Ballyfermot shooting
A man shot dead outside his Dublin home in the early hours of Sunday morning had no known involvement in crime and there was no information to suggest his life was in danger.
The man has been named as 49-year-old Michael Tormey, according to The Irish Times. The married father-of-two was found just after 5am on Sunday outside his home on Thomond Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10.
He had been out socialising on Saturday night with members of his family and others, and in the period after returning to his house he was shot dead. He was shot several times in an attack that appears to have taken place outside his house as his wife and children slept inside.
Detectives in Ballyfermot are still trying to determine a firm motive for the murder, and to piece together Mr Tormey’s final movements.
Mandatory vaccination debate
Introducing mandatory vaccines could be difficult to achieve because of rights afforded by the Constitution, a legal expert has said.
David Kenny, associate professor of law at Trinity College in Dublin, said the State would have to show a “very compelling and highly evidenced” common good rationale to remove people’s decision-making rights.
Minutes from a meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) revealed the issue of mandatory vaccination is to be discussed by public health experts, it emerged on Monday.
However, such a move could face huge challenges as the Constitution protects bodily integrity and autonomy and medical decision-making.
'Exams cannot go ahead as planned,' says second-level students’ union
Calls are growing for a rethink of how school exams are to be held in Ireland this year, amid concerns about the disruption students have faced.
One second-level students’ union has insisted that exams "cannot go ahead as planned," however, a leading teachers’ union has expressed the view that “traditional” exams must take place in 2022.
Students have spoken out about the pressures and problems they have faced since schools returned in September. Since schools reopened after Christmas, there have also been warnings that some teaching may be forced temporarily online due to swathes of staff absences caused by Covid-19.
There have been renewed calls for a hybrid approach to exams in which students would have a choice between sitting exams and accredited grades.
Emer Neville, president of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union, said that pupils would like to know as soon as possible what Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate exams might look like at the end of term.
Garda Commissioner apologises to wrongly convicted man
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has apologised to a man wrongly convicted of the manslaughter of a 19-year-old woman in Co Meath in 1971.
Gardaí confirmed that Mr Harris has sent a written apology to Martin Conmey, who was one of three men wrongly accused of killing Una Lynskey.
The teenager disappeared near Ratoath 50 years ago.
Mr Conmey served three years in prison in 1972 following his conviction for manslaughter, but that was quashed in 2010.
