Sex assault case against former Armagh GAA captain Aidan Nugent to go to preliminary enquiry
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Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 21st: On what political polls reveal, defending bedsits, and waking up to woke
Sir, – According to your recent poll, 25 per cent of voters are undecided, and 20 per cent of those who did express a preference said they would vote for an Independent candidate. Doing the maths, this means that a total of 40 per cent of the electorate do not support any of the nine political parties in the Oireachtas. Is this a record for your series of polls? This suggests a truly extraordinary level of dissatisfaction with both the two main parties and with the various parties of the left, and that an unhealthy proportion of the electorate feel disconnected from our political presents significant dangers. READ MORE First, every single country in Europe – without exception – has at least one new party on the populist right which emerged over the last two decades, capitalising on a similar disconnect among voters, and which now enjoys at least 25 per cent of the vote. Do we think that Ireland is immune from this trend? All that's needed is the emergence of a party with credible leadership which has broad appeal to urban and rural voters. Second, the ground which any new party might seize is that same ground on the centre right which has been completely abandoned by both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over the last decade, and whose combined total support continues to plumb historic depths in your opinion polls as a result. If one or both of these parties doesn't return to this political ground, then they may find – as establishment parties have in Europe – that they will have the electoral rug taken out from under them. – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Bishop Eamonn Casey removal Sir, – Credit to the Galway diocese for taking the absolutely correct decision in removing Bishop Eamonn Casey's remains from the crypt in Galway Cathedral. I was sure they would play the long game and hope it would all be forgotten about. Well done to the decision makers. – Yours, etc, JOE HARVEY, Glenageary, Dublin. Medical consultation fees Sir, – Regarding Niall H Doyle's letter about a GP consultation fee hike to €90 (July18th), my GP is also in Rathfarnham and charges a far more reasonable ¤60. I'm now alarmed that he may be an Irish Times reader! – Yours, etc, ANNETTE QUINN, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. Sir, – Your writer to The Irish Times asks if €90 is a record for a GP consultation fee. I can confirm an extraordinary fee paid to a local chiropodist – €90 some months ago. When I stated the fee was more than I would pay to my doctor, the chiropodist reply was that she was the senior chiropodist. I considered the charge was outrageous and did not avail of the service again. – Yours, etc, MARY McCARTHY, Blackrock, Co Dublin. Local property tax increases Sir, – I was disappointed to read 'T he Irish Times view on the local property tax ,' July 15th. The editorial took a clear stance that 'homeowners can pay a bit more' and criticised the decision taken by myself and my colleagues on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to maintain the 15 per cent reduction in the LPT rate for next year. Surprisingly, the editorial made no reference to the revaluation of properties for LPT purposes that will take place in November. This revaluation, taking into account the significant property price increases since 2021, will result in all homeowners paying a bit more in 2026. It is estimated that this revaluation will see homeowners in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown contribute an extra €10.85 million to next year's council budget. This will facilitate significant expansion of the council's budget for 2026, well ahead of inflation. In this context, I do not see how we could justify imposing further tax increases on local homeowners. – Yours, etc, CLLR EOIN O'DRISCOLL (FG), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin. Minding children Sir, – I refer to your letter from Siobhán McDermott regarding long summer holidays (July 19th). Teachers are educators, not childcare providers. Schools are educational establishments, they do not exist to mind children while parents work. Deciding to have children means that you take responsibility for them and care for them regardless of how inconvenient that might be for your working life. Let's look at the workplace. – Yours, etc, KATHY CURZON, Co Cork. Sir, – To all those young parents sitting in cafes and parks busy on their phones and devices while ignoring their toddlers and children, I suggest a listen to the song Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin would be useful. He describes so well how; fast forward 10 or 15 years, your children may be less interested in chatting to you than they are now. Enjoy it while you can. – Yours, etc, DAVID S KELLY, Dublin 16. Waking up to woke Sir, – As a plus -70 year-old grandfather I've only become aware of the word 'woke' lately. I hear it being used as a term of derision by various individuals on radio and social media. It seems to this old geezer that to have empathy with people who are suffering or downtrodden is a symptom of wokeness. To be accepting of LGBTQ folk and other ethnicities is also a sign that you