Examiner Irish News

Boom to continue as taxes fill coffers

by Liam O'Neill
THE good times are here to stay for another year, at least, according to Government figures issued yesterday.
With the end-of-year Exchequer returns showing tax revenue continuing to pour into the State's coffers in the closing months, the boom of 1998 looks set to continue for another 12 months, and almost certainly culminating in another giveaway tax budget.
Big increases in tax revenue under all headings — income tax, VAT, Corporation Tax to mention a few — reflected record growth in job creation, business and consumer spending and this expansion has every prospect of continuing.
The Exchequer surplus of £747 million (or Euro949m) is the biggest cash surplus in the history of the State while the total tax inflow of £16bn is also a record and is 13% ahead of the 1997 out-turn and 6.3% ahead of budget target.
Almost all tax heads were very significantly ahead of target with overall tax revenue exceeding the 1998 budget target by about £962 billion, and coming in at £36 million above the estimate published on December 2, the day the 1999 budget was brought in.
Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said the results highlighted the continuing wellbeing of the public finances.
He predicted that the somewhat higher than expected tax receipts in late November and December could continue in 1999 and could result in a slightly higher Exchequer surplus than the £925m projected on budget day.
Of the overall £962 increase in tax revenue, the big moneyspinner was VAT, raking in an extra £253m over budget estimate. It reflected the record consumer spending which in turn reflected high growth in employment. Total take from the tax was £4.3bn compared to £3.7bn in 1997.
Income tax, at £5.7bn yielded the second biggest increase of £214m over budget target, reflecting the strong growth in employment throughout the year.
Excise duties at a total of £2.8bn brought in £163m more than budget estimate, with the increase mainly due to record motor vehicle sales and significant rises in receipts from the sale of tobacco, petrol and oil.
Corporation Tax was the fourth big performer, yielding £139m more than expected and bringing in £2bn compared to £1.7bn in 1997.
The increase reflected the boom in business and high increase in profits.
On the expenditure side the main over-budget increases were recorded in Justice, with an extra £89m needed to meet the Garda pay deal and provide for overtime payments; Education, where an extra £40m was provided for technical reasons relating to the timing of salary payments; Agriculture where an extra £27m was provided mainly for the winter fodder scheme and animal health schemes; and Health which got an extra £20m.
However, according to a Finance spokesman, these increases were offset by savings on spending by other Departments, mainly Social Welfare where £154m less than budgeted for was required due to the sharp fall in the Live Register and growth in PRSI payments.

Man vows Britain will pay for his 20 years of hell

by Donal Hickey
A MAN, over whom a murder charge hung unjustly for almost 20 years, last night vowed angrily that the British government would pay for "screwing up" his life.
The charge, arising from the shooting of a British soldier in Derry on St Valentine's Day, 1979, against Gerry McGowan, 37, and three other Derrymen, was eventually dropped on the direction of Lord Chief Justice Carswell, on December 21 last, after a long struggle for justice.
Fearing lengthy jail sentences had they stood trial, all four absconded while on bail and had been on the run in the Republic until their acquittal.
McGowan has lived in Killarney, Co. Kerry, for the past 12 years and works in a local hotel. He is married to Killarney-born Julie (nee Payne) and they have two children, Gary (three and a half years) and Rachel (18 months).
At the time of his arrest as a 17-year-old, he was poised for a promising career as a professional soccer player with Leicester City, but his arrest on Ash Wednesday 1979 meant the loss of his football career and of his family life.
"I'm a very angry man, though I'm obviously very relieved that this nightmare is now behind me. It has affected me greatly and has caused post-traumatic stress, but now I hope to start life afresh,'' he said.
His three co-accused — Michael Toner, Stephen Crumlish and Gerard Kelly — were also forced to live in different parts of the Republic for 18 years and the four have engaged the Belfast legal firm, Madden and Finucane, to take a civil action against the British government for compensation.
Toner works in security at Waterford Crystal; Kelly is a shop manager in Rathmines, Dublin, while Crumlish, who lives in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, is seriously ill with a rare lung disease.
Leading figures in Derry, including John Hume and Bishop Edward Daly, backed their campaign for total exoneration from the beginning.
However, it took high-level representations to the Tony Blair-led Labour government to get the wheels of justice turning in their favour and the charges were finally thrown out.
at Belfast Crown Court last month.
Afterwards, McGowan made a long-awaited return visit to his native city where his father, Gerry, still lives, and met up again with a few old friends for Christmas drinks.
Sadly, his mother, Bridie, died in 1997 and he was unable to attend her burial. However, special arrangements were made to have her funeral Mass celebrated across the border in Co. Donegal, which he attended.
"My mother's death was probably the hardest thing of all,'' he said emotionally last night.

