User:fredkenneally Date:19/02/2008Time:23:14:46 Edition:20/02/2008Examiner LiveXX2002 Page:1Color:

XX1 - V1

REINVENTING COLIN LIAM MACKEY AT ANFIELD

The star of In Bruges on life Liverpool edge towards Champions League
after the Hollywood A-list quarter finals, Chelsea in Greek stalemate
ARTS: 20 16-PAGE PULLOUT INSIDE
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 www.irishexaminer.com No. 57,725 1.70
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Wife sought
marital advice
day before
she died
by Seán McCárthaigh
A DUBLIN woman, whose husband
is charged with her murder, sought
assistance about marital separation on
the day before she died, it emerged
yesterday.
The Central Criminal Court heard
Siobhan Kearney had contacted a
Citizens Advice Centre on February
27, 2006, seeking information from a
family law expert. However, Ms Kear-
ney, 38, was told there was no avail-
able appointment until March 9 that
year, despite asking for an earlier
date.
The evidence emerged on the sec-
ond day of the trial of her husband,
Brian Kearney, aged 50, who has
pleaded not guilty to his wife’s murder
at their home at Knocknashee, Goat-
stown, in Dublin, on February 28,
2006.
Earlier, a family friend and former
boyfriend of the deceased, Sergeant
Charlie McConalogue, described how
there was anger and sadness at the
Kearney home in the hours after
Siobhan’s body was discovered as fam-
ily members gathered at the scene.
Sgt McConalogue told the court he
was “taken aback” to be asked by
Kearney on that occasion if gardaí
would be wanting to take his clothing.
Siobhan’s sister Aisling McLaughlin
admitted she had told her brother-
in-law “to get out” after he arrived at
his home after being informed of his
wife’s death. She also asked Kearney’s
brother to leave the kitchen in order
to give her family some privacy. In
other evidence, Ms McLaughlin noted
how Kearney issued “very clear
instructions” to his family between
periods when he appeared to be
hyperventilating.
The court heard Siobhan had begun
a relationship with Kearney in 1989
but it ended six years later shortly
after they had got engaged. However,
the couple got back together and
married in January 2002, six months
before the birth of their son, Daniel.
Several friends of the dead women
gave evidence that they knew she was
experiencing problems in her mar-
riage. Carol Summers had a meal with
Siobhan a week before her death and
expressed surprise that she was not
wearing her wedding rings.
Anne Clohessy met her friend the
day before she died and found Siob-
han in her “usual positive form”.
Asked if Ms Kearney appeared suici-
dal, she replied: “Absolutely not. I
knew Siobhan very well and she
wouldn’t do that.”
Meanwhile, an ambulance official
who attended the scene at the Kear-
ney home said Siobhan’s mother had
told him her daughter had been going
through a rough patch and had been
looking for tablets on the night before
her death. Counsel for Kearney,
Patrick Gageby SC, suggested it
would be very wrong to say Siobhan
had checked into St John of God’s
Hospital in 1999 because of the stress
of living with the accused as they
were not together at the time.
The trial continues today.
NEWS: 11
CASTRO STEPS DOWN
AN AILING 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s president yesterday after nearly
a half-century in power. US President George W Bush said he hopes the resignation
signals the beginning of a democratic transition. WORLD: 16 & 17; EDITORIAL: 18
Details of 171,000 blood donors
were on laptop stolen in US
by Stephen Rogers
THE Irish Blood Transfusion Ser-
vice yesterday confirmed a laptop
containing the personal details of
more than 171,000 donors and
3,300 medical patients was stolen
in New York earlier this month.
The computer containing the
donors’ names, dates of birth,
addresses and blood types was
stolen from a New York Blood
Centre employee when he was
mugged. The service said the data
was in the US because it was
upgrading its software to provide a
better service.
“To do this we have engaged the
services of New York Blood Cen-
tre, a public service blood bank,
under a data protection and trans-
fer agreement,” it said. The com-
puter was stolen on February 7 and
the Irish service was informed on
the following day. It insisted the
data was securely encrypted.
“We are always aware of the
potential for data loss and took all
measures to ensure that
state-of-the-art data encryption
was used,” said the service. “The
records were on a CD that was en-
crypted with a 256-bit encryption
key. These records were transferred
to a laptop and re-encrypted with
an AES 256-bit encryption key.
This represents one of the highest
levels of security available and to
Soaring rush
hour road
deaths spark
safety review
■ Rise in fatalities among middle-aged motorists
by Juno McEnroe
A SHARP rise in the
number of middle-aged
people dying on our roads
combined with a growing
number of fatalities during
commuter periods are forc-
ing road safety chiefs into a
re-think when it comes to
awareness campaigns.
Previously unseen figures
obtained by the Irish Exam-
iner reveal dramatic changes
in the times of day when
lives were lost.
The traditional peak road
fatality times at night are
being replaced by rising
deaths in morning and
evening rush hours when
traffic volumes are highest.
The figures show that fatal
accidents rose by nearly 30%
between the hours of 6am
and 10am in 2007 compared
to the previous year. Fatal
crash numbers also rose
marginally between the
hours of 4pm and 6pm.
The age profile of people
dying on Irish roads in 2007
also changed, with fatalities
in the 46 to 60 age group
rising by over a half, now
accounting for 49 fatalities.
our knowledge there is no record
of a successful attack against this
level of encryption.”
The service said the investigation
is continuing and it notified the
Data Protection Commissioner on
February 11.
“We are writing to each donor
affected by this incident to reassure
them and to advise them of the
possibility, however remote, that
their personal data might be
accessed. We expect these letters to
be posted on Friday, February 22.
We will also be writing to the hos-
pitals and GPs who in turn will
contact the patients concerned.”
● Donors can contact the service
on 1850 731 137.
Successful targeting by the
Garda Traffic Corps and the
Road Safety Authority
(RSA) last year saw a huge
fall in young driver and
passenger deaths.
Overall, nearly a third
fewer people (101 to 71) in
their 20s died on Irish roads
compared to 2006.
But the as yet unpublished
Garda figures show a huge
rise in the number of people
killed who were in their late
40s and 50s.
Noel Brett, chief execu-
tive of the RSA, said:
“There were a series of years
there where young people
were being slaughtered on
the roads, drivers and their
passengers... we have seen a
reduction, particularly
among young people.”
Part of the focus now was
to “get at and change the
behaviour of middle-aged
and older people”, he said.
“People started to get
complacent. So far in 2008
the trend is holding. The
most dangerous time so far
this year has been between
8am and 10am with eight
people killed.
“The most vulnerable
users are on our roads at that
time... you’ve got people
trying to get kids to creches,
you’ve got people against
the clock, (there’s) all these
issues at that time.”
Further details include
counties with the worst
fatality records and types of
road users killed.
Overall, the worst areas or
Garda divisions for fatalities
in 2007 were Louth/Meath
(31), Wexford (25), Donegal
(22) and Longford (20).
Road deaths were highest
overall in the eastern region
(105), followed by the
south-east (70). The north-
ern region saw substantial
reductions in deaths, falling
to fifth place with 42 fatali-
ties. Garda figures show
pedestrians and cyclists ac-
counted for nearly 30% of
fatalities last year.
Speed will be a priority
area for road safety chiefs
and gardaí this year. Further
figures obtained by the Irish
Examiner show the excess
speeds motorists were
caught driving at in different
speed zones last year.
NEWS: 4

