theirishtimes--2020-11-14--Deliberations on the appointment of Woulfe were highly circumscribed

The emerging details of the sequence that led to Séamus Woulfe being appointed to the Supreme Court give us a glimpse into a secretive process that often mystifies even those closest to it .
Few Cabinet ministers in any government see how judicial selection happens ; usually , they are presented with a fait accompli arrived at by discussions between four key players : Taoiseach , Attorney General , Minister for Justice and , in a coalition , Tánaiste .
Yet even within that select group , in the case of Woulfe ’ s nomination , the deliberations were highly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Woulfe ’ s was the only name recommended by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board ( JAAB ) , but not that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee had on file a number of expressions of interest from judges who were seeking to fill the position .
Judges do not apply to JAAB so , given that Supreme Court judges usually come from within the ranks of the judiciary , JAAB is a rarely-trodden route into the State ’ s highest court .
We have had a glimpse into the process , but only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ picture are still blurred .
Under the 2013 Denham protocol , serving judges can write to the government to convey their interest in promotion .
A small number of them in the past seven years have written directly to the minister for justice , but usually the letter goes to the attorney general .
Up to June 27th , that was Woulfe .
It appears that the attorney ’ s office , in keeping with established practice , copied those letters to the minister for justice , who , from June 27th , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was involved in the decision itself .
McEntee received one name from the JAAB , but did she consult with anyone when she was weighing up the applicants before settling on a candidate who , while he was the State ’ s chief law officer and a long-time senior counsel , had no judicial experience ?
Judges writing to government under the Denham protocol do not include CVs , so presumably some research had to be done on the contenders for the role .
The Minister ’ s office said she also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 100 ) .
Did she discuss the matter with Woulfe ’ s successor as attorney , Paul Gallagher ?
Was Tánaiste Leo Varadkar involved ?
Nor is it clear to what extent the Woulfe nomination was discussed between Martin and Varadkar .
In July , Martin said the appointment was “ completely independent of Government formation talks ” .
Yesterday , he said that shortly before the formation of the Government , “ the Tánaiste would have informed us that Séamus Woulfe had come through the JAAB process and that his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Government says this is standard procedure for appointing judges .
That ’ s broadly true .
However , in some cases in recent years , memos for Cabinet , as well as specifying the one recommended nominee , have included lists of all those who have been recommended by the JAAB and those judges who have expressed interest .
On other occasions , only the nominee ’ s name has appeared before Cabinet .
This minutiae matters .
Judges are powerful figures ; their decisions can shape the direction of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ profound ways .
What these unflattering snapshots describe is a dysfunctional system in desperate need of an overhaul .

The emerging details of the sequence that led to Séamus Woulfe being appointed to the Supreme Court give us a glimpse into a secretive process that often mystifies even those closest to it. Few Cabinet ministers in any government see how judicial selection happens; usually, they are presented with a fait accompli arrived at by discussions between four key players: Taoiseach, Attorney General, Minister for Justice and, in a coalition, Tánaiste.
Yet even within that select group, in the case of Woulfe's nomination, the deliberations were highly circumscribed. Taoiseach Micheál Martin was told that Woulfe's was the only name recommended by the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB), but not that Minister for Justice Helen McEntee had on file a number of expressions of interest from judges who were seeking to fill the position. Judges do not apply to JAAB so, given that Supreme Court judges usually come from within the ranks of the judiciary, JAAB is a rarely-trodden route into the State's highest court.
We have had a glimpse into the process, but only a glimpse. Important parts of the picture are still blurred. Under the 2013 Denham protocol, serving judges can write to the government to convey their interest in promotion. A small number of them in the past seven years have written directly to the minister for justice, but usually the letter goes to the attorney general. Up to June 27th, that was Woulfe. It appears that the attorney’s office, in keeping with established practice, copied those letters to the minister for justice, who, from June 27th, was Helen McEntee.
Less clear is who was involved in the decision itself. McEntee received one name from the JAAB, but did she consult with anyone when she was weighing up the applicants before settling on a candidate who, while he was the State’s chief law officer and a long-time senior counsel, had no judicial experience?
READ MORE
Judges writing to government under the Denham protocol do not include CVs, so presumably some research had to be done on the contenders for the role. The Minister's office said she also considered other eligible judges (there are more than 100). Did she discuss the matter with Woulfe's successor as attorney, Paul Gallagher? Was Tánaiste Leo Varadkar involved? Nor is it clear to what extent the Woulfe nomination was discussed between Martin and Varadkar.
In July, Martin said the appointment was “completely independent of Government formation talks”. Yesterday, he said that shortly before the formation of the Government, “the Tánaiste would have informed us that Séamus Woulfe had come through the JAAB process and that his appointment would likely come before Cabinet”.
The Government says this is standard procedure for appointing judges. That’s broadly true. However, in some cases in recent years, memos for Cabinet, as well as specifying the one recommended nominee, have included lists of all those who have been recommended by the JAAB and those judges who have expressed interest. On other occasions, only the nominee’s name has appeared before Cabinet.
This minutiae matters. Judges are powerful figures; their decisions can shape the direction of the country and people’s lives in profound ways. What these unflattering snapshots describe is a dysfunctional system in desperate need of an overhaul.


theirishtimes--2020-11-14--Government will have to look at ways to raise extra revenue due to Covid, says McGrath

The Minister for Public Expenditure has said it is “ inevitable ” the Government will have to examine ways to raise extra revenues to fund expanded State services in the wake of Covid-19 .
While saying there is no current plan to raise taxes , Michael McGrath said said : “ We have to keep our options open .
We ’ re certainly not saying that there won ’ t be revenue-raising measures in the Government ’ s lifetime , because I think it is inevitable that there will be some.
” “ I think we will inevitably have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Mr McGrath said in an interview with The Irish Times .
Some interventions will be temporary , but “ we have also made decisions that will result in a permanently larger public service ” , he said .
“ That will need to be paid for within an overall framework that is responsible and sustainable , ” he said , adding that the Government is “ placing a priority on the provision of good public services , and that ’ s something that I strongly believe in ” .
He said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finances would be outlined in the Stability Programme Update next April , but that at each budget “ both on the expenditure side and on the revenue-raising side , it would be foolish to rule things out ” .
On Friday , a further 482 cases of Covid and seven further deaths related to the virus were confirmed as chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people not to “ drop their guard ” .
In a letter sent to the Government late last week and seen by The Irish Times , Dr @ @ @ @ @ @ @ older people and in nursing homes remains a concern .
Dr Holohan also noted the trajectory of the disease in Dublin was different to the rest of the country , with the rate of improvement happening at a slower pace .
On Friday Taoiseach Micheál Martin indicated there may be a staged approach to exiting Level 5 at the start of December .
While Christmas would not be the same as last year he wanted it to be a “ meaningful ” one .
He expected churches to be open for Christmas week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going on the lash ” .
Meanwhile Northern Ireland ’ s Minister for Health has said plans to begin lifting Covid-19 restrictions in a week were a “ gamble ” and further measures will be needed “ probably ” before Christmas or the New Year .

Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath: ‘We’re certainly not saying that there won’t be revenue-raising measures in the Government’s lifetime, because I think it is inevitable that there will be some.’ Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
The Minister for Public Expenditure has said it is “inevitable” the Government will have to examine ways to raise extra revenues to fund expanded State services in the wake of Covid-19.
While saying there is no current plan to raise taxes, Michael McGrath said said: “We have to keep our options open. We’re certainly not saying that there won’t be revenue-raising measures in the Government’s lifetime, because I think it is inevitable that there will be some.”
"I think we will inevitably have a larger State coming out of the pandemic," Mr McGrath said in an interview with The Irish Times. Some interventions will be temporary, but "we have also made decisions that will result in a permanently larger public service", he said.
“That will need to be paid for within an overall framework that is responsible and sustainable,” he said, adding that the Government is “placing a priority on the provision of good public services, and that’s something that I strongly believe in”.
READ MORE
He said a longer term plan for the public finances would be outlined in the Stability Programme Update next April, but that at each budget “both on the expenditure side and on the revenue-raising side, it would be foolish to rule things out”.
On Friday, a further 482 cases of Covid and seven further deaths related to the virus were confirmed as chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people not to "drop their guard".
Letter
In a letter sent to the Government late last week and seen by The Irish Times, Dr Holohan warned the proportion of cases among older people and in nursing homes remains a concern.
Dr Holohan also noted the trajectory of the disease in Dublin was different to the rest of the country, with the rate of improvement happening at a slower pace.
On Friday Taoiseach Micheál Martin indicated there may be a staged approach to exiting Level 5 at the start of December. While Christmas would not be the same as last year he wanted it to be a “meaningful” one. He expected churches to be open for Christmas week but warned there will be no “going on the lash”.
Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s Minister for Health has said plans to begin lifting Covid-19 restrictions in a week were a “gamble” and further measures will be needed “probably” before Christmas or the New Year.


theirishtimes--2020-11-14--Covid is not just for Christmas, so why the political short-termism?