Hume honoured to receive award dedicated to his hero

by Linda McGrory
SDLP leader John Hume is no stranger to peace awards, but one that will be of special significance to the Nobel Laureate is the international prize in memory of his great hero, Martin Luther King.
Mr Hume was told of his latest honour earlier this week through a personal letter from Coretta King, the wife of the late legendary black civil rights leader.
The Derry peacebroker will receive the Martin Luther King Peace Award at a special ceremony at the King Centre in Atlanta, Georgia on January 18, the 70th anniversary of King's birth and also Mr Hume's 62nd birthday.
Previous winners of the honour include South African clergyman Bishop Desmond Tutu, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former US President Jimmy Carter.
The King award does not include money and consists of a citation and a medal of Dr King. Friends of Mr Hume say the award will have a special significance for him as he has had a life-long admiration for Dr King, who was also a Nobel Peace laureate. A John Hume address is rarely without a quote from King's legendary speeches. Confirming the news of the award yesterday, a deeply moved Mr Hume said he was honoured to have been chosen by Mrs King for the prize, which is usually announced by the Luther King Centre in Atlanta. "I rarely make a speech without quoting Martin Luther King and at our party conference every year, the anthem associated with his era, We Shall Overcome, is always sung," said Mr Hume. "He is one of my major heroes and someone whose philosophy has had enormous influence on me".
At the presentation of the Nobel Prize to Mr Hume and David Trimble last month, he finished his address in Oslo, by saying: "I will now end with a quotation of total hope, the words of former laureate and one of my great heroes of this century, Martin Luther King Jr — 'We shall overcome'."
Mr Hume denied reports he had turned down an honour in Britain's New Year list, but said it was SDLP policy not to accept them.

Man, 71, accused of raping girl, 12

by John Murphy
A 71-year-old man will make his second appearance before Tallow District Court on Friday on a charge arising from the birth of a baby to a 12-year-old girl.
The man, who first appeared before the court on November 13 last and was released on his own bail of £800, denies the unlawful carnal knowledge charge.
The alleged victim has claimed she had a once-off sexual encounter with the man at a location in the South-East, became pregnant and gave birth to the child.
The pregnancy of such a young girl led to a garda investigation which resulted in the arrest of the accused who was then charged two months ago.
Since then a number of witness statements have been taken by the gardaí and a book of evidence is expected to be completed in time for Friday's sitting of the court.
If the book of evidence, in the view of the District Court Judge, establishes there is a reasonable case against the accused he will be returned for trial to the Circuit Criminal Court.
However, the elderly man strenuously denies the charge and his legal representative is expected to oppose the State application to return him for trial.

Don't name us, groups plead to Revenue

by Mary Dundon
THIRTY-TWO tax-exempt charitable bodies have asked the Revenue Commissioners not to reveal their names in a list due to be published at the end of the month.
The main argument put forward for not publishing the names is that these groups are a private trust and have a right to privacy under the Freedom of Information Act.
Now the Revenue Commissioners and the Ombudsman will examine each case to see if the body merits exclusion from the list.
And while consideration will be given to their right to privacy, the names will be published if the full facts of the case reveal that it is in the public interest, a Revenue Commissioners spokesman said.
The Ombudsman has ordered that the names of all the registered 6,305 tax-exempt bodies be published under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.
But before the Revenue Commissioners proceeded with the publication they contacted all groups on the list asking them if they were still in operation and if they had any objection to their names being made public. Thirty-two groups wrote back stating that they objected to their names being made public. Their objections were mainly on grounds that they were a private trust and not the beneficiaries of any public funding, a Revenue Commissioners spokesman said.
And now both a Ombudsman and Revenue Commissioners will examine each case to decide whether or not there is a bona fide case for allow their names to be exempted from the public list.
A Ombudsman's spokesman said the main criteria that they will use in assessing whether or not to allow a name to be excluded from the list is if it complies with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.
If any body is arguing that they are a private trust and entitled to privacy and the protection of personal information this will be taken into account, the Ombudsman's spokesman said.
But even though the right to privacy is enshrined in the Freedom of Information Act, the public interest will take precedence if the full facts of the case show that the names should be made public, the Ombudsman's spokesman said.

