The Irish Times
Kenny and Mekel talks to focus on new vision for EU
Quinn’s U-turn on teachers to hit school spending
Reilly paid PR firm with part of his secretarial allowance
Irish Independent
Vote of confidence to clear way for thousands of jobs
Kerry hits gold- and investors get €2,200
Kate’s “bird” dress flying off the shelves
Retail arm of Bord Gais among “jewels” up for sale
Now petrol heads for €1.70 a litre
Irish Examiner
Designer gets Royal seal of approval
School funds cut to pay for U-turn by Quinn
80% of suicide victims were in touch with GP
700% rise in number of children on trolleys
Irish Daily Mail
Quinn: I accept we got it wrong on schools
The Irish Sun
Dad of two on Melanie murder rap
Irish Daily Mirror
42,000 want affairs
Irish Daily Star
Man on Melanie murder charge
Inside the papers…
Page 11 of the Telegraph reports that an 83 year old British driver on a three-hour journey was stopped going the wrong way up the motorway- 19 hours after starting out.
Maureen Darvell set off in her in 1997 Nissan Micra on the 175-mile trip to a wedding in Bristol, UK at 9am on September 8th 2011. However, confused Darvell took the wrong way on the motorway and drove 100 miles away from her destination. After a 19-hour drive, she told a UK Court that she became “tired” and turned around-driving into oncoming traffic on the motorway. When stopped by police officers, Darvell said she knew she was driving the wrong way-but didn’t want to go that way”. She was banned for 15 months by magistrates in Kent and must retake her test to drive again.
In what was described as a “shambolic operation” in Court, two men pleaded guilty to attempted robbery of a Dublin bank- one dressed as a woman with a black wig and the other in an in ill-fitting suit. Page 4 of the Irish Examiner tells us that both men made an appointment with Michael Doyle, the branch manager telling him that the “woman” had been awarded €2.9 million by the State and wanted to buy a house. The court heard that once inside the manager’s office, the “woman” in the wheelchair shouted “Get down on the floor” and produced a hatchet made to look like a gun. The manager realised the robbers plan and told them to “f***k off and stop being stupid”. Both men ran from the building society empty-handed and were arrested a short time later.
Irish designer Orla Kiely is praising the Kate Middleton effect as the future Queen, Kate Middleton stepped out in one of her shirt dresses yesterday. Page 1 of the Irish Daily Mail tells us that the dress sold out within minutes of as was the same dress in turquoise, a spokesperson for the designer said. Kiely tweeted: “We are so happy that the Duchess of Cambridge has chosen our dress for her visit today. She looks so elegant and wears it beautifully.”
One of the world’s most iconic works of art will be auctioned in May, and could fetch tens of millions of dollars, according to Sotheby’s Auction House in Manhattan. “The Scream,” was created in 1895 by artist Edvard Munch, according to page 4 of the Irish Examiner. Sotherby’s said it is difficult to predict the work’s value because of its rare and unique nature, but estimates it could sell for more than €60 million, based on recent sales of other masterpieces. This version of “The Scream” is the only one of four original compositions still in private hands, according to Sotheby’s. It is currently owned by Petter Olsen, whose father was apparently a friend and neighbor of Munch.
Local authorities are being told to drop high parking fees, according to page 4 of the Irish Independent. One in three authorities are spending more money than they are taking in and losing millions as a result. Motorists last year paid more than 100 million euro in parking charges and fines. Counties Kerry, Cork and Galway are among those whose parking fines are costing in excess of the money generated.
Page 11 pf the Irish Examiner reports that Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces criminal charges as police question him over an international prostitution ring. The disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund – who lost his job amid claims he tried to rape a New York chambermaid – could face jail over the ‘sex parties’ he has admitted attending around the world. Strauss-Kahn, whose wife Anne Sinclair is standing by him, has made the extraordinary claim that he was unaware the women at the orgies were prostitutes because ‘they were naked at the time’.
Page 1 of the Irish Examiner tells us a new study has found that more than 80% of people who died by suicide had been in contact with a GP or mental health service in the year before to their death. The report by the National Suicide Research Foundation looked at 190 cases of suicide in Cork City and county between Sept 2008 and Mar 2011, also found that in 60% of cases the person had been in contact with a GP at least four times in the 12 months before taking their lives. More than 80% of cases involved men.
According to the front page of the Irish Times, Minister for Health James Reilly has been paying a public relations company for advice from his personal ministerial allowance. Reilly has paid 15,000 euro outside of his department’s budget.to the Communications Clinic, whose directors are public relations consultant Terry Prone and Tom Savage, the chairman of the RTÉ board. The money was paid from a €41,000 secretarial allowance which Ministers receive from the Oireachtas.
Soul singer Adele was crowned Queen of the Brits last night, adding to her awards haul at the 2012 Grammys and set the crowd into a frenzy with a rousing performance of “Rolling In the Deep”. Adele picked up the statuette for British female solo artist and the coveted best album honour for “21″ at the end of a two-hour televised show. Page 2 and 3 of the Irish Daily Star tells us that the 23-year-old captivated a packed O2 Arena with her powerful performance. The only BRIT award she did not win from three nominations was best British single, which went to TV talent show contestants One Direction for “What Makes You Beautiful”.
According to page 15 of the Irish Daily Mirror, an Italian couple has taken the title for the world’s oldest divorcees- 77 years after marrying. 99-year-old Italian man filed for divorce from his 96-year-old wife after he found letters from an affair she had 60 years ago.
The man, identified in court papers as Antonio C., discovered the letters exchanged between his wife and a former flame in an old chest of drawers days before Christmas. The letters were the latest woes in the couple’s long marriage during which they had five kids, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild together.
In another extra-marital issue, page 7 of the Irish Daily Mirror tells us that more than 42,000 Irish people have joined Illicitencounters.com. Men are charged around €100 a month to sign up for the site and flirt with women looking for an affair. The website was founded in 2003 and has more than 630,000 members in Ireland and the UK. The site’s creators defended the site and said the idea that all affairs are dark and dangerous is untrue.
Teenager Jess Lydon is trapped in the present- after a rare brain disorder left her able to remember only the last 24 hours. Page 26 of the Irish Daily Mirror tells us that often her condition is so bad she forgets she has just eaten breakfast. Yet a year ago the promising performing arts student memorised the entire script to take the lead role in a production of We Will Rock You. Now, after being diagnosed with Susac Syndrome — so rare there have been only 250 reported cases in the world — she can’t even recall what she did yesterday.
