A round-up of today's other Home news in brief...
Hearing on publication of report on church abuse further adjourned
The High Court has adjourned to July issues relating to publication of the remainder of the report of the investigation into the handling by Catholic Church and State authorities of child sex-abuse allegations against clerics in the Dublin archdiocese.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan last November directed there could be publication of all of the report except for material dealing with two specific people, plus all references to them in the report, because their identification might prejudice criminal proceedings. Having heard submissions in private, Mr Justice Gilligan said yesterday the matter was in for hearing in relation to orders made by the court last October concerning a person referred to in chapter 19. He had also made an order last November relating to a person named in chapter 20.
Mr Justice Gilligan further adjourned the matter to July 19th.
Man loses case to stop HSE inquiry
A man charged with sexually assaulting a 13- year-old girl, who passed out as a result of consumption of alcohol, has lost his High Court attempt to stop the HSE conducting an investigation.
Mr Justice John Hedigan ruled yesterday the HSE should be allowed to conduct its own inquiry “without having to look over its shoulder” for possible legal challenges.
The man, in his mid-30s, is facing trial before the Circuit Criminal Court for sexually assaulting the girl.
The man, who cannot be named, sought a High Court order stopping the HSE making a determination as to the veracity of the allegations against him pending his trial or communicating any of its findings to third parties.
Mr Justice Hedigan found a body such as the HSE had a duty to investigate allegations where there was a risk to children.
Man denies being member of IRA
A Garda chief superintendent told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday that he believed he was “on the trail” of money stolen in the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in 2004 when he initiated an investigation into a Cork man accused of IRA membership.
Det Chief Supt Tony Quilter said that he believed on the basis of confidential information that Tom Hanlon was an IRA member in February 2005.
Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, said gardaí who carried out searches in the Cork area in February 2005 found £2.4 million in seven bags in a locked cupboard in a house owned by Ted Cunningham. DNA samples taken from Mr Hanlon matched DNA taken from the zip handle of one of the bags.
Mr Hanlon (43), Passage West, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to IRA membership.
Woman gets suspended term over drugs
A woman who was found with €3,700 worth of heroin in a drawer in her kitchen has been given a three-year suspended sentence by Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Sharon Tighe, a circus performer, Rathminton Crescent, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to possessing 18.5 grams of heroin at her home on June 27th, 2008.
She said she was asked to mind the bag for a couple of hours for someone she could not identify.
Judge Nolan said he accepted Tighe was holding the drugs for another person and she was "repaying a debt".
Ó Snodaigh calls for ban on head shop websites
Head shop websites should be banned from the internet which had become a “virtual landlord” for these establishments, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has said.
Noting the success of “certain ethically minded landlords” who had obtained injunctions preventing tenants from using their retail units as head shops, the Dublin South Central TD said he had decided to tackle “the mother of all landlords – the internet”.
The Sinn Féin spokesman on justice has written to .IE Domain Registry Limited urging it to withdraw the internet domain names from head shop sites.
Commenting on a Bill being prepared by the Government to close down head shops found to be selling psychotropic substances, he said that while it “appears likely to close one important loophole (ie shops claiming substances are not for human consumption), it does not appear to address the fact that the current system for banning substances is far too slow”.
Missing girl's case papers stolen
Burglars broke into the house of a Spanish lawyer acting for the family of missing Irishwoman Amy Fitzpatrick and stole documents relating to her case, the lawyer reported yesterday.
The thieves burgled the home of Juan de la Fuente near Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol on Monday night.
Ms Fitzpatrick’s mother, Audrey, and the missing woman’s stepfather, Dave Mahon, had recently given the lawyer files on the search for their daughter.
The burglars took thousands of euro in cash as well as the documents, but left other valuables behind.
The 32-year-old lawyer said: “I believe the burglary was related to Amy’s disappearance.”