Dog unit assists in search for two missing Germans

by Eddie Cassidy
A DOG search and rescue unit was drafted in yesterday to assist in land and shore searches for two German companions missing in West Cork.
Target searches by IMES coastal units also concentrated on caves at a nearby island and the headland close to the Toe Head holiday home property, near Skibbereen, where the two missing people had last been spotted on Thursday last.
Garda Inspector Liam Horgan, leading the inquiry into the missing persons' case, said: "We have been concentrating our efforts on a shore search because there is no evidence to suggest that they travelled away from the Toe Head area. But, equally, there is no evidence to suggest that they may be in the water. What is being done is common procedure in a missing persons' investigation."
He said that the last confirmed sighting of 33-year-old Andreas Speich, a native of Bonn and a Berlin companion, 21-year-old Diana Sehmeisch, had been in the Toe Head area.
Mr Speich had been a live-in caretaker for the past ten weeks at the property, owned by German national Dirk Koch, and had been joined last December by Ms Sehmeisch.
Nearby beaches, accessible to the combined search parties of gardaí and local IMES coastal units, were combed early yesterday before target searching commenced in specific areas where huge sea swells and winds could possibly have swept any bodies.
Inspector Horgan said that a voluntary-run search and rescue dog unit had offered its services to join in the search. "We accepted the offer of help and the dog unit carried out a search of the terrain surrounding Toe Head Bay," the inspector said.
At low tide, the local Toe Head IMES coastal unit abseiled the headland to search Lamb Island, close to the property where the missing couple had left house doors unlocked and a key in a car. Personal travel documentation was also found in the house.
Search groups will meet again today at daylight for a fourth successive day and it is expected that the Mizen peninsula-based Goleen IMES coastal unit will be brought in to assist with the other rural-based units from Toe Head, Baltimore, Glandore and Castlefreke.

Two staff suspended from credit union after audit

TWO members of staff at Blackpool Credit Union in Cork City have been suspended pending an internal investigation into accounting irregularities.
The ILCU confirmed yesterday that an internal investigation was under way following the discovery of discrepancies believed to be in the region of £1.5 million.
The investigation is expected to take several weeks.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Blackpool Credit Union said it was business as usual at the branch and he assured all of the 8,000 members that their savings, worth in excess of £7 million, were still safe and secure.
But, members have been asked to check if the credit union's figures on savings and loan accounts corresponded with their own.
Blackpool has been listed in the top 25% of the country's 535 credit unions.

Driver tells sister he feared for his life during botched robbery

by John Murphy
A SISTER of the driver of the Brinks Allied security van at the centre of a botched armed robbery in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, spoke yesterday of the fear that gripped her brother when the vehicle was rammed from behind by a truck and the armed and masked raiders got away with a fraction of the £400,000 the security van was carrying.
The driver of the security van was John Walsh, (45), an unmarried man from Briskey Upper, Kilrossanty, Co. Waterford.
Mr Walsh has been working in the Dublin area for more than a decade.
Within hours of the robbery he telephoned his sister, Mary Doyle, who lives with her husband and family at Clonea, outside Dungarvan and told her of the fear that gripped him when the armed gang struck.
"John was very badly shaken by the incident, and that fear was evident in his voice when he telephoned me on Monday night just a few hours after the raid'', Mary Doyle said yesterday.
She said that although the security van had bullet proof windows he feared for his life when the armed gang struck.
"He told me the armed gang were very aggressive as they held him and his colleagues on the security van at gunpoint,'' Ms. Doyle said.
Mary Doyle said her brother was still extremely "shook up'' when he spoke with her on the phone hours after the raid.
During his time working in the security industry it was the first incident of this kind that he has experienced since he became a van driver. "He told me how harrowing an ordeal the whole thing had been for him personally'', Ms Doyle said, "and while he accepted the risks involved from the first day he started in the job the reality of how exposed security drivers were to losing their lives only hit home during Monday's raid."
She said her brother is the strong and resilient type however and is unlikely to be "put off'' by Monday's frightening experience.
John Walsh is a member of a well-known and much-respectedKilrossanty family of ten which includes seven boys and three girls.