Politics is often bedevilled by short-termism and so , unfortunately , is Ireland ’ s current response to Covid-19 .
Instead of asking how to escape repeated cycles of virus-prompted lockdowns , the question is now one of how to “ save Christmas ” .
This is understandable , given the importance Irish society attaches to the festive season and its role as a time for socialising and reuniting widely scattered families , and not forgetting the hardships of the year that has nearly passed .
Blind spots are another challenge , and the management of the virus is no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the idea of international travel from any destination but are silent on the situation in Northern Ireland , where the incidence has been more than four times that of the Republic and where politicians plan to ease out of a half-cocked lockdown next week .
As long ago as February 8th , weeks before Covid-19 came to the island , I wrote an article headlined : “ Coronavirus : HSE concerned over differing cross-Border approach ” .
Since then , despite official assurances about co-operation , the gap in approach between the North @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Repeated lockdowns is the unspoken policy in tackling the virus , but the good news is that each successive surge of infection becomes more manageable , and so the restrictions required to control it should be less severe .
Yes , we have more cases this time than in the spring but cases are a bad measure of the challenge posed by the disease .
As I write , the HSE says it has 245 free hospital beds in the system ; more than in many a bad flu day in January .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,000 a day in the second surge , the number of patients hospitalised and in intensive care eased up gently and stabilised at manageable levels weeks ago .
“ The second wave is very different from the first one , ” says Prof Mary Horgan , infectious disease specialist and president of the Royal College of Physicians .
This time around , there are fewer outbreaks in nursing homes , and better treatments for patients in hospital .
Steroids have made a “ big difference ” , Horgan says , and doctors have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generally be treated in a high-dependency unit rather than requiring intensive care .
The median length of stay for a Covid-19 patient in ICU has dropped from eight days in March to four days now , according to the Department of Health .
Thanks to the expertise of Irish health workers , the risk of a virus patient dying in intensive care in the Republic is less than half that in the UK .
Patients may be receiving a lower viral load than in the first surge thanks to social distancing and masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ absolutely essential that we analyse the data and learn from it for the next experience.
” Critics of current policy say the numbers show coronavirus isn ’ t such a big problem after all and lockdowns are over the top .
There hasn ’ t been any excess mortality in Ireland since spring , they point out .
Case numbers and the reproduction number started falling before we went to Level 5 .
Public health officials say it is precisely because of the measures taken that hospitals and ICUs have not been overwhelmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to relatively low numbers .
Restrictions obviously help to bend the line on the graph , but we ’ ve tried out so many different levels of restrictions , both local and national , sometimes with tweaks , that it is difficult to assess the performance of each specific measure .
Prof Philip Nolan , the National Public Health Emergency Team ’ s main modeller , believes Level 5 measures were “ definitively ” needed to get us to “ where we are today ” with case numbers falling steeply .
He admits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gold standard of proof ” because of the complexity of analysing the mix of restrictions but plans to make his case in detail soon .
“ There is to my mind sufficient evidence that Level 3 , when adhered to in a particular way , probably give us a reproduction number of 1 , but nowhere near 0.5 , and that ’ s where we need to get.
” Getting the reproduction rate down to 0.5 means every two people with the disease transmits to only one other person , so it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ progress – and we are on track – gets us to 50-100 cases a day by the end of Level 5 measures at the start of December .
There are then three options : continued suppression through the prolongation of restrictions , a large-scale lifting of measures to enable Christmas to take place more or less as normal , or some intermediate stab at Level 3 measures designed to keep the situation stable .
The problem is that a Christmas-tinged Level 3 may not deliver the desired stability .
Festive socialising will inevitably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and intergenerational mixing runs the risk of serious illness among older people .
In this scenario , officials will be proposing another lockdown by the end of January , with all the economic destruction that implies .
The likelihood is that Government will ease restrictions gradually in December .
Level 3 allows shops to open while requiring people to stay in their counties ; moving to it would therefore boost the pre-Christmas economy and could be sold as a “ shop local ” initiative .
It is early days yet in terms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further loosen restrictions around Christmas week to allow some degree of mixing .
The shorter this period is before we go back up the levels , the less fuel will be provided for another wave .
It could be sufficient thereafter to implement Level 3 into the new year , with some additional restrictions in areas where outbreaks flare up .
With Pfizer ’ s announcement this week , a vaccine has moved from being a possibility to a probability in the minds of policymakers everywhere .
The reality is that there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working vaccine is approved , distributed and administered in sufficient quantities to make a difference .
The political calculus will be to hold off a third wave for as long as possible until a vaccine comes into play .
Given what happened this autumn , this may require the reimposition of restrictions at some point .
We still know very little about what factors drive cases .
Are shops dangerous or not ?
Gyms ?
Religious services ?
Nphet has ruled that all international travel for Christmas is non-essential , even as HSE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at just one a day .
But the data available gives an incomplete picture .
In one recent case , for example , a man who failed to restrict his movements after returning to Ireland from a trip abroad led to at least 56 people being infected with coronavirus .
Yet only seven of these cases were recorded as being linked to overseas travel .
International travel poses a risk , especially when virus levels are so high across Europe , but the one-size-fits-all approach of Nphet is hard to comprehend .
Not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country with the lowest figures in Europe , would be welcome here this Christmas , officials made clear at a briefing this week .
And what about Northern Ireland ?
So long as it has more cases than the Republic , it will affect what happens here .
Will people flock across the Border to its shops , cafes and even pubs when they reopen ?
Despite the challenges , there is now an endgame in sight .
In most versions , a vaccine figures prominently .
But even without one , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avoid surges , how to protect the vulnerable and how to treat patients better .
We may even be able to look forward to something approaching a normal Christmas – in 2021 .

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has advised Irish people based abroad not to book flights home for Christmas at the moment due to the ongoing Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions. Video: Oireachtas TV
Politics is often bedevilled by short-termism and so, unfortunately, is Ireland’s current response to Covid-19.
Instead of asking how to escape repeated cycles of virus-prompted lockdowns, the question is now one of how to “save Christmas”.
This is understandable, given the importance Irish society attaches to the festive season and its role as a time for socialising and reuniting widely scattered families, and not forgetting the hardships of the year that has nearly passed.
Hospital Report
Blind spots are another challenge, and the management of the virus is no exception. Public health officials baulk at the idea of international travel from any destination but are silent on the situation in Northern Ireland, where the incidence has been more than four times that of the Republic and where politicians plan to ease out of a half-cocked lockdown next week.
READ MORE
As long ago as February 8th, weeks before Covid-19 came to the island, I wrote an article headlined: "Coronavirus: HSE concerned over differing cross-Border approach". Since then, despite official assurances about co-operation, the gap in approach between the North and the Republic has only grown.
Repeated lockdowns is the unspoken policy in tackling the virus, but the good news is that each successive surge of infection becomes more manageable, and so the restrictions required to control it should be less severe.
Yes, we have more cases this time than in the spring but cases are a bad measure of the challenge posed by the disease. As I write, the HSE says it has 245 free hospital beds in the system; more than in many a bad flu day in January. While case numbers peaked at more than 1,000 a day in the second surge, the number of patients hospitalised and in intensive care eased up gently and stabilised at manageable levels weeks ago.
"The second wave is very different from the first one," says Prof Mary Horgan, infectious disease specialist and president of the Royal College of Physicians.
This time around, there are fewer outbreaks in nursing homes, and better treatments for patients in hospital.
Steroids have made a “big difference”, Horgan says, and doctors have found that even seriously ill patients can generally be treated in a high-dependency unit rather than requiring intensive care.
The median length of stay for a Covid-19 patient in ICU has dropped from eight days in March to four days now, according to the Department of Health. Thanks to the expertise of Irish health workers, the risk of a virus patient dying in intensive care in the Republic is less than half that in the UK.
Patients may be receiving a lower viral load than in the first surge thanks to social distancing and masks, Horgan speculates. “It is absolutely essential that we analyse the data and learn from it for the next experience.”
Lockdown critics
Critics of current policy say the numbers show coronavirus isn’t such a big problem after all and lockdowns are over the top. There hasn’t been any excess mortality in Ireland since spring, they point out. Case numbers and the reproduction number started falling before we went to Level 5.
Public health officials say it is precisely because of the measures taken that hospitals and ICUs have not been overwhelmed with patients and deaths have been kept to relatively low numbers.
Restrictions obviously help to bend the line on the graph, but we’ve tried out so many different levels of restrictions, both local and national, sometimes with tweaks, that it is difficult to assess the performance of each specific measure.
Prof Philip Nolan, the National Public Health Emergency Team's main modeller, believes Level 5 measures were "definitively" needed to get us to "where we are today" with case numbers falling steeply.
He admits he doesn’t have “a gold standard of proof” because of the complexity of analysing the mix of restrictions but plans to make his case in detail soon.
“There is to my mind sufficient evidence that Level 3, when adhered to in a particular way, probably give us a reproduction number of 1, but nowhere near 0.5, and that’s where we need to get.”
Getting the reproduction rate down to 0.5 means every two people with the disease transmits to only one other person, so it is effectively dying out.
That rate of progress – and we are on track – gets us to 50-100 cases a day by the end of Level 5 measures at the start of December. There are then three options: continued suppression through the prolongation of restrictions, a large-scale lifting of measures to enable Christmas to take place more or less as normal, or some intermediate stab at Level 3 measures designed to keep the situation stable.
The problem is that a Christmas-tinged Level 3 may not deliver the desired stability. Festive socialising will inevitably drive case numbers up quickly enough, and intergenerational mixing runs the risk of serious illness among older people. In this scenario, officials will be proposing another lockdown by the end of January, with all the economic destruction that implies.
The likelihood is that Government will ease restrictions gradually in December. Level 3 allows shops to open while requiring people to stay in their counties; moving to it would therefore boost the pre-Christmas economy and could be sold as a “shop local” initiative.
It is early days yet in terms of planning, but Ministers may opt to further loosen restrictions around Christmas week to allow some degree of mixing. The shorter this period is before we go back up the levels, the less fuel will be provided for another wave. It could be sufficient thereafter to implement Level 3 into the new year, with some additional restrictions in areas where outbreaks flare up.
Vaccine hopes
With Pfizer’s announcement this week, a vaccine has moved from being a possibility to a probability in the minds of policymakers everywhere. The reality is that there are many hurdles to be overcome before a working vaccine is approved, distributed and administered in sufficient quantities to make a difference.
The political calculus will be to hold off a third wave for as long as possible until a vaccine comes into play. Given what happened this autumn, this may require the reimposition of restrictions at some point.
We still know very little about what factors drive cases. Are shops dangerous or not? Gyms? Religious services?
Nphet has ruled that all international travel for Christmas is non-essential, even as HSE figures put the number of imported cases at just one a day. But the data available gives an incomplete picture. In one recent case, for example, a man who failed to restrict his movements after returning to Ireland from a trip abroad led to at least 56 people being infected with coronavirus. Yet only seven of these cases were recorded as being linked to overseas travel.
International travel poses a risk, especially when virus levels are so high across Europe, but the one-size-fits-all approach of Nphet is hard to comprehend. Not even someone returning from Finland, the country with the lowest figures in Europe, would be welcome here this Christmas, officials made clear at a briefing this week.
And what about Northern Ireland? So long as it has more cases than the Republic, it will affect what happens here. Will people flock across the Border to its shops, cafes and even pubs when they reopen?
Despite the challenges, there is now an endgame in sight. In most versions, a vaccine figures prominently. But even without one, we have a clearer picture of how to avoid surges, how to protect the vulnerable and how to treat patients better. We may even be able to look forward to something approaching a normal Christmas – in 2021.


