IRELAND EDITION monday february 26 2018 | thetimes.ie | no 72468 Printed in Ireland €1.50 Best for sport Ireland must work on defensive errors Eddie O’Sullivan Pages 50-51 Pep wins first trophy for City the game Let’s spend the night together: Rolling Stones to play Croke Park
Jennifer O’Brien approved by planners. The band’s No the concerts in Ireland and Britain as cert at Croke Park this summer had the band’s tongue and lips logo Ireland Arts Correspondent Filter tour, which began last year with “very special”. “It’s always exhilarating been lodged. Already scheduled are appeared throughout Dublin under the dates throughout Europe, has been going to cities we haven’t played for Michael Bublé on July 7 and Taylor tagline “No Stopping”. The Rolling Stones will be announced extended to include a concert at GAA quite a while and also some new ve- Swift on June 15 and 16. Keith Richards, 74, said that far from today as the performers for a fourth headquarters. Dates for London, Man- nues,” Jagger, 74, said. “This part of the Support acts for the Stones will be suggesting retirement, the new tour concert at Croke Park this summer, The chester, Southampton, Edinburgh and No Filter tour is really special for the announced soon and tickets for the dates mark a new beginning for the Times has learnt. Birmingham are also scheduled. Stones. We are looking forward to concert will go on sale on March 23. group. “It’s such a joy to play with this The announcement will end weeks of Aiken Promotions will make the getting back onstage in the summer.” Irish fans were speculating about the band. There’s no stopping us, we’re only speculation surrounding the gig after official announcement at 8am today. It was reported this month that a possibility of a Croke Park date last just getting started really,” he said. the standalone show on May 17 was Mick Jagger said that the band viewed planning application for a fourth con- week when several posters featuring Make 2040 ads look like real news, papers told Regional media ‘could not say no’ to revenue
Ellen Coyne Senior Ireland Reporter “this was an extremely important reve- nue raiser for hard-pressed local titles” Regional newspapers were instructed though it is understood that in some to make government advertorials look cases the editors defied the demand like independent stories and in some and marked the advertorial. cases part of “the normal news cycle,” Such content is a regular source of The Times can reveal. revenue for newspapers and is usually Editors at several local titles raised clearly marked. IAB Ireland, an inde- concerns after they were instructed not pendent trade association, says adver- to clearly mark as a commercial feature torials should be “clearly and promi- sponsored content about Ireland 2040, nently labelled and readily recognis- the national development plan. able” as paid-for content. A similar campaign for Creative Ire- In some cases, newspapers were re- Tricoloured tries Ireland made it two victories from three games in the Women’s Six Nations Rugby tournament with a land, the government’s cultural pro- quired to edit supplied Ireland 2040 35-12 victory over Wales at Donnybrook stadium in Dublin yesterday. They face Scotland in two weeks’ time gramme, also banned newspapers from copy. In others, reporters were told to marking its adverts and said that news- “put a local angle” on sections of copy papers would have covered the content from the national development plan. anyway, The Times has learnt. The 15-person strategic communica- Leo Varadkar’s strategic communi- tions unit (SCU) was set up by Mr Var- Good Friday agreement ‘can stop hard Brexit’ cations unit is promoting Ireland 2040 adkar when he succeeded Enda Kenny in an intense campaign that includes as taoiseach. It is led by John Concan- Peter O’Dwyer utterances on the part of the British relationship; alternative solutions to be sponsored content in national, regional non, former head of Creative Ireland. Senior Ireland Business Reporter prime minister . . . in which she says that put forward by the UK; and a backstop and local newspapers as well as online Creative Ireland ran a similar cam- the Good Friday agreement is not going option of maintaining all regulatory publications and cinema adverts. Many paign, also with Mediaforce, last sum- The Good Friday agreement will force to be set aside,” Mr Flanagan told RTÉ’s rules and procedures, effectively keep- of the sponsored articles were written mer with advertorials designed to look the British government to deliver a soft The Week in Politics. “The greatest ing the North in the customs union. by journalists, with most marked as “in like normal news articles in a number of Brexit that avoids a hard border on the threat to the security of this state comes The Times reported last week that the partnership” with the government. papers across Ireland. Emails told island of Ireland, a minister has said. from dissident republicans along the “bulletproof” backstop would be in a The regional media