Bits and Pieces

• On Monday An Bord Pleanála opened the oral hearings relating to the appeal against the proposed redevelopment of the Lansdowne Road rugby ground. Most of the objections to the building of a new 50,000-seat stadium on the site are from local residents. The main complaint is about the height of the structure which will leave some houses in permanent shade; it is particularly close to one row of houses. Objectors questioned the right of the developers to annexe a stretch of the Dodder walkway and argued against the inclusion of conference facilities in the stadium.
• The parents and sisters of Siobhán Kearney, who was murdered at her Goatstown home in January of this year, held a vigil outside her home on Sunday night last. The 38-year-old mother of one was found in her bedroom with the cord of a vacuum cleaner around her neck. No one has been charged with the murder and the family called for the person responsible to go to the gardaí; there seems to be a chief suspect.
• In a report published on Monday, the Competition Authority has called for major changes in the governance of the legal profession. Structures and rules which inhibit competition were the main concern. To this end it called for an independent body to oversee the profession and an end to the current situation in which barristers and solicitors have their own self-regulation bodies. The report recommends the recognition of external bodies offering legal education and an end to the current monopoly which solicitors have in relation to the conveyancing of property. This report has been some years in preparation and it was claimed by both the legal profession and the Government that many of the recommendations are currently being implemented.
• Monday night's Prime Time programme on RTÉ questioned the ethics of estate agents and others in the property business. Examples were given of phantom bidders being invented to push up a house price to the figure which the potential purchaser is thought to be able to afford. One mortgage broker routinely informed estate agents of details of purchasers' financial circumstances. Some estate agents failed their clients by selling properties cheaply to "pet investors" in return for a commission. The programme led to Dáil questions and the Taoiseach revealing that legislation was being prepared to allow for the establishment of a regulatory body for estate agents. It was later alleged that the manipulative practices of auctioneers revealed in the Prime Time programme had not received much publicity in the newspapers because there is an "unhealthy relationship" between the two. This was the view of Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, speaking at a public debate on homelessness held in Trinity College Dublin on Wednesday.
• T.K. Whitaker, who was probably Ireland's best-known and most admired public servant, celebrated his 90th birthday during the week. The occasion was marked by President Mary McAleese who invited Mr Whitaker and his wife Mary to Áras an Úachtaráin for tea. The former secretary general of the Department of Finance and former governor of the Central Bank is generally credited, along with Taoiseach Seán Lemass, of transforming the Irish economy.
• The first 36 members of the new Garda Reserve force graduated on Thursday from the Garda College at Templemore, Co. Tipperary. Garda representative organisations had campaigned against the establishment of the new volunteer force but Minister for Justice Michael McDowell seems to have prevailed, as both the GRA and the AGSI have indicated that they will reluctantly work with the new recruits.
• On Wednesday and Thursday one of the talking points was the Irish Marine Search and Rescue Committee's public criticism of two surfers who refused to be rescued when they were in difficulty off the Cliffs of Moher on November 24. A rescue helicopter arrived at the scene and lowered its winchman to the surfers who, it is claimed, refused help when told that they would have to abandon their surfboards. The surfers eventually accepted help from a lifeboat crew. It is suggested that the matter may be referred to An Garda Síochána and that the surfers could end up in court where they could be fined up to €2k. The surfers have not been named but others have said in their defence that they didn't instigate the emergency call.
• Despite the high cost of child care in this country, women in Ireland are still having more children than those in other EU countries. The figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Irish women are having an average of 1.95 children, French women follow with 1.9, Finnish women are having 1.8 children and the Danish 1.78. This was just one of a number of statistics contained in a report entitled "Women and men in Ireland 2006". http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/women_and_men_in_ireland_2006.htm
• Áine Kilmartin (26) was in Portlaoise on Friday, handing out leaflets appealing for information which she hopes will lead to the arrest of the person or persons who murdered her mother 13 years ago. Marie Kilmartin (35) was last seen in the Co. Laois town on December 13, 1993 and her body was discovered in a remote bog some six months later. At the time Áine did not know that Marie was her mother as she had been adopted at birth within the extended Kilmartin family.
• National Lottery Winning Numbers:
  Wed: 6, 20, 26, 27, 34, 45 (9) - the jackpot of €2.60m was not won.
  Sat: 9, 16, 21, 24, 28, 40 (44) - the jackpot of €3.34m was not won.