We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Updated 1.50pm
THE COOKE REPORT into the alleged bugging of the headquarters of the Garda Síochána Ombudnsman Commission (GSOC) is expected to be published before 9pm tonight.
The Cabinet is due to meet at 7.45pm this evening to consider what is being described as a “comprehensive” report before it is published sometime after 8pm.
Speaking on his way into Government Buildings this morning, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said that he has not seen the report yet.
“I haven’t seen the Cooke Report and I don’t know what’s in it,” he said.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed on Friday that he had received a final copy of the report and it is believed that he has been studying it over the weekend.
It had been expected that the report, which was commissioned in February following reports of “unlawful surveillance” of GSOC, would be published this week.
Retired High Court Judge John Cooke was tasked with conducting an independent inquiry into the alleged bugging of GSOC headquarters by the then Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.
Signals were picked up on a phone in the offices and wifi anomalies emerged following a sweep of the building by a security firm.
- additional reporting from Hugh O’Connell
A knee jerk reaction like this is madness, we need to protest. Show the government we want enforcement of the laws we already have rather than more nanny state laws to catch out people on their way to work. If I’m in a stolen car all I need do is drive the wrong way down a duel carriageway and the Guards can’t follow for fear of loosing their job
@Stephen Allen: I read many years ago that Ireland is one of the most legislated countries in europe, apparently you dont know what law you’ve broken until your charged. Its the easy option to put laws in place and prosecute rather than enforce laws that are in place
@Stephen Allen: Well said and 100% correct
McEntee, one of the most incompetent ministers in a generation. Not to mention how important the Justice portfolio is yet here she is. Completely out of her depth. She’s not alone though. Varadkar, Harris, Madigan etc. Woefully incompetent. No wonder our little island is banjaxed.
@Andrew Kenny: I have to agree worst in history….i would assume its also going to cost an absolute fortune to change all the speed limit signs around the country or am i wrong ?do they leave it to each county council to change the signs in their district?
@Andrew Kenny: wait for the sf bashers to come out. They cant be much worse than these guys whose parties have a long pedigree in mismanagement of the nation. Lets pretend its a night out and see if we can get screwed by someone other than the usual same old same.
@Andrew Kenny: She’s a possible future leader of FG and therefore, a possible future Taoiseach, believe it or not !
@Spanner: The SF bashers are at work!
@Andrew Kenny:
At least they show up , unlike McEntee -” works ” from home .
@Sean Walsh: oh that’s actually a horrific taught because its actually true….that could be the future of Ireland…. only thing is she would probably do the same as she has done as a minister and only do it part-time between maternity leave and holidays stuff like that….so we might get a capable deputy running the show for at least 2 years of her tenure if she was in charge of the country….
Something strange about this person McEntee.
She has the aura of someone who has been compromised. Comes across as an automaton, no soul, just a monotonous programmed response to every question as if she does not fully comprehend her ministerial brief and is preoccupied with trying to remember the script her advisors have given her
She’s an inept malleable appointee ideal in modern political circles.
I would imagine that if an advisor playing a practical joke told her that anarchy was to be the new establishment approach to social order she’d stand before the cameras and repeat the same.
She hasn’t a clue what’s going on.
@Tommy Haze: well said, a wooden puppet!
@Tommy Haze: Helen McEntee is more suitable for the camera lense than the Minister for Justice. She is a F joke .
They’re fixated to speeding as the main cause of road fatalities . We already have enough laws but not being enforced.
Speed is not the main factor behind most road fatalities.
@Fintan Stack: however if life was prioritised over speed van revenue we might see them on roads where accidents typically occur.
@Fintan Stack: what is then if not speed?
@M To The B: Crap driving.
More traffic guards needed not replacing traffic signs at what cost there not enough traffic guards to enforce traffic violation
A blanket lowering speed limits is a knee jerk reaction. If people are going to break the current limits, they will break the new ones. Enforcement is the real issue. Once that is sorted, then review the speed limits and adjust as needed, both up and down. Until then they are wasting time!
@Joe x: They’re not though Joe, there’s money to be made right now. The sooner they lower the limits the sooner it starts rolling in. Ching Ching.
@Regular John: They don’t have to even do anything. The hermeneutic cycle of tricking ourselves completes another turn.
Wait until after the devastating election sure.
Imagine the cost alone of changing all the road signs
Not really. Simple respray? Better than leaving them to rust on the poles!
Helen McEntee go now. Dustin the turkey would do a better job.
I’m curious to know, if accidents causing death are up or down? A single bus crash causing 70 deaths is a completely different situation to 70 single vehicle deaths. Are there more accidents, or just more passengers in the vehicles, in those accidents?
@TheBolt: Sure a bus isn’t a plane.
“These are the facts that are emerging”… they’re not exactly emerging. They’ve been known since cars needed to be tested, but a great soundbite nonetheless! No mention of why as usual.