De Bruin's appeal may start on February 5

by Caroline O'Doherty
UNCERTAINTY hangs over the date for the start of Michelle de Bruin's appeal against her four-year competition ban because her legal team say they have been denied access to documents essential to fight her case.
The triple Olympic swimming champion has been offered the date of February 5 by the appeals body, the Council for Arbitration in Sports (CAS), and has provisionally accepted.
But her solicitor, Peter Lennon, said the appeal would only go ahead on that day if a number of matters were ironed out in the meantime.
Mr Lennon said he was still trying to obtain discovery of documents relating to Michelle's case and to various doping tests carried out on urine samples provided by the swimmer over a period of time.
The principle of discovery is provided for in the procedures adopted by CAS, but Mr Lennon said documents were still being withheld.
Ms de Bruin's legal team have also objected to other aspects of the appeal and already successfully applied for one of the three-member arbitration team to be replaced.
But there are further obstacles ahead, including the requirement that whoever calls a witness to give evidence to the appeal must pay for their expenses.

Opposition to appeal for housing on wildlife site

by John Murphy
AN BORD Pleanala will be the ultimate adjudicator on an application for outline planning permission for a luxury housing development on the outskirts of one of the most popular tourist resorts in the country.
A decision by Cork County Council to refuse the outline permission for the 15-house development at Summerfield, outside Youghal, is being appealed to An Bord Pleanala.
However, at a specially convened meeting of the local Urban Council this week it was unanimously agreed to back the County Council decision and to make a detailed submission to the appeals board citing several reasons why the development should not be allowed to proceed.
The developer is hoping to construct the fifteen luxury homes on one-acre sites along the coastal fringe of the Ballyvergen Marshes and on land that was once a rifle range.
However, in a Foras Forbatha study eighteen years ago the location was declared one of scientific interest, including as it does what is believed to be the largest reedbed habitats in the country — and as a consequence is an area of immense ecological importance.
A Green Party member of Youghal UDC, Cllr Liam Burke, was given the unanimous backing of his Council colleagues when he moved a notice of motion at the specially convened meeting calling on the UDC to make a detailed written submission to An Bord Pleanala supporting the Cork County Council refusal to grant outline planning permission for the proposed housing development.
Cllr Burke told the meeting that the development would obliterate the wildlife habitat and would result in the destruction of a significant part of a highly sensitive ecological area.
He referred also to its proximity to one of the town's magnificent Blue Flag beaches and the fact that it comprises one of the very few areas of extensive coastal freshwater reedbeds remaining in the country. "The proposed development would represent a piecemeal erosion of this status, and would also constitute a material contravention of the County Development Plan,'' he said.

Small dairy farmers must be considered in reform: Collins

by Ray Ryan
ANY reform of the Common Agricultural Policy must reflect the needs of small scale dairy farmers as well as encouraging the intake of more young Irish dairy farmers into the sector, European Parliament Vice-President Gerard Collins has declared.
He said a recommendation to distribute one per cent of extra milk quota to young farmers must be seen as a positive move in encouraging young farmers to continue participating.
However, the decision to exclude Ireland from consideration of a share of the second one per cent of extra quota which is to be given to mountainous and arctic regions clearly discriminates against the interests of Irish dairy farmers and must be fully resisted.
The net effect of this proposal was to ensure that other countries would be given substantial quota increases due to the fact they are demographically made up of more mountainous regions.
Mr Collins said it was estimated that Austria, Finland and Spain would be recipients of substantial quota increases of 7 per cent, 8.3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.
A fairer method of distributing would be to reserve it for less favoured and disadvantaged areas. This would allow Ireland to qualify for a greater share of milk quota resources if such alternative proposals were to be taken on board.
Mr Collins said a 15 per cent cut in milk prices would not be fully compensated by the dairy cow premia.
Estimates suggested that the current levels of compensation proposed by the Commission will only offset about 60 per cent of the losses to dairy farmers.
Any price reduction could only be sanctioned and agreed if compensatory procedures were put in place.