might be inclined to be woke. To be on the side of the women and children in Palestine would definitely qualify you. I personally tick a lot of the boxes to be labelled a woke oul fella. And I'm'm proud of it. – Yours, etc, PAT BURKE WALSH, Ballymoney, Co Wexford. In defence of bedsits Sir, – Many years ago, I spent some quality time in a bedsit in Clontarf in Dublin. It was on the third floor of a large period house shared with four other bedsits on the same floor. In modern day estate agent parlance, it would be described as comfortable, in a highly sought after area, good value for money in the current challenging rental market, ergonomically compact with modern conveniences and nice sea views. In reality, the single bed was jammed up against the wall and took up over 75 per cent of the room. The wardrobe consisted of a length of coarse twine hovering over the bed, one end tied to the curtain rail and the other attached to a six-inch masonry nail partially hammered into the door frame. The cooking facilities included a two-ring camping gas stove balanced precariously on an orange box advertising sun-kissed oranges from Seville. There was a small corner sink by the window. The sea could be viewed by exiting the building and walking down the road towards Dublin Bay. Crucially, the main convenience, the toilet, was located on the landing and shared by all and sundry, often resulting in slow moving queues, particularly bothersome when nature was pressing, Of course, a bedsit wouldn't be a bedsit without at least a couple of resident mice, but I had at least four. We coexisted for the while as I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. The real convenience, not to be underestimated, was that, such was the proximity to everything, all the conveniences could be operated without getting out of bed in the morning, like putting on the kettle, brushing your teeth and turning on the cooker with your big toe to make the porridge, thus gaining an extra 10 minutes shut eye before going to work. In retrospect, the experience wasn't all bad, but like the banks and the financial system and everything else at the time, the much-maligned bedsit suffered from light touch or, more accurately, zero regulation, but surely the resurrection of the modest bedsit could make substantial inroads into the current homeless and housing problems. – Yours, etc, JOHN LEAHY, Wilton Road, Cork. Revenue hours Sir, – The contact hours for Irish revenue are 9.3 0am–4.30pm. If only the rest of the working population had these terms of employment. – Yours, etc, MARY GARDINER, Co Wicklow In praise of Fintan Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's moving and disturbing account of the 'non-resting place' at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam (July 15th) is typical of his eloquence, knowledge, research and insight. I am inclined to say that there is really no one in my own country quite his match – or I would be if we didn't have the good fortune of being able to read him regularly in The New York Review of Books. – Yours, etc, VICTOR LUFTIG, Virginia, United States. Garda check point Sir, – I was startled today by the headline, ' Garda revokes more that 900 speed camera fines on stretch of N25 due to human error, ' (July 18th). To my great relief, the headline did not reflect the article's content. A single garda had not taken unilateral action to cancel hundreds of fines. It was actually the organisation – An Garda Síochána – which had taken action. What a relief! – Yours, etc, S NESTOR, Co Louth. Carry on writing Sir, – Little did I realise that a casual decision to write to another national newspaper would trigger a flurry of correspondence about how to be published in this newspaper. I can assure you and your readers that it was not a migration, merely akin to a midweek break. I decided to unmask myself as to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, there is only one thing worse than being written about and that is to be written about anonymously. – Yours, etc, DAVID LOUGHLIN, Rathmines, Dublin 6. Sir, – As regular letter writers to The Irish Times have attested, most letters don't get published. The limited available space cannot accommodate all the submissions. The editor is left with the difficult job of choosing only a few. Far from this being seen as a problem, most letter writers don't seem to mind, and many probably enjoy that it is difficult, as it then seems more of an achievement if a letter does get in. Overall, this tried and tested system of selection and curation, used by many newspapers and magazines, works well. The typical letters page contains a diverse range of opinions, politely conducted arguments, praise and dispraise of people for their actions or views, and plenty of good-natured debate and disagreement. The same cannot always be said of forums where everything gets published. – Yours, etc, COLIN WALSH, Templeogue, Dublin 6W. Sir, – I share the frustration of your many letter writers whose efforts are not acknowledged in your pages. I too have written innumerable letters . . . to the Ephesians, Thessalonians, Corinthians, Timothy et al. To date I have not received one reply. –Yours, etc, (Paul) TOM McGRATH, Ashford, Co Wicklow. Sir, – I didn't realise that the easiest way to get a letter published is to write one about a letter being published. May I have one too? – Yours, etc, DR MARIA O'BRIEN, Bayside, Dublin.
