Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
TOM GILMARTIN, WHO was a key witness in the controversial Mahon Tribunal, died today.
The former property developer, who was in his late 70s, had been ill for a period of time and passed away at Cork University Hospital this morning.
The Sligo businessman became one of the central witnesses in the tribunal after he said he gave a cheque for IR£50,000 to former Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig Flynn during a period when he was trying to develop a shopping centre in west Dublin.
In a Late Late Show interview, Flynn’s denial angered Gilmartin to such an extent that he reversed his decision not to cooperate with the tribunal. In his evidence to the tribunal, he said Flynn had tried to get him to lie and change his version of events.
He also said that former minister Ray McSharry had brought him to meet a number of cabinet members including Bertie Ahern, though Mac Sharry and the former Taoiseach deny this.
Gilmartin is survived by his wife Vera and four children.
If there is to be a silver lining in all this, I hope that those people that used to breathe down the back of your neck in queues, finally get the awareness to give us some personal space.
@Mark Malone: I’m afraid they are still around and continue to do so regardless of restrictions
@Mark Malone: Been thinking something like this. Manners will come back again. Just got to work on the spitting and urinating everywhere now.
There should be greater nuance in the question phrasing e.g. it is not complusory to wear a mask in public spaces, it should be asked if people either wear masks in enclosed spaces (shops/buses etc.) or in crowded public places. Would have been useful also to see fear added to the emotional well-being tracking – probably a prevailing emotion at the start that would hope has declined significantly.
@Spbeak: To suggest that 90% of people wear masks in all public places is just incorrect
@Spbeak: does worry and anxiety not kind of cover fear?
@Jim Smith: well the survey relies on people reporting their own behaviour the true figure probably a bit lower alright
@Jim Smith:
Depends I suppose, on what you call a public space for the purpose of mask wearing.
Walking down a street in the open air is in public, going for a walk on the beach or in a town park with your children is in public, but where social distancing is not an issue, then facemasks are a matter of choice.
From what I observed during December, facemasks were being worn by nearly everyone, certainly greater than 90%, in the places where social distancing was a difficulty, retail parks, shopping centres and such like. If fact most people seemed to be putting on their facemasks before they got out of their cars and were being extremely diligent and responsible about it.
Someone else has suggested that the questions asked in this article are a bit vague, I think they are correct.
@NotMyIreland: not really. Fear is a separate, though related, emotion.
The numbers shown and the ups and down in the infection numbers match. Says everything.
have your say