The Irish Cabinet have granted approval to progress legislation to commence the drafting of legislation that will, in certain situations, remove guardianship rights from individuals convicted of killing their partner or the other parent of their child.
The issues around guardianship of children in a scenario where one parent or guardian kills the other, should not be regarded as a matter of private law between the families concerned but, instead, should be regarded as a child protection and welfare issue arising in the public law area.
The proposed legislation delivers on the Programme for Government commitment to “examine proposals to remove guardianship rights from those convicted of killing their partners or a parent of their child”. It is part of the ongoing work to implement appropriate recommendations from the Study on Familicide and Domestic and Family Violence Death Reviews.
This General Scheme of the Guardianship of Infants (Amendment) Bill 2025, which will be referred to the relevant Joint Oireachtas Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny, is intended to prevent vulnerable children from further trauma, to provide clarity for surviving family members, and to prevent perpetrators from maintaining control over these children’s lives.
The proposed legislation allows for an application to court within six months of the conviction of a parent or guardian of a child for murder or manslaughter of another parent or guardian of the child. On this application the court will make an order removing or confirming the convicted parent or guardian. The legislation will not be retrospective.
Following pre-legislative scrutiny, drafting of the Guardianship of Infants (Amendment) Bill 2025 along the lines of the General Scheme will commence.
Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.
Ms Emily Logan Ireland’s first Police Ombudsman.
Meanwhile today, also saw the commencement of the landmark Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024.
The office holders, senior leaders, Board and Authority members to these new and reformed bodies will now formally take up their appointments and roles.
Today, President M.D. Higgins appointed Ms Emily Logan as Ireland’s first Police Ombudsman, nominated by the government, following an open competition undertaken by the Public Appointments Service.
The commencement of the Act follows the establishment of new Votes for the Policing and Community Safety Authority and Fiosrú – The Office of the Police Ombudsman on Tuesday. Dáil approval was required for the allocation of funds to the two bodies through a Revised Estimate and a motion was brought by the Minister before the Dáil, to approve the allocations.
Application Ref: 2560079. Applicant: Paula Barry. Development Address: 18 Sarsfield Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Development Description:(a) a proposed new extension to the existing dwelling; (b) associated alterations to existing dwelling to accommodate proposed new extension & internal layout; (c) alterations to the existing detached shed structure; (d) all associated site works. Status: Conditional. Application Received: 07/02/2025. Decision Date: 26/03/2025. Further Details:http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560079/0.
Application Ref: 2560066. Applicant: James O’Shea. Development Address: Ballygammane, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Development Description:(1) domestic garage/store, (2) sunroom to side of existing house, (3) conversion of existing domestic garage to a bedroom and ensuite including alterations to roof and front elevation, (4) additional window to side elevation and (5) all associated site works. Status: Conditional. Application Received: 04/02/2025. Decision Date: 25/03/2025. Further Details:http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2560066/0.
Recall Of Tony’s Chocolonely Dark Almond Sea Salt Due To Presence Of Small Stones.
Alert Summary dated Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025.
Category 1: For Action Alert Notification: 2025.16 Product Identification: Tony’s Chocolonely Dark Almond Sea Salt; pack size: 180g Batch Code: 162633 and 162614; best before date: 28/02/2026 Country Of Origin: Belgium.
Message: The above batches of Tony’s Chocolonely Dark Almond Sea Salt are being recalled due to the possible presence of small stones. Point-of-sale recall notices will be displayed in stores.
Action Required: Wholesalers, distributors, caterers and retailers.
Wholesalers/Distributors: Same are requested to contact their affected customers and recall the implicated batches and provide a point-of-sale recall notice to their retail customers.
Caterers/Retailers: Same are requested to remove the implicated batches from sale and display recall notices at point-of-sale.
Consumers: Same are advised not to eat the implicated batches.
Pre-deceased by her husband Eamon; Mrs Le Blanc passed away peacefully, while in the care of Northwick Park Hospital, Watford Road, Harrow, United Kingdom. Her passing is most deeply regretted, sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her sorrowing family; daughter Ramona, sons Edward and Raymond, daughters-in-law Caroline and Rebecca, grandchildren Katie, Eva and Jack, brothers and sister, brothers-in-law, sister-in-law, extended relatives, neighbours and friends.
For those persons who wish to attend Requiem Mass for Mrs Le Blanc, but for reasons cannot, same can be viewed streamed live online, HERE
The extended Le Blanc and O’Driscoll families wish to express their appreciation for your understanding at this difficult time, and have made arrangements for those persons wishing to send messages of condolence, to use the link shown HERE.
Fool’s Day has arrived and it’s nice to know that the world still celebrates folly, throws wisdom to the wind and embarks on a riotous orgy of devilment and idiocy.
April Fool’s Day
Mind you, we have been making fools of ourselves all year round, but April 1st is open season for all sorts of lunatics and twits. We can all make absolute asses out of ourselves without any fear of reprisal on that day and get away with it ,as convention puts the stamp of respectability and indeed reverence on the Day of Fools.
The whole concept is a very healthy one; indeed if I had my way every day should be officially Fools Day. The people whose company I enjoy best in this valley of error and terror are the stupid ones who in reality are really the wise ones, for they are aware of their shortcomings, but absolutely revel in their folly. They chuckle at themselves at least ten times a day in the mirror as they flounder from one unholy and unfortunate occurrence to another. And happy the man who, when told that his cattle have strayed ten miles up the road, replied that he deliberately left the gates open to provide an excuse to go for a ten miles jog!
We are all fools but humanity will never accept that incontrovertible fact and thus is the sad, sorry and shameful condition of mankind. The Shakespearian character who cried : “Let me play the fool”, was no fool at all. He knew himself and far from conning himself in the matter, was quite content in being a confounded eejit. If only we could see ourselves as others see us – poor blundering awkward amadans, then surely life would be that much more tolerable and far less tormenting. But pride, vanity, status-seeking and silliness of convention, even in our educational system, lauds the wise and brainy and extolls the merits of these folks. There is only scorn and derision for the fool. What a ridiculous sense of values we have to be sure. Folly is always jolly and I’m sure some of our leading comedians would agree. Power rarely belongs to the wise who only write about it. No, it is the eejits who waste their lives in hassling and hustling in a blind ambitious frenzy that is the hallmark of the fools who are the plutocrats of earth, whatever about heaven. I see little advantage in being a knowledgeable individual. If you are the essence of wisdom ,you will probably write a book about your climb to success and sure as water runs and grass will grow some wise scoundrel will write another book to call you a liar and a fool.! And they would probably be absolutely correct. True also that the fool is always an attractive character. The self-styled wise, fearing no assault from a fool leave the poor eejit to enjoy the world at his leisure; he poses no threat to them. The cute man will ponder long and deep over the seemingly insurmountable problems. The fool will not even bother to consider them, and will go upon his stupid way, joyful and unperturbed. In recent years the countryman has been the most successful fool of all. For under the guise of folly, he elicited the paternal and maternal solicitude of us all . Arra ‘tis ludicrous. Here we all are pretending to be little fools around All Fools Day, when really, we are “amadáns” all year round. Go on, tell some ‘gom’ his shoe lace is loose, when it is not and laugh like a hyena at the result. But you are fooling nobody. You just know that you, me, and all of us, are unvarnished idiots and are destined to be such. Go on, avoid the reality and tell yourself how wise and prudent you are and so avoid coming face to face with yourself. As the world celebrates the International Feast of the Fool today, why not repent? Repent of your wisdom and rejoice in your folly. You’d be a fool if you didn’t.
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