The Irish Sun
3 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Man brutally beaten up by friend, stripped naked and paraded through village while neighbours filmed him
A MAN has been jailed after brutally beating up a friend and parading him naked through the streets. Thug Karl Griffins, 42, received a huge sentence after the horrifying ordeal was caught on camera by neighbours. 3 A man was paraded naked through the streets of Penclawdd on January 30 Credit: Alamy 3 Karl Griffins was jailed for 31 months Credit: South Wales Police Swansea Crown Court heard that Griffins spent much of the day and evening of January 30 at a friend's house in the Welsh village of Penclawdd. According to prosecutor Crag Jones, Griffins received a phone call and left the flat before returning and locking the door behind him. Then, he told everyone inside that they couldn't leave. Next, the court heard that he took the phones of his friend and his friend's partner and accused them of stealing from them though it was unclear whether he was accusing them of stealing money or drugs. Read More on UK Crime Griffins refused to return the couple's phones and then beat the pair with his friend's girlfriend's crutches. The court heard that he punched his friend in the head, before demanding that he removed his clothes. Reportedly, Griffins told his friend that they were 'going for a walk' and 'paraded him naked around the streets'. Most read in The Sun The 42-year-old smashed his friend's TV before calling the police and saying: 'Someone better come and get me, I'm going to kill someone.' Griffins was arrested and told authorities that he had gone to his friend's house after arguing with his mother. Moment riot cops smash shield into man's face and 'knock his teeth out' in clash after migrant 'sexually assaulted' girl He accused the friend of stealing from him and admitted to parading him naked in a bid to humiliate him. Before appearing in the dock for sentencing, Griffins pleaded guilty to a slew of crimes including battery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and kidnapping. The 42-year-old was then slapped with a 31 month prison sentence, with half of his sentence to be served behind bars. His defence said that no disagreement between Griffins and his friend "could not remotely justify the level of humiliation and violence" caused by his client. He added that it was clear in the video footage that the victim was distressed as "he was marched through the centre of Penclawdd in a state of undress". Griffins' defence said that his client's actions could be explained through him being intoxicated and that he was now facing his addiction to controlled drugs. The 42-year-old has been granted enhanced-prisoner status at HMP Swansea and allegedly hopes that his former friend can forgive him in the future. Griffins has a history of criminal activity, including non-domestic burglaries, supplying Class A drugs and weapons offences. 3 Mobile phone footage showed the naked man being taken through Penclawdd's (pictured) streets Credit: Alamy
The 42
5 hours ago
- The 42
DJ Carey conspicuously absent from Kilkenny jubilee celebration
FORMER GAA STAR DJ Carey has missed a celebration marking his county's All-Ireland victory 25 years ago. It comes after he pleaded guilty earlier this month to inducing people to give him money after fraudulently claiming to have cancer. Carey, 54, is one of the most acclaimed figures in GAA history, having won five All-Ireland titles and nine All-Star awards. When he retired from inter-county hurling in 2006, he was hailed as an 'idol' for young players and a legend of the game. Ahead of today's All-Ireland Hurling Final, the Kilkenny senior hurling championship-winning team which Carey was a part of in 2000 was celebrated at Croke Park. But the announcer said that Carey was 'not with us today' as he remained absent from the team lining out on the pitch as part of the celebration. Advertisement Carey appeared in court in late 2023 charged with 21 counts under the Theft and Fraud Offences Act, at which point a four-week trial was expected to take place this year. At the Circuit Court in the Criminal Courts of Justice on July 2, his legal team told the court that a jury would not be required before he pleaded guilty to 10 counts. Carey, dressed in a suit and wearing a patterned tie, spoke only to plead 'guilty' to the 10 charges during the brief appearance. It was put to him that he induced various people, at dates between 2014 and 2022, to make a monetary payment to him after fraudulently claiming to have cancer and needing finances to obtain treatment, with the intention of making a gain to him and causing a loss to another. The court heard from Carey's defence team that while cancer was referred to in the indictment, Carey 'does have very genuine health conditions' and required surgery for a heart condition last year. A sentencing date has been set for October 29 and Carey was remanded on bail until then. Written by Press Association and posted on
