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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #BODIES: A body of a man was discovered outside a house in Limerick in the early hours of this morning. Investigating Gardaí said that the man had sustained multiple stab wounds when he was found lying at the front door of the property at Lenihan Avenue.
Separately, Gardaí found a body of another man in the lobby of an apartment block in Clonmel, Co Tipperary this morning. It is not known yet whether the death is being treated as suspicious.
2. #PEACE WALLS: A £2 million fund has been established to help Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland build relationships so 90 so-called peace walls can be removed, reports the BBC. The 21kms of barriers had been established to separate neighbourhoods to stop violent interactions.
3. #SEARCH: Rescue teams are hopeful that they will be able to continue an underwater search for five fisherman who have been missing since their trawler sank off Glandore Harbour in Cork on Sunday. The Coast Guard told TheJournal.ie that sea conditions were “more favourable” this morning and a decision would be taken shortly if divers can try to reach the site of the Tit Bonhomme.
4. #REFERENDUM: An Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to tell his European counterparts by the end of the month if Ireland will need to hold a referendum in order to ratify a new treaty to set up a fiscal stability union. According to RTÉ, any future bailouts will be conditional on membership of the new treaty.
5. #HOSPITALS: The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has revealed that there was a 14 per cent increase in the number of patients kept on trolleys in Ireland’s hospitals last year. According to their latest figures, over 86,400 people admitted were left on a trolley, making 2011 the worst year since records began in 2004.
6. #INTERNET ON STRIKE: Multiple websites, including Wikipedia, are partaking in an internet blackout today in protest at proposed anti-piracy laws in the US. The online encyclopedia redirects English-speaking users to a black screen warning that such legislation could “fatally damage the free and open Internet.”
7. #FAMINE: Two charities have criticised the international community for failing to respond to the Horn of Africa famine, stating thousands of people died needlessly last year. Up to 100,000 Kenyans, Ethiopians and Somalians lost their lives due to hunger as it took agencies more than six months to act on warnings, a report found.
8. #ATHLETICS: Marathon runner Martin Fagan has been handed down a two-year ban by the Irish Sports Council for his use of performance-enhancing drugs. Fagan had admitted to buying and administering the drugs ahead of last weekend’s Houston race.
9. #DOUBLE DATE: Two homeless men and a pair of burglars helped themselves to a Christmas Day dinner at one of Dublin’s top restaurants, the Circuit Civil Court has heard. According to the Irish Independent, two of the men broke into Brasserie Sixty6 on George’s Street on Christmas Eve and left the door unlatched so they could return the next day. When they did, they found that two homeless men had beaten them to it. CCTV footage then shows the four men celebrating the day together with wine and food they found on the premises.
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Obviously prison officers should be afforded all the possible protection available including prosecution. The article really lacks any reasons for why these prosecutions are not taking place. Is it a problem in the process? The Gardai? The DPP? The courts? If the problem is identified then it should be straightforward to rectify
@Nick Allen: The reason is the simple lack of willingness to have a “root and branch” reform of the entire judicial system here. From Judges down to the Parole Board and everything in between needs overhauling and bringing into the 21st century. Judges have far to much discretion regards sentencing, the need for Solicitors and Barristers where one “Lawyer” (like the US system would suffice), a dedicated prosecution service and public defenders offices where both would receive a fixed salary instead of the scam of free legal aid. A Police and Prison Service independent of political interference properly funded and staffed to do the jobs that Society require them to do. Everyone can see the need for change but those in power refuse to change it.
The reason you can’t get a conviction or any type of justice for the crimes against you is the Irish prison service and it’s management do not want or afford you any assistance with making or reporting a crime . It’s a case of they do not want incidents made public or reported, as to do so , would shine alight on a failing system ,that is in crisis . The system is well below what staffing levels it needs ,recruitment is taking place at a snails pace and the reason is simple,MONEY and an IPS policy of ,let’s make it a better place for prisoners. The Irish prisons are turning into welfare lead ,hug a thug holiday camps and the terms Imprisonment / justice for crimes / do the crime serve the time ,are all gone and have been replaced with words such a as residents, occupants and patients .
@joe o hare: I would love to know where you are getting your information from. Is it the Big Book of Fairy Tales? Firstly no Officer would ever “Cry Wolf” as you put it about being assaulted by an inmate because to so so would leave them exposed to a counter charge by the inmate. Secondly with the number of CCTV cameras in each Prison any false accusation would be quickly exposed. Now as for 6 months off on full pay. Firstly an Officers injuries would need to be so severe that the Civil Service Chief Medical Officer would have to make a declaration that the Officer was unfit for duty due to the nature of the injuries received which in itself is extremely rare. An investigation has to take place for an Officer to have an injury declared as an Injury on Duty. So get your facts right.
What use would an additional concurrent sentence serve given that that is the usual outcome in this time of multiple previous convictions, crimes committed out on bail etc. Are there any internal sanctions within the prison system itself?
@Ian Moloney: prisoners who assault staff are placed in the separation and care unit for an amount of time decided by the duty governor. They might lose their TV
Loss of canteen and reduced visits. I’ve seen a lot of assaults on staff both male and female staff and prisoners couldn’t care less about being sent to Septation unit.
With the frequency and frivolous nature of the way our judges gave out suspended sentences the criminals would end up with time off their current sentences if this went to court
This is crazy. An assault on the street would warrant a conviction yet somone doing their job and who gets assaulted gets no justice ??? If staffing levels are reduced then it will not only affect prison officers it will affect all of us too as there will be more and more suspended sentences when prisons cannot cope with the prisoners they already have and are unable to take in more. This is not just a personal safety issue for prisoner officers ( which is serious enough on its own) it’s a public safety issue !!!
@ivan enoughofit poor Joe o hare really hasn’t a bulls notion what he’s talking about but thinks because he used to watch prisoner cell block H years ago it makes him an expert!
@joe o hare: you are talking rubbish .Now let the grown ups have the conversation and you head on out and talk to your imaginary friends,who seem to be informing you incorrectly of happenings in the big bad World
The biggest problem with prisons is the easy availability of drugs, do the prison officers supply them or just get a percentage from the inmates who do.
@joe o hare: you are an ape
@Ivan Enoughofit: No he is just trolling. It’s the likes of him that hate any form of law enforcement. He has been caught out telling lies already which make anything else he has to say worthless.
And here is his much their extra holidays cost the taxpayer.http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/prison-staffs-41000-sick-days-cost-taxpayer-75m-266737.html
@joe o hare: go away Joe .2014 article .
@joe o hare: Now I am going to explain in simple terms especially for you how the above number was calculated. Each Prison Officer works a 12 hour shift. Now because Prison staff work on Bi-weekly basis it means that to average out a 44 hour week they work 4 days one week and 3 the alternative week (excluding compulsory overtime shifts). Now let’s say an Officer is off sick on the week that they are rostered on for 3 days. All 7 days of that week are still counted as Sick Days even though they were only going to work 3 of them. And each Officer only can avail of 12 weeks paid Sick Leave in every 4 year period (3 weeks a year.) Now remember what I said about 7 days counted. In reality it breaks down 1.5 weeks a year if you only count rostered days. So in reality the figure is 1 week a year
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