Kathleen Barrington

In fact, Ms Burton (inset below) applied to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for an extra pay allowance for another advisor, Edward Brophy.

Ms Barrington's salary falls within the normal pay scale for a ministerial advisor of €80,051 - €98,424.

We are happy to clarify this.

Dragon writer Anne dies (85)

Anne McCaffrey, whose vision of an interstellar alliance between humans and dragons spawned two dozen Dragonriders Of Pern novels, has died in Ireland.

Random House said the 85-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts-born author died of a stroke on Monday at her rural residence south of Dublin, her home for 40 years. She christened her house Dragonhold.

"Surrounded by the reassuring presence of family and close friends, her passing was swift and without suffering," her three children said in a statement.

Ms McCaffrey moved to Ireland in 1970 after filing for divorce from her husband of 20 years.

'Act of love' as I killed ill mum

A scientist who helped his terminally ill mother die in New Zealand has been sentenced to five months of home detention.

Sean Davison (50) wrote a book in which he described how his 85-year-old mother Patricia was in pain during the last few months of her life. He gave her crushed morphine tablets in a glass of water -- described as "an act of love".