theirishtimes--2020-11-14--Thinking Anew – Religion can be a source of error as well as truth

Anybody following the recent US presidential campaign will know that religious views played a significant role , with lots of attention focused on the white evangelical Christians who supported the non-church going Donald Trump and rejected the devout Joe Biden , who made clear what his faith meant to him .
The evangelicals were not alone in their support for Trump .
In a Rite & Reason column in this newspaper ( October 27th ) , Fr Patrick Hannon , emeritus professor of moral theology in Maynooth , wrote about the challenges facing a Catholic politician like Biden in America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ church and civil society on moral issues .
He noted that in the recent election campaign , Cardinal Dolan of New York had signalled his support for Donald Trump because of his pro-life agenda .
It is clear that Trump ’ s support among the religious extends beyond evangelical fundamentalists .
Indeed , after the 2016 election , the National Catholic Reporter , an American journal , reported that the 81 per cent of white , “ born again ” evangelical Christians who voted for Trump were joined by 58 per cent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Roman Catholics .
They backed Trump because he was willing to meet their demands on moral issues .
That religious/political alliance brought to mind the writings of the Rev Reinhold Niebuhr ( 1892 -1971 ) , considered in his time to be one of America ’ s leading intellectuals .
The historian Arthur Schlesinger jnr described him as “ the most influential American theologian of the 20th century ” .
The son of a clergyman , Niebuhr was a pastor in the American branch of the German Evangelical Church , now known as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as being a leading academic .
He took particular interest in the relationship between religion and politics , believing that religion could be a source of error as well as truth and therefore its role should be to cultivate a sense of humility rather than a sense of infallibility .
He said that “ religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life , and so frequently dangerous to democracy , precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values ” .
In his book The Irony of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We .
.
.
as all ‘ God-fearing ’ men of all ages , are never safe against the temptation of claiming God too simply as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire .
Even the most ‘ Christian ’ civilisation and even the most pious church must be reminded that the true God can be known only where there is some awareness of a contradiction between divine and human purposes , even on the highest level of human aspirations.
” That temptation to see “ God .
.
.
as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” may be attractive to those who long for certainty and seek to dominate others but it is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus who stood up to the absolutists of his day ( The Pharisees ) and told his followers to prepare for change : “ When the Spirit of truth comes , he will guide you into all truth.
” The Christian life requires change , as new truths consistent with the mind of Christ are revealed .
Reinhold Niebuhr may not be widely remembered but his words are , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Serenity Prayer which first appeared in a sermon of his which was included in A Book of Prayers and Services for the US armed forces during the second World War .
It speaks well to our fears in these troubling and challenging times .
“ God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change ; the courage to change the things I can ; and the wisdom to know the difference .
Living one day at a time ; enjoying one moment at a time ; accepting hardships as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as He ( Jesus ) did , this sinful world as it is , not as I would have it ; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will ; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next .
”

Reinhold Niebuhr: warned that “religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values”. Photograph: Bachrach/Getty Images
Anybody following the recent US presidential campaign will know that religious views played a significant role, with lots of attention focused on the white evangelical Christians who supported the non-church going Donald Trump and rejected the devout Joe Biden, who made clear what his faith meant to him.
The evangelicals were not alone in their support for Trump. In a Rite & Reason column in this newspaper (October 27th), Fr Patrick Hannon, emeritus professor of moral theology in Maynooth, wrote about the challenges facing a Catholic politician like Biden in America, trying to balance competing views of church and civil society on moral issues. He noted that in the recent election campaign, Cardinal Dolan of New York had signalled his support for Donald Trump because of his pro-life agenda.
It is clear that Trump's support among the religious extends beyond evangelical fundamentalists. Indeed, after the 2016 election, the National Catholic Reporter, an American journal, reported that the 81 per cent of white, "born again" evangelical Christians who voted for Trump were joined by 58 per cent of mainline Protestants and 52 per cent of Roman Catholics. They backed Trump because he was willing to meet their demands on moral issues.
That religious/political alliance brought to mind the writings of the Rev Reinhold Niebuhr (1892 -1971), considered in his time to be one of America's leading intellectuals. The historian Arthur Schlesinger jnr described him as "the most influential American theologian of the 20th century".
READ MORE
The son of a clergyman, Niebuhr was a pastor in the American branch of the German Evangelical Church, now known as the United Church of Christ, as well as being a leading academic.
He took particular interest in the relationship between religion and politics, believing that religion could be a source of error as well as truth and therefore its role should be to cultivate a sense of humility rather than a sense of infallibility. He said that “religion is so frequently a source of confusion in political life, and so frequently dangerous to democracy, precisely because it introduces absolutes into the realm of relative values”.
In his book The Irony of American History, Niebuhr wrote: “We . . . as all ‘God-fearing’ men of all ages, are never safe against the temptation of claiming God too simply as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire. Even the most ‘Christian’ civilisation and even the most pious church must be reminded that the true God can be known only where there is some awareness of a contradiction between divine and human purposes, even on the highest level of human aspirations.”
That temptation to see “God . . . as the sanctifier of whatever we most fervently desire” may be attractive to those who long for certainty and seek to dominate others but it is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus who stood up to the absolutists of his day (The Pharisees) and told his followers to prepare for change: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”
The Christian life requires change, as new truths consistent with the mind of Christ are revealed.
Reinhold Niebuhr may not be widely remembered but his words are, for he is the author of the Serenity Prayer which first appeared in a sermon of his which was included in A Book of Prayers and Services for the US armed forces during the second World War. It speaks well to our fears in these troubling and challenging times.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He (Jesus) did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.”


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Kite-surfer rescued from Keel Beach on Achill Island

A kite-surfer was airlifted to hospital on Friday after he got into difficulty off Keel Beach on Achill Island in @ @ @ @ @ Coast Guard was called to the beach at around 1pm on Friday after a kite-surfer @ @ @ @ @ while riding waves on Keel Beach .
The injured kite-surfer was treated by paramedics on @ @ @ @ @ Castlebar hospital by the Rescue 118 rescue helicopter which was dispatched from Sligo .
It @ @ @ @ @ is in a stable condition .

A kite-surfer was airlifted to hospital on Friday after he got into difficulty off Keel Beach on Achill Island in Co Mayo.
Achill Island Coast Guard was called to the beach at around 1pm on Friday after a kite-surfer was blown onto some rocks while riding waves on Keel Beach. The injured kite-surfer was treated by paramedics on the beach and transported to Castlebar hospital by the Rescue 118 rescue helicopter which was dispatched from Sligo.
It’s understood the man is in a stable condition.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--England and Wales law society unhappy with certificate decision

The Law Society of England and Wales has said a decision by its Irish counterpart in relation to practising certificates and Brexit will come as a “ huge disappointment ” .
As of next year , Irish practising certificates will only be issued to solicitors who qualified in England and Wales if they work from an establishment based here .
Thousands of England and Wales-qualified solicitors who are not based here have bought Irish practising certificates , which cost approximately €2,600 each and are issued annually , in the period since the Brexit referendum .
The certificates last for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes into effect from January 1st , the same date that the UK ’ s post-Brexit transition period comes to an end .
The Irish society , which has never said its certificates protect EU practising rights , said it had conducted a review that had looked at the regulatory framework for issuing the certificates to lawyers based outside Ireland .
The review “ was aimed at realigning the framework in the light of Brexit , and ensuring that it was legally robust ” .
The practice of issuing practising certificates to solicitors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impression that the society permits practice pursuant to the Irish practising certificate outside Ireland ” , the society said .
The Law Society of England and Wales said the change means thousands of England and Wales-qualified solicitors who invested in Irish practising certificates to protect their EU practising rights “ appear to have wasted their money ” .
“ To hear about this development through a release from the Law Society of Ireland ’ s website is very disappointing , ” said David Greene , president of the Law Society of England and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to learn of any proposed changes in advance and formally.
” There has been some concern in Dublin that the Irish certificates could become a “ flag of convenience ” in the EU , post-Brexit , for solicitors who qualified in England and Wales , and were still based in that legal jurisdiction .
Irish-qualified solicitors who want to practise as a registered European lawyer in another EU country will be issued with alternative certification attesting to their registration or enrolment as a solicitor , instead of a practising certificate , the society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not affect “ solicitors qualified and practising in both Northern Ireland and Ireland ” , the Law Society of Ireland said .