campaign, which editorial staff that part of Mediaforce’s Charlie Flanagan, the justice minis- border, and a hard Brexit — or a diffi- “protocol” document to run alongside is set to continue for several more “deal” with the government was that ter, said he believed the peace accord cult Brexit — will feed into tensions and the main withdrawal agreement, as weeks, is run by Mediaforce Ireland, the content was not to be marked as would ensure that Theresa May’s gov- could well give rise to difficulties that opposed to within the agreement itself. which also owns Iconic, a publisher of sponsored. Newspapers were also told ernment could not follow through on none of us want.” The protocol would give it the same 15 regional print and online news titles. that no other adverts could run on the plans to leave the customs union and Simon Coveney, the foreign affairs legal standing, it is understood. Senior staff at several newspapers same page. the single market when Britain leaves minister, will meet Michel Barnier, the The Labour Party in Britain is pre- owned by Iconic have told The Times One local editor told The Times: the European Union in March 2019. EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels paring for a significant shift in policy by that they were directed by Mediaforce “This is fake news. Newspapers are Doing so would create unnecessary today to discuss the EU’s legal transla- advocating for the UK to remain in a to make sponsored content look like struggling and the government know tensions in border communities and tion of agreements reached last year in customs union to cushion the eco- news. that, so they’ve got us by the balls.” risk a return to violence in Northern the first phase of Brexit talks. nomic blow from Brexit. Sir Keir One source said there was an under- Mediaforce warned that the project Ireland, he said. Three options were presented in Starmer, the party’s Brexit adviser, said standing at senior level in Iconic that “I am encouraged by the repeated December for the Irish border: a new IRELAND EDITION Printed in Ireland thursday october 19 2017 | thetimes.ie | no 72358 Introductory offer ¤1 Mandarin for beginners Blue wave Sport, pages 56-57 The prep school that’s How Dublin surpassed their 2011 master plan gone Chinese Pages 44-45 Border conflict with Britain can be avoided, says Varadkar
Niamh Lyons Ireland Political Editor problem” could be avoided. He stressed, but three key areas of phase one negoti- been agreed that, based on the six guid- had restated the Irish-specific issues, however, that it depended on the ations — citizens’ rights, the financial ing principles put forward by the EU, particularly trade with Britain, when he A customs and trade relationship with positions taken by Theresa May’s settlement, and issues relating to Ire- work will start on a common under- spoke with Mrs May by telephone for Britain that is “close to the status quo” is government in the coming months. land — have been the subject of five standing of possible commitments and 40 minutes on Monday. still possible, Leo Varadkar said yester- European leaders were unlikely to rounds of talks between Britain and the undertakings necessary to effectively “It is still possible that the overall day as he travelled to Brussels for a decide that sufficient progress had been EU but deadlock remains. protect the Good Friday Agreement, all outcome of the negotiations is a trade crunch EU summit. made to move to the next stage of nego- Mr Varadkar welcomed progress on its parts, and the gains of the peace and customs relationship so close to the The taoiseach said that after his talks tiations unless something “dramatic” the matters concerning Ireland, includ- process, including avoiding any new status quo that a border problem can be with the British prime minister this changed within the next two days, he ing joint principles on the continuation barriers to trade or movement on our avoided, although that depends very week he believed that the “border said. Some issues have been concluded of the common travel area. “It has also island,” he said. Mr Varadkar said he Cancer drug firm forced HSE to pay inflated fee
Aspen raised price for treatment by 600 per cent
Peter O’Dwyer position, including the ban on any price Senior Ireland Business Reporter increases. However, the company are adamant they require the price increas- A pharmaceutical company increased es to maintain the products in the Irish the cost of life-saving cancer drugs by market,” she said. up to 600 per cent and warned the HSE “Wholesalers have been asked to of “severe stock shortages” if it refused ‘ration’ supplies to pharmacies based on to agree to its price demands. historical sales data to stem this leak- Aspen, which has its European head- age. Despite numerous follow up con- quarters in Dublin, pushed through tacts from the company, we have en- price increases of hundreds of per cent deavoured to hold off until the new year Love is blind October is mating season for fallow deer such as this buck