1. Taoiseach resists calls for inquiry into Nama after arrests
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has continued to resist calls for an inquiry into the sale of €1.6 billion of Nama loans in Northern Ireland, despite the ongoing investigation in the North leading to two arrests yesterday. Britain's National Crime Agency confirmed it arrested two people and carried out searches in Co Down in connection with a fraud investigation that has been under way for months. The agency is investigating claims that senior business people and politicians were to benefit from Nama's sale of the loans, known as Project Eagle, to US company Cerberus in 2014 for €1.6 billion. Independent TD Mick Wallace has had repeated contacts with the NCA, which is headquartered in London, spending two hours in one meeting with its detectives in March.
Miriam Lord: Tired Taoiseach gets Springsteen in his step
2. Gangs will not lose sleep over new crime measures
It is difficult to imagine anyone in the criminal fraternity having a troubled sleep last night on the basis of the Government's anti-gangland package. It is aimed at bolstering the Garda's efforts in the fight against organised crime and is a direct response to the climbing death toll in the so-called Kinahan-Hutch feud. But as reorderings of the criminal justice system go, this is more a tinkering around the very edges than anything root and branch. No timetable for any of the reforms has been set out and they come as the last batch of Government promises – including the deployment of an armed Regional Support Unit for Dublin – are yet to be honoured. The response - a combination of a taskforce, a mini-Cab and saturation policing forms part of the classic political response – was high on optics, not so high on substance.
3. NUI Galway seeks removal of ‘defamatory’ blog post
NUI Galway (NUIG) has defended its decision to threaten legal action over the removal of a blog run by supporters of a former academic at the centre of a high-profile gender equality row at the college. Last month its solicitors wrote to Automattic Inc, the US-based firm which owns Wordpress. com, calling for the immediate removal of a blog post which, it said, seriously damaged its reputation. If it failed to do so, it said it reserved the right to issue High Court proceedings seeking defamation damages. The post – "Micheline's three conditions" – makes a series of allegations over the university's handling of cases involving female staff who missed out on promotions. The website is run by supporters of Dr Micheline Sheehy Skeffington – granddaughter of suffragette Hanna Sheehy Skeffington – who won a landmark Equality Tribunal case against NUIG in 2014.
Secondary schools 'too academic' for many teens, says Ruairi Quinn: Some would fare better in vocational training, claims former minister for education
4. A refugee’s story: Salafists have come to radicalise us
The first weeks in the port in Piraeus were tedious. One day morphed into the next. There were no days in the week. There were things to be grateful for, of course. We were alive. That might sound dramatic but all of us had friends and even family members who were not. We were safe. That was a consolation. Modern technology meant we had access to the world we'd been forced to leave behind. This is something today's migrant is grateful for and, in my case, when your pregnant wife is hundreds of kilometres away it provides reassurance. My day would start early. There was one bathroom for men and children – probably about 400 of us at its peak and one for about 300 women. We would queue for an opportunity to wash. Then we would start to queue again this time for tea or warm milk which the volunteers – mainly Greek – would prepare and serve from 8am every morning. It would take until almost 11am before everyone had been served. Meanwhile, in Ireland, refugees' difficulties integrating into Irish society are compounded by obstacles they face accessing the labour market, a report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says. Ireland has not developed a system of labour market supports targeted at refugees, the report says.
Nearly 900 migrants die in past week - UN UNHCR says smugglers may be maximising their income before Ramadan begins
5. Keiren Westwood in Ireland squad for Euro 2016
David Forde, Eunan O'Kane, Darron Gibson, Harry Arter, David McGoldrick, Kevin Doyle miss out on trip to France. David Forde was the most obvious loser as Martin O'Neill named his travelling party for the European Championships after Tuesday night's 2-1 home defeat by Belarus. The Millwall goalkeeper came on late in the game, leaving Keiren Westwood as the only member of this extended Ireland squad not to get a run out over the course of the two games. An hour later, though, it was the man who had played in Gelsenkirchen who was left out with the 35-year-old paying the price for his lack of first team action over the course of this season. With Harry Arter effectively ruled out earlier in the day by a thigh injury and already back at home in England by kick-off time, O'Neill's job with regard to midfield had been made just a little more straightforward and in the end Darron Gibson was the most prominent player to be cut. Meanwhile, you couldn't help worrying about what might happen if the level of play on display at Turner's Cross was repeated at Euro 2016.
Misc:
Higgins would have 'cross-party' support for second term: Varadkar praises President who would be 84 if he stayed in office for another seven years
Kingsmill suspect identified after forensic breakthrough: Ten Protestant workmen massacred by gunmen in Co Armagh ambush in 1976
Trudeau does not defend actions of Canadian ambassador: The Canadian prime minister has failed to defend his country's ambassador to Ireland after the diplomat grappled with a protester at a memorial event in Dublin last week.
Supermac's manager sacked over incidents that cost firm €2.75: Watchford Ltd to pay Linda O'Donoghue €19,000 over claim for constructive dismissal
Investigation after woman dies in surgery at Holles Street: Malak Kuzbary Thawley died at the hospital in Dublin on May 8th
Data on suicides nationwide reveals sharp differences: 375 men take own lives across the Republic in 2015, in addition to 76 women
New minister for climate change has no time to waste: An scheme to incentivise renewable sources of heating should be the priority