Thousands of England and Wales-qualified solicitors not based in Ireland have bought Irish practising certificates for about €2,600.
The Law Society of England and Wales has said a decision by its Irish counterpart in relation to practising certificates and Brexit will come as a “huge disappointment”.
As of next year, Irish practising certificates will only be issued to solicitors who qualified in England and Wales if they work from an establishment based here.
Thousands of England and Wales-qualified solicitors who are not based here have bought Irish practising certificates, which cost approximately €2,600 each and are issued annually, in the period since the Brexit referendum.
The certificates last for a calendar year, and the new policy comes into effect from January 1st, the same date that the UK’s post-Brexit transition period comes to an end.
READ MORE
Brexit context
The Irish society, which has never said its certificates protect EU practising rights, said it had conducted a review that had looked at the regulatory framework for issuing the certificates to lawyers based outside Ireland.
The review “was aimed at realigning the framework in the light of Brexit, and ensuring that it was legally robust”.
The practice of issuing practising certificates to solicitors outside Ireland “may create the erroneous impression that the society permits practice pursuant to the Irish practising certificate outside Ireland”, the society said.
The Law Society of England and Wales said the change means thousands of England and Wales-qualified solicitors who invested in Irish practising certificates to protect their EU practising rights “appear to have wasted their money”.
‘Very disappointing’
"To hear about this development through a release from the Law Society of Ireland's website is very disappointing," said David Greene, president of the Law Society of England and Wales.
“We would have expected to learn of any proposed changes in advance and formally.”
There has been some concern in Dublin that the Irish certificates could become a “flag of convenience” in the EU, post-Brexit, for solicitors who qualified in England and Wales, and were still based in that legal jurisdiction.
Irish-qualified solicitors who want to practise as a registered European lawyer in another EU country will be issued with alternative certification attesting to their registration or enrolment as a solicitor, instead of a practising certificate, the society said.
The change announced this week does not affect “solicitors qualified and practising in both Northern Ireland and Ireland”, the Law Society of Ireland said.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Almost 613,000 people now on hospital outpatient waiting lists

Hospital waiting lists have reached a new record high , with almost 60,000 additional people waiting for an outpatient appointment since the beginning of the year , latest figures show .
A record 612,817 people were waiting for outpatient care by the end of October , up 734 on the previous month , according to data from the National Treatment Purchase Fund ( NTPF ) .
At the start of the year , just over 553,000 patients were on the list .
An outpatient department treats people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be admitted for overnight care .
Galway University Hospital had the highest outpatient waiting list with 48,406 , followed by University Hospital Waterford with 46,165 .
Cork University Maternity Hospital had the lowest list with1,223 .
Nationally , some 255,100 people on the outpatient list were waiting more than a year and , of those , 60 per cent were waiting 18 months or longer .
The NTPF also said 74,860 patients were waiting for an appointment for their inpatient or day case treatment , while 34,116 patients were waiting to receive an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addition , the NTPF also publishes data on pre-admissions and planned procedures .
The pre-admit data shows that 20,888 people have been given a date for inpatient , daycase or endoscopy procedures while 87,104 patients are recorded in the planned procedure category with 62,535 of these patients having been given indicative dates in the future or a scheduled appointment .
These are patients who have already had treatment and require further treatment at a future date A further 14,934 patients are classified as suspended , which refers to patients who are temporarily unfit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , personal or social reasons .
In total , 844,719 patients are now on some form of waiting list measured by the NTPF .
The increase in waiting lists has largely been attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic , which forced the cancellation of all non-urgent hospital work in March .
Although activities have resumed across the health service , capacity is reduced to about 80 per cent or less due to the requirement for infection control .
Citing a further factor , Professor Alan Irvine , president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ direct correlation ” between record number of people waiting for outpatient appointments and “ long-standing hospital consultant vacancies ” .
“ Month after month , waiting list records are getting worse yet we continue to fail to accept key flaws that are causing the problem .
There is general acceptance that more consultants and more beds to care for patients is the solution , ” he said .
“ While government has committed record funding levels in its recent Budget , until this money is channelled effectively and speedily to where it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we will continue to publish record waiting lists.
” Prof Irvine said the IHCA has sought meetings with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE chief executive Paul Reid “ to agree practical plans and workable solutions that will address the capacity deficits and in turn resolve the waiting lists and the impact of further Covid waves ” .

The increase in waiting lists has largely been attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the cancellation of all non-urgent hospital work for several months. Photograph: Alan Betson/The Irish Times
Hospital waiting lists have reached a new record high, with almost 60,000 additional people waiting for an outpatient appointment since the beginning of the year, latest figures show.
A record 612,817 people were waiting for outpatient care by the end of October, up 734 on the previous month, according to data from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). At the start of the year, just over 553,000 patients were on the list.
An outpatient department treats people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment, but do not require a bed or to be admitted for overnight care.
Galway University Hospital had the highest outpatient waiting list with 48,406, followed by University Hospital Waterford with 46,165. Cork University Maternity Hospital had the lowest list with1,223.
READ MORE
Nationally, some 255,100 people on the outpatient list were waiting more than a year and, of those, 60 per cent were waiting 18 months or longer.
The NTPF also said 74,860 patients were waiting for an appointment for their inpatient or day case treatment, while 34,116 patients were waiting to receive an appointment for their GI Endoscopy.
In addition, the NTPF also publishes data on pre-admissions and planned procedures.
The pre-admit data shows that 20,888 people have been given a date for inpatient, daycase or endoscopy procedures while 87,104 patients are recorded in the planned procedure category with 62,535 of these patients having been given indicative dates in the future or a scheduled appointment.
These are patients who have already had treatment and require further treatment at a future date
A further 14,934 patients are classified as suspended, which refers to patients who are temporarily unfit or unable to attend due to clinical, personal or social reasons.
In total, 844,719 patients are now on some form of waiting list measured by the NTPF.
The increase in waiting lists has largely been attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the cancellation of all non-urgent hospital work in March. Although activities have resumed across the health service, capacity is reduced to about 80 per cent or less due to the requirement for infection control.
Citing a further factor, Professor Alan Irvine, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said there was a "direct correlation" between record number of people waiting for outpatient appointments and "long-standing hospital consultant vacancies".
“Month after month, waiting list records are getting worse yet we continue to fail to accept key flaws that are causing the problem. There is general acceptance that more consultants and more beds to care for patients is the solution,” he said.
“ While government has committed record funding levels in its recent Budget, until this money is channelled effectively and speedily to where it will make a difference for patients, we will continue to publish record waiting lists.”
Prof Irvine said the IHCA has sought meetings with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE chief executive Paul Reid "to agree practical plans and workable solutions that will address the capacity deficits and in turn resolve the waiting lists and the impact of further Covid waves".


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Judges may resign if Woulfe survives on Supreme Court as Golfgate fallout escalates

The decision of Chief Justice Frank Clarke on Monday to publish some of his correspondence with Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe @ @ @ @ @ provoked “ shock and awe ” , according to a senior counsel .
Since then @ @ @ @ @ changed to “ What is the Chief Justice at ?
” , according to the @ @

