Latest news with #Con
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- General
- Irish Daily Mirror
Funeral details announced for young 'gentle soul' who died in tragic road crash
The funeral details of a young man who tragically died following a fatal road collision in Laois in the early hours of Thursday morning have been announced as tributes continue to flow. Colm Lynch O'Sullivan, who was in his 20s, passed away following a single-vehicle collision that occurred at Ballaghmore in Borris-In-Ossory. His death notice on states that Colm, from Cloncoure, Ballaghmore, Laois / Roscrea, Tipperary, is survived by his parents Olive and Con, pre-deceased by his sister Grace and sadly missed by his brothers Brendan and Tómas, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, niece, extended family and all his friends. Colm will lie in repose in Tierney's Funeral Home, Roscrea on Sunday evening from 4pm to 7pm. His removal from his residence in Cloncourse on Monday morning will take place at 10.30am, arriving in St Molua's Church, Ballaghmore for a funeral mass at 11am. Colm's burial will take place afterwards in the adjoining cemetery. Meanwhile, tributes continue to flow to Colm, with one mourner saying that "Colm was a real gentleman and always so good humoured" and describing him as a "gentle soul". 'Sincere sympathy to Con, Olive, Tòmas and Brendan on the tragic loss of Colm. Colm was a real gentleman and always so good humoured. You are in our thoughts and prayers at this sad time. May Colm's gentle soul rest in the arms of Jesus,' they said. Another wrote: 'Olive and Con, family and friends, we are so sorry to hear about Colm's untimely death. There are no words for this tragedy. You are in our thoughts at this very difficult time. Rest in peace Colm, bed of heaven to you.' 'Sincere sympathy on the tragic loss of your darling son and brother Colm. There are no words of consolation to offer you at this terrible time but be assured you are in my thoughts and prayers. Rest in peace Colm and watch over all those whose hearts are broken on your tragic passing,' said another mourner. On Thursday, local councillor John King said the whole community of Ballaghmore and the Roscrea area of Co Tipperary, where Mr O'Sullivan worked in his dad Con's garage, was 'in complete shock and heartbroken'. 'There is complete shock and sadness around,' said Cllr King. 'The loss of a young life is horrendous for his heartbroken family and to the area as well. 'My deepest sympathies go to the young man's family. It is not an easy time,' said Cllr King. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Child who was strip searched at school worried she ‘will never feel normal'
A woman who was strip searched as a child at school has said she will 'never feel normal again' after two officers were sacked. Child Q, who was 15 at the time, was strip-searched by female Met officers in 2020 after she was wrongly suspected of carrying cannabis at her east London school. Later it emerged that she was also on her period, with the girl, who is now an adult, saying she felt 'demeaned'. A tribunal has since found the actions of two police officers involved amounted to gross misconduct, describing the incident as 'unjustified and humiliating'. Trainee Det Con Kristina Linge and PC Rafal Szmydynski were sacked, while PC Victoria Wray was given a final warning. In a statement through her lawyers, Child Q said: 'Someone walked into the school, where I was supposed to feel safe, took me away from the people who were supposed to protect me and stripped me naked, while on my period. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'I can't go a single day without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up. I don't know if I'm going to feel normal again. 'But I do know this can't happen to anyone, ever again.' Child Q did not give evidence at the hearing due to the psychological damage of the strip search, but said she felt 'demeaned and physically violated'. Child Q's mother said in a statement: 'Professionals wrongly treated my daughter as an adult and as a criminal and she is a changed person as a result. Was it because of her skin? Her hair? Why her? 'After waiting more than four years I have come every day to the gross misconduct hearing for answers and although I am relieved that two of the officers have been fired I believe that the Metropolitan Police still has a huge amount of work to do if they are to win back the confidence of Black Londoners.' The officers involved had failed to acquire proper authorisation at sergeant level which went against the force's policy. The panel has heard that black schoolchildren were more likely to be treated as adults rather than their white peers. But neither age or race were found to be a factor in the way the search was conducted. Cdr Kevin Southworth said in a statement: 'The experience of Child Q should never have happened and was truly regrettable. 'We have sincerely apologised to Child Q since this incident happened. 'Again, I am deeply sorry to Child Q and her family for the trauma that we caused her, and the damage this incident caused to the trust and confidence black communities across London have in our officers.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Woman in her 40s stabbed to death just yards away from London Stadium MORE: Sword attacker who murdered schoolboy in rampage jailed for at least 40 years MORE: Hero officer who ended samurai killer rampage had 'no time for fear'
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin v Tyrone: Dubs must restore Con and confidence on search for Sam
