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National News Briefs - UPDATED

FF urges Varadkar to intervene in Aer Lingus dispute

Fianna Fáil has said the Transport Minister Leo Varadkar needs to intervene and prevent a strike from taking place at the national airline.

Yesterday, staff at Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority voted in favour of strike action over reduced pension entitlements.

The unions involved said they are willing to engage in negotiations with management and therefore they don't think the travelling public will be affected for the time being.

But Fianna Fáil's Transport Spokesperson, Timmy Dooley, has said Mr Varadkar needs to step in and ensure there is a swift resolution to this dispute.
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Quinn insists he has 'broken no promises'

Sean Quinn is insisting he has "reneged on no promise".

The bankrupt businessman is locked in a legal dispute with the former Anglo Irish Bank over debts of more than €2bn.

However, speaking on TV3's 'Tonight with Vincent Brown' last night, the former billionaire said he believes the debt is no longer his responsibility, as the company is not under his control anymore.
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Magee letter shows 'concerns' over policy direction of HSE

Details have emerged of letters sent by the outgoing head of the HSE to the Department of Health, raising concerns about HSE finances.

Cathal Magee announced his intention to step down from the HSE last month, and according to the Irish Times, he claims to have voiced his worries on policy direction and financial challenges as far back as February.

During its latest review of Ireland's case, the bailout troika pointed to the HSE's overrun as something that needed to be tackled.

Industry Correspondent with the Irish Times Martin Wall says Mr Magee also raised his concerns outside the Department of Health.

Mr Wall said: "Four days after he wrote that piece of correpsondence on the 7th of June, he sent a copy of that letter to the head of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Robert Watt.

"Mr Watt is not in the direct reporting relationships, so it shows the concerns that were actually there."
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Martin accuses Health Minister of misleading Dáil

Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin has today accused the Minister for Health of misleading the Dáil over this year's spending plans for the health service.

It comes as correspondence published in today's Irish Times showed that outgoing HSE chief Cathal Magee wrote a number of letters to the Department of Health, asking for guidance on how to reduce costs and curtail services.

Mr Magee announced last month that he was stepping down from his post as chief executive of the HSE.

Deputy Martin said that Health Minister Dr James Reilly misled the Dáil over spending plans at his department.

"I think he misled the Dáil as far back as the estimates for health when he prepared it last December," said Deputy Martin.

"He put figures in there for generating revenue from health insurers and drug pricing agreements that could never be realised.

"And he talked about the €250-300m that he said he would get in 2012 - everybody knew it wasn't possible.

"We now know that the CEO of the HSE, and indeed the Secretary-General of the department Michael Scanlon, the former Secretary-General, equally saying, as far back as March, that they won't get that kind of money."
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3 children in hospital after coastguard rescue

Emergency services were called to assist a group of children that got into difficulty off the coast of Portnoo in Donegal in the last hour.

The coastguard lifeboat and helicopter were alerted to the incident near Loughros Point just before 3pm.

According to Arranmore RNLI, three of the children got into difficulty while out swimming.

All of the children have been recovered and it's understood they're being airlifted to Letterkenny General Hospital.
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Belarusian man set to appeal naturalisation decision

A judge has cleared the way for a High Court challenge by a Belarusian man refused naturalisation over an apparent passport glitch.

The court heard a stamp required to show his continuous residency expired because his passport was in the hands of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service for two months.

The court heard the father-of-two settled with his wife in Ireland in 2001.

He has lawful permission to reside and work here but is required to go to Garda Immigration from time to time to get his permit extended.

He applied for naturalisation in July last year.

The process requires him to show continuous proof of residence in the country for a year prior to that date.

His lawyers say that he was told he did not have the necessary proof because his permit expired the previous September but they claim this was while his passport was in the hands of the immigration service.

They say he sent it in for renewal in August without time conditions and did not get it back for almost two months – by which time the stamp was out of date.

The court has allowed him to bring a legal challenge against the State which will be heard in November.
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Public 'relying more on local pharmacy staff' since recession

Most pharmacists believe that the public are increasingly relying on them for many healthcare services since the start of the recession, a survey has revealed today.

The survey, which was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of the Irish Pharmacy Union, found that 91% of community pharmacists stated that levels of general healthcare reliance on their service has grown as a result of the recession.

These services include advice on minor ailments, health promotion (such as advice and support on obesity and smoking cessation) and basic health screenings, e.g. cholesterol.

The IPU has been calling for the expansion of the role of pharmacists for a number of years. In the last 18 months, the role of the pharmacist has grown with pharmacists now providing Emergency Hormonal Contraception without a prescription and also providing the flu vaccine.

The PwC survey also showed that 97% of community pharmacists believe their healthcare potential is being under-exploited.

"Pharmacists in other countries provide many healthcare services to their patients," said IPU president Rory O’Donnell.

"For example, pharmacists in Scotland carry out Medicines Use Reviews for some patients on behalf of the NHS.

"This ensures patients are getting the full benefit from their medicines and are taking only those medicines which are clearly necessary for their treatment. This reduces medicine wastage and therefore the cost to the State."

Mr O’Donnell called on the Department of Health to engage with the IPU to enable Irish patients to benefit from many extended services provided by pharmacists in other countries.
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Man injured in Limerick gun attack

One man was injured and two escaped unharmed during a gun attack in Limerick.

Gardaí are investigating the shooting in Askeaton at about 10pm last night.

A spokeswoman said three men were in a parked car when a gang pulled up beside them in a black car.

One of the assailants got out of the vehicle and fired a shot through the front window of the parked car.

As the three men ran to safety, a second shot was fired.

One of the men ran in to his house, where his family were inside, and out of the back door,
It is understood the gunman followed him in to the house with the firearm, but then ran back to the awaiting vehicle and fled.

Gardaí said one of the men suffered injuries when pellets hit his right hand.

His injury is not life-threatening.
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Ryanair exec disputes CSO tourist figures

Ryaniar's deputy chief executive is refuting claims that there's been an increase in the number of tourists coming here.

Last week, the CSO released figures that showed there were 12,300 more visitors to Ireland between April and June this year compared to the same period in 2011.

But when announcing the airline's five new routes from Cork to Poland and Lithuania today, Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said there's no improvement in tourism numbers.

He said it’s impossible for tourism numbers to be up when air traffic into the country is down.
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