The decision of Chief Justice Frank Clarke on Monday to publish some of his correspondence with Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe over the Golfgate controversy initially provoked "shock and awe", according to a senior counsel.
Since then, however, this has changed to “What is the Chief Justice at?”, according to the barrister.
The move has also provoked a strong reaction among politicians because the letters have triggered a debate about whether the Oireachtas should consider impeaching Woulfe.
For Clarke to write the letter he did, “and then elect to publish it, that is pressing the nuclear button. There is no doubt about that,” the barrister told The Irish Times.
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In the correspondence, Clarke expressed the opinion that Woulfe should resign, and Woulfe responded with a detailed account of why he felt he should not do so.
The cumulative effect of everything that has flowed from Woulfe’s attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden in late August had led him to form the personal view that Woulfe should resign, Clarke said.
It had caused “very significant and irreparable damage both to the court and to the relationship within the court which is essential to the proper functioning of a collegiate court”.
This view on the effect on the Supreme Court was, he told the former attorney general, "the unanimous view of all the members of the court (including the ex-officio members)", he said.
The publication of the exchange has led to speculation that a motion might be tabled in the Oireachtas to impeach Woulfe, but also strong doubts that such a move was justified by Woulfe’s behaviour.
The Constitution says a judge “shall not be removed from office except for stated misbehaviour or incapacity and then only upon resolutions passed by Dáil Éireann and by Seanad Éireann calling for his removal”.
Enormous esteem
Clarke is held in enormous esteem, the barrister said, and is one of the State’s best ever judges. Jovial, social, and friendly, he is much-liked by those who appear before him because of his fairness and tendency to “play the ball and not the man”.
“But on the couple of occasions where I saw him where he realised he had been misled by a lawyer, or by an actor in the litigation, he would never take it lying down. He would make his displeasure known in no uncertain terms.
“There was a steel in him always, and I think people are seeing a version of that now, in no uncertain terms,” the barrister said.
When he was appointed Chief Justice in July 2017, Clarke gave an interview to the late Marian Finucane on RTÉ radio, the first sitting Chief Justice to make such a move.
He said it would be naive to think that party politics did not play a role in judicial appointments, especially to the higher courts, though in his case he had become a judge when he was asked “out of the blue” by a Fianna Fáil government to become a member of the High Court.
There were many such appointments, he said. “I think it is a lot less political than people give it credit for.”
He also said he felt the judiciary had not been very good at explaining themselves to the public.
“I do believe in that phrase, you can’t complain if you don’t explain.”
There may have been an echo of this concern for transparency in his decision to publish his correspondence with Woulfe about the reputational damage the Golfgate controversy has caused to the court.
In the letters, Clarke said he had come to his view on resignation because of the cumulative effect of a number of matters and not just Woulfe’s attendance at the Clifden dinner.
These matters included the public reaction to the transcript of Woulfe's interview with former chief justice Susan Denham.
Denham was asked by the Supreme Court to inquire into Woulfe’s attendance at the Clifden dinner. In her report she said that the attendance was a mistake, but that it would be unjust to ask Woulfe to resign as a result.
In his letter, Clarke said he thought it would be more damaging if he had accepted Woulfe’s view of the Golfgate matter, or been seen to be willing “to permit the false impression to be given that I did so”.
Many of Clarke’s admirers, however, are bemused by what he did on Monday, though the above-quoted barrister thought that ultimately Clarke “was justified in pressing the button”.
People in public life resign all the time as a matter of honour, but Woulfe was treating the crisis as “an employment law case”, the barrister said.
Clarke is the Chief Justice, he said, and “basically he has Woulfe thumbing his nose at him”.
The position may be that “Woulfe’s position is untenable, but it may also be unimpeachable”.
A TD, speaking off the record, said the judges hoped that the publication of the letters would cause Woulfe to resign
Arising from the Golfgate controversy, Woulfe is not to be listed to hear his first case until February, and is expected in the meantime to forego his salary.
As matters stand, he will then take up the role he was appointed to by the Government in July.
If Woulfe is still a member of the court come February, the barrister said, then “others will resign in protest. I think that is absolutely inevitable”.
“If the Oireachtas turns up its nose and says, ‘we’re not going down that road’, and that it is a matter for the court, I’m pretty sure other judges will resign.
“I don’t see any scenario where Clarke will sit down with Woulfe, come February. I just don’t see it, after that correspondence. My view is that if Woulfe doesn’t resign, the Chief Justice will.”
A TD, speaking off the record, said the judges hoped that the publication of the letters would cause Woulfe to resign. “But it hasn’t worked.”
Impeachment process
Now the likelihood is that someone will set down a motion to start an impeachment process, though it may well not be successful.
“I wouldn’t say there is an appetite in Dáil Éireann to get rid of him,” the TD said.
“Frank Clarke could stop this. Was he looking for an impeachment process? That was just left hanging. He could say, ‘I was just expressing my personal opinion’. But it’s gone too far now. It’s a mess.”
The decision to publish the transcript of Woulfe's interview with Denham was made by the board of the Judicial Council, which is chaired by Clarke, and the membership of which includes the President of the Court of Appeal, George Birmingham, and the President of the High Court, Mary Irvine, who are both ex-officio members of the Supreme Court.
A sitting judge, speaking off the record, said people could have different views as to how much weight to give to the points made by Woulfe and Clarke in their respective letters.
“But Séamus Woulfe does make the point that quite a number of the problems seem to have arisen from the way in which the Chief Justice has dealt with it, rather than any stated behaviour on his part. That is a very hard point to rebut, really, because it seems to be correct.”
Given that the Denham report, which everyone accepts, had found that it would be unjust to ask Woulfe to resign for having attended the dinner, then what “stated behaviour” remained that could justify Woulfe being impeached? the judge said.
“Not getting on with Frank Clarke is not stated misbehaviour, that’s for sure. That’s a certainty.”
The crisis, the judge said, had gotten to a point where “it doesn’t make sense”.
Removing Woulfe now would be an abuse, and if it happened, there was a good chance Woulfe could successfully take a case to the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg. “It would be a blot on the country for a very long time.”
“Please can we get Susan Denham back to adjudicate on this impasse, or some similar type of mediation process?”
The only judge ever to be impeached in these islands was the Irish High Court judge Sir Jonah Barrington, for embezzling court funds for his own use
Professor Donncha O’Connell of the School of Law in UCG said he found it “perplexing” that the Chief Justice had published the correspondence “in circumstances where he had no reason to believe that it would bring about the resignation of Mr Justice Woulfe.
“It was clearly going to become a matter of heightened political controversy, with no guarantee as to the outcome, and with all sorts of consequential hazards for the Supreme Court and the judiciary more generally.”
For all sorts of obvious reasons to do with judicial independence, he said, the bar for removing a judge for “stated misbehaviour” should not be set too low.
Embezzling court funds
The only judge ever to be impeached in these islands was the Irish High Court judge Sir Jonah Barrington, who was impeached in 1830 for embezzling court funds for his own use, according to Dr Patrick O'Brien, a senior lecturer in public law at Oxford Brookes University in England, and co-author of a book on the politics of judicial independence in the UK.
The idea that Woulfe would be impeached as a result of Golfgate and Woulfe’s response to the situation he has found himself in, “is absurd,” the academic, who is from Dublin, told The Irish Times.
“Honestly, I was just speechless on Monday night. I was just speechless. I could not believe what I was seeing,” said a Government deputy, speaking off-the-record about watching the news and hearing what the Chief Justice had done.
“I mean, what the hell are they doing?” the deputy said. “This is just unbelievable and astonishing. It really is.”
The deputy did not want to discuss the actions of Woulfe, even off-the-record, because of the possibility that members of the Oireachtas may, if an impeachment process is set in train, end up having to decide on the basis of the evidence presented whether to vote for Woulfe’s removal from office.
However, this did not apply to the actions of the Supreme Court in their management of the Woulfe affair.
“I mean, what is the position if the Oireachtas does nothing? Then what are the judges going to do? Had they thought that through?”
“There’s no appetite or energy in the Oireachtas for this fight,” said another TD. “We might just say, ‘sorry lads, this is your problem’.”
When the Golfgate controversy erupted, the judges' negative view of Woulfe's appointment hardened
A number of people who spoke to The Irish Times raised the point that the Denham review concluded that while Woulfe had made a mistake, it would be disproportionate to ask him to resign.
“But the findings don’t seem to satisfy their lordships,” said a senior politician, speaking off-the-record.
“That’s shifting the ground in a way that is really unfair,” the deputy said. “If the Chief Justice wants to talk about other factors, it seems to me that there are other factors at play here, and that those factors may be the appointment of Judge Woulfe in the first instance.”
Part of the mix of what is happening may be that the members of the court did not approve of the Government’s appointment of Woulfe, who was attorney general up to shortly before his July move to the State’s top court, the deputy said.
Then when the Golfgate controversy erupted, the judges’ negative view of the appointment hardened.
“But judges can’t decide by themselves who can sit in the court. Judges don’t make up the composition of the court. Judges can’t say, we don’t like a colleague, so we are going to gang up on and get rid of him.”
Application for a job
After the general election this year, the then attorney general, Woulfe, submitted an application for a job in the Supreme Court to the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB).
He told the then taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, about the application, but also that he would be happy to stay on as attorney general in the new government.
In the event Paul Gallagher SC was appointed Attorney General. Soon afterwards, Woulfe was appointed by the Government to the Supreme Court, having been approved for the position by JAAB.
“Woulfe was the recommended choice of the JAAB, chaired by no less a figure than the Chief Justice himself,” said the senior politician.
“So he was suitable for the Supreme Court in June, when the JAAB made the recommendation.”
The two ex-officio members of the Supreme Court, Birmingham and Irvine, are also on JAAB.
On Friday The Irish Times reported that applications from sitting judges for the job on the Supreme Court were not brought to the attention of Cabinet when Woulfe was nominated.
The other applications did not go to JAAB, because the applicants were sitting judges. Clarke had a hugely successful and lucrative career as a barrister before becoming an admired and respected judge, and had no family connections to the law to help him on his way.
He told Finucane that he was born in Walkinstown, Dublin, and that his father, a customs officer, died when he was only 11.
“My mother went back to work as a secretary. She did a lot to put me through college, put up with me deciding to go to King’s Inns as well, and face a career where I was probably not going to make too much money for a while.”
He studied maths and economics at university while also studying law in King’s Inns.
His period as Chief Justice is due to end late next year when he reaches the retirement age for judges, which is 70.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Men who drowned could not effectively indicate distress, investigation finds

Two men who died after their fishing boat capsized near Malin Head in July 2018 were in the water for five hours before emergency services arrived , “ increasing the severity of the incident ” , an investigation has found .
The report , compiled by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board , said the men did not have an “ effective method of indicating distress ” on board the vessel , and that the Coast Guard did not have sufficient information to begin an earlier search .
On July 17th , 2018 , Thomas Weir ( 16 ) , Gerry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dessie Keenan , departed from Portronan in Co Donegal on board a recreational powerboat at approximately 8am .
Around two hours later , the engine was started but it quickly stopped and it could not be started again.The crew anchored the vessel stern first while they attended to the engine .
A wave washed over the stern , flooding the boat , and as the crew made an emergency call on a UK mobile phone , a second wave washed over the stern and the boat foundered .
While the emergency call was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service to the coast guard , the mobile phone fell into the water and there was no further contact with the crew .
Two members of the crew , Mr Weir and Mr Doherty , died after the boat sank .
The third member survived after receiving treatment in hospital .
The investigation into the incident found that the crew had “ not planned the voyage sufficiently and were not prepared for this emergency ” .
Its report also states that the the way in which the vessel was anchored made it “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ type of sea ” .
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board said the crew did not have an “ effective method ” to alert the authorities to their distress , and that a mobile phone should not be relied on as the primary method of contacting the emergency services .
The coast guard said the information it received from the emergency call was “ insufficient to task assets for a search ” , as a result of the phone falling overboard .
The investigation found that the emergency call system recording of the emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this was not transferred to the coast guard due to “ restrictive procedures ... which were not sufficiently flexible ” to allow the emergency service operators to be “ more proactive ” in transferring all of the information to the coast guard .
Because the information in the recording of the emergency call was not transferred shortly after the call was logged , the casualties were in the water for five hours .
This increased the severity of the incident , the report said .
In recommendations following the investigation , the board @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issuing a marine notice to draw attention to the Code of Practice , with particular reference to practice in emergencies .
“ It is essential that the use of VHF radio as the primary means of contacting emergency services be impressed upon all boat owners and that VHF radios should be used in all instances , including in competitive sailing events , ” it said .

