'We'll put a bullet in your brain' - sick hate mail to TD

THREATS: Labour politician tells of racist abuse

RACIST thugs have threatened to put "a bullet" in the head of a Dublin TD.

The sinister warning came amid a tirade of racist abuse against Labour politician Aodhan O Riordain.

He was branded a "twisted pervert" and a "c***sucker" and was told, "we will get you -- just wait and see".

Today he told the Herald of his his "shock" and "upset" after being threatened with a 'bullet' to the head.

The Dublin North Central TD is considering whether to report the incident to the gardai after the letter writer included pictures of Mr O Riordain at a recent event.

He said: "I'm going to take soundings and I'll decide what to do in the next few days. This is hate mail. My staff have been at the receiving end of it too and it's fairly upsetting."

Bullet

Mr O Riordain, who worked as a school principal in the North Inner City, received the letter at his constituency office in Marino yesterday morning.

The handwritten note, which includes the words n***** and c***sucker threatens to send a bullet to the 35-year-old.

The unidentified author struggles to get all of his spelling right. However, the letter clearly makes a sinister threat against the TD's life.

The letter, seen by the Herald, tells Mr O Riordain to "get the f*** out of our town before we put a bukllet [sic] in your brain".

"We will get you -- just wait and see," the letter reads.

The author also includes pictures of the politician with a number of children at an event recently. Underneath the image, he is branded a "f****** twisted pervert".

Mr O Riordain said: "It's hate mail. Anybody can get it -- youth workers, gardai, teachers. However, I have been getting a lot of it since I raised my concerns about multiculturalism in this country. The person who sent it clearly has issues."

The Herald revealed in December that Mr O Riordain's staff received both verbal and written abuse after he became involved in the infamous Darren Scully row. The TD reported Mr Scully, the former Mayor of Naas, to gardai after he sparked outrage by claiming he would no longer represent "black African people".

The Dublin politician believes he has been targetted yet again by people opposed to his views on multiculturalism and equality.

Immigration

"It is not nice and I intend to investigate further whether An Post could better filter out this type of mail. All I was doing was raising how we discuss the issues like immigration in this country and since then, I began to get a lot of emails and letters to both my home and my office.

"I'm raising this and I hope it gives people an indication as to what's out there. People who send these letters have a hateful mindset and they are far from clever," he added.

Experts get sniffy about use of sinus antibiotics

STUDY: Drugs are useless against virus

ANTIBIOTICS don't help fight most sinus infections, although doctors routinely prescribe them for that purpose, according to a US study.

Researchers found that antibiotics didn't ease patients' symptoms or get them back to work any sooner than an inactive placebo pill.

Antibiotics are known to fuel the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria and experts have grown increasingly worried about overuse.

This is a particular concern with sinus infections, because doctors can't tell if the disease is caused by bacteria or by a virus, in which case antibiotics are useless.

"There is not much to be gained from antibiotics," said Jane Garbutt of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, who led the study.

"Rather than give everybody an antibiotic hoping to find the (patients) with bacteria, our findings would suggest refraining from antibiotics and doing what we call watchful waiting," she said.

That involves keeping an eye on patients to see if they get better, but not using drugs other than over-the-counter painkillers.

People with sinus infections, also called acute sinusitis, have lasting and severe cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose and pain around the eyes, nose or forehead.

"It's the fifth most common reason antibiotics are prescribed for adults. It's hard for doctors not to give an antibiotic because patients are so miserable, and we don't have anything else to give them," said Garbutt.

Garbutt and her colleagues randomly assigned 166 adults to either placebo pills or a 10-day treatment with the antibiotic amoxicillin.

Based on patient ratings on a symptom scale known as the modified Sinonasal Outcome Test-16, or SNOT-16, the researchers found little difference between the two groups.

Vanished

Using the scale, where 0 equals "no problem" and 3 a "severe problem," the antibiotic group rated their symptoms at 1.12 after three days, while the placebo group averaged 1.14.

After seven days, there were signs of benefit from the antibiotic, but the effect was small and had vanished another three days later.

After 10 days, 78pc of the people on antibiotics and 80pc of the placebo-treated people said they felt a lot better.

Fewer than 2pc of sinus infections are bacterial, said Anthony Chow, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

"Most cases are viral, and the vast majority don't require antibiotics," he said.

"Antibiotics have been abused, so there is a need to be more cautious in prescribing them and to hold back."

In Brief: Man held over assault on mum

A MAN charged with assaulting a mother-of-three in her Dublin home has been further remanded in custody for two weeks.

Care worker Nicola Murray (28) has been left fighting for her life after she sustained serious head injuries during the incident in her house.

Paul McMenamy (26), of Donomore Green in Tallaght, appeared before Cloverhill District Court charged with assault causing harm to Ms Murray at her home on February 5, contrary to Section 3 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

Pollution linked to heart attack

Scientists have linked exposure to air pollution to an increased risk of heart attack.

Researchers said that being exposed to all major toxic fumes, except ozone, for a period of up to seven days "significantly" increased the risk.

A review of previous studies conducted by Hazrije Mustafic, of the University Paris Descartes, Paris, suggests the risk was identified by three ailments associated with air pollution.

Researchers said that "improvement in air quality could have a significant effect on public health".

Passenger tried to hi-jack taxi

A MAN who split a taxi driver's nail with a deep bite after trying to drag the man from his car has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

David Mills (26) of Cabra Road, Cabra, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to an attempted hi-jack and to assaulting the man causing him harm on July 24, 2011.

His defence counsel, Luigi Rea, said Mills had taken prescription medication, sleeping tablets and cannabis along with Polish vodka and was intoxicated on the night.

Leap card chief -- we don't use UK bank

THE body behind the much- criticised Leap card system has insisted that it has not opted to use a British bank for its operations.

The National Transport Authority had been accused of using Barclay's Bank for all transactions involving the Leap cards, which were launched last December by Junior Transport Minister Alan Kelly.

However, today the NTA insisted: "Leap isn't using Barclays. We bank with AIB."

The issue of using foreign companies was one of a range of issues that disgruntled passengers raised about the system.

The fact that the Leap cards online IP address was hosted in Germany was also criticised, with some customers fearful their data would not be safe.

NTA Project Director Tim Gaston insisted that only 'dark warehouse' systems, which are a set of servers to host the web system, were stored abroad.

He added: "The main back-up system involves two main sets of computers: one in CityWest and one in Clonshaugh. It's managed by Eircom and operated by Hewlett Packard and all those services are carried out from Ireland."

Mr Gaston added that the NTA had met several times with the operators of the Oyster cards in London to help reduce the risk of fraud or identity theft.

The Leap card system went live in mid-December and has already resulted in hundreds of complaints.

The system, which allows passengers to swipe a single pre-paid card on Dublin Bus, Luas, Dart and commuter rail services, has already cost the taxpayer €55m.