Card recycling to boost tree planting projects

by Karen Loxton
THE eve of Little Christmas saw the Minister for Environmental Affairs, Mr Dempsey, bringing his Christmas Cards to a recycling bin at Boots The Chemists to launch a Christmas Card recycling scheme.
The new initiative, operated by Boots The Chemist in conjunction with The Tree Council of Ireland, Smurfit Recycling and various local authorities, is being launched at its 27 stores nationwide and aims at collecting almost 300,000 cards.
During the months of January and February the public is invited to bring their Christmas cards to the recycling bins at any Boots store. All funds raised will go towards tree planting projects across the country.
Boots The Chemists have operated a similar scheme in the United Kingdom since 1992. Last year the UK Boots collected more than 600 tonnes of cards, the equivalent of saving 10,500 trees.
Boots expects to collect over a quarter of a million cards for recycling in the Republic of Ireland.
Ms Patricia Flanagan of The Tree Council of Ireland said the Council was delighted to be able to participate in the scheme. "We are hoping that this scheme can be an annual initiative and one which will raise public awareness of the importance of trees."

Anger at failure to set up register of paedophiles

by Tony Purcell
THE failure by the Minister for Justice to set up a register of child sex offenders was yesterday described as a disgrace by Fine Gael's Spokesman on Children, Dan Neville TD.
Gardaí are investigating reports of 50 to 60 children having been approached by suspected paedophiles in recent months in different parts of the country.
Deputy Neville said that it was now 14 months since a register was introduced in the UK and Northern Ireland.
"It is now accepted that paedophiles are fleeing the British register and coming to Ireland to carry out their vile acts," he said.
The Limerick West Fine Gael Deputy expressed grave concern at an EU-sponsored report which showed Ireland has the second highest paedophile activity on the Internet in Europe with several hundred Irish-based paedophiles exchanging information regularly on potential child victims.
He said it is a well-known fact that child sex offenders are travelling from the UK and Northern Ireland to carry on their evil deeds and regard the Republic as a 'safe haven'.
Deputy Neville said that while he did not regard the introduction of a register as a panacea to prevent all sexual offences against children, the setting up of a register would be a significant step in helping the gardaí track down the whereabouts of those who may be offending against children. It would be also a powerful deterrent to potential offenders.
"The Minister for Justice should have accepted my proposals in the Private Members Bill submitted last May. Nothing has happened since then.
"I call on the Minister to stop issuing statements and set up a Register of Child Sex Offenders immediately," stated Deputy Neville.

Card recycling to boost tree planting projects

Influential figures expressed doubts over the case

LEADING religious and political figures, as well as some independent legal groups, were highly dubious from the start about the case against the Derry Four.
SDLP leader John Hume, who knew their families, was always convinced of the innocence of the four and has warmly welcomed their acquittal.
Bishop Edward Daly, of Derry, gave a glowing reference to Gerry McGowan, on December 17, 1980, describing him as a "good young man...a sincere and earnest person.'' The bishop expressed his gravest doubts about McGowan's involvement in the alleged offences.
"I have spent a considerable amount of time checking out alibis and examining the evidence. Unfortunately, in our situation here, all young people from the Creggan area are treated as suspect by the police and security authorities,'' he wrote.
"This is a grave injustice to the bulk of young people living there and to their families. I am convinced that quite a large number of innocent young people are in prison as a result of this attitude. In the case of Gerald McGowan, I have to state that I am convinced of his innocence of the charges that were placed against him.''
The Brehon Law Society, Wall Street, New York, which represents legal professionals, found disturbing discrepancies in statements made by the four defendants and by police constables.
The society, in a letter to the DPP, Belfast, in October 1980, feared a grave miscarriage of justice if the four were convicted on the basis of statements. The letter, signed by society president James P Cullen, also expressed concern about repeated inconsistencies in incidental details about which there should be no dispute.
"This incongruity nurtures a suspicion that the confessions consisted of a tapestry of half-truths and facts supplied by the interrogators,'' the letter stated.
"This would not be the first case in which a confession was signed because it was the only way to bring an end to abusive and fearsome interrogation and not because the accused wished to freely acknowledge a common participation in the alleged offences.''
Strongly urging the DPP to review the evidence, Mr Cullen's letter concluded: "If you then share our substantial doubts, move to have these charges dropped and permit these young men to reassemble their lives. It may still be possible for them to believe the justice system is capable of recognising error and righting wrong.''