The men’s boat foundered near Malin Head, Co Donegal, after its engine cut out and waves washed over its stern. Photograph: Getty Images
Two men who died after their fishing boat capsized near Malin Head in July 2018 were in the water for five hours before emergency services arrived, "increasing the severity of the incident", an investigation has found.
The report, compiled by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, said the men did not have an "effective method of indicating distress" on board the vessel, and that the Coast Guard did not have sufficient information to begin an earlier search.
On July 17th, 2018, Thomas Weir (16), Gerry Doherty, in his 60s, and Dessie Keenan, departed from Portronan in Co Donegal on board a recreational powerboat at approximately 8am.
Around two hours later, the engine was started but it quickly stopped and it could not be started again.The crew anchored the vessel stern first while they attended to the engine.
READ MORE
A wave washed over the stern, flooding the boat, and as the crew made an emergency call on a UK mobile phone, a second wave washed over the stern and the boat foundered.
While the emergency call was being put through by emergency call answering service to the coast guard, the mobile phone fell into the water and there was no further contact with the crew.
Two members of the crew, Mr Weir and Mr Doherty, died after the boat sank. The third member survived after receiving treatment in hospital.
The investigation into the incident found that the crew had “not planned the voyage sufficiently and were not prepared for this emergency”.
Its report also states that the the way in which the vessel was anchored made it “much more susceptible to swamping in any type of sea”.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board said the crew did not have an "effective method" to alert the authorities to their distress, and that a mobile phone should not be relied on as the primary method of contacting the emergency services.
The coast guard said the information it received from the emergency call was “insufficient to task assets for a search”, as a result of the phone falling overboard.
The investigation found that the emergency call system recording of the emergency call did have enough information, but this was not transferred to the coast guard due to “restrictive procedures... which were not sufficiently flexible” to allow the emergency service operators to be “more proactive” in transferring all of the information to the coast guard.
Because the information in the recording of the emergency call was not transferred shortly after the call was logged, the casualties were in the water for five hours. This increased the severity of the incident, the report said.
In recommendations following the investigation, the board said the Minister for Transport should consider issuing a marine notice to draw attention to the Code of Practice, with particular reference to practice in emergencies.
“It is essential that the use of VHF radio as the primary means of contacting emergency services be impressed upon all boat owners and that VHF radios should be used in all instances, including in competitive sailing events,” it said.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Covid-19: Nearly 150 care homes currently require HSE support

Nearly 150 residential care facilities currently require support from the Health Service Executive ( HSE ) to fight Covid-19 , figures show .
Some 113 nursing homes are receiving supports as of Wednesday , November 11th , according to internal HSE analysis tracking assistance provided to the sector .
There are 31 residential centres for people with disabilities receiving supports , as well as three mental health residential facilities .
Of the 149 long term residential care facilities receiving supports , 118 are categorised as “ green ” under the HSE ’ s traffic light system for tracking Covid-19 in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are considered stable following intervention .
Twenty-seven facilities are in the “ amber ” category , receiving enhanced levels of support .
There are currently four facilities in the health service ’ s high-risk “ red ” category , battling significant outbreaks .
The figures do not include facilities which the HSE class as stable , or “ white ” in its traffic light system , and these would still receive routine deliveries of Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE ) .
There are currently 101 coronavirus outbreaks across 2,000 residential care facilities , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Anne O ’ Connor , HSE chief operations officer , on Thursday described the number of outbreaks in nursing homes “ as a stable number ” over the last week .
The number of care homes requiring State supports has also remained stable , up slightly from 146 facilities last week .
Supports include public health advice , additional staff , and extra PPE .
From the 149 facilities receiving HSE supports , 32 of the care homes are located in Dublin .
Twenty-six facilities are in Limerick , followed by 15 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 12 in both Kildare and Tipperary .
Six of the long term residential centres are located in Laois , with five in both Cork and Wicklow .
According to the internal report tracking supports , 20 further HSE facilities required additional staff this week , as well as nine private or voluntary facilities .
Nursing home residents account for around half of the coronavirus-related deaths in the State , due to large numbers of fatalities in care homes during the first wave of the pandemic .
Many facilities faced significant outbreaks in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ awaiting testing results , major staff shortages , and lack of PPE contributing to the virus spreading within centres .

Some 113 nursing homes are receiving supports as of Wednesday, November 11th. File photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Nearly 150 residential care facilities currently require support from the Health Service Executive (HSE) to fight Covid-19, figures show.
Some 113 nursing homes are receiving supports as of Wednesday, November 11th, according to internal HSE analysis tracking assistance provided to the sector.
There are 31 residential centres for people with disabilities receiving supports, as well as three mental health residential facilities.
Of the 149 long term residential care facilities receiving supports, 118 are categorised as “green” under the HSE’s traffic light system for tracking Covid-19 in care homes. This means the centres are considered stable following intervention.
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Twenty-seven facilities are in the “amber” category, receiving enhanced levels of support. There are currently four facilities in the health service’s high-risk “red” category, battling significant outbreaks.
The figures do not include facilities which the HSE class as stable, or “white” in its traffic light system, and these would still receive routine deliveries of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
There are currently 101 coronavirus outbreaks across 2,000 residential care facilities, 53 of which are in nursing homes.
Anne O’Connor, HSE chief operations officer, on Thursday described the number of outbreaks in nursing homes “as a stable number” over the last week.
The number of care homes requiring State supports has also remained stable, up slightly from 146 facilities last week. Supports include public health advice, additional staff, and extra PPE.
From the 149 facilities receiving HSE supports, 32 of the care homes are located in Dublin. Twenty-six facilities are in Limerick, followed by 15 in Westmeath, 13 in Clare, and 12 in both Kildare and Tipperary. Six of the long term residential centres are located in Laois, with five in both Cork and Wicklow.
According to the internal report tracking supports, 20 further HSE facilities required additional staff this week, as well as nine private or voluntary facilities.
Nursing home residents account for around half of the coronavirus-related deaths in the State, due to large numbers of fatalities in care homes during the first wave of the pandemic.
Many facilities faced significant outbreaks in April and May, with long delays awaiting testing results, major staff shortages, and lack of PPE contributing to the virus spreading within centres.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Men caught in Continuity IRA bugging operation jailed

Seven men caught in a MI5 bugging operation targeting the Continuity IRA have been handed prison sentences totalling 33 years .
The defendants pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court in January this year to charges arising from of a covert MI5 surveillance operation against the Continuity IRA in Newry almost six years ago , Patrick Joseph ‘ Mooch ’ Blair ( 65 ) , of Lissara Heights , Warrenpoint , Co Down ; Joseph Matthew Lynch ( 79 ) , of Beechgrove Avenue , Weston , Co Limerick ; Liam Hannaway ( 50 ) of White Rise , Dunmurry in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , of Erskine Street , Newry and Colin Patrick Winters ( 49 ) , of Ardcarn Park , Newry , all pleaded guilty to charges of belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation , providing weapons and explosives training , conspiring to possess explosives , firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life .
They further admitted conspiracy to possess explosives , firearms and ammunition with intent , along with preparing acts of terrorism .
Blair , Hannaway and Winters also admitted collecting information likely to be of use to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attending a meeting at Ardcarn Park for the purposes of terrorist training .
Winters also admitted to allowing his Ardcarn Park home to be used for the purposes of a terrorist meeting .
The court previously heard that Winters died in August .
As well as admitting he received weapons training , Joseph Lynch further pleaded guilty to two counts of attending a meeting for terrorist purposes .
Seamus Morgan ( 64 ) , of Barcroft Park , Newry ; Kevin John Paul Heaney ( 47 ) , of Blackstaff Mews , Springfield @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 60 ) , of Parkhead Crescent , Newry , all pleaded guilty to belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation .
Marks also admitted to a further charge of receiving training in the making or use of explosives for terrorism .
All of the offences took place on dates between August 11th , 2014 , and November 11th , 2014 .
‘ Mooch ’ Blair and Hannaway on Friday received five years in jail and were also found to pose a danger to the public in the future because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a six and a half year sentence , with three years and three months to be spent in custody and the remainder on supervised licence on his release .
John Sheehy was handed a six year sentence — half to be spent in custody and half on licence .
Terence Marks was told he would serve two years in jail followed by two years on licence .
Kevin Heaney was handed a three and a half year sentence , divided equally between custody and probation .
Seamus Morgan was told he would serve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months on licence .
All the defendants were made the subject of counter terrorism notifications , ranging from ten years up to 30 years .

