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A CALL was made at the John Hewitt International Summer School yesterday for the Northern Executive to lead the fight against sectarianism. SDLP Assembly member for South Belfast Conall McDevitt said there should be a more cohesive approach to try to create a shared future for everyone in Northern Ireland. “We cannot be complete as a nation without a shared vision of our future.” THE ALL-PARTY consensus on the children’s rights referendum could be eroded if the poll is not held soon, Fianna Fáil TD Mary O’Rourke has warned. The former education minister chaired the Oireachtas joint committee that arrived at an agreed wording to put before the people. “We had a great consensus built up, that gave its own momentum towards the holding [of the referendum] and I fear falling back from that will have undesirable consequences in that the consensus would begin to fritter away,” Ms O’Rourke told RTÉ’s News at One yesterday. ENJOYING good “social connections” with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours can improve an individual’s chances of survival by 50%, a study has found. Having little social interaction can be as unhealthy as smoking 15 cigarettes a day or being an alcoholic, academics at Brigham Young University in America concluded. The damaging impact of hate crime needs to be given greater prominence in the courts, a leading watchdog has warned. Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) published its latest review of how hate crime is handled by the justice system. It recognised progress since its first report three years ago, but noted that a hate crime strategy has yet to be developed, while more needs to be done to highlight hate crime offences in court. THE company behind the controversial Mosney asylum seekers centre made a political donation of €4,050 to Fianna Fail last year while earning millions in revenue from the State. The donation falls under the €5,079 that has to be declared by political parties. New figures for the Mosney company also show it received €8.7m in payments from the State on behalf of asylum seekers in 2009. THE PUBLIC’S faith in Ireland’s child protection system has been shattered, an Oireachtas committee has heard. The chief executive of the children’s charity Barnardos, Fergus Finlay, told the committee on health and children serious concerns about the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) ability to fully safeguard those at risk of harm had been raised. THE GOVERNMENT is unlikely to hold a planned referendum on children’s rights this year due to concerns over how the wording of an amendment to the Constitution would affect several key policies. There are fears bolstering children’s rights could prevent the deportation of parents unlawfully in the State and entitle children faced with expulsion from schools to legal representation. MORE than €40 million will be spent on the troubled Thornton Hall prison project before a cell is built. A contract worth €2.6m is being signed this week for a company to build a 1.5km access road, including an underpass, to the site in rural north Dublin. The first phase of the resurrected project was announced by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern yesterday. THE Government has again been accused of failing children, as figures from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children show there were almost 450,000 calls to its helpline in the first six months of the year.  Leave a comment  Child Abuse, Children, Children's Rights, Funding Cutbacks, Government Cutbacks, Recession  Barnardos, Childline, Children, Government Cutbacks, Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, ISPCC, ISPCC Helpline, Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Recession PETER Power has welcomed new legislation announced this week which aims to empower people against intruders in their home. The Minister of State is delighted that the situation has been addressed. “An attack on the family home and its occupants is an extremely serious crime. It is entirely natural for a home owner to protect his or her home and their family members”. The new Bill will states that the use of justifiable force against an intruder with criminal intent would not exclude the use of force causing death. |
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