BY BARRY MCCAFFREY
THE Republic of Ireland soccer team will wear blackarm bands during its match with Italy at next month’s EURO championship to commemorate one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles.
In what is thought to be the first time it has ever happened the Football Association of Ireland has confirmed that its players will wear black arm bands during its game with Italy on June 18 to commemorate the 18th anniversary of a loyalist gun attack on Loughinisland in June 1994 which left six men dead.
The game will fall exactly 18 years to the day since the atrocity, which took place when UVF gunmen opened fire on patrons at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland as they watched Ireland play Italy during the 1994 World Cup in America.
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BY KATHRYN TORNEY
THE Assembly’s Programme for Government stressed the need to improve literacy and numeracy levels of all school leavers in Northern Ireland and committed to giving additional support to under-achieving pupils.
However, The Detail has found that the Department of Education’s investment in the literacy strategy has reduced dramatically and financial backing for the successful Reading Recovery programme which helped young children struggling to read has flatlined to zero for the last three years.
The chair of Northern Ireland’s Literacy and Numeracy Taskforce – Sir Robert Salisbury – has warned that key issues still need to be addressed before any sustainable progress in raising standards will be seen.
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BY BARRY MCCAFFREY
THE Public Prosecution Service is refusing to meet some murder victims’ families to explain why it has abandoned prosecutions as a result of “security concerns” for the health and safety of staff, a new report has revealed.
Between October 2010 and September 2011 the PPS issued 11,933 letters informing victims’ families that prosecutions were being abandoned or charges against defendants were being reduced.
Prosecutors came in for widespread criticism from victims’ families in a number of cases over claims that it had failed to explain to them why it had abandoned or reduced charges.
The Criminal Justice Inspection (CJI) will this morning (Thursday) publish a report into how effective the PPS has been in explaining its decision-making process to the families of victims.
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BY NIALL MCCRACKEN
THE prison governor who has been suspended from duty is under scrutiny over whether an alleged inappropriate incident between one of his officers and a female inmate was properly investigated, The Detail can reveal.
The alleged incident at Hydebank Wood prison is said to have been witnessed by Frances McKeown who took her own life in May last year. There is no suggestion at this stage that the allegation and Frances’s supposed role in it were contributory factors in her death.
The Detail has been investigating Frances’s final few months in Hydebank since February of this year and we have been seeking answers from the Prison Service and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on this specific subject since then.
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BY KATHRYN TORNEY
A DISTURBING study of mental health patient and carers’ experiences at Northern Ireland’s A&E departments raises serious questions about the treatment and support given to people presenting with self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
The report by the Belfast Mental Health Rights Group contains evidence collected over the last two years from people who have attended hospitals in mental health crisis.
It highlights long waiting times, patients being left out of decision making and many individuals in mental health distress being discharged without details of important follow up appointments.
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BY NIALL MCCRACKEN
ON the day that Northern Ireland’s first whistleblower action group meets with the Health Minister, a former care worker speaks exclusively to The Detail about his decision to “blow the whistle” on safety concerns at a privately-owned assisted living service for vulnerable adults.
For months Aidan Hanna repeatedly raised concerns around client safety and staff training within the organisation but these were ignored. He then sought advice and provided external parties with what he believed to be evidence of such shortcomings – but this action led to him being sacked.
Aidan’s contract of employment was with the charity Positive Futures who run the Windemere Supported Living Service in Lisburn. Many clients are placed in the service by the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. A report published by trust just months before Aidan’s dismissal acknowledged many of the issues he had previously flagged up – but it made no difference to Aidan; he remains out of work to this day.
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