New Bishop of Cloyne 'Conscious' of Trauma Still Felt in Diocese over Abuse

Irish Independent
November 26, 2012

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/new-bishop-of-cloyne-conscious-of-trauma-still-felt-in-diocese-over-abuse-3304981.html

THE new Bishop of Cloyne is "apprehensive" about his appointment given the trauma in the diocese over clerical child abuse.

Canon William Crean, 60, vowed that he will use his appointment by Pope Benedict to try to bring "healing" to the sprawling Cork diocese which has been wracked by controversy over clerical child abuse for over a decade.

The diocese is still reeling from Judge Yvonne Murphy's devastating Cloyne report, which last year revealed that children had been left at risk by the diocese's failure to implement the church's own child-protection guidelines.

Cloyne has been without a bishop for almost four years after Dr John Magee, a private secretary to three popes, first stepped aside and then resigned over the controversy.

"I am apprehensive because I am deeply conscious of the trauma of these years past," Canon Crean said yesterday. "So much suffering endured by young people at the hands of a few. Sufferings compounded by the failure of those who didn't believe them and of those who didn't hear their cry for help."

Cost of driving licence set to increase

The €25 cost of a driving licence will rise from January 19 next year. The Road Safety Authority (RSA) said it is the first increase in 20 years and the new plastic card will include tighter security features and additional customer services.

The final cost of the EU-standardised licence has yet to be decided by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, a spokeswoman for the RSA said. The spokesman added that it is planned that the new system will pay for itself.

By September 2013, licences will be delivered by a new service provider, the National Drivers License Service and the Plastic Card Delivery Unit, which will be operated by Credit Card Systems Ireland.

Brosnan's Bond watch to fetch €9,000

A watch, which former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan donated to charity in Dublin, is expected to sell for up to €9,000 at an auction in London on Thursday.

In 1998, the Omega Seamaster Professional Chronometer watch, similar to the one Brosnan wore in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, was donated by Brosnan to The Totts Ball, a charity auction held by the Children's Hospital in Temple Street, Dublin. Now, 14 years later, the watch has resurfaced for sale at Christie's, of South Kensington, London.

One winner of 3.6m Lotto jackpot

THERE was one winner of last night's €3,595,140 Lotto jackpot. The numbers were 7, 11, 25, 28, 30, 40 (bonus 19)

There were three Match 5+bonus winners, who will each receive €25,000; 40 Match 5s (€1,717); 150 Match 4+bonus (€115); 2,569 Match 4s (€41); 3,945 Match 3+bonus (€18); and 38,417 Match 3s (€5 scratchcard).

The Lotto Plus 1 numbers were 2, 10, 11, 14, 16, 37 (bonus 6) and the Lotto Plus 2 numbers were 3, 5, 10, 13, 16 31, (bonus 34).

In the UK draw for the £6.3m (€7.8m) prize, the numbers were 2, 4, 27, 34, 39, 44 (bonus 37).

Getty gave €33,000 to Georgian fund

The late oil heir, John Paul Getty Jnr, gave a grant of €33,264 to the Irish Georgian Foundation for educational programmes and the production of an annual journal, the charity's 2011 accounts reveal.

In 1973 Getty was kidnapped by Italian gangsters who cut off his ear when his grandfather JP Getty Snr refused to pay a $17m ransom. Getty Snr later relented but would only pay $2.2m.

An alcoholic and drug addict, Getty Jnr became an Irish citizen in 1999 as part of the 'passports for sale' scheme. He died in 2011 after he had made the three-year donation to the Georgian Foundation.

The Georgian Foundation is restoring No 58 South William Street, Dublin, known as the 'City Assembly House', and spending €4,000 restoring Victorian wallpaper in Castletown House in Celbridge, Co Kildare.

'Unionism has won', says Robinson

Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, has said that a majority of both Catholics and Protestants now wish to remain within the UK.

Addressing the DUP's annual conference, the party leader told them they were standing on the verge of a defining period for unionism.

"The siege has lifted. The Troubles as we knew them are over and the constitutional debate has been won," he said.

Mr Robinson, 63, said a majority across both communities in Northern Ireland now supported the constitutional position within the UK. "They know they are better off with Britain," he said.

Debenhams issues faulty zip warning

DEBENHAMS has issued a product recall and warning about Baker by Ted Baker snow suits and jackets, which it sells. The company said it had come to its attention that the zips on some products may cause scratches or grazes on the faces or necks of babies and small children".

The products were on sale from August to November.

Mum calls for HSE probe into tragedy

A woman whose husband killed their two children, before taking his own life, wants an independent inquiry into his mental-health treatment. Una Butler is still struggling to recover from the nightmare of discovering that her husband John, 41, had killed their two daughters, Zoe, 6, and Ella, 2, before dousing himself in petrol and driving his car into a ditch close to their east Cork home.

Last week marked the second anniversary of the tragedy in the tight-knit fishing village of Ballycotton.

Mrs Butler and her legal team are now demanding the HSE re-open their inquiry into her husband's death – and that the inquiry be impartial and publish its findings.

"My world was turned upside down. Zoe and Ella were my life. Their future was wiped out. And all my hopes and dreams for them," she said. "It is such excruciating pain that sometimes I would have thoughts of suicide. But medication isn't going to solve my problem."

Mrs Butler said she remained angry over her husband's actions and sad for the state of mind he was in.

"And with John... I will never forgive John for what he did to Zoe and Ella. A lot of the time I'm angry with him. But I'm also sad – I feel sad for him. I'm very angry. I'm waking up to a living nightmare every day."

Zoe and Ellen had attended a Halloween party just days before their deaths and had already begun writing their Santa Claus letters.

Israel supporters to rally in Dublin

JUST three days after the worst bout of Israel-Hamas fighting in four years, a pro-Israel rally will be held today outside the GPO in O'Connell Street, Dublin, at 3pm.

It comes as leaders on both sides have said they are ready for a long-term ceasefire.

Meath housewife leaves €1.7m will

according to documents lodged in the Probate Office this week, Ann Coogan, a housewife, of Trim, Co Meath, who died on November 12, 2011, left €1,722,807; Mary Foster, a widow, of Carriglea Ave, Firhouse, Dublin, who died on May 19, 2012, left €1,657,709; Annie Lynham, a retired nurse, of Leinster Lawn, Clonskeagh, Dublin, who died on April 17, 2011, left €1,637,312; Eileen Barry, of The Palms, Roebuck, Dublin, who died on August 21, 2012, left €1,282,300; James Meehan, a retired farmer of Streete, Co Westmeath, who died on May 21, 2011, left €987,639.

The value of wills include property, including the family home and should not be regarded as cash amounts.