Not guilty verdict
The husband of Deirdre Morley has called for an urgent investigation into his wife’s care by HSE mental health services.
Paediatric nurse Deirdre Morley, who smothered her three young children at their family home, has been found not guilty of their murders by reason of insanity.
The 12 jurors accepted the evidence given by two psychiatrists that the accused, who specialised in renal care at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin, was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the three killings and fulfilled the criteria for the special verdict.
The case, Ms Morley's defence counsel had told the jury, was a “tragedy of enormous proportions”, with the “tragic irony” of the accused being someone who had committed her entire professional life to the care of children as a paediatric nurse.
'Daithí' Douglas murder verdict
The Special Criminal Court has found Dublin man Lee Canavan guilty of the murder of David 'Daithí' Douglas, who was “executed” at a city centre shoe shop five years ago.
The non-jury court, however, did not agree with the State's contention that Canavan was "the person who literally pulled the trigger", owing to a lack of forensic or identification evidence.
In passing judgement today, the non-jury court ruled that Canavan (31) was part of a joint enterprise or shared intention to murder Mr Douglas in what was described as a “meticulously planned execution”.
Cyberattack impact
The cyber gang targeting the HSE has provided a decryption tool to Irish authorities that it says will allow them to repair their IT systems.
Ealier, the head of Ireland’s health service described the “catastrophic” impact of the “stomach-churning” cyberattack on its system.
The number of appointments in some areas of the system has dropped by 80 per cent as health workers grapple with paper records while work continues to recover IT systems.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid criticised the IT systems hack as a “callous act” and an attack on health workers who have been working “relentlessly” through the coronavirus pandemic.
He told an HSE media briefing on Thursday that the response has been “comprehensive” since last Friday and will “continue to be relentless”.
Housing waiting lists
Almost 10,000 people are currently on a Dublin City Council waiting list for two-bed units in the capital.
In an appeal against a possession order in favour of Dublin City Council in the Circuit Civil Court today, Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain was told that the local authority had a waiting list of 9,600 for two-bed units alone in the capital.
It comes as a Coalition leader admitted in the Dáil on Thursday that the current housing market was “broken” and needed radical change.
Eamon Ryan said he would help steer change from within Government, which would do everything in its power to make sure a generation of young people are not left behind and can afford to buy a home.
Power outages
The ESB is working to restore power outages all over the country as a number of counties are experiencing heavy wind and rain.
Three status yellow weather alerts came into effect overnight for counties Clare, Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Wexford, Galway and Mayo.
Up to 50 millimetres of rain is expected to fall in parts of the country today.
Met Éireann says gusts of up to 110 kilometres per hour are also likely.