All the defendants were made the subject of counter terrorism notifications, ranging from ten years up to 30 years.
Seven men caught in a MI5 bugging operation targeting the Continuity IRA have been handed prison sentences totalling 33 years.
The defendants pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court in January this year to charges arising from of a covert MI5 surveillance operation against the Continuity IRA in Newry almost six years ago,
Patrick Joseph ‘Mooch’ Blair (65), of Lissara Heights, Warrenpoint, Co Down; Joseph Matthew Lynch (79), of Beechgrove Avenue, Weston, Co Limerick; Liam Hannaway (50) of White Rise, Dunmurry in west Belfast; John Sheehy (36), of Erskine Street, Newry and Colin Patrick Winters (49), of Ardcarn Park, Newry, all pleaded guilty to charges of belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation, providing weapons and explosives training, conspiring to possess explosives, firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
They further admitted conspiracy to possess explosives, firearms and ammunition with intent, along with preparing acts of terrorism.
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Blair, Hannaway and Winters also admitted collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists.
Sheehy further pleaded guilty to attending a meeting at Ardcarn Park for the purposes of terrorist training.
Winters also admitted to allowing his Ardcarn Park home to be used for the purposes of a terrorist meeting.
The court previously heard that Winters died in August.
As well as admitting he received weapons training, Joseph Lynch further pleaded guilty to two counts of attending a meeting for terrorist purposes.
Seamus Morgan (64), of Barcroft Park, Newry; Kevin John Paul Heaney (47), of Blackstaff Mews, Springfield Road in West Belfast and Terence Marks (60), of Parkhead Crescent, Newry, all pleaded guilty to belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation.
Marks also admitted to a further charge of receiving training in the making or use of explosives for terrorism.
All of the offences took place on dates between August 11th, 2014, and November 11th, 2014.
‘Mooch’ Blair and Hannaway on Friday received five years in jail and were also found to pose a danger to the public in the future because of their previous terrorist convictions.
Lynch received a six and a half year sentence, with three years and three months to be spent in custody and the remainder on supervised licence on his release.
John Sheehy was handed a six year sentence — half to be spent in custody and half on licence.
Terence Marks was told he would serve two years in jail followed by two years on licence.
Kevin Heaney was handed a three and a half year sentence, divided equally between custody and probation.
Seamus Morgan was told he would serve 18 months in custody followed by 18 months on licence.
All the defendants were made the subject of counter terrorism notifications, ranging from ten years up to 30 years.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Dublin taxi driver who sexually assaulted passenger to be sentenced next month

A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a late night passenger in his car will be sentenced next month .
The victim told gardaí that she had fallen asleep and woke up to find Gerard Gunnery ( 60 ) with his hand inside her and masturbating himself .
She said he then became aggressive and threw her out of the car , leaving her on the side of the road .
Lawyers for Gunnery asked Judge Karen O ’ Connor to not define him for these “ ten minutes of a life ” which was otherwise “ all of good ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said his client ’ s actions that night were “ completely out of character ” .
He handed in testimonials describing Gunnery as a hard working , “ good man ” with a “ kind heart ” .
Gunnery of Ellenfield Road , Whitehall , Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the woman at place in Dublin city on December 23rd 2017 .
After a sentence hearing on Friday , Judge O ’ Connor remanded Gunnery into custody to December 11th next for imposition of sentence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ court and said that a regular girls ’ night out in town turned into a nightmare when she woke up in the front seat of the taxi parked outside her home .
Neighbours later told gardaí they heard a woman shouting “ get off me ” and “ stop , don ’ t touch me ” and saw the driver pulling the woman out of the taxi .
She was screaming that her leg was stuck under the taxi and he came out and “ threw her out of the way ” .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and screaming .
The court heard she suffered bruising to her elbows , kneecaps and her jaw .
Gunnery made a statement to gardaí claiming that the woman had told him to “ go for it ” and that he wouldn ’ t have touched her if she hadn ’ t said that .
“ I am really sorry .
She was drunk .
I was sober , ” he told gardaí .
In her victim impact statement , the woman told Gunnery that “ you took advantage of me when you should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said she suffered crippling guilt and shame and entertained thoughts like “ I drank too much , my skirt was too short , my knee high boots were too inviting ” .
She feared that her attacker was still out driving a taxi and knew whereabouts she lived and said she still suffers flashbacks and becomes upset if she sees a silver coloured taxi .
She said Christmas time last year is difficult because of her fear of drinking and being “ in town ” again .
Judge O ’ Connor told the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fault ” and told her she had shown great strength on the night and since .
“ I sincerely hope you get to a point where you can put this behind you , ” she said .
Detective Sergeant Brian Hunt told Eoin Lawlor BL , prosecuting , that the woman had gone out that night to a hen party and at around 3am she decided to go home .
She was standing around Harcourt Street in Dublin city centre when Gunnery stopped his taxi .
He had two other women in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same direction as the victim .
She later told gardaí that she was so relieved to get the taxi that she didn ’ t care there were two others in .
Mr Lawlor told the court that CCTV footage from the area showed there were other taxis with their lights on ready to take a fare and said that this was noteworthy because of the circumstances in which Gunnery had stopped his taxi for the woman .
The court heard after a short conversation with the other women about paying for the fare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She said she awoke when the car stopped at an ATM in Ballsbridge and the other two women had been dropped off .
She said she used the ATM to get cash for the taxi and then got into the front seat of the car .
She said the driver put his left hand on her knee and she told him “ what are you doing ” and brushed it off .
She fell back to sleep and awoke at her destination to Gunnery attacking her .
She said she was trying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his ID badge in order to identify him and Gunnery walked around to the passenger door .
Dt Sgt Hunt said that woman had a cast around an arm from an earlier fracture and that Gunnery pulled her out by the arm with enough force to break the strap of her handbag .
He left her “ in a heap ” on the side of the road and went to get back into his taxi but then got out again and dragged her out of the way of the car .
She managed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number plate as Gunnery sped off in the car and gardaí later used this to track him down .
Mr McGinn told the court that one of the most valuable aspects of the guilty plea for a victim was that “ it affirms what she did was completely blameless and that the defendant was the wrongdoer ” .
He handed into court a “ heartfelt ” letter written by his client in which Gunnery apologised “ abjectly ” to the victim .
Work references handed in described Gunnery as “ hard working and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including a community leader , wrote that they were shocked , troubled and surprised on hearing about the assault .
Mr McGinn said this was evidence that his behaviour that night was out of character and that he was otherwise “ a fine upstanding citizen ” .

Lawyers for Gerard Gunnery (pictured) asked Judge Karen O’Connor to not define him for these ‘ten minutes of a life’ which was otherwise ‘all of good’. Photograph: Collins Courts
A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a late night passenger in his car will be sentenced next month.
The victim told gardaí that she had fallen asleep and woke up to find Gerard Gunnery (60) with his hand inside her and masturbating himself. She said he then became aggressive and threw her out of the car, leaving her on the side of the road.
Lawyers for Gunnery asked Judge Karen O’Connor to not define him for these “ten minutes of a life” which was otherwise “all of good”.
Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said his client’s actions that night were “completely out of character”. He handed in testimonials describing Gunnery as a hard working, “good man” with a “kind heart”.
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Gunnery of Ellenfield Road, Whitehall, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexual assault of the woman at place in Dublin city on December 23rd 2017.
After a sentence hearing on Friday, Judge O’Connor remanded Gunnery into custody to December 11th next for imposition of sentence.
During the hearing the victim addressed the court and said that a regular girls’ night out in town turned into a nightmare when she woke up in the front seat of the taxi parked outside her home.
Neighbours later told gardaí they heard a woman shouting “get off me” and “stop, don’t touch me” and saw the driver pulling the woman out of the taxi. She was screaming that her leg was stuck under the taxi and he came out and “threw her out of the way”.
She was found on the ground crying and screaming. The court heard she suffered bruising to her elbows, kneecaps and her jaw.
Gunnery made a statement to gardaí claiming that the woman had told him to “go for it” and that he wouldn’t have touched her if she hadn’t said that.
“I am really sorry. She was drunk. I was sober,” he told gardaí.
In her victim impact statement, the woman told Gunnery that “you took advantage of me when you should have taken me home”.
She said she suffered crippling guilt and shame and entertained thoughts like “I drank too much, my skirt was too short, my knee high boots were too inviting”.
She feared that her attacker was still out driving a taxi and knew whereabouts she lived and said she still suffers flashbacks and becomes upset if she sees a silver coloured taxi.
She said Christmas time last year is difficult because of her fear of drinking and being “in town” again.
Judge O’Connor told the woman that “this was not your fault” and told her she had shown great strength on the night and since.
“I sincerely hope you get to a point where you can put this behind you,” she said.
CCTV footage
Detective Sergeant Brian Hunt told Eoin Lawlor BL, prosecuting, that the woman had gone out that night to a hen party and at around 3am she decided to go home.
She was standing around Harcourt Street in Dublin city centre when Gunnery stopped his taxi. He had two other women in the car and they were going in the same direction as the victim.
She later told gardaí that she was so relieved to get the taxi that she didn’t care there were two others in.
Mr Lawlor told the court that CCTV footage from the area showed there were other taxis with their lights on ready to take a fare and said that this was noteworthy because of the circumstances in which Gunnery had stopped his taxi for the woman.
The court heard after a short conversation with the other women about paying for the fare the woman fell asleep in her seat. She said she awoke when the car stopped at an ATM in Ballsbridge and the other two women had been dropped off.
She said she used the ATM to get cash for the taxi and then got into the front seat of the car. She said the driver put his left hand on her knee and she told him “what are you doing” and brushed it off.
She fell back to sleep and awoke at her destination to Gunnery attacking her.
She said she was trying to stay in the car to locate his ID badge in order to identify him and Gunnery walked around to the passenger door.
Dt Sgt Hunt said that woman had a cast around an arm from an earlier fracture and that Gunnery pulled her out by the arm with enough force to break the strap of her handbag.
He left her “in a heap” on the side of the road and went to get back into his taxi but then got out again and dragged her out of the way of the car. She managed to take a photo of the taxi number plate as Gunnery sped off in the car and gardaí later used this to track him down.
Mr McGinn told the court that one of the most valuable aspects of the guilty plea for a victim was that “it affirms what she did was completely blameless and that the defendant was the wrongdoer”.
He handed into court a “heartfelt” letter written by his client in which Gunnery apologised “abjectly” to the victim.
Work references handed in described Gunnery as “hard working and trustworthy”. Two close friends, including a community leader, wrote that they were shocked, troubled and surprised on hearing about the assault.
Mr McGinn said this was evidence that his behaviour that night was out of character and that he was otherwise “a fine upstanding citizen”.


