METRO Thursday, November 5, 2009 D METRODigest A UNIVERSITY student is set to gain a masters degree and net up to 10,000 by auctioning off her first kiss in 12 months. Amanda DeZilva, who is in her 30s, is hoping to pocket enough money in a bidding war to more than double the cost of her course fees after going kiss-free for a year. It was so tough. Im just counting down the days before I can kiss the winner and get on with my life, said Ms DeZilva, who is doing the groundbreaking social experiment as part of her course at Chichester University, in England. FORMER Olympic swimming coach Ger Doyle was yesterday found guilty of indecently assaulting young boys. Doyle, 48, originally from Wexford, was found guilty of 34 charges of indecent assault and one charge of sexual assault. He was part of the Irish coaching team at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and had denied the charges. But the jury of seven men and five women returned the guilty verdicts after a six-day trial at Wexford Circuit Court. The offences occurred between January 1981 and December 1993. Doyle assaulted five boys aged ten to 15 over those years. During the trial, the complainants referred to incidents of a sexual nature at the swimming pool in New Ross where they were being coached by Doyle, who was remanded in custody until January for sentencing. Afterwards, several of Doyles victims said they were relieved their ordeal was finally over. Ex-Olympic swim coach guilty of indecent assault Noah and Levi Morgan and George Surgenor get into the festive mood as part of the St Patricks University Hospital Presents of Mind Christmas Tree appeal. See stpatrickspresentsofmind.org DESPITE the blood alcohol content (BAC) limit having been reduced from 80mg to 50mg, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said he would have preferred tougher drink-driving legislation. Last week, Mr Dempsey (pictured) admitted to watering down the Road Traffic Bill 2009 with his decision that drivers caught with a BAC of between 50mg and 80mg would receive three rather than six penalty points and a 200 fine if they did not challenge the conviction in court. However, he said the greater good had been served by reducing the limit to its new level, adding that the legislation would be kept under review, adding, its a yellow card but after that its a red card, and theres no mercy shown. New drink-drive limit a yellow card TWO MEN have been arrested over the murder of a Romanian woman found stabbed to death in the Phoenix Park three months ago. The remains of mother- of-two Eugenia Bratis (pictured) were found at 3.30pm on August 5, but she was not identified for a fortnight. The men, one aged 36 and the other 18, were arrested on the North Circular Road and are being questioned at Finglas and Cabra Garda Stations. Ms Bratis, 50, from the Timisoara area of Romania, had been begging around OConnell Street in the months before her violent death. She was found under a blanket in a wooded part of the parks Fifteen Acres, an area popular for sports. The men were being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against The State Act. Two held over Phoenix Park murder SantaS little helperS thing to do with the revenue we had at the time. We now face a totally differ- ent situation as a result of a crisis that has developed and we have to deal with it. The influential OECD said housing prices were likely to continue to fall and called for an overhaul of the entire tax system, which it said was biased to- wards property, housing and home ownership. It suggested a reduction in mortgage interest tax relief beginning with new borrowers and the introduction of a property tax to fund local services. Private housing that is lying vacant could be used for public and social housing needs, the re- port claimed. It agreed the priority was nursing the banking sector back to health, and sup- ports the setting up of the National As- set Management Agency. But it called for proper risk-sharing to be sewn into the bad bank to protect the taxpayer. The OECD recommended a reduction in unemployment benefits to encourage people to seek out work. OeCD gives backing to state cutsPAINFUL cuts to public sector jobs and wages as well as reduced social welfare benefits planned by govern- ment have received the backing of a global economic think-tank. The Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) insisted health and education spending in Ireland will also have to be shrunk. In its gloomy assessment, the Paris- based think-tank said Irelands down- turn would continue for some time and that the economic recovery would be slow. Just as the boom had an impact on many aspects of the economy, the necessary economic ad- justments will have wide-ranging and pain- ful consequences, it said. Taoiseach Brian Cowen confirmed that nobody would be spared that pain, not even the jobless, despite pleas from Labour leader Eamon Gilmore. The amount of people signing on fell by 3,000, to 422,500 last month, bring- ing the unemployment rate to 12.5 per cent. During the good times, and quite rightly, people saw unprecedented in- creases in social welfare rates, the Taoiseach said. That was the right Painful economic consequences By BRIAN HUTTON Ambassador claims immunity in employees case THE South African ambassador to Ireland was last night under pressure to waive a claim to diplomatic immunity in a long-running employment dispute with a former housekeeper. Ukrainian Valentyna Khristonsen lodged formal complaints against Ambassador Priscilla Jana last October over pay, hours and alleged unfair dismissal. But a full hearing of the case has been thrown into doubt after Ms Jana cited a special act granting immunity to all diplomatic agents attached to embassies in Ireland. Ms Khristonsen was joined by about 50 members of the Domestic Workers Action Group (DWAG) to protest outside the South African embassy in Dublin yesterday. DWAGs Ann Guan said Ms Khristonsen deserved a fair hearing. Its shameful and unfair that the ambassador is claiming diplomatic immunity and denying her this basic right, Ms Guan said, and called on Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Martin to encourage Ms Jana to forgo her immunity. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html