Barney Rock claims Dublin need to restore Con and confidence if they are to fire their way back to All-Ireland glory. But Rock fears that his dream of a crazy Dublin All-Ireland double could be undone by a legacy issue that once worked in the footballers' favour. The hurlers' shock victory over Limerick last Saturday has GAA fans in the capital buzzing and Rock is happily allowing himself to get carried away. "There's possibilities in everything," he smiled. "Dublin could be playing Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final and we could have a Dublin-Meath final. "And if Dublin won both All-Irelands, you'd have both managers coming from the same club, Na Fianna. It could happen, we don't know - that's the way sport goes. Meath could have a big say in that!". Dessie Farrell's footballers are back in action on Sunday in Croke Park, with a tough All-Ireland SFC quarter-final against Tyrone to negotiate. Dubs supporters are praying that their classy dangerman O'Callaghan returns after he suffered a hamstring injury in the opening group victory over Galway, missed the defeat to Armagh and then picked up another problem in the draw with Derry. "Dublin do need him," asserted Rock. "He's an exceptional footballer, we're a much, much better team with Con plays because he always scores and creates scores. "The lads on the field aren't doing what Con will normally do but they do know how to win in Croke Park, they could win a scrappy match. But if it comes to shoot-out, that might be the problem. "That would probably catch them against Kerry or Armagh - with one of them gone this weekend - or against Donegal or Galway or even Monaghan or Meath. There's a lot of teams there that can shoot two-pointers." Dublin have struggled badly in that department. Rock identifies the emphasis during the golden years of success of taking the percentage score as the reason. It was why, even before the new rules came into existence, Galway beat them at this stage of last year's championship. "We're not the greatest two-point kickers and that (long-range kicking problem) has come back to haunt them," said the legendary prolific free-taker. "Last year against Galway, they had opportunities but Galway beat them because they had fellas kicking long range scores. Most good teams in the All-Ireland now will get between five and seven seven two-pointers. They'll have a go at it. "With Dublin, maybe it's a confidence thing that some of the lads are just half afraid. Before now, Dublin had to make sure you got it in (closer to goal), you'd take the percentage shot. The percentage probably would be about 80 to 90 and outside of that you don't shoot and it's come back to bite them a little bit."When you look at them now, some of the misses - even in the Armagh match they were snatching at their shots and they were going wide, and that was disappointing." Rock was also unhappy that Dublin handed Armagh easy scores by technical breaches under the FRC's new rules. "How could that happen? Dublin are probably the most organised team," he said. "But to do three of them within an eight-minute period, that was three points - and then all of a sudden you're only down to one kick of a ball to level the game when we had 17 wides." The 64-year-old puts those costly errors down to a lack of confidence but is adamant that one good win against Tyrone would lift the Dubs. "And Tyrone is the ideal match for them," he claimed. "Tyrone will have small nippy forwards, which will probably suit Dublin in one sense, because we wouldn't be the tallest fellas in the backline. But the loss of James McCarthy and Brian Fenton, it's big for them. When you think of this type of game, it would have suited them. "The way the game has gone now, it seems to go from the kick-out and it's all about the break around the midfield. If Dublin can pick up those breaks and go forward, they'll cause more problems for Tyrone. "(Peadar) Ó Cofaigh Byrne is going to be meeting somebody equally as tall as him and that's how it will be from here on in. He's been brilliant in the last couple of games, single-handedly around midfield he's either won or broke ball." Rock, like every other Blues supporter, was questioning what was going on after Dublin struggled past Wicklow and then lost to Meath in Leinster, their first provincial defeat in 15 years. "But I still think that Dublin will always find a way and if they win next Sunday, they're in an All-Ireland semi-final," he asserted. "If Dublin win the All-Ireland this year, it probably would be one of the greatest ones to win. "Dessie would have had to set up a new team. And from that point of view it would be great because he lost Brian Fenton and he lost James McCarthy, and a few others." Overall, Rock feels that the Dubs have blown "hot and cold" since the Meath loss, through the group stage and against Cork last Saturday. However he believes that the Royals' famous ambush in Portlaoise has, in a way, helped the Dubs. "It probably gave them a little bit of a breather in that sense, it took the pressure off them," Rock claimed. "Everything went on Meath and Louth and Dublin then focused on the championship - and they really focused on the Galway match. "That was a big match for them - if they were beaten then they were going to struggle at that stage, but they really took it to Galway and deservedly beat them." *************** As a Dublin footballer, Dean Rock would have loved the transformation of the game under the FRC's remit. So would his dad, whose scores total at intercounty level would have been even higher if the two-pointer existed in his day. "Well, most people would be the same," said Barney, modestly. "But back in those days people would have shot, people sometimes would shoot on sight at the target (and missed). "But