theirishtimes--2020-11-13--Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr ‘didn’t write’, trial hears

Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr “ didn ’ t write ” , a longtime employee of the businessman has told a Special Criminal Court trial .
Martin Byrne ( 53 ) , who claims Mr Mansfield set him up to be falsely imprisoned , said a note allegedly handed to the driver of the vehicle which he was bundled into by a gang could not have been written by the accused .
He denied a suggestion by Mr Mansfield ’ s defence counsel that he was “ having a dig ” at his client by saying this .
The alleged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Witness Protection Programme , also denied a defence suggestion that he had “ something to hide ” when he refused to speak to a garda who arrived at the scene .
“ I had nothing to hide that day .
I had just been beaten up and my family ’ s lives were in danger , ” he told the accused ’ s counsel .
Mr Mansfield ( 53 ) , of Tasaggart House , Garters Lane , Saggart , Co Dublin , is accused of conspiring with one or more persons to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unknown between January 1st , 2015 and June 30th , 2015 , both dates inclusive .
He is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing Patrick Byrne to destroy recorded CCTV footage , with the alleged intention of perverting the course of public justice in relation to the false imprisonment of Martin Byrne at Finnstown House Hotel , Newcastle Road , Lucan , Co Dublin between June 9th , 2015 and June 12th2015 .
The accused has pleaded not guilty to both offences .
Mr Byrne has told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 53 ) arranged meetings with the New IRA and the INLA to “ assist ” in getting back parts of his family ’ s former property portfolio .
The witness gave evidence that Mr Mansfield was “ a couple of feet away ” when he was taken prisoner by a gang of seven men , which included former INLA man Dessie O ’ Hare and former republican paramilitary Declan Duffy , after a meeting at a warehouse at Keatings Park in west Dublin .
Mr Byrne testified that he believed Mr Mansfield had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr Byrne described the day he was kidnapped by O ’ Hare , Duffy and five other men as the “ day that changed my family ’ s life and my life forever ” .
Under cross-examination for a fourth day from defence counsel Bernard Condon SC , for Mr Mansfield , Mr Byrne said he was put into a car at Keating ’ s Park in Saggart before someone handed a torn piece of paper with handwriting on it to the driver of the vehicle , which he believed had his home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with counsel that he had told gardaí the piece of paper had another man ’ s handwriting on it .
Mr Condon put it to the witness that he had invented the piece of paper in order to implicate this man .
Mr Byrne denied this proposition saying : “ It wouldn ’ t be Jimmy ’ s handwriting as he didn ’ t write ” .
Mr Condon asked the witness if he was “ having a dig ” at his client by saying this , which Mr Byrne denied .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a man who had a tattoo on his neck inside the car after the meeting at Keatings Park and later threatened by the group at The Towers , his home address .
The seven men and Mr Byrne then travelled in convoy in a Ford Mondeo , a Honda and a white Transit van to the Towers .
When they went inside , having broken through a security gate , Mr Byrne ’ s wife was there with their son .
All seven men went into Mr Byrne ’ s home for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Byrne .
O ’ Hare then asked the witness which house belonged to convicted fraudster James O ’ Gorman .
The former security boss testified last week that €2,500 per week in protection money was being paid by Mr Mansfield and O ’ Gorman to the Real IRA in order to protect the accused from two Traveller gangs , who claimed they were owed money from the accused .
Mr Byrne said that he later saw a plain clothed garda coming in the gateway of the property on a CCTV monitor inside O @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ Hare told him to get rid of him or he would “ get a bullet in the head ” .
Mr Byrne went out to the gardaí and told them everything was okay when he was asked what was going on .
“ One garda asked me what was the blood on the ground .
Then my wife came out and got emotional and hysterical , ” he said .
O ’ Gorman came out of his townhouse when armed detectives arrived at the Towers and the witness said he approached the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he “ had caused this ” .
Counsel for the accused asked Mr Byrne why he had refused to speak to the garda who arrived at the scene and instead asked to speak to Detective Sergeant Tony Harty from the Special Detective Unit .
“ I wasn ’ t prepared to speak to any garda at that stage , ” he replied .
The lawyer told the witness that the original gardaí had arrived at the Towers at 12.20pm and Det Sgt Harty did not arrive until 1.56pm .
Mr Condon asked the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the time .
“ I had nothing to hide that day .
I had just been beaten up and my family ’ s lives were in danger , ” he said .
The key prosecution witness said that he did not have a formal discussion with Det Sgt Harty but the detective was someone who seemed to care about what had happened to him and his family .
Mr Condon again asked the witness why he had a desire to only speak to Det Sgt Harty .
In reply , the witness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not want to explain everything that had gone on since the raid on the Finnstown Hotel in 2015 to someone who did not know anything .

Property magnate Jim Mansfield Jnr "didn't write", a longtime employee of the businessman has told a Special Criminal Court trial.
Martin Byrne (53), who claims Mr Mansfield set him up to be falsely imprisoned, said a note allegedly handed to the driver of the vehicle which he was bundled into by a gang could not have been written by the accused.
He denied a suggestion by Mr Mansfield’s defence counsel that he was “having a dig” at his client by saying this.
The alleged victim, who is now in the Witness Protection Programme, also denied a defence suggestion that he had “something to hide” when he refused to speak to a garda who arrived at the scene.
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“I had nothing to hide that day. I had just been beaten up and my family’s lives were in danger,” he told the accused’s counsel.
Mr Mansfield (53), of Tasaggart House, Garters Lane, Saggart, Co Dublin, is accused of conspiring with one or more persons to falsely imprison Martin Byrne on a date unknown between January 1st, 2015 and June 30th, 2015, both dates inclusive.
He is also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by directing Patrick Byrne to destroy recorded CCTV footage, with the alleged intention of perverting the course of public justice in relation to the false imprisonment of Martin Byrne at Finnstown House Hotel, Newcastle Road, Lucan, Co Dublin between June 9th, 2015 and June 12th2015.
Not guilty
The accused has pleaded not guilty to both offences.
Mr Byrne has told the three-judge court that Mr Mansfield (53) arranged meetings with the New IRA and the INLA to “assist” in getting back parts of his family’s former property portfolio.
The witness gave evidence that Mr Mansfield was "a couple of feet away" when he was taken prisoner by a gang of seven men, which included former INLA man Dessie O'Hare and former republican paramilitary Declan Duffy, after a meeting at a warehouse at Keatings Park in west Dublin. Mr Byrne testified that he believed Mr Mansfield had set him up.
On Thursday, Mr Byrne described the day he was kidnapped by O’Hare, Duffy and five other men as the “day that changed my family’s life and my life forever”.
Under cross-examination for a fourth day from defence counsel Bernard Condon SC, for Mr Mansfield, Mr Byrne said he was put into a car at Keating’s Park in Saggart before someone handed a torn piece of paper with handwriting on it to the driver of the vehicle, which he believed had his home address on it.
Mr Byrne agreed with counsel that he had told gardaí the piece of paper had another man’s handwriting on it. Mr Condon put it to the witness that he had invented the piece of paper in order to implicate this man.
Mr Byrne denied this proposition saying: “It wouldn’t be Jimmy’s handwriting as he didn’t write”.
Mr Condon asked the witness if he was “having a dig” at his client by saying this, which Mr Byrne denied.
The witness said he was struck two times by a man who had a tattoo on his neck inside the car after the meeting at Keatings Park and later threatened by the group at The Towers, his home address.
The seven men and Mr Byrne then travelled in convoy in a Ford Mondeo, a Honda and a white Transit van to the Towers. When they went inside, having broken through a security gate, Mr Byrne’s wife was there with their son.
Fraudster
All seven men went into Mr Byrne’s home for up to 15 minutes, said Mr Byrne. O’Hare then asked the witness which house belonged to convicted fraudster James O’Gorman.
The former security boss testified last week that €2,500 per week in protection money was being paid by Mr Mansfield and O’Gorman to the Real IRA in order to protect the accused from two Traveller gangs, who claimed they were owed money from the accused.
Mr Byrne said that he later saw a plain clothed garda coming in the gateway of the property on a CCTV monitor inside O’Gorman’s apartment and O’Hare told him to get rid of him or he would “get a bullet in the head”.
Mr Byrne went out to the gardaí and told them everything was okay when he was asked what was going on. “One garda asked me what was the blood on the ground. Then my wife came out and got emotional and hysterical,” he said.
O’Gorman came out of his townhouse when armed detectives arrived at the Towers and the witness said he approached the fraudster and told him that he believed he “had caused this”.
Counsel for the accused asked Mr Byrne why he had refused to speak to the garda who arrived at the scene and instead asked to speak to Detective Sergeant Tony Harty from the Special Detective Unit. “I wasn’t prepared to speak to any garda at that stage,” he replied.
The lawyer told the witness that the original gardaí had arrived at the Towers at 12.20pm and Det Sgt Harty did not arrive until 1.56pm.
Mr Condon asked the witness if he had something to hide at the time. “I had nothing to hide that day. I had just been beaten up and my family’s lives were in danger,” he said.
The key prosecution witness said that he did not have a formal discussion with Det Sgt Harty but the detective was someone who seemed to care about what had happened to him and his family.
Mr Condon again asked the witness why he had a desire to only speak to Det Sgt Harty. In reply, the witness said he knew the detective and did not want to explain everything that had gone on since the raid on the Finnstown Hotel in 2015 to someone who did not know anything.
The trial continues on Monday.