News Monday, February 8, 2010 D FG: Reverse U-turn on pay cuts FINE Gael is to force a Dil vote on the Governments reduction in pay cuts for senior civil servants. Deputy leader Richard Bruton (pictured) said his party would call for the highest earners to be treated the same as lower earners and for the reversal of the Government U-turn on the issue. State-run home care for the elderly suffers from large- scale inefficiencies and no regulation, it was claimed. the study, carried out for the Irish Private Home Care association, whose own members have been involved in investigations into care for the elderly. the HSe denied the claims, saying the figures used were inaccurate. Claims of unregulated care and finally... tWO letters from Spain with the postmark rapido have arrived 34 years late. a man called Paco wrote them in 1976 to a Mr and Mrs Hards at a house in Devon, uK, but the current occupiers dont know who theyre for. WOrK on the Poolbeg incinerator must stop until an examination of all aspects of the project is carried out, including the terms of the contract between Dublin City Council and Covanta energy Ltd, as well as the size of the facility and the amount of money spent so far, the Irish Waste Management association (IWMa) said. Call for incinerator inquiry aLMOSt 1,300 drug seizures were made in prisons last year, it emerged yesterday. Fine Gael justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan said the extent of drug abuse within the system makes a mockery of Government commitments to abolish addiction in prisons. On Friday, a prison officer was jailed for smuggling drugs into Limerick Prison. 1,300 prison drug seizures Orders claim for fees immoral RElIGIoUs orders have applied to have their legal bills from the Ryan inquiry into child abuse estimated at more than 40m paid by the taxpayer. Fine Gaels Enda Kenny (pictured) said: Just because it is legally correct does not make it morally justifiable. Ritchie vows to take NIs top job NEW sDlP leader Margaret Ritchie (pictured) has marked her elevation by setting herself the target of becoming the Norths First Minister. Ms Ritchie, the first woman to take charge of the party, beat MP Alasdair McDonnell in the contest to replace outgoing leader Mark Durkan. homedigest Ticket blitz for Luas PLAIN clothes inspectors have been employed to catch fare dodgers on the Luas and to ensure that tickets have not been forged. Fraudsters have previously forged bus and Luas tickets, with some selling them online. The Luas collects almost 455,000 a year in fines. The standard fine for not having a ticket is 45. A spokeswoman for Veolia, which runs the Luas, said: There has been a company employed to carry out a ticket audit of the Luas every eight weeks. They are tasked with reporting on how many non-valid tickets they come across. The company introduced full-time security on trams on the Red Line last year following an increase in anti-social behaviour. Luas passenger figures fell from 27.35million in 2008 to 25.4million last year. Councillor changes his mind over 30kmh limit A DRIVE along the quays at 30kmh prompted Labour coun- cillor Dermot Lacey to push for the speed limit there to be scrapped and for a 50kmh limit to be introduced. The councillor experienced for himself the dismay and frustra- tion city centre drivers have been complaining about for the past week since a new 30kmh speed limit brought traffic throughout the city centre to a crawl. Cllr Lacey said: I tried driving down the quays along the Liffey and it was nigh on impossible. It is too slow. The scheme is not working along the quays. He said that he would prefer a 40kmh speed limit on that stretch of road, but such a speed limit does not exist in Ireland and would require a change in legis- lation to introduce it. Cllr Lacey said he voted in fa- vour of the controversial speed limit originally because the trans- port committee, which includes expert groups, did not highlight any issues. He said this was a failure to communicate real concern. However, he said he does not regret his original vote, saying: Im in favour of trying things out and giving them a go. But I am a realist. If there are problems there, which there are in terms of the limit, they need to be re- solved. Conor Faughnan, public affairs manager of the AA, said Cllr Laceys proposal would make sense but said that there are oth- er roads within the 30kmh limit, such as Winetavern Street, which should be looked at. He added that each stretch of road should be assessed individually. Cllr Lacey will bring his pro- posal to the Labour group tonight and then on to the city councils transport committee. He hopes to bring it to the next meeting of Dublin City Council on March 1. Meanwhile, Dublin City Coun- cil has said its traffic control cen- tre is monitoring traffic flow to ensure that the Green Wave sys- tem, which minimises delays to motorists travelling at set speeds, is operating correctly and that any further traffic signalling ad- justments will be implemented as required. Changed mind: lacey By Joanne Ahern All Credit to the prize-winning young artist Anya Hanna shows off some winning artwork to Marty Whelan in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin yesterday at the Irish league of Credit Unions poster competition awards and exhibition. Anyas poster won a Merit Award in the seven years and under category. Participants from around the country were invited to design posters on the theme of My Credit Union, my choice Dylan Delaney, Rebecca White, Chloe Brady and Tesleem sadiku from st Annes school, Tallaght, at the launch of the Incredible Edibles campaign to encourage pupils to grow fruit and vegetables Picture: Maxwells 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