ireland.com - The Irish Times

Tribunal opens case against 'Irish Times'
The Mahon tribunal has told the High Court it wants to "very effectively demonstrate" that it was not the source of information which led to a front page article in The Irish Times disclosing that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern received substantial cash payments from businessmen when he was minister for finance in 1993. p

Ahern and Brown due at meeting in Belfast next week
First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are scheduled to greet Gordon Brown at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, on Monday when he makes his first visit to Northern Ireland as British prime minister. p

Taoiseach files for libel award payment of €40,000
Just two days before the expiry of the six-year deadline,Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has filed for almost €40,000 damages he won from the Cork developer, Denis "Starry" O'Brien, in a libel case in 2001. p

Calls analysis tallies with colleague's account
Analysis of telephone records places the mobile phone of Joe O'Reilly's work colleague Derek Quearney in the vicinity of the Broadstone bus garage in Dublin on the morning Mr O'Reilly's wife Rachel was murdered and is consistent with the account Mr Quearney gave gardaí, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday in the O'Reilly murder trial. p

Other Stories

18 'contacts' between O'Reilly and Pelley
Mobile phone records show that on the day his wife was murdered, there were 18 communications between murder accused Joe O'Reilly and the woman with whom he was having an affair, the court was told. p
Humidity and procedures take a toll
Humidity, densely packed humanity, swathes of technical data and a parade of senior gardaí required to testify that the telephone records of Joe O'Reilly, Derek Quaerney, the man he claimed to have been with that morning in Broadstone, and Nikki Pelley, with whom he admitted to having an affair, were properly obtained, were taking their toll on courtroom number 2 yesterday. p
Court says Russian crew can return home
Nine crew on a Russian freighter that has been detained in New Ross, Co Wexford, for the past month may be repatriated, following a High Court hearing on the issue yesterday. p
Fahey does not recall meeting
Mahon tribunal: Former Fianna Fáil minister Frank Fahey told the Mahon tribunal yesterday that he could not remember a meeting with property developer Owen O'Callaghan about plans for a national stadium in Neilstown, west Dublin, in 1991. p
Three years for bomb hoax at Dublin airport
A 49-year-old man, who caused Dublin airport to be evacuated last summer when he marched around the arrivals area claiming to have a bomb and who threatened to set it off because he wanted to "make a point", has been sentenced to three years in prison by Dublin Circuit Court. p
Minister urges groups to involve immigrants
Groups such as the GAA and business and religious organisations must be encouraged to do more to integrate migrant workers into Irish society, Conor Lenihan, the State's first Minister of State with responsibility for integration, said yesterday. p
Protesters plead with Lenihan to let Nigerian boy stay in Ireland
Supporters of a six-year-old autistic boy and his family who face deportation to Nigeria later this month have appealed directly to the Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan to reverse the decision to order his deportation. p
Greens told to avoid media on Seanad
The Green Party has warned its councillors that comments by some of them to The Irish Times have jeopardised the prospect of getting two Seanad seats from Fianna Fáil. Councillors have been instructed to say nothing to the media about the Seanad election until the issue is resolved. p
Escort service at centre of scandal in Washington had Irish link
The woman at the centre of a Washington escort service scandal ran her business from Ireland while on a trip to the country in November 2004, her newly released phone records have shown. p
McBrearty claims gardaí made hoax calls
Morris tribunal: Donegal publican Frank McBrearty snr has accused gardaí of phoning in hoax bomb warnings, setting up a virtually permanent traffic checkpoint near his business, and distributing defamatory leaflets accusing him of murder. p
Family wants Majorca case reopened
The family of a Drogheda woman who died in suspicious circumstances in Majorca is to request the Spanish authorities to reopen a police investigation into her death, following an inquest at Dublin County Coroner's Court. p
€1.7m Travellers study launched
Minister for Health Mary Harney has launched a €1.7 million all-Ireland study on the health of Travellers, who have the same life expectancy as the general population had in the 1940s. p
Food hygiene rules to appear in Chinese
Food hygiene standards that are being circulated to 45,000 food businesses in Ireland have also been published in Chinese and Polish and there are plans to publish them in Russian, it emerged yesterday. p
Red food colouring used in meat banned
The Food Safety Authority has announced a ban on a red food colouring used in some sausages and burger meat because of possible links to cancer. p
Early implementation of vaccine could eliminate cervical cancer
The early implementation of a cervical cancer vaccine could eliminate the disease in Ireland, a healthcare professional said yesterday. p
Brothers of Charity set up six companies
As part of a restructuring programme the Brothers of Charity, who provide services for people with intellectual disability, have set up six local companies and a new national Brothers of Charity Services Ireland company. p
Vatican stance on churches provokes dismay
There has been strong reaction from Ireland's Reformed churches to the Vatican document "Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine of the Church", published in Rome yesterday. p
Bad timing in Rome's 'one, true church' line
Could there have been a more unnecessary or inappropriately timed document from the Vatican as that published yesterday? asks Religious Affairs Correspondent Patsy McGarry. p
Ahern's suicide remark criticised
A coroner covering an area of Co Mayo with a high incidence of suicide has criticised Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for making "ill-considered" remarks about the growing problem. p
Children set for new summer literacy camps
Approximately 800 children around the country are expected to benefit from summer literacy camps aimed at developing their skills through art, dance, music and drama. p
Yeats anthologies left in public places to promote poet's work
The National Library of Ireland has left 250 anthologies of poetry by WB Yeats in various public places around Dublin to encourage people to enjoy the poet's work. p
Dublin council to police waste exports
Dublin City Council will have responsibility for the enforcement of new regulations to prevent the illegal shipment of waste abroad. p
InShort
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In the Courts

