21/08 The Saturday papers

The front pages

‘Files go missing in child vaccine inquiry’ is the lead headline in this morning’s Irish Independent, shedding further light on yesterday’s revelations that children in the care of the state were subjected to medical trials during the 1960s and 70s.

The deputy chairman of the Dáil, Brendan Howlin, who was Labour Minister for Health in 1993, yesterday assured victims that an inquiry found that they suffered no ill-effects from the medical tests, but mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the files relating to the inquiry, while Howlin admitted he did not remember the probe or its findings.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said yesterday, “Until all files are retrieved, the department cannot say if the results of the inquiry exist.”

‘Teacher union warns of ‘chaos’ over failure to fill posts’ accompanies the main story on the front page of this morning’s Irish Times.

The Department of Education are faced with the prospect of hundreds of middle-management positions being left un-filled in second-level schools, with second level teaching unions such as the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) remaining strongly opposed to reforms proposed under the Croke Park agreement.

The Department of Education are to step up efforts to resolve the crisis, which the teaching unions believe could create chaos in second level schools across the country.

The Irish Examiner leads with the headline, ‘Over 200 pupils to be tested after TB outbreak’.

The Examiner reveals that the HSE have confirmed that three pupils from the Ballintemple National School in Crab Lane in the suburbs of Cork city have contracted the disease and are under specialist paediatric care. A full course of anti-tuberculosis treatment takes up to nine months.

Approximately 220 children and staff from the school will be screened to see if the disease has spread any further, while parents of the affected children have also been offered screening.

Tales from the tabs

The Irish Daily Mirror tell a shocking story this morning of a man who committed suicide by jumping off a roof and onto a stage upon which The Frames’ frontman Glen Hansard was performing with the Swell Season, a group which also contains Marketa Irglova, Hansard’s co-star in Once.

According to a report in the paper, during the gig in the Saratoga Mountain Winery in California, the man jumped from the roof of the building and landed only a few feet from where Hansard was playing. The singer put down his guitar and walked over to the body, but despite the best efforts of Sheriff’s authorities and paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The members of the band were said to be in shock, but released a statement last night saying: “The band, crew and all involved are shocked and saddened at the unfortunate events of last night.

“Our hearts go out to the victim and his family and friends.”

‘Sometimes I spend the night grabbing my ass. You would too if yours was as nice as mine.’ The author of this sentence? Why, only the unbelievably sexy Megan Fox, according to this morning’s Irish Sun, who have plunged head-first into the Twittersphere to relay some of the more bizarre postings of celebrities on the newest social networking phenomenon. Except they’re not actually the accounts of the stars themselves, but hoaxes set up by fans of certain celebrities.

Why we would wholeheartedly agree with fake Megan’ s sentiments, we can’t say the same for fake William Shatner: ‘Swine flu. Pff. I once overcame bovine emu and iguana flu SIMULTANEOUSLY by sheer mind control,’ or fake Lindsay Lohan: ‘@molls – you should stop taking xanax and switch to cocaine’.

The creators of some fake-stars’ accounts on the other hand need to stop being so predictable, as in the case of fake David Hasselhoff: ‘Deciding which leather jacket to wear’. Boring.

The Sports pages

‘Ireland hints at return’ is the headline on the back page of this morning’s Irish Independent, while similar headlines relating to the same story appear on most of this morning’s sports pages.

The story in question? Stephen Ireland’s return to international duty, of course. But while the headlines tease readers into believing our Stephen is ready to come back to the fold, quotes from the new Aston Villa man himself would seem to suggest otherwise.

Speaking at his unveiling as an Aston Villa player, Stephen did say, “I am always open to discussions and having a conversation. I would not rule out speaking with the FAI but, for me, I don’t think my international career is something I have to answer about”.

Ireland also added: “I think the fact that I have not been back there for three years is a good indication of my situation and I have not spoken to anyone in the FAI. Club football and doing well for Aston Villa will always come first for me.”

“I haven’t missed it (international football). I played only six games for the national team, so I don’t really have that much to miss.”

Judging by those sentiments, we certainly wouldn’t be getting our hopes up of the mercurial Ireland returning anytime soon.

The big event of the weekend is undoubtedly the meeting of Dublin and Cork in Croke Park in the All-Ireland semi-final and the Irish Sun reckon that Cork will have to do without their inspirational leader, Graham Canty, who has been named in the starting line-up despite doubts over a hamstring injury sustained in the quarter-final triumph over Roscommon.

The paper suggests that even though Canty and fellow injury doubt Ciaran Sheehan will undergo late fitness tests, dual star Eoin Cadogan has already been lined up to replace Canty and will play in the full-back line, with John Miskella moving out to the half back line as a result.

Leinster and Munster, meanwhile got their seasons off to a losing start against London Wasps and Leicester Tigers respectively, with the English sides coming out on top in Donnybrook and Musgrave Park.

Reports of both matches in the Irish Times suggest that new Leinster coach Josef Schmidt will not be too keen to dip into his reserves this season after an understrength Blues outfit were hammered 41-6 by the London Wasps.

Munster on the other hand, can take plenty of positives from their 17-13 defeat at the hands of Leicester Tigers. Denis Leamy scored a try on his return from an eight-month injury lay-off, while Ian Dowling and Sam Tuitupou also impressed.