raping woman in Limerick
A man who raped a Limerick woman in the west of the city has been jailed for nine years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court. p
Public asked to back campaign to end homelessness
Members of the public are being urged to sign up to a campaign to end homelessness by the end of the decade. p
Universities rely on institute intake to keep 'elite' status
By relying on institutes of technology to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged groups accessing third-level education, universities are maintaining their "elite" status, an expert on the issue has said. p
Fáilte Ireland staff picket office over relocation
Fáilte Ireland staff picketed outside their offices on Baggot Street and Pembroke Row in Dublin yesterday in an escalating dispute over relocation. p
Search for peace in Middle East more urgent than ever - Ahern
A comprehensive package to settle several Middle East crises is now more urgently needed than at any time over the past 60 years, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said. p
Taoiseach silent on loan remark
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has declined to respond to former taoiseach Albert Reynolds's criticism of his decision to accept loans and gifts from friends and Manchester-based businessmen in the early 1990s. p
Boy (16) secures orders for therapies
A teenage boy with a moderate learning disability has secured leave from the High Court to seek orders requiring the State and HSE to provide him with adequate appropriate physical, speech and language therapies. p
McBrearty in heated exchanges at tribunal
Morris tribunal: Publican Frank McBrearty jnr was involved in heated exchanges at the Morris tribunal yesterday. p
Five separate programmes in nursing and midwifery
College Choice: There are five separate programmes in nursing and midwifery. These five programmes are referred to as pre-registration programmes, and all are at level eight honours Bachelor of Science (BSc). p
Plan for council tenants to purchase their flats
More than 20,000 tenants of local authority flats are to have the opportunity to buy their homes under new legislation being drafted by the Department of the Environment. p
FG to drop McDowell image from poster campaign
Fine Gael has dropped plans to use a photograph of Tánaiste Michael McDowell in a major bill-board campaign targeting the Government, which will be introduced later today. p
Lenihan briefs hierarchy
There would be no question of any of the proposed amendments interfering with the core rights of the family already enshrined in the Constitution, representatives of the Catholic hierarchy were assured yesterday. p
Kidnap victims 'a lovely quiet couple'
Neighbours of the husband and wife who were kidnapped at their Lucan home yesterday described the pair as a "lovely quiet couple". p
Hostage-taking on the increase
Developed by paramilitaries in the North, kidnap robberies have become the most worrying new crime type to have emerged in the Republic in recent years. p
Lucan kidnapping
The timeline of the kidnapping p
Campaign to highlight threat to native wildlife species
A public awareness campaign is to be launched later today to highlight the threat to at least 150 species of native Irish wildlife, some of which face extinction unless serious remedial action is undertaken. p
€500m Greencore plan to create 2,000 jobs
Plans for a €500 million commercial, residential and recreational development on the site of the former sugar plant at Mallow, in north Cork, were unveiled yesterday. p
U2 link fails to lift hotel's performance
The decision to redevelop Dublin's Clarence Hotel is not surprising in light of the poor financial performance of the property over recent years. p
FG calls for price cap on utilities
Fine Gael has proposed a general ban on price increases above the rate of inflation for utilities such as gas, electricity and other utilities, as part of a package of measures aimed at improving consumer protection in the State. p
Minister sought early release of child rapist
A second Clare TD, Minister of State Tony Killeen, yesterday came in for criticism over representations made seeking the early release of a convicted child rapist. p
Judge orders transfer of mugger to hospital
A schizophrenic who mugged a woman of €20 as she was withdrawing cash from an ATM had spent three years on remand in custody because of an issue surrounding his fitness to plead to the charge. p
Report urges integrated approach on air quality and climate change
A new report published by the environmental change institute at NUI Galway calls on European researchers and policymakers to agree an integrated approach to tackling both air quality and climate change. p
Off-licences warn of price link to alcohol abuse
The off-licence trade has accused the Government of encouraging alcohol abuse by causing a flood of cheap alcohol into the shops. p
Iarnród Éireann launches new hourly services
Iarnród Éireann's first full day providing hourly services in each direction between Cork and Dublin went without a hitch yesterday, according to the company. p
Overcrowding worries
Commuter trains on the Clonsilla line have become dangerously overcrowded while bus services from Dublin 15 frequently take an hour and a half to reach the city centre, according to Labour TD Joan Burton. p
Report 'vindicates' mental hospital complaints
A critical report about the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum has vindicated many of the complaints made by patients' relatives, Schizophrenia Ireland said yesterday. p
MRSA a factor in fatal hot water bottle accident
MRSA was a factor in the death of an elderly man who was hospitalised after sustaining significant burns following an accident with a hot water bottle, an inquest has heard. p
Seamus Heaney: winner TS Eliot Prize 2006
p
In Short
A round-up of today's other stories in brief... p

