Tragedy for the Sligo Skeffington family; Former Rehab CEO Angela Kerins tells of her "ordeal" after she lost her job; the jubilant Ireland under-19 women's soccer team
The Irish Independent leads with the tragic story in Sligo where a family have been left inconsolable after the fatal stabbing of a nine-year-old boy by his older brother, who then hanged himself. Shane Skeffington and his wife Carmel returned from a Sunday afternoon shopping trip to town to find a scene of horror in the house where they had left their eldest son Shane Jnr on babysitting duty.
Meanwhile, former Rehab Group chief executive Angela Kerins claims she lost her €240,000 job and was hospitalised for 10 days after her “ordeal” giving evidence to the Dail’s spending watchdog. The claim was made as Ms Kerins was given leave to institute legal proceedings against the Public Accounts Committee.
The Herald runs a photo of the Ireland under-19 women's soccer team on its front page this morning. The photo shows the team celebrating after they beat the hosts Sweden to advance to the European Championship semi-finals against Holland.
The paper also says gardai have arrested a leading figure in the Irish arts world on suspicion that he was grooming 14-year-old girl for sex on the internet. The suspect who is extremely well-known in theatre and music circles remained in custody at Kilkenny Garda Station last night where he was being grilled by specialist detectives about extremely explicit messages that he sent to the girl’s Facebook account.
The Irish Daily Mirror says a teenager was held at gunpoint and abducted by two masked men he believed wanted to buy his car. A gun was pulled on Gerry Finnegan, 18, and he was kidnapped and taken to a disused farm building at Newtownstalaban, outside Drogheda, Co Louth for several hours.
The Irish Daily Star says Louis Walsh has blasted the “Fake Sheikh” and British newspaper behind the trial of his showbiz pal Tulisa Contostavlos. Louis says Tulisa (26) was targeted in a bid to “ruin her name”. Tulisa’s trial over drug’s allegations collapsed yesterday as the judge believed undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood “told lies”.
New gaeltacht minister Joe McHugh went back to school yesterday to learn Irish, The Sun says. The 43-year-old, who was appointed last week on his birthday, arrived at Oideas Gael college in Glencolmcille, Co Donegal. The minister was put in a “level three” class for his week’s studies.
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor should take over as coach on The Voice of Ireland if Dolores O’Riordan departs as expected, the show’s host Kathryn Thomas has told the Irish Daily Mail. Cranberries star Dolores is expected to announce her exit in advance of the new season of the singing show after just one year in the red chair.
The redevelopment of the Priory Hall apartment complex in north Dublin will cost about €27million, almost €17m more than has been estimated, according to The Irish Times. Work has started in recent weeks on the reconstruction of the fire-trap complex built in 2007 by former IRA hunger striker Tom Feely. It was evacuated on the orders of the High Court nearly three years ago.
