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LAST UPDATE | 29 Jun 2021
A MINISTER FOR State was speaking in his own personal capacity when he said that Ireland should get a second opinion on NPHET advice, it was claimed this evening.
The Green Party has issued a statement this evening claiming that Ossian Smyth was giving his own “personal advice” when he told RTÉ radio that “we will be looking at it again independently”.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) issued advice to government yesterday with four different scenarios for the next three months that modelled the potential of between 250 and 2,170 deaths.
On the foot of this advice, Cabinet postponed the reopening of indoor hospitality and agreed to work on a plan that would see people who are fully vaccinated or had recovered from Covid-19 return to indoor hospitality before a full reopening.
The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said in a letter that the Delta variant would “grow sharply over the coming weeks”.
Speaking to RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Tús Áite programme, Ossian Smyth said the government would seek a second opinion on the NPHET projections from the likes of the World Health Organization or the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
“We will be looking at it again independently… on the figures outside of NPHET. We will ask them [an independent authority] to look at the figures independently,” said Smyth, who is the Minister of State for Public Procurement and eGovernment.
However, a statement to RTE this evening claims the above quotes were from Smyth himself and were not representative of the Government.
It reads: “Minister Smyth was asked on Raidió na Gaeltachta this evening if he believed independent scrutiny of NPHET’s advice would be worth getting. He gave his personal advice that it would. The Government will continue to consider the issue of how best to proceed over the coming days.”
NPHET advice
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the “optimistic” scenario presented by NPHET was akin to a flu season, while the pessimistic one was closer to the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It’s just not possible for us to know at the moment how long this Delta wave will last or how bad it will be. We will see that unfold in Scotland and in England over the next couple of weeks but we’re erring on the side of caution here,” Varadkar said.
The Taoiseach Micheál Martin said NPHET’s advice made clear that if the country was to proceed with 5 July reopening plans, “we would significantly increase the risk of the more negative scenarios and the pessimistic scenarios that they have outlined”.
With reporting by Garreth MacNamee
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Did I read that right ?
Suspended sentence 1 month ?
@Dominic Leleu: a one month sentence suspended as long as he doesn’t molest anyone for two years. What the actual f.
What do you have to do in this country to actually go to jail?
@Sal Paradise: That is a very very good question.
@David Corrigan: Import garlic labeled as onions will get you 6 years.
@Sal Paradise: not pay your TV license would do…..
@Sal Paradise:
Don’t pay your TV licence.
That will get you more time than this sicko.
@Sal Paradise: don’t pay your tv licence and you’ll go to jail
@Sal Paradise: steal from a church! I seem to remember someone actually getting incarcerated for this.
@Sal Paradise: dont pay your tv licence – !
@Sal Paradise: smuggle in garlic or not pay your tv licence
Ah why not throw him a few €100 judge as well he might need it as he has been homeless!!
Our Judicial system is again a joke
I give up! This is a daily read in backwards Ireland.
@Sal Paradise
Dont pay your TV license
@Pl Ster: or protest against water meters being installed outside your house
@stephen darling: or intimidate workers and act like a bunch of wasters
@Conor Thorne: Last time I checked my post I have no water bill coming in my door thanks to all them wasters as you put it..But as I’m taxed to death on every part of my life I do know some of that tax is paying for the clean water coming from my tap..
@Zippy: no you got raw sewage in the sea well done now excuse me I have to go fill my swimming pool. It’s my right thx to you
@Zippy: What has a water bill got to do with this case on here ? Just asking
@Conor Thorne: You’ll receive your excessive use bill in the post. Clown.
@Ian Breathnach: there is no excessive yet you absolute mope
@Zippy: Taxed to death….yet here you are !!
@Conor Thorne: so you think not paying water charges leads to raw sewage in the sea?
@Alan Scott: Sorry your right has nothing to do it with just responding to some ridiculous comment from a clown!
@Tommy Roche: responding to your good self
@Thomas Maher: please don’t encourage conor to reply could be never ending someone put credit in his phone!