in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Fawns will be born in June on four chemotherapy drugs used to and the new budgetary allocation, but treat cancers including acute forms of at this stage, we are at serious risk of the leukaemia, ovarian cancer and Hodg- products being withdrawn.” kin lymphoma, The Times can reveal. A spokeswoman for the HSE con- In a series of emails with the HSE in firmed its concerns that the drugs could Study to help rape victims ‘is unnecessary’ late 2012, Aspen, through an agent, be withdrawn and said that the price repeatedly warned the HSE that it was increases had cost the state an extra Ellen Coyne Senior Ireland Reporter the Dublin Rape Crisis Network have firmed last night that those plans had “hesitant to replenish” its stock of drugs €200,000 per year. “The likelihood was both said that without a second Savi been scrapped. until the price increases were approved these products would be withdrawn by Plans for a study to establish the scale of report, the government will underesti- Ms Fitzgerald said a second Savi re- and warned of “severe stock shortages” the company, leaving the state to source sexual violence in Ireland have been mate the investment needed in front- port was important given the unrelia- if the Irish authorities failed to approve unlicensed alternative product[s], most scrapped by the government, The line services, because many victims of bility of garda statistics. them. The matter was of “extreme likely at even higher prices,” she said. Times can reveal. sexual violence do not come forward. Documents obtained by The Times urgency”, it said. “Despite the significant financial The move means that victims of rape The Department of Justice con- under freedom of information laws Documents seen by The Times show constraints outlined in the HSE service and domestic abuse will not be counted firmed to The Times that the project will show that Regina Doherty, the social that the HSE told Aspen that it was plan 2013, the need to ensure continuity unless they report their crime to the not no go ahead, despite promises from protection minister, wrote to three cab- operating under significant economic of supply of these medicines, which are gardaí or are recorded by a charity. the Fine Gael-led government in 2015. inet colleagues in May pleading with constraints caused by the downturn, used to treat cancer patients, was an Charlie Flanagan, the justice minis- The statement from the department them to fund the research. Katherine but eventually caved in to the demand influencing factor in approving the ter, has reneged on a commitment by was issued hours after Leo Varadkar Zappone, the children and youth affairs out of fear that the products would be price increase.” Frances Fitzgerald, the tánaiste and his told the Dáil that he would not rule out minister, Frances Fitzgerald, then the withdrawn. The cost of Alkeran, a drug used to predecessor, to fund the study. Ireland a second study. justice minister, and Simon Harris, the Recommending the price increases treat myeloma, melanoma and ovarian has not conducted any in-depth re- The department claimed that figures health minister, all said they supported in an internal memo in January 2013, cancer, rose by 437 per cent from €12.30 search into sexual violence since 2002, on sexual violence were available from the study but could not afford it. Kate Mulvenna, chief pharmacist at the a pack to €66. when the first Sexual Abuse and Vio- other sources such as charities, the Catherine Connolly, the independ- HSE, said that the drugs were “in active Leukeran, which is mainly used in lence in Ireland (Savi) study was carried gardaí or the courts service. ent TD for Galway, said yesterday that use” and would probably be withdrawn the treatment of chronic lymphocytic out. A second study would have cost The department had previously said the study could have been funded if the price rises were not approved. leukaemia and Hodgkin lymphoma, €1 million in total. that such data would be supplemented instead of the government’s €5 million “We explained the HSE financial The Rape Crisis Network Ireland and by the Savi report, but a source con- strategic communications unit. the times | Wednesday November 22 2017 5 Ireland news Single mother told to seek support from her abuser