Missing Fishermen

Divers to resume search for missing fishermen
Teams of Naval Service and Garda divers are hoping to locate the bodies of five missing crew members of the Père Charles today, while shoreline and sea searches are to continue in Waterford and Wexford for two missing crew members of the Honeydew II. p
Fishing community unites with families of lost trawlermen
A Co Cork community which has experienced its own tragedies at sea and which has ties to the missing crews of both the Pére Charles and the Honeydew II united last night in a show of solidarity with the grieving families of those lost in the past week. p
'Waiting is the hardest thing for families'
The seaside village of Duncannon was deserted yesterday as grey choppy seas pounded the beach. In the harbour, fisherman Alan Foley (20), dressed in yellow oilskins, sat mending his nets beside the Alma-May trawler, which was tied up in port like most of the local boats. He said the weather was "too bad to go out today. There's no let-up." p
'Freak' waves a misnomer as 15% reach twice average height
So-called "freak" waves, such as the one believed responsible for the sinking of the Honeydew II , are in fact commonplace. Studies have shown that 15 per cent of waves will be twice the average wave height at any given time, according to an expert from NUI Galway. p

In the North

Blair believes Paisley remarks are significant
British prime minister Tony Blair has attached considerable significance to a statement from DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, responding to a British government warning that if devolution is not restored by March 26th then Stormont will shut down "indefinitely". p
SF position 'should satisfy' DUP
Sinn Féin's acceptance of policing and the rule of law in Northern Ireland, followed by concrete evidence on the ground that its position has changed, should be enough to satisfy the Democratic Unionist Party, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said. p
Omagh bombing 'carried out jointly by two dissident groups'
The Omagh bombing was carried out jointly by the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA rather than just by the Real IRA alone, the trial at Belfast Crown Court of the man accused of murdering the 29 victims of the 1998 atrocity was told by an FBI agent yesterday. p
Agency secures less than £63,000 from murdered loyalist
The Assets Recovery Agency in Northern Ireland has recovered less than £63,000 (€96,000) from murdered loyalist Jim Gray. p

Regional News

FG councillor accused of ethics breach
A Wicklow county councillor and parliamentary assistant to Fine Gael TD Billy Timmins has been accused of a breach of ethics legislation after he supported a decision to sell council land to Mr Timmins and members of the Timmins family. p
Council backs Thomond stadium plan
The €48 million redevelopment plan for Limerick's rugby ground, Thomond Park, has been given the green light p
Roads agency denies damage to Tara site
The National Roads Authority (NRA) has denied that directions by Minister for the Environment Dick Roche to protect archaeology along the M3 motorway route are being "openly flouted" by works now under way. p
Knock airport board has not discussed serving US military
The board of Knock airport yesterday distanced itself from a suggestion by one of its members, Ulick McEvaddy, that the airport could be opened to US military aircraft. p
Woman (23) dies in apartment fire
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy was due in Co Mayo last evening to carry out a post-mortem examination on the body of a 23-year-old woman who died in an apartment fire in the seaside town of Newport. p

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