@Thesaltyurchin: the nebulus facts that only the relevant minister gets to see. We just have to go on blind faith that our government are doing whats right and we’ve seen how thats worked out for us. No imagination in the top echelons of our state just dumbing down reactionary tactics, sound bytes and brute force tactics that treat the citizens like children instead of treating us like we have a brain
“Legislation takes time and unfortunately, it comes down to making sure that you make the right decision. I know he’s talking about reducing speed limits in certain areas. That’s borne by facts,” she said.”
What are these facts exactly?
No question, some driver see the speed limit not as such, but a target. That’s down to driving behaviour.
How do they get the numbers and come to the conclusion that recent peak in fatal accidents is down to speed?
If a car is hitting a wall at 80km/h, passengers died, is speed automatically the cause,
because nobody can explain what happened in the car, that might have cause this accident?
@Wolfgang Bonow:
You are assuming this is about road safety ? It’s all about the $$$, nothing more. The placement of the cameras shows that. In the UK they put cameras on dangerous roads and inform drivers, here we put them on the safest roads and hide them behind bushes. Ching Ching.
Road repairs please, its costing a fortune for car owners to get steering and suspension issues resolved.
I suppose that’s one way of slowing them down.
Reducing the speed limit in Dublin to 30 kilometres per hour because people are speeding in Donegal or Tipperary is ridiculous.
I hope McEntee gets booted out at the next general election.
@Nestor: The lads on scooters will be overtaking us !
@Regular John:
I’ve just had a vision of a 15 year old in a black hoody tailgating me on a battery powered scooter… Frustrated by my slow speed he’s flashing a hand held torch into my rear view mirror (to compensate for not having headlights), before overtaking me and giving me the finger as he overtakes at 35 km/h ! It’s on the way folks !
Ffg messaging systems out of kilter.. ff action taken by Christmas. Fg indefinite time frame… No wonder we get feck all done correctly or on time in Ireland. They have ruled the roost for a century and they still can’t coordinate their messages. Government by sound byte.
Ask Eamonn (cabbage head) Ryan and he’ll tell you when to do it. He directs everything else!
This is the sort of window dressing governance I deplore, trying to take easy wins just to give the illusion that you’re doing something. It’s all too common in our low rent politicians, I guess you get the idiots you idiotically vote for!
Not a peep from SF lately, they know the governors are doing more damage to themselves than SF could anyway.
If folks won’t stick to the current limits, what makes anyone think lower limits will be effective? Nonsense!
@Chutes: A reformed Chutes, pleasure to witness and behold. You see, common sense always prevails, it just needs to be dragged out of folk with sheer force. Welcome to the party pal.
Are they aware that in town 30km/h is easy achieved by a drunk cyclist riding down the hill?
Lowering speed limits won’t stop speeders. If they can travel 100km+ on a road then they will do so regardless of the speed limit in place. All this will do is punish the vast majority of sensible drivers. Encourage people to buy dashcams, set up a database for reporting bad driving and increase punishments for offenders.
What ever happened to the announcement by RSA last January that all school road’s were to have 30 km speed limits imposed starting the 1st off June last ???.
any idea how fast you were….ooh howiya minister, thanks for sorting out that with the bins btw. a ticket? nah yer grand there. right you are…say hello to the mrs for me.
Speed is not the issue. 40mph on open roads is dangerous. It will cause more overtaking and that will cause more accidents. Single car accidents are caused by lack of concentration and not paying enough attention to the road. Lowering speed limit won’t help that. What needed is educate people of the dangers of not paying enough attention to the road
Are they going to change the speed signs during this period??
Danny Healy Rea says drunk driving is ok his brother says fast driving at 80k ph is ok on country roads is fine as long as the hedges are cut don’t know who to believe
@Fran Riley: In 1974, the drink driving limit went from 24 pints to 12 pints, and people took to the streets protesting. It looks like the Kerry men are still living in that decade, but they know their audience. Yes, that was pints, not points. The law was changed at europes insistance..
P45
Can’t or won’t bring legislation,quickly,because it has to go through ,both the Dail and Shanad,yet they were able to nationalise the banks,a couple of years ago,overnight,pull the other one Minister,every time I see her on TV,it’s like looking at something created by AI
Just ban Audis!
Knee jerk nonsense.
This woman said on morning Ireland that legislation takes time and can’t be done overnight. They didn’t take long to pass legislation to make sure she was entitled to her ministerial pension Entitlement accruing while she was out on maternity leave on full pay and keeping her as minister without portfolio. Of course if it doesn’t benefit a minister or TD it’s going to take time
It’s more Gardai we need not lower speed limits and also a more up to date Driving test as the level of drivers out there is just shocking these days… a new speed limit will fix nothing they’re some bunch of clowns in that Government
That’s a terrible headline folks!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
Non-TCF/GVL Vendors
have your say