GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news that you need to know as you start your day.
1. Mother and Baby Homes
In our lead story this morning, Órla Ryan reports that just 40 survivors of mother and baby institutions have been granted access to some of their medical files by the Department of Children, primarily through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
In the last year, many survivors have requested access to their medical files and other personal records held by the Department, which became the data controller for records held by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes when it wound down in February 2021.
However, there is an ongoing row over whether or not a General Practitioner (GP) needs to sign off on the request before the files are given to the person in question. Many survivors have been unable to get access to their records, or have received heavily redacted files.
The Journal has learned that all 31 requests made via FOI requests to date have been granted or part granted (meaning some of the information is redacted).
2. Clare
A 32-year-old man appeared in court on Saturday charged with murder following the discovery of a man’s body at a home in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare on Friday.
At a special sitting of Ennis District Court at 9.25pm on Saturday night, Thomas Lorigan of no fixed abode appeared charged with the murder of John O’Neill (78) at St Brendan’s Rd, Lisdoonvarna at an unknown time on 6 or 7 January.
Giving evidence of arrest, charge and caution at Ennis Garda Station at 8.03pm on Saturday evening, Dt Sgt John Farmer of Kilrush Garda Station told the court that when cautioned and charged, Lorigan said ‘no comment’.
Solicitor for Lorigan, Shiofra Hassett asked that he be psychiatrically assessed while on remand in prison.
3. Missing appeal
Gardaí are seeking the public’s assistance in tracing the whereabouts of a 46-year-old woman, who has been missing from her home in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim since Thursday 6 January.
Devon Mac Gillivray is described as being 5’10” in height, of slim build with brown eyes and long, straight black hair.
She is thought to be wearing a black hooded rain jacket, a green fleece top, dark coloured trousers and either black boots or black runners.
4. Weight loss
The Department of Health has spent €230,000 this year to sponsor the current season of RTÉ’s Operation Transformation.
For the second year in a row, the weight loss and lifestyle series is sponsored by Healthy Ireland – a government initiative aiming “to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in Ireland”.
Over €350,000 was spent between advertisements and sponsorship of the show last year, with a Department spokesperson confirming €230,000 was spent on Healthy Ireland’s sponsorship this year.
5. Brexit
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned she is prepared to unilaterally override parts of the post-Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland if the negotiations she is newly leading fail.
Truss said she will suggest “constructive proposals” to her EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic this week during their first face-to-face talks.
6. Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the country has reached “a basic agreement” to impose restrictions on the US military amid growing concerns about a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
Kishida said American soldiers will stay on base “except when absolutely necessary”, which presumably means for emergencies or other security reasons.
7. Cryptocurrency
In Kosovo, police seized hundreds of cryptocurrency mining machines and arrested one person in the tense ethnic-Serb majority north as the country suffered an energy crisis.
During the operation police “confiscated 272 different anti-miner devices used for the production of Bitcoin”, a police statement said.
8. Columbia
Victor Escobar decided to die and to do so publicly, becoming one of the first Latin Americans to end their life without suffering from a terminal disease, under a ground-breaking court ruling in Colombia.
Hours before dying yesterday, 60-year-old Escobar celebrated what he called victory in his two-year battle with a lung ailment that left him unable to breathe on his own
9. Quiz
Yesterday would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday, so we thought we’d test your knowledge of the Starman’s discography to mark the milestone.
Can you match these lyrics to the correct song?
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