Tax break for 'artist' formerly known as Dickie the legendary crooner
Sunday October 05 2008
He's not only one of Ireland's veteran crooners but Dickie Rock has now been officially recognised as an 'artist' by the taxman.
The legendary Dickie, who is still on the road doing shows, has joined Bono and other members of the music and literary elite in recognition of his controversial and best-selling autobiography Always Me which was published last year.
"If I got it for all my income tax free it would mean something, but the book was just a sideline," he says. "In many ways I'm glad it's over and all the controversy has died down," the singer said last week, as he prepared for a new show in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, on Sunday, October 12.
"We're going back to a 'variety' show, but we'll be giving it a new twist," says Dickie.
As well as a new band Santoira, the star will be performing another 'first' when he does a duet with his son Richard.
Shooting victims weren't 'out to kill'
The family of Darren Geoghegan who was shot dead along with Gavin Byrne at Knocklyon, Co Dublin, in November 2005, have denied reports that the men were preparing to carry out an assassination at the time of their deaths.
In a statement the Geoghegan family said they have autopsy reports which categorically show that neither man had received a body wax shortly before their murders.
They said: "Three years after this tragedy these false claims are being made about our son and brother. This has caused terrible suffering for our family."
The statement also denied claims that Darren Geoghegan had grown up with Patrick Doyle who was shot dead in Spain earlier this year. The family said: "Darren was never a childhood friend of Patrick Doyle's. Since Patrick's murder our two families are helping each other through our bereavement."