Article a vital issue of public interest - editor
The editor of The Irish Times , Geraldine Kennedy, told the Mahon tribunal she considered she had a duty to publish a "vital issue of public interest" - that the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, had received payments from businessmen when he was a serving minister in 1993. p
Man (21) sentenced to seven years for stabbing at halting site
A man who stabbed another man after a boxing contest, and later made a threat to kill a third man during which he fired a shotgun, has been sentenced to seven years in jail by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. p
Victim handed ear that was bitten off, court hears
A court heard a 23-year-old Ennis man was handed back his missing left ear by another man after it had been fully bitten off during the course of a row two years ago. p
Assault trial of Fianna Fáil TD to be in November
The trial of a Fianna Fáil TD charged with assaulting two men will take place in November and is expected to last two weeks. p
Head of music body challenges dismissal
The chief executive of the Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro) has asked the High Court for an injunction restraining his dismissal for alleged gross misconduct. p
InShort
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In the North

Campbell diaries note Ahern's skill at taking flak
Former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson thought prime minister Tony Blair "too prone" at times to buy "the line" from Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. p
North nurses to receive pay increases immediately
Nurses and politicians have welcomed a move by the North's Minister for Health, Michael McGimpsey, to overturn a British direct rule decision and award their recommended pay rise immediately in full instead of in stages. p

Regional News

Two men remanded over Cork cocaine discovery
Two Englishmen have been remanded in custody after they appeared in court yesterday and were charged in connection with the country's biggest ever cocaine discovery when more than €100 million worth of the drug was washed up on the west Cork coast. p
€60m Galway housing scheme hits snag
Minister for the Environment John Gormley is under pressure to bail out Galway City Council over a €60 million housing purchase scheme which has run into serious difficulty. p
Accused in freezer body case remanded in custody
A 43-year-old man, charged with the murder of a Dublin man whose body was found in a freezer behind a fishmonger's shop in Galway city last month, has been remanded in custody following his appearance before Oughterard District Court in Connemara yesterday. p
Film fleadh opens with debate on life after wrongful imprisonment
Actors Aidan Quinn, Jeremy Irons and Fionnuala Flanagan, Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six and Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four are among participants at this year's Galway Film Fleadh which opened in the city last night. p
Partial easing of water alert in south Mayo
A public health alert affecting drinking water in south Mayo for the past four months has been partially lifted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) West. p
Feed group warns of price rises over GM maize ban
A ban by the EU on the import of a strain of genetically modified (GM) maize for animal feed into Ireland will cost €40 million annually and force up the price it was claimed yesterday. p
An Bord Pleanála overrules Killarney scheme
One of the largest ever private housing developments for Killarney has been refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála, after appeals by local third parties. p

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