Ellen Coyne Senior Ireland Reporter ment of Social Protection. It said that the father of her baby was “legally Victims of domestic abuse have been obliged to contribute towards the cost told that they could lose single-parent of the one-parent family payment payments unless they tried to obtain being paid to you”. maintenance from their abusers. It added: “Please note that in order to Women’s Aid is concerned that the continue receiving one-parent family government is putting women at risk by payment allowance you must make sending letters telling them to make a reasonable efforts to look for mainte- Plucky dip An early-morning swimmer braves the November waters at Banjo Jetty in Swanage. “reasonable effort” to contact their nance from the other parent of the child partners for financial support. or children. Failure to do so may result Spark, which represents single in termination of the payment.” parents, said that it had been in contact Kate said: “I got the fright of my life, with a number of people, including I thought this was sorted. I thought the some women who were in refuges, who safety order made me safe. The social had received the letter. protection system is supposed to pro- One woman said that she was told to tect vulnerable people.” pursue the father of her five-month-old The department contacted Kate and baby and was given two weeks to do so. said that the letter had been sent from This was despite the fact that at her first another part of the department, which social welfare interview the woman did not know that she was a domestic had produced a court order banning abuse victim. the man from being near her home. Last week Regina Doherty, the social Kate, which is not her real name, said protection minister, claimed that her that on November 25 last year, in the department never required sexual vio- early stages of her pregnancy, she was lence or domestic abuse victims to pur- physically assaulted by her partner. She sue partners for maintenance. said that she left her partner of two “There is absolutely nobody that years, who had also been emotionally would be ever required by my depart- and verbally abusing her. ment to put himself or herself in a dan- In January she was granted a safety gerous position to acquire proof. That is order banning him from threatening why I clearly [said] that a satisfying con- her or being near her home. She gave dition is somebody telling us he or she birth to their son in June and in August has been subject to domestic or sexual applied for the one-parent family al- violence,” Ms Doherty said. lowance. “Because I was scared to go Spark said that it had repeatedly near him, I don’t want him to come near raised concerns about victims receiving me or my son,” Kate, 38, said. such letters from the department. During her interview at an Intreo Louise Bayliss, its spokeswoman, said: office the welfare officer had asked if “The government keeps reiterating she had ever lived with the baby’s father that survivors should not be forced to and she said “no”. Kate said that the contact their abusers, but they have not officer told her that “an awful lot of explained how they identify who survi- couples” applied for safety orders even vors are. There needs to be proper pro- though they were living together tocols in place to ensure these people “because they are so easy to get these are protected.” days.” Margaret Martin, the chief executive She was granted the allowance in the of Women’s Aid, called for comprehen- middle of August but on November 13 sive protocol and sexual violence and Kate received a letter from the “mainte- abuse training throughout the Depart- nance recovery unit” at the Depart- ment of Social Protection. Former nurse who cooked dog faces five years in jail
Michael McHugh lacked empathy. Ian Bownes, a consult- ant psychiatrist, had examined the A former mental health nurse who defendant. strangled and butchered a four-year- “This is bizarre and the motivation old collie before feeding it to another behind it is basically inexplicable,” Mr dog had a psychopathic disorder, a Holmes added. doctor said. Judge Piers Grant challenged the Dominic O’Connor, 28, faces up to lawyer’s authority to make those obser- five years in prison after he used a lead vations but said that much of the evi- to kill the animal last December. He cut dence came from O’Connor himself. up the body and cooked it with an Oxo The defence said that O’Connor was cube and onions before using it as pet adopted at the age of four, attended food for his other dog, Shadow. third-level education and was em- “Clearly this is an unusual and ex- ployed as a mental health nurse. tremely disturbing case,” Chris Holmes, He has previous convictions for pos- O’Connor’s barrister, told Downpatrick session of an offensive weapon and crown court. The father of two had no common assault. His position deterio- memory of the incident at his home in rated comprehensively in 2015 after the Roden Street, in the Co Down village of death of his mother and his marriage Kircubbin, he added. break-up, his lawyer said. O’Connor was convicted by a jury Dr Bownes’ report suggested that last month of animal cruelty. He O’Connor had a disordered personality bought the dog on Gumtree from a of the psychopathic type, Mr Holmes couple in Lisburn, Co Down, who had said, and a troubled background. not been traced, the court was told. The Laura Ivers, the prosecution lawyer, other animal was rehomed. said that the sentence imposed should Mr Holmes, referring to a medical be a five-year prison term, the maxi- report, said that O’Connor exhibited mum possible. quite disturbing personal symptoms The judge adjourned the case for leading to a psychopathic disorder and sentencing next week.