The Front Pages
A massive international swoop on an Irish drug dealing gang grabs the headlines on the Times, the Independent and the Examiner today. Here are some headlines from the front pages:
‘Major Irish drugs supplier held after international operation’ – The Irish Times.
‘Fianna Fail to purge town councils in new shake-up’ – The Irish Independent.
‘Economist: 25% chance Ireland will go bankrupt’ – The Irish Examiner.
The biggest Irish supplier of drugs to crime gangs in the country has been arrested in an enormous international operation. The swoop resulted in the arrests of 33 other people in five different countries and involved over 700 officers.
The Irish Times have the same story details as many other papers which report that 53-year-old convicted criminal Christy Kinahan from Dublin was at the centre of the arrests.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, pictured above centre, with Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Quilter, right, and Garda Superintendent John Gilligan announced the arrests at the Garda National Drugs Unit in Dublin Castle yesterday.
Kinahan is currently being questioned in Spain about the running of an international drug trafficking trade. It is thought that he and his associates may have a property portfolio in the region of €150m which includes apartments, pubs, houses and cash-based businesses.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) will have a field day with this one. It is expected that they will seize the gang’s finances and properties.
Fianna Fail has come up with a plan to reshape local government by eradicating town councillors and cut out the duplication of councillors across the country, according to The Irish Independent.
The plan, if implemented, would mean that one set of councillors would represent their town or area at county level. The country’s current 744 town councillors would become non-existent and there would be an increase in the 883 county councillor positions in the proposed shake-up.
A leading economist has warned that Ireland could find themselves in a similar economic crisis as Greece after bank shares crashed yesterday.
The Irish Examiner gives the break-down of the current state of the Irish markets and most significantly AIB shares crashed by 13%, down to 90c. Economist Dan O’Brien suggested that Ireland has a one-in-four chance of going bankrupt.
The overall plunge of Irish markets yesterday has been dubbed as “Black Tuesdayâ€. Bank Of Ireland shares took a 9% hit and are now down to 66c.
Tales from the Tabs
The Sun carries a shocking story about a two-year-old boy who is addicted to cigarettes, smoking up to 40 a day.
Indonesian toddler Ardi Rizal has been hooked since he was 18 months after his father gave him his first cigarette and if four-stone Ardi doesn’t get his fix, his parents must deal with outrageous tantrums.
Ardi will only one particular brand of cigarette and his habit costs his parents £3.78 a day.
In other tales, U2 have been forced to axe their Glastonbury Festival appearance this year.
Bono is recovering from back surgery and under medical advice the singer has been told to take it easy for as long as possible, as reported in The Daily Star.
The Irish music icon, who turned 50 recently, went under the knife to correct a back problem in Germany last week.
The Sports Pages
The Republic of Ireland are not going to the World Cup in South Africa but they did beat a Paraguay team last night who are not having an ideal preparation for their trip.
Kevin Doyle and Liam Lawrence scored the goals in Ireland’s 2-1 win against the South Americans at the RDS Arena in Dublin. The Daily Star’s report says that the result puts a “big dent†in Paraguay’s confidence ahead of the World Cup.
Doyle put Ireland in front after eight minutes following a bizarre series of events including Roque Santa Cruz heading the ball against his own crossbar. Lawrence made it two after superb work from Doyle to chest it into his path.
Lucas Barrios nicked one on 58 minutes and Paraguay pressed for an equaliser but Trap’s boys held out to win.
Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney has promised bags of goals for England in South Africa.
The star striker hasn’t scored in his last seven international appearances but the story which runs in The Sun says that Rooney is saving his prowess in front of goal for the big one.