Is this article missing something? What have I just read….A teenager sexually assaults a vulberable girl with a disability and gets away with it? If i was that girls parent’s id ask for a retrial . Absolutely horrendous
@Andi O Donoghue: and he skipped the original court hearing
@Andi O Donoghue: definitely seems to be some complex family relationships involved in this. No mention of the vulnerable girls parents at any point. I imagine there is much not being told here.
@Christine Ahern: Third paragraph under ‘the accused’s history’
@Andi O Donoghue: Why ask for a retrial? He admitted his guilt. The issue is with the sentence handed down, which can be appealed by the DPP.
@Joe Bloggs: hold on here he was a kid himself, he was abused himself, he was homeless for many years.
He is an adult now of 24 , working and living in his own home. He is a low risk of re-offending, why take that away from him when he has stability after years of instability.
Another situation where a judge is not competent and should not be a judge
Ahh wasn’t he great helping the Garda out like that and true model citizen…
So one dude the other day got 20 years for what he did.
This guy walks free.
What is the craic with these Judges?? No consistency at all.
Disgrace
Holy jaysus if this doesn’t warrant a jail term what does?
My jaw hit the floor reading through the details of what he did. What an absolute disgrace.
Is there a list of judges in the country where it can be seen which were appointed into the position?
Some people have questions to answer
The justice system in this country is an absolute disgrace. That judge needs to be struck off.
@Lindsey O Connor: sure it was years ago. What does it matter now? Everyone has moved on, to be sure, to be sure.
He skipped court is thst the legal definition
This is how judges make money, they leave these cunce on the streets to reoffend and wait for them to appear again and again in front of them! Judges and solicitors make a fortune out of this policy.
@Macus Mc Mahon: Judges get paid a salary, regardless of appearances.
I certainly would have to question the Judge’s morals and his abilities to hear this case as this fella reached to the bottom of any moral standard’s when he invaded this poor girls life. I hope the DPP will intervene and give this S, Bag a proper sentence
You have to stop paying your bills thats only way people get locked up
He was a kid himself and a victim himself of abuse. He has rebuild his life, has found stability. Prison would only have a negative impact on him.
I have had to read this three times, what the actual f**k is going on in this country. How can someone who abuses a girl with severe disabilities not be a considered a risk to society ????? Shame on the judge, absolute disgrace.
Cut his balls off
@Sean Considine: grow up ffs
@Paul O’Sullivan: if it was your child you wouldn’t be asking anyone to grow up
@r-k: well I think it’s a juvenile to say ‘cut his balls off’
Dublin Teenager 15 who pleaded guilty, slashed throat of a woman (who survived), had access to online porn since age 11 and wanted to kill someone and felt entitled to do so based on his own reality and content absorbed.. It’s all related and out of control now. How many more violent sexually motivated child crimes have to happen. How many more Anna, Boy A and B tragedies.
This is a very sad case of neglect and many mitigating circumstances. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. A child’s actions and behavior are not equal to adults and still developing and learning. This is possibly another case where a child at the time was likely over exposed by adult and inappropriate material, vid games, all sorts and re_enacting (complete lack of controls and regulation in Ireland), commits serious offences against another child. So many cases since Anna Kriegel, the likes of which were not happening in previous generation (before we had so much technology, over exposure, video games) . This could happen to anyone’s child (become the victim or actual perpetrator) and children can be easily led by other children. Society is not blameless. Children’s minds are being warped and sadly children and it seems very young males, teenagers committing violent crimes. Earlier this week a child was convicted of attempted murder, after planning it based on online content how to kill someone. More attacks in Courtown and other places. No where is really safe now. Education in schools and immediate regulations and enforcement to prevent children having access to adult over 18 content is needed urgently before it gets even worse. How many more children need to be injured or lives ruined (prison or sex offenders list) and parents of both destroyed before any action is taken?
What an utter travesty. What possible mitigating circumstances could warrant this animal getting a month of a sentence for the rape of a minor with intellectual disabilities. The fact that he disappeared prior to sentencing for 4 years could be seen could be viewed as part of the rational for a reduced sentence is simply mind boggling. Shame on the seriously broken “justice” system that exists in this country.
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