Hunt Museum investigation urged

AN INTERNATIONAL Jewish organisation has called for a fresh investigation into alleged links between the founders of the Hunt Museum in Limerick and Nazi sympathisers.

At a conference on “Holocaust era assets” in Prague yesterday, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said it wanted access to official archives and other materials as part of an independent investigation into the provenance of the 2,000 objects on display in the Limerick museum.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0630/1224249785064.html

Rate of overseas workers entering Ireland slowing

Ireland is continuing to attract workers from overseas, albeit at a slower rate than last year, according to new figures from the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

In the first five months of this year, the department issued 74,191 new Personal Public Service (PPS) numbers, of which 37,064- almost half - were issued to people from outside the Republic.

In the same period last year, 106,140 PPS numbers were issued. Of those, 38,837 were to people from the Republic and the remaining 67,303 recipients were from elsewhere.

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=nav-qqqid=42776-qqqx=1.asp

30% rise in racist abuse against foreigners

IRELAND is one of only five EU countries where an increase in racist crimes was reported, according to the EU Fundamental Rights Agency.

There was a close to 30% increase in the abuse, discrimination and crime suffered by foreign nationals, the agency’s annual report noted.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/30-rise-in-racist-abuse-against-foreigners-94891.html

Romanian men jailed for rape

Two Romanian men have received five-year jail sentences for sexually assaulting a woman in Tipperary last year.

She had consensual sex with their friend, after which the two men came into the bedroom, locked the door and sexually assaulted her.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/romanian-men-jailed-for-rape-of-tipperary-woman-14355469.html

Polish man jailed for seven years on drugs charges

A Polish man who passed 100 pellets of cocaine through his bowels has been jailed for seven years.

Slawomir Wotjowicz (aged 34) carried the cocaine valued €67,984 in his stomach for money to help pay maintenance for his six-year old daughter by his estranged partner.

Mr Devally said his client excreted the cocaine 24 hours after his arrest at Dublin Airport on June 22, 2008. Wotjowicz with an address at Szewna, Zarze, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs for sale or supply.

Wotjowicz told gardai his sister had become embroiled with Nigerians who were trafficking drugs into Europe and she directed him to a house in Amsterdam where he and another man swallowed pellets of cocaine before he was sent to Dublin and the other man to another European destination.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/polish-man-jailed-for-seven-years-on-drugs-charges-415526.html#ixzz0IvDclhMY&C

Loyalist paramilitaries begin decommissioning

Sources in the North are claiming that loyalist paramilitaries have begun to decommission their weapons.

According to senior loyalist figures the UVF has carried out a significant act of decommissioning while the UDA has either made a start to the process or is set to do so imminently.

And it is understood that other loyalist groups were well-advanced in preparation to hand over their weapons. The move – four years after the IRA announced it was giving up its armoury – comes ahead of Secretary of State Shaun Woodward’s August deadline for significant progress on loyalist arms.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/loyalist-paramilitaries-begin-decommissioning-1779012.html

Muslim school is slated

A TEAM of experts will be sent in to monitor the overhaul of a primary school which has been strongly criticised in the most damning inspection report ever issued by the Department of Education.

The unprecedented move follows a litany of shocking revelations contained in an inspection report into the North Dublin Muslim School in Cabra, which is housed in the former School for the Deaf.

Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe last night said the standards of management, teaching and learning at the school were "unacceptable" and that child protection policies were "inadequate".

The report -- seen by the Irish Independent -- will be officially published tomorrow. It reveals:

• Taxpayers' money given to the school in the form of grants since it opened in 2001 is unaccounted for;
• The quality of teaching of English, Irish and maths is "poor" or "very poor", with teacher morale "very poor";
• Sanitary facilities are "inadequate;
• The school is in breach of several pieces of legislation;
• The school refuses to implement the music curriculum.

Separate correspondence, also seen by the Irish Independent, reveals that the school failed to pay around €37,000 it owed to the department.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/muslim-school-is-slated-1775741.html

Romanian Gypsies attacked

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — The thugs used bricks and bottles to drive more than 100 Romanian Gypsies from their homes in a wave of attacks. On Wednesday, the victims were sheltering in a community center after a church plucked them off a Belfast street.

The grim images from this week — families carrying possessions in bundled blankets, a mother clutching her 5-day-old baby — are more evidence of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe, but also of a situation unique to Northern Ireland: new fault lines in its tragic history of ethnic divisions.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDji7_Kp0M1B_ADrZ0T9-dBi-xpwD98SI4HG0

Foreign nationals account for 20% claiming dole

FOREIGN nationals account for one in five of the people claiming the dole, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

Foreign nationals on the live register increased by 45,798 to 79,077 over the course of the year. The majority are from the EU accession states.

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/foreign-nationals-account-for-20-claiming-dole-93781.html

Local residents force closure of unofficial mosque

A mosque operating from a house in Lucan, Co Dublin, has been forced to close following complaints by local residents and the intervention of a local TD and a minister of state.

The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) has for the past six years operated a prayer centre at a detached house in Liffey Road, at the edge of a residential estate. It has now been closed after officials from South Dublin county council discovered that it had no planning permission, following a tip-off from residents.

Relations between locals and those using the mosque have deteriorated in recent months, with the residents’ association claiming that some of its members were verbally abused and one assaulted after complaining about illegal parking outside the mosque.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6446104.ece

Unemployment rate now 11.8%

The number of people on the Live Register hit 400,000 for the first time last month.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, there are now 402,100 people on the Live Register seeking unemployment benefit or allowances.

It is the first time the numbers on the dole have ever reached this level. It translates into an unemployment rate of 11.8%.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0605/liveregister.html