Appeal against Flood's public hearing

by Ray Managh
FORMER Dublin city and county assistant manager George Redmond has asked the Supreme Court to allow him challenge the Flood Tribunal's decision to hear in public allegations of corruption levelled against him.
Redmond, now aged 74 and who retired 10 years ago, has in court described as untrue and absurd an unproven assertion made by Tribunal witness James Gogarty of his allegedly having received a £15,000 payment for services rendered to a development group.
He appealed against a decision of Mr Justice Cyril Kelly granting him only limited relief in his bid to stop the Tribunal hearing Gogarty's evidence in public when Mr Justice Flood sits again on January 12 next.
Mr Gerard Hogan S.C., with Mr Kevin Feeney S C and Mr Angus Buttanshaw BL, argued for a full judicial review of the Flood Tribunal decision on the grounds it was ultra vires the powers of the Tribunals of Inquiry Evidence Act.
Mr Hogan submitted that when the Tribunal sat in private to consider whether or not Gogarty's allegations constituted a sufficient case to proceed to full public inquiry it erred in having failed to hear submissions to the contrary from Mr Redmond's legal team.
Gogarty claimed to have had two meetings with Redmond in 1988 in relation to a planning permission in respect of lands at Forest Road, Swords, Co Dublin.
He alleged Redmond had advised a way around planning permission restrictions under an agreement that he would be paid for advice.
Gogarty also alleged that at a meeting in Clontarf Castle in June 1989 Redmond had received an envelope which Gogarty believed contained £15,000 in cash. Redmond said there was a deliberate implication it was reward for services rendered in the past.

Children's reading is suffering in poorer areas

IN disadvantaged areas, up to 10% of primary school children are failing to grasp basic reading and writing skills, according to IBEC.
Yesterday, the organisation expressed concern that 20,000 young people leaving school each year were ill equipped for life and work, and the organisation has called for a strategy to ensure that all young people remain in education or training until the age of 18 years.
It was not acceptable that 10% of primary school children in disadvantaged areas were unable to read a newspaper or fill out basic forms, Padraig O'Grady, IBEC's assistant director on social policy stated.
"This results in unacceptably large numbers of students leaving school every year with little or no qualifications to speak of. Last year 13,000, or 20% of the student cohort, dropped out of our second-level system.
"Many of these young people will run the risk of being unemployed in the future. Both early school leaving and the problem of underachievement of such a significant number of students must be tackled," he stressed.
The situation was further compounded in that one in every ten students sitting the Leaving Certificate examination failed to get five D3s at any level.
"Ireland's future is as a high skilled, highly innovative economy and it is vital that our education ensures that all Irish people have the opportunity to participate in that future," O'Grady added.
The percentage of third level entry from some schools was as high as 90%, while others had a drop out rate of 60% by the age of 15.
"Low educational attainment has increasingly damaging consequences for the individual and society, as it can consign people to long-term unemployment and undermine social cohesion," he said.
Underachievers and early school leavers were best tackled at an early stage.
IBEC called for more resources to be channelled into schools in disadvantaged areas and for a strategy to ensure that all young people remain in education or training until they reach 18 years of age.
"Research indicates that education systems with higher school leaving ages succeed in keeping more young people at school," the IBEC spokesman said.