The Sunday Times front page carries an update on the ongoing GSOC controversy. The paper, who broke the story last weekend, today claims that the security sweep to search for possible surveillance was ordered after the Ombudsman became suspicious over the level of detail known by a senior garda in relation to information which had been removed from an Ombudsman report, but had been discussed in a private meeting.
The GSOC story shares space on the front page of The Times with a story that nine government ministers are claiming €40,000, using a tax break that Enda Kenny had vowed to abolish.
The ministers, all in the Fine Gale-Labour coalition government, are claiming tax breaks under the dual-abode allowance. This allowance, which was introduced in 2002 by then finance minister Charlie McCreevy, lets TDs from outside Dublin write off 100% of Mortgage interest on second homes in the capital that are required for their work.
Enda Kenny had vowed to abolish the tax break while he was in opposition.
The Times turns to a lighter note on its back page, telling us about new research that reveals animals – including parrots, sea lions and monkeys – have the ability to move in time to a musical beat, while some such as bonobos – a type of chimpanzee – can even reproduce a rhythm by drumming sticks. In one case a sea lion has been filmed dancing to the 1970s disco classic Boogie Wonderland by Earth Wind & Fire, while a bonobos have been playing with Peter Gabriel. No, really.
Here’s one of the dancing animals in question, Ronan the sea lion.
The Sunday Independent has taken a somewhat contrasting line on the GSOC scandal, reporting that the GSOC “wrongly interpreted” an account of a senior garda member, who the Independent name as Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.
The paper says their sources believe the comments by Callinan were “misinterpreted by two officials in the Ombudsman’s office as indicating that the Garda Commissioner was privy to information that should only have been known to GSOC mismanagement” and that, subsequent to this misinterpretation “these officials fed this misunderstanding into the public interest report”.
The front page also carries the story that a government lead adviser on child protection has expressed “profound concern” after a former Catholic Church watchdog accused religious bodies of using “covert means” to limit its investigations.
Inside there is ample coverage of yesterday’s Labour party conference in Enfield, Co. Meath.
The Sunday Business Post leads with the headline ‘Nama to examine rapid fire disposal of €22bn loan book’.
The report tells us that the government have asked the National Asset Management Agency to “examine a rapid disposal of its remaining €22bn loan book, as part of an ‘overarching review’ of the state’s mammoth bad bank.”
Michael Noonan has told Nama to “consider selling off large portions of its loan book through a small number of big ticket portfolio deals, in order to tap into the growing international demand for Irish assets.”
The Sunday Business Post also carries an exclusive on its front page, revealing there are “significant differences in death rates for conditions such as strokes and heart attacks are evident at hospitals across the country.”
The story tells us that the death rate for patients suffering from stroke was up to four times higher in some hospitals than in others, with the rate of deaths from heart attacks as much five times higher in some hospitals than in others.
This is the first time figures such as these have been provided for individual hospitals.
The Irish Sun on Sunday and The Irish Sunday Mirror both have the story of the birth of Simon Cowell’s son, Eric, who was born on Friday.
The Mirror front page carries the story of Andrew Duran, the father who raped his then 15 year old daughter at a house party in 2007. The paper carries an exclusive interview with the victim, Cherie Thunder.
