Cancer tumour shock for Dubliner Qantas chief
Dublin-born Qantas supremo Alan Joyce (44) is recovering at his Sydney home today after successfully undergoing surgery for cancer of the prostate.
The airline CEO, who was born in Tallaght, and graduated from Trinity College Dublin, underwent surgery twelve days ago. He was told that he could have been dead within eight to ten years if the tumour had not been detected – it was found during a routine health check. “The good news is he’s fine,” Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said.
“He’s recovered really well and he’ll be back on deck on Monday. The good news is it was caught really early and it was just by pure chance that they caught it, so he’s very, very fortunate.”
Mr. Joyce said yesterday that he plans to be back at his desk next Monday. He said that his only regret was that he would be unable to fly to Dallas to open a new Qantas route because he is not allowed to fly for at least a month on medical advice.
Alan Joyce was born in Tallaght, Dublin in 1966. He holds a Master of Science degree from TCD and is a former employee of Aer Lingus. He emigrated to Australia in 1996 and he became Chief Executive Officer of Qantas in November 2008
Girl (5) back at school after taking ecstasy found on road
A FIVE-year-old girl hospitalised after swallowing an ecstasy tablet she found on the street has now returned to school.
The child, from Donaghmede, thought the pill was a sweet when she discovered it at a green area near her Killary Grove home last Wednesday.
Other children who were with her also licked some of the tablets and had to receive hospital treatment as well.
There was panic among the parents and children when one of them showed one of the tablets to their mother, and ambulances and gardai were called.
Consultants at Temple Street Hospital kept most of the children in for observation for five hours after they were believed to have found the drugs.
The 50 tablets were concealed in a cigarette box and left hidden on a small green area in the quiet cul de sac.
SWEETS
The children found the box while playing and thought the tablets were sweets.
The girl who swallowed the tablet developed palpitations, shakes and a very high temperature, as well as fluctuating blood pressure. She was put an ECG machine because her heart rate was so fast.
"We could have been looking at six dead children here if they had decided to have a little party, and we are still shocked that this could happen," the girl's mother told the Herald.
"Our daughter is back in school now and we are just trying to make life as normal as possible for her again."
One parent told the Herald it had been confirmed that the yellow tablets, stamped with a harp design, were ecstasy.
"Panic hit everyone and an ambulance was called. The youngest girl started reacting about 20 to 30 minutes after she took it. She had drips and everything on her," said one mum.
A garda spokesperson said the incident was being investigated by Coolock Garda Station, and the tablets were being analysed.
bells
One parent recalled: "The kids knocked on the door and they showed me a yellow tablet, and I saw an Irish harp on it, and then alarm bells started ringing and I realised that three of them had licked the tablets."
I can't afford President bid insists Bertie
Bertie Ahern will not be running for President -- because he says he can't afford to fund a campaign.
The former Taoiseach (59) confirmed to the Herald that he would not be putting his name forward in the race for the Aras.
Citing a lack of finances and support, making it a "pointless exercise", he also said that if his Fianna Fail party is to put anybody's name in the ring, they would want to do it soon.
Mr Ahern indicated last year that he was interested in running for President, but this week Fianna Fail distanced itself from his ambitions.
Party leader Micheal Martin said "I don't think that's something that's on the agenda at all" that Mr Ahern's name would be going forward.
Mr Ahern himself cleared the issue up once and for all by saying a definitive "no" when asked by the Herald if he intended to join the race.
"I definitely won't be putting my name on the list. I always said I'd have my mind made up by St Patrick's Day but I actually decided before that, as far back as January," Mr Ahern said.
"I don't have the funds, for a start, to mount a campaign. You need a lot of money for these things," he added.
"I don't expect I would have the support either, when you look at Brian Lenihan's campaign in 1990 he went in with a 44pc approval rating and still didn't get it," he said.
"Now with the party only on 17pc approval after the election, even if you doubled it you still wouldn't come close to what Brian Lenihan had," he added.
Micheal Martin has still not indicated if Fianna Fail will field a candidate, but Bertie Ahern has said the party leader needs to make his mind up soon.
"If Fianna Fail are going to nominate someone they'd want to do it soon, because it is May now and the time is running out," he said.
Asked who he thought might be frontrunners in the campaign, Mr Ahern said John Bruton would be a contender if he decided to go for it.
"I think if John Bruton puts his name forward he could get it. Also Michael D Higgins and David Norris have a very good chance and both are great speakers and very experienced, and would represent us well abroad," he added.
Man killed at mother's house
A 19-year-old man shot in the head in his family home has died.
Paulie McCarthy was gunned down at his mother's house in Dublin's south inner city this afternoon.
The attack took place at an end-of-terrace home in Myra Close, Inchicore, at about 2.50pm as local schools closed for the day.
A Garda spokesman said a revolver believed to have been used in the killing was recovered close to the scene.
Detectives were investigating whether the teenager had any links to a drugs gang based in the nearby Drimnagh area.
He was shot once in the head inside the house where his mother and sister lived.
McCarthy, who was part of a large family, well known in the Inchicore area, is understood to have been in court earlier this year charged with dealing cocaine.
He was accused of possession of about 30,000 euro of the drug and was on bail pending a trial. Garda detectives believe the shooting was carried out by two men who drove into the estate just off Emmet Road.
A Garda spokesman said McCarthy was rushed to St James' Hospital within minutes of the attack.
Medics had hoped to transfer him to the specialist brain injuries unit in Beaumont Hospital but his condition dramatically deteriorated before they could move him.
Two women are believed to have witnessed the shooting.
A Garda forensic team sealed off an area around the house where he was shot. Officers also carried out searches of the gardens of homes along Emmet Road and around an alleyway leading to the estate.
It is the first gun killing in Dublin this year. It is almost six months since cousins Mark Noonan, 23, and Glen Murphy, 19, were shot in Finglas in November last year.
The Myra Close and Myra Park areas are cul-de-sacs off Emmet Road.
The development was built as residents from nearby St Michael's estate were moved into more modern homes.