the game is changing and it's changing for the better, and it'll be interesting. I just like seeing more goals - although David Clifford scored enough last week so I can't say too much!". Barney insists that it's not weird watching his beloved Dubs without Dean playing. His son retired from the intercounty game at the start of last year after winning eight All-Irelands. "No, it's not," said Rock. "At the end of the day, every player goes to the end of their time with their team. Dean probably would love this type of game because he would be well able to kick from far out. But it just comes down to we all have to say we've given it our all. At this stage he's happy to be playing with his club." Barney says that the Jim Gavin-fronted rules committee have "woken up the whole championship in many ways", adding that he loves the three attackers on three defenders scenario. "It's great, now it gives forwards an opportunity to get in there and move it," said Rock, who predicts Monaghan could be the dark horse of the quarter-finals this weekend against Donegal. "But there's probably not as many goals scored when you take up the three on three that there should be and there could be, because you'd be expecting fellas to be getting in more, keepers would be making more saves. "But certainly when the ball breaks, every one of them are nearly 100 metre athletes because everybody just goes forward real quick. So the transition from when the breakdown comes to getting forward is probably the most exciting part of the game - but it's when it gets a little laboured, it goes back (to the old style of playing). "Like last week's hurling match (between Dublin and Limerick), the hurling was fantastic and the atmosphere after the hurling match, what it really needed was a real attack-minded game. "But it ended up being just a little bit sour. It was always very hard to follow hurling with football - but that one just looked like, 'Geez, we're going back'. "Then the Sunday Tailteann Cup game between Wicklow and Limerick, it was great - but then the next one with the better teams (Kildare and Fermanagh) just didn't really ignite." *Barney Rock was speaking at the launch of the 24th annual Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge in aid of GAA-related charities at Michael Lyng Motors (Ford) in Kilkenny
Daily Record
16-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Record
Provost's posh car replacement has saved Perth and Kinross Council almost £14,000 a year
Provost Xander McDade was keen to have a "more practical and environmentally friendly" vehicle anyone could use Ditching the swanky civic car has cut the annual travel expenses for the Perth and Kinross Provost by almost £14,000. Previously the Provost would be driven to events in an Audi A8 but in January 2023 Provost McDade announced plans to switch to a "more practical and environmentally friendly" option. Now, the Highland Perthshire senior councillor drives himself around or uses a pool car, which anyone in Perth and Kinross Council can use. In 2024/25 Perth and Kinross Council's 40 councillors (as well as two who resigned) claimed a total of £32,253 in expenses. Five councillors did not claim a single penny: Andy Chan (Con), Eric Drysdale (SNP), Crawford Reid (who resigned last summer), Caroline Shiers (Con) and Colin Stewart (Ind) who prides himself on having never made an expenses claim as a councillor. The vast majority - 98 per cent - of councillors' expenses claims were related to travel costs. There were no claims for meals or accommodation. There was just one training/conference claim, for Cllr Peter Barrett who convenes the Perth and Kinross Licensing Board, and the remaining £243 claimed was for telephone and ICT expenses. But - despite inflation and rising fuel costs - the expenses claimed last year by elected members was less than half what it was six years ago. For the tax year 2018-19, councillors claimed £75,178 in expenses. Removing the civic car is partly behind the 57 per cent reduction in councillors' expenses from 2019 to 2025. Provost McDade said: "When I became Provost I wanted to move away from an exclusive car for the Provost to something that could be used by anyone in the council to help save money. "Because I was driving myself to a lot of events, the previous car was sitting doing nothing a lot of the time which was not a good use of public money. So, we replaced the Audi with the hybrid Ford Transit which is now a pool car and can be used by anyone and is routinely used by schools for example because it has eight seats." As travel/mileage is, by far, the largest expense it is perhaps no surprise the three Highland Perthshire ward councillors' expenses account for just over a third of the total expenses claimed by elected members in 2024/25. Provost Xander McDade is one of those three Highland Perthshire councillors. He had the largest expenses bill of £4751. Provost McDade's claims were all for mileage and - while the largest for 2024/25 - were a 74 per cent reduction from his predecessor Provost Dennis Melloy's £18,529 claim for travel and mileage in 2018/19. Provost Melloy's total expenses claimed in 2018/19 including meals, telephones/ICT costs, etc., were £18,952. A move towards hybrid meetings has also played a part in reducing mileage claims. The Independent Highland Perthshire ward councillor said: "Since the introduction of hybrid meetings I have tended to try and do a lot more of the internal meetings online rather than driving the 50-mile round trip each time and this has reduced my own mileage quite a lot, but the Highland ward covers about 43 per cent of the Perth and Kinross landmass so all three Highland ward councillors inevitably