No extra jail time for hotel row gran
He used to ring all her friends if he couldn’t get her.
The petrol bomb attack occurred in 2020 after Senator Keogan spoke out about the murder of 17-year-old Keane Mulready Woods in Drogheda and the fallout from the drug-related feud.
She said: “The drug lords targeted me because I had the courage to speak out. I was scared and I was nervous but they weren’t going to stop me.
“The problem with Irish politics is that too many people are afraid to put their head above the parapet and speak out, and tell the truth in case they offend x,y and z.”
OVERCROWDING has been blamed as the reason for a brawl breaking out in a refugee centre on Monday night.
Gardai were called to the Citywest refugee centre in Dublin just after 6.30pm due to two groups of men fighting.
Three men were taken to hospital with minor injuries, with no arrests reported.
Movement of Asylum Seekers Ireland co-founder Lucky Khambule said crowded conditions and a mix of cultures were the reasons for the incident.
He told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “My understanding from speaking to the people from there is that it started with a group that were throwing bottles to each other. Then the whole thing started and blew up like that.
“An issue there is people don’t understand each other and overcrowding.
“There are too many people there in a small space and people are living there for a longer time than they are supposed to.”
He added: “What also happened which was good was the fact that some women and children were moved yesterday.
“We have been calling for this so the
Buttimer had previously come to court attention following a number of convictions over her repeated refusal to wear a mask in public places as required by Covid-19 rules.
In the previous court hearing Judge James McNulty had questioned whether she may have been exploited or manipulated by others “who have an agenda”.
Brains
kids don’t see what is happening there.” The original capacity for the centre was 370 people. However, it is currently accommodating 800 and there were 900 people there last week. Mr Khambule said: “It’s overcrowded, it is up to capacity. The Government should not keep putting people there.” He added that people will always come to Ireland even if there is a prospect of homelessness, as Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman has warned.
He said: “People will always come for whatever reason they come to the country. So, closing [Citywest] will not prevent that [asylum seekers coming].”
In Skibbereen District Court yesterday, passing sentence, Judge McNulty said he had seen a probation report and a supplementary report over Buttimer. He also said the Probation Service was actively seeking accommodation for Buttimer.
The judge said Buttimer had left school at a young age and taken on menial work and said: “Like a lot of people at the time, her mother did not think she had any brains.
“When you get that bad break in life it is hard to recover and make good.”
The judge also referred to an “early, hasty marriage” and more recently the end of an 18-year relationship and the death of Buttimer’s elderly mother.
Buttimer had been in custody for 28 days and the judge sentenced her to jail terms of seven days and 21 days.
He added that the court deemed the sentences to have been served.