The Irish Emigrant - Feb 8: INLA disarms

The organisation which styles itself the Irish National Liberation Army this morning confirmed that it had put its arms beyond use. The decommissioning took place under the supervision of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and was witnessed by two trade union leaders invited by the INLA.

Four months ago the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA's political wing, announced that the INLA had ended its "armed struggle" and would pursue its objective through peaceful means.

Fire damages Russborough House

Fire caused extensive damage to the west wing of Russborough House in Co. Wicklow last night, with eight units of the fire brigade attending the blaze. Gardaí are investigating the fire, which was brought under control by 5:00am, but say it is too early to tell whether it was started maliciously.

The house is home to a valuable collection of art but it is on display in another part of the building. Fortunately items normally housed in the west wing had recently been removed as a film company was using that part of the building as a set.

Loophole allows serious offenders to avoid penalty points

A loophole in the law which has allowed offending drivers to avoid having penalty points applied for driving offences is to be closed under new legislation going through the Dáil. Thousands of drivers were escaping the points because court clerks were neglecting to send offenders' licence numbers to the RSA for application of the points. It is apparently not a legal requirement for the court clerks to forward the numbers, though some have been doing so.

This loophole was only of benefit to the more serious offenders, those brought before the courts. Drivers dealt with summarily by gardaí at the side of the road did have the points added.

The Irish Independent reports that since 2003 only 727 of 18,383 offenders have had points added to their licences. Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is now to introduce a new section to the Road Traffic Bill 2009 which will make the court clerks responsible for passing on the driving licence details to the RSA.

Garda permits for charity collectors

Charity collectors, known colloquially as "chuggers", will soon require a garda permit before they can seek donations from the public. The ruling will be included in the new Charities Bill, while by the end of the year members of the public will be able to report any dissatisfaction to an independent charity monitoring group to be set up.

Pedestrian killed in Limerick

A man in his 50s was fatally injured yesterday evening when he was struck by a car on the N21 between Limerick and Tralee at Ardagh. At the time the man was picking up debris left on the road as a result of a minor collision that had taken place at the same location some minutes earlier.

New lanes opened on M50

A third lane in each direction has been opened today on the M50 in Dublin, between Junction 10 at Ballymount and Junction 14 at Sandyford. With the opening last week of a third lane and an auxiliary fourth lane between the M1/airport junction and Blanchardstown, all 22km of the motorway have now been upgraded in a project which began four years ago. Some work remains to be completed in upgrading five interchanges.

Monday's Papers

The four papers take four different stories as their lead this morning. The Irish Times reports on the minutes of a meeting between Brian Lenihan and officials from the International Monetary Fund last April, with "IMF warned Nama would not lead to significant bank lending".

The Irish Examiner leads with the unpaid rates, development levies and refuse charges, under the headline "Defaulter residents and firms owe €500m to councils"; and the Irish Independent focuses on the legal loophole in the processing of points penalties with "Reckless drivers let off the hook on points".

The Irish News carries a photograph and story relating to Margaret Ritchie's election to the leadership of the SDLP, but its main headline reads "Brutal mall attack leaves man in hospital".