Coast Guard search and rescue service contract worth €270m up for tender
A contract for a new national search and rescue service for the Irish Coast Guard could be worth over €270m, it has emerged. The Department of Transport currently uses helicopter firm CHC Ireland to provide 24/7 search and rescue services at Dublin, Shannon, Waterford and Sligo. In a 10-year strategy, the department wants a new search and rescue supplier from 2012 to 2022.
The documents show that "as a guide" the current contract is worth €27m a year. While broadly the same level of service is required, the Coast Guard says the new arrangement "may however involve a change of current bases, availability or number of aircraft, using more modern helicopters with a national search and rescue role".
FG 'astonished' at garda overtime
The Fine Gael Justice spokesperson Charlie Flanagan has expressed his "astonishment'' that four of the 10 top earners for garda overtime are from Mayo. Some 20 garda earned an average of just over €55,000 a year on top of their salaries. One Mayo garda earned €80,990.46 in overtime according to the figures supplied to Mr Flanagan. A garda sergeant, also based in Mayo, received €70,890 in overtime payments, while another Mayo-based sergeant got €68,587.33 worth of overtime. Mr Flanagan said it appeared to him that the huge overtime bills arose from the Shell to Sea campaign in Mayo.
TV documentary on Conor Cruise
Conor Cruise O'Brien's complex and controversial political legacy is the subject of a special Leargas documentary, Cloch le Carn, to be transmitted on RTE 1 television at 7.30 tomorrow. Presented by Pat Butler and produced by Kevin Cummins, the programme contains contributions by Olivia O'Leary, Eamon McCann, Ite Ni Chionnaith, Senator Eoghan Harris, Poilin Ni Chiarain and Professor Richard English.
Man held after high-speed chase
A man was being held in Clontarf garda station last night following a high-speed chase in a stolen car across Dublin in which he was pursued by up to 30 gardai from Store Street, Raheny, Clontarf and Howth stations.
It is understood the car had been forcibly taken from its owner yesterday morning in Ballymun in a suspected case of 'carjacking'. The pursuit ended when the man drove the car into the sea at Sutton. He was subsequently apprehended by armed gardai after he abandoned the vehicle and ran into the sea.
Gardai seize drugs worth €250,000
DRUG squad detectives seized a huge consignment of cannabis and ecstasy tablets, with a street value of close on €250,000, in a swoop early yesterday in Co Cavan.
The find which included a cannabis growing and processing operation was made at a house about a mile-and-a-half from Cavan town. One man was detained.
The Stylistics on greatest hits tour
The Stylistics, who played the first ever open-air gig in Ireland in 1974 at the RDS, will return with a greatest hits tour on November 1, at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
The Stylistics had 12 consecutive top 10 hits from 1971 to 1975, including Can Give You Anything (But My Love) and You Are Everything.
Garda remains in serious condition
DONEGAL Garda Robert McCallion remains in a "serious but stable" condition at Dublin's Beaumount Hospital. The 29-year- old was struck by a car when getting out of a patrol car he was in at the Tara Court area in Letterkenny on Thursday.
No winner of €7.056m lottery jackpot
THERE was no winner of last night's €7,056,273 Lotto jackpot. The numbers were 1, 9, 20, 21, 38, 41 (bonus 14). Two winners of the Match 5+bonus prize each get €25,000 ; 54 Match 5 winners who get €2,071 each; 176 Match 4+bonus (€159); 3,056 Match 4s (€56); 4,458 Match 3+bonus (€26); and 52,851 Match 3s (€5). The Lotto Plus 1 numbers were 14, 16, 21, 25, 30, 33 (bonus 41) and the Lotto Plus 2 numbers were 16, 23, 26, 35, 38, 39 (bonus 32). In the UK draw for stg£14.1m, the numbers were 31, 2, 28, 47, 17, 19 (bonus 14).
'Big four' consider citizens' ideas
'The Ideas Campaign', launched earlier this month to provide a voice for Irish citizens to offer their ideas on how to overcome Ireland's economic recession, is to be reviewed by Ireland's 'Big Four' accountancy firms.
Managing partners of firms Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC are to consider the 3,500 ideas, including such suggestions as creating tax incentives for employers who hire staff from the live register, and the creation allotments to grow fruit and veg.
Raidio na Gaeltachta wins top award
RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta has been named radio station of the year at the Celtic Media Festival. The winner of the award was announced at a gala ceremony at the festival in Caernarfon, Wales, last Friday night.
Publican leaves over €5m in his will
A Kildare publican has left more than €5m in his will, which went to probate in Dublin last week. Thomas O'Rourke, Main Street, Newbridge Co Kildare, a publican, who died on August 23, 2007, left estate valued at €5,403,848. Other wills: Gabrielle Kavanagh, widow of Stratford Haven, Orwell Road, Dublin, left €2,737,065; Una McCormack, widow, Merlyn Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, left €2,435,812; Ida Mary Patricia Mathews, widow, Park Lane, Sandymount, D4, left €2,369,125; Patrica Kemp, housewife, of Saval Park, Dalkey, left €1,688,715; John M Farrell, a barrister, of Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, left €1,450,620 and Brian Price, a solicitor, of Newlands Cross, Dublin, left €1,246,069.
The value of estates may include property, including the family home, and should not be regarded as cash amounts.
