The Wayne O'Donoghue story - In his own words
 How he killed Robert Holohan; his panic and suicide plan; why he hid the body; how he came to confess....
I was still on holidays from CIT (Cork Institute of Technology). I was to go back to college on the next day, Wednesday 5 January 2005. I was doing a project for college. I got up that morning between 11am and 11.30am. My mother and brother Nicky were in the house. Timmy (another brother) was gone to Cork and my father was gone to work. My mother told me to go out and walk the dog – it
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The semen 'evidence'
Traces of semen on the hand of Robert Holohan became a controversial issue and reference was made to it in the victim impact statement by Majella Holohan. However, the evidence was in no way conclusive and would have been hugely prejudicial to a fair trial. By Ruth O'Kelly...
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No Vision for Change in Mental Health Services
The shocking story of the HSE and it's misappropriation of Mental Health Funding.
By Sara Burke
The HSE is “misappropriating funds allocated to develop mental health services”, while government is stripping mental health services of their main assets – buildings and land. This is according to groups working in mental health. ...
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Archive: The legacy of Benazir Bhutto
The former Pakistani Prime Minister, assassinated on 27 December 2007, herself danced with some of the lethal sectarian organisations that populate much of Pakistan.
By Prakash Kumar
The photodiary below capturing the events that immediately preceded and succeeded the killing of Benazir Bhutto were taken by the Getty Images photo-journalist, John Moore
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Questions for Wayne O'Donoghue and the victim impact statement
  Majella Holohan's victim impact statement caused almost as much sensation as the trial of the man who killed her son. She had submitted a draft of the statement to the judge in the case, Paul Carney, before reading it but then she added explosive new material which lent credence to the suspicion that material evidence was withheld from the jury in the case, which would have secured a conviction for murder....
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The Gravy Train
TDs now earn high multiples of the average wage. They get a basic salary of around €100,000, then lavish expenses and most of them have a Parliamentary nixer to add even more. By Adam Maguire ...
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Who are these guys? The US Presidential contenders
 Hillary Clinton, Democrat, (60)
Senator for New York since 2000. A native of Illinois. Worked as a lawyer, moved to Arkansas, married Bill Clinton in 1975. As First Lady her major initiative, the ‘Clinton Healthcare Plan', failed to gain approval by the US Congress in 1994. She has refused to sign the tax cut pledge from Americans for Tax Reform, which pledges not to create new taxes or raise existing ones. Supports incremental universal health care. While a board member of Wall Mart, she w ...
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Bad hair day for TV3, calamity for Radio One
Sure, I get hot and bothered about media failings. In fact I've made a pretty good career-sideline of getting thus hot and bothered.
But, to be honest, there are a lot of things that I simply don't expect to be done very well. I can hardly recall, for example, the last time I sat through a news bulletin without enduring some offence against English grammar and/or syntax; I don't anticipate, e.g., hearing business journalists, or the stockbrokers who laughably pose as objective experts, making th ...
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The Press Council Regulation without Risk of Change
The launch of the office of the press ombudsman and the press council of Ireland at the start of January was greeted with much fanfare by the press. An Irish Times editorial called it ‘a defining moment in Irish journalism where the rights and responsibilities of the print media can be held to account by readers.' It expressed the hope that the newly adopted code of practice ‘will provide the impetus to improve journalistic standards into the future'. Unfortunately, however, such lof
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RTE steps quietly into the unknown
Vague inklings of digital radio may have passed through your consciousness recently. RTÉ announcers occasionally quietly mention that listeners in the greater Dublin area and the North East can now tune into their favourite shows on their digital radios, or make low-key announcements to the press about trial runs of new digital radio channels.
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My Virtual Life
Ever wanted to strut the catwalk, but weren't exactly blessed with model stature? Or perhaps you fancy living in the Caribbean, but can't afford the property prices? Then plug into Second Life or SL, a 3D virtual world created entirely by its users, where almost anything is possible. ...
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Misrepresentation of crime in Ireland
Once again the annual crime statistics have been wilfully sensationalised by the media and politicians.
Pat Rabbitte, now the Labour Party spokesperson on justice, said the figures confirmed reports of a significant rise in crime, especially violent crime.
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February's Theatre
 One of the most enticing prospects of the new year opens the month of February at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. Michael Barker Caven, fresh from directing Shadowlands to acclaim on the West End, turns his attention to Strindberg's Miss Julie (a version by Frank McGuinness). Caven enjoys his sexual politics and power play on stage, so this should suit him.
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No Smoke without Fire
 The aging Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), the last of three generations of sheriffs, surveys the scene of the crime: multiple bodies are strewn across a small patch of desert near to his border town of Texas. The level of violence perturbs him – this indeed is No country for Old Men. What he doesn't know is that welder Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) had stumbled across the carnage – a drug deal gone wrong – only the day before and made off with $2 million in cash. Moss makes away w
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Putting on the Ice
Ice Hotels are the new Ritz Carlton's. Eoghan Corry writes about the latest super cool trend in holidays...
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PAT KENNY AT 60
 He is Ireland's best talk broadcaster by far. Fluent, intelligent, informed, focused, relaxed, his radio programme is a model of professional broadcasting. All the more so since he curbed a tendency to over-talk, to show-off his erudition and to answer his own questions.
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Crab apple - Crann fia-úll
The crab apple (Malus sylvestris) is native here and in most of Europe. It can be seen mostly in hedgerows and around old farmsteads; the tree was an integral part of the oakwoods of old. Under the Brehon Laws it was designated a ‘Noble of the Wood' because of the importance of its fruits. Today, the fruits are used for making jelly, wine, cider and vinegar. Care should be taken to study the crab apple as many of the trees regarded as crabs are garden escapees.
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Starling (Druid)
Common and widespread throughout Ireland, the opportunistic and adaptable Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is as much at home in town centres and suburban gardens as it is in parks and farmland. Present year-round, our breeding population is supplemented in the winter by migrants from northern and central Europe....
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Oak Glen, Co Wicklow
My arms are around you, and I lean
Against you, while the lark
Sings over us, and golden lights, and green
Shadows are on your bark.
J M Synge, 1871-1909...
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