have the highest mileage claims as it can take 90 minutes to drive from one side of our ward to the other. "My mileage is for local ward meetings or to Perth for council meetings, but I also drive myself to quite a lot of local events as Provost so use the pool car less than previous Provosts would have used the civic car." Another change since Xander McDade was made Provost has been the introduction of Bailies, with one representing each political group in the council. That too, has brought savings. Provost McDade added: "Since we reintroduced Bailies there has also been a reduction in mileage as I will often send a Bailie to a local event near them if appropriate." Details of the councillors' expenses are publicly available to see on the Perth and Kinross Council website. Bailie Alasdair Bailey - vice-convener of PKC's Scrutiny and Performance Committee - believes it is important for councillors to think about how the public purse is being spent but also that councillors are not out of pocket in their service. The Labour Carse of Gowrie ward councillor said: "The scrutiny that brings to the process keeps us all aware of the fact that when we travel on council business, we're doing so at the expense of the taxpayer. "However I do want to put on record my strong support for the ability of councillors to claim reimbursement for expenses. We have to remember that if we don't pay people adequately to hold public office, we inevitably end up being ruled by those who can afford to do the role voluntarily which severely limits the range of people and backgrounds we'll see represented on the council." Independent councillor Colin Stewart - who has pledged not claim a single penny - agreed. The Strathmore ward councillor said: "I think it's completely appropriate for expenses to be available to ensure access to elected office, particularly for younger candidates, but all councillors should be mindful about keeping their burden on Perth and Kinross residents and taxpayers to the absolute minimum. "Having not claimed anything in my first term as a councillor, I pledged that I wouldn't claim anything if elected for a second term - and I won't." A PKC spokesperson said: "Councillors can claim expenses for travel and subsistence costs incurred while carrying out their official duties. "In the interests of transparency, councils are required to publish information on councillors' salary, allowances and expenses in respect of the previous financial year.' "All councillors can claim travel and subsistence costs while carrying out their official duties. Elected members in more rural areas will, inevitably, face higher transport costs although it should be noted these have reduced significantly since the coronavirus pandemic. This is because more meetings can be held online and pool vehicles can also be used to reduce costs."
RTÉ News
12-06-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
'Dublin have to get Con on the pitch no matter what'
Dublin have it all to do if they're to survive Saturday's Battle of Newry with Derry and, according to former Offaly ace Nigel Dunne, they shouldn't dream of heading up north without the most potent weapon in their arsenal. Con O'Callaghan missed Dublin's Croke Park loss to Armagh last time out having come off injured in their win over Galway in Salthill in round one of the group stage. The Cuala ace's current injury status is unclear but, if he's fit enough to lace his boots by the weekend, Dunne reckons Dessie Farrell should ask him to suit up against Derry. "Even if Con's injured – once he's somewhat able to play, I'd tog him out," Dunne told the RTÉ GAA podcast. "He's their spiritual leader. They're a more confident group with Con just standing on the field. That's very simplistic, but I believe that in my heart of hearts. "He calms everyone down, he composes the team. He even gives Dessie more confidence in the rest of the players. "Whatever he has to do, Con has to be on that field at the weekend." The task is simple for Derry. While a draw will do Dublin, the Oak Leafers have to win or their 2025 season is over. The claustrophobic confines of Páirc Esler should suit the Ulstermen, with an apparently vulnerable Dublin side very much there for the taking having already been beaten twice in the championship this summer. Derry, on the other hand, have been leaning on some old war horses as they work their way back into the form that took them to an Allianz League title last season. "The venue has significance here. It will suit Derry," Dunne argued. "They finished strong in the last 12 minutes against Armagh, they had a really good outing against Galway. "They look to be coming back to their old form. Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers have grabbed the dressing room by the scruff of the neck and said 'lets get over this. Rory Gallagher's not coming back. We have to move on with our lives, we have to make sure Derry's competitive again'. "If the game was in Croke Park, I'd be saying Dublin all day long. I really give Derry a massive chance. But Dublin look a bit vulnerable. They looked panicked the last day [against Armagh]. "There was a stretch in the second half where Dublin were doing what Dublin do, they were breaking at pace, they still have all these great athletes – but they were panicking and forcing two-point shots. "They looked like a team that didn't trust themselves. They didn't trust themselves to chip away at a lead. They were anxious to get scores on the board. It just felt like they lacked confidence, which is an unusual thing to say. "Even Dessie Farrell throwing the hat on the ground… Dublin are going to have to come out swinging – because you know Derry will."