NEWS
Eagles killed
Two white-tailed sea
eagles, released in Killar-
ney National Park as part
of a nature conservation,
are believed to have been
poisoned. It is a setback to
plans to reintroduce 75
eagles to the area. Page: 5
WORLD
Calls to quit
Pakistani President Pervez
Musharraf faced mounting
calls to quit yesterday as
opposition parties moved
towards a coalition govern-
ment in the wake of a
sweeping election victory
over his allies. Page: 15
FEATURES
Horse sense
Two centuries after an
Irishman became the first
man to be called a horse
whisperer, it is horses that
are cajoling people into the
hurly-burly of everyday
social interaction.
Page: 21
Lip service: Kissing pilgrims
may find stone is blarney
by Ed Carty
THE famous Blarney
Stone, renowned for giving
those who kiss it the gift of
the gab, may in fact be
nothing but blarney.
Disappointingly, for the
hundreds of pilgrims who
climb the steep battlements
every day to plant their lips
on it, they may be
smooching the wrong
block.
Rather than a stirring
legend of magical powers,
experts believe the present
stone, kissed in the vain
hope of eloquence, came
into use in 1888 for health
and safety reasons.
The old practice of dan-
gling by the ankles to reach
the stone was replaced in
favour of a safer stretch to a
much closer block.
A study of the history of
Blarney Castle, where the
bluestone sits high on an-
cient parapets, found the
300,000 people a year who
patiently queue expecting
powers of speech and flat-
tery get nothing but an en-
joyable view and cold lips.
Authors of Blarney Cas-
tle: Its History, Develop-
ment and Purpose, Mark
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Samuel and Kate Hamlyn,
have claimed a new stone ��� ������ �� ���������� ��� ������
was chosen on the north �� ���������
face for fears of damage by ��� ������� � �� �������� �����
overeager souvenir hunters
and injury to visitors. ���� ���� ������
Mr Samuel said: “I’m not ��� ��� ������ � ������
in a position to say the
stone is worthless, I’m �� ���� ��� ��� ��� ��� ��� ��� �� ����������
saying there’s a real kernel ��������� ���� ��� ��� �� ����� ���������������� ������
of hard fact that there is a
special bluestone.
“But it’s to pin down
where it is.”
“It was all part of the
phenomenon of reinventing
the castle that happened
in the last 200 years as a �� ����� � ���������� ��� ������� �������� ������ ��� ������������������������������������ ����� �������� ����
romantic spot,” he said. ������� �� ��������� �� ������� ������������� ��� �������������

IRISH EXAMINER

20.02.08 News 2-14; World 15-17; Opinion 18; Analysis 19; Arts 20; Features 21; Business 22-24; Sport 25-32; Classifieds 33-36; TV 37, 38; Deaths 39
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