Sectarian killing returns to streets of Belfast

Saturday

A Catholic man was murdered in north Belfast as he walked home in the early hours. Mr Brian Service (35), a single man from Ardoyne, was shot at close range several times in the head and back near his home. Police said he had no political or paramilitary connections. The killing was admitted by a little-known group, the Red Hand Defenders.

The Taoiseach expressed annoyance at continuing media coverage of his private life. Speaking at an Ogra Fianna Fail conference in Killarney, Mr Ahern said the details were always "twisted". His comments coincided with the serialisation of a new biography of the Taoiseach in Ireland on Sunday. This quoted Mr Ahern denying rumours that he had been involved in domestic violence.

Sunday

A Romanian family due to be deported on Wednesday won a last-minute reprieve when the Department of Justice told them they would be given another chance to appeal for permission to remain in the State. Aurel and Sylvia Costina and their two sons have been in the Republic for nearly five years. They were arrested on Thursday and given seven days to leave, but following extensive media coverage the Department relented.

The businessman Lochlann Quinn has made a personal donation of £3.5 million to UCD. The money is to be used for a new undergraduate business school in Belfield.

Monday

There is a "predictable risk" of a fatal train derailment within two years unless immediate action is taken, according to a report on the railway system. The review, which was commissioned by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, last year, proposes total investment of £590 million in the system over 15 years. The Cabinet is to be asked next week to approve immediate spending of £23 million on the rail network next year.

Four Spanish fishermen died and two more went missing after their 120-foot trawler Pescalanza was battered by storm-force winds and mountainous seas 80 miles south-west of Mizen Head. Six of the 12-man crew were picked up by another trawler fishing in the vicinity.

Tuesday

Charles Bowden, the first criminal to give evidence under the State's new Witness Protection Programme, started testifying in the trial of Paul Ward, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996. Mr Bowden told the Special Criminal Court how he cleaned and loaded a Magnum handgun and left it for his associates along with six extra bullets before Ms Guerin was shot dead.

The Minister for Finance will be able to deliver a £1 billion surplus, tax cuts of £500 million and spending increases of up to 9 per cent in some Government Departments in next month's Budget, new Exchequer figures indicated.

Wednesday

The State successfully appealed an award of £20,000 damages to a former soldier for alleged hearing disability in the Supreme Court, which referred the case back to the High Court. This was the first time the Supreme Court agreed to refer back a case. Following the decision, the State indicated it would appeal a further 17 cases to the Supreme Court. The chairman of the planning tribunal, Mr Justice Flood, said he would decide next week whether to postpone hearings of the main witness, Mr James Gogarty, as demanded by counsel for builders against whom Mr Gogarty is making allegations. An adjournment is likely to result in a lengthy delay. Mr Gogarty is 81.

Thursday

Dunnes Stores made payments of some £500,000 between 1987 and 1992 which the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, believes should have been reported to the McCracken tribunal. Details of two of the three payments involved, totalling £210,000, came to light for the first time in an affidavit opened in the High Court.

Meanwhile, the Moriarty tribunal, which is investigating the Ansbacher accounts and the finances of Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry, heard evidence in private from two witnesses who were questioned about the identity of the Ansbacher depositors. Mr Padraig Collery is a former employee of Guinness & Mahon bank and Ms Joan Williams was the long-time secretary of the late Mr Des Traynor, the main Irish figure involved in the operation of the accounts.

Irish people are enthusiastic about Europe but have little awareness of its leading politicians, a new poll revealed. We have a high level of confidence in our politicians, the Taoiseach and in EU institutions, according to the Irish Times/MRBI poll. While Mr Ahern wins a massive approval rating from the Irish public, he is virtually unknown in Continental Europe.