In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

A round-up of today's other stories in brief.

Priest charged with assault, assisting rape

A priest from Co Fermanagh appeared in court in Liverpool via videolink yesterday charged with indecent assault and facilitation of the rape of a 12-year-old girl. Fr Jeremiah McGrath (62) appeared at Liverpool Crown Court following his arrest in Northern Ireland last week.

Fr McGrath, a parish priest in Rosslea, spoke only to confirm his name. He is accused of indecently assaulting the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and facilitating another person to rape her, between May and November this year in England.

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McGrath, who has relatives in the US and owns a house in Florida, was arrested after going voluntarily to Enniskillen police station. He was taken to Liverpool for questioning and later charged in connection with the allegations. No plea was entered, but his solicitor, Tony Murphy, said he would strongly deny the allegations in court.

Fr McGrath was bailed to appear before the same court on March 2nd for a plea and case management hearing. - (PA)

Kerry A&E consultant resigns

The sole A&E consultant at Kerry General Hospital, the second-biggest acute hospital in the Cork-Kerry HSE Southern area, has resigned, the HSE confirmed yesterday.

Dr Seán O'Rourke's resignation will take effect from the spring.

There has been an outcry in recent months about understaffing at the department in the hospital, which sees over 28,000 new attendances a year.

Priest steps aside pending inquiry

A priest of Dublin's Catholic archdiocese has stood aside from ministry pending the outcome of investigations into allegations of child sex abuse made against him, writes Patsy McGarry.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said all relevant civil and Garda authorities had been informed. She also said the priest was one of the 67 clergy of the archdiocese against whom child sex abuse allegations had been made, as already disclosed by the archdiocese. It is understood the priest stood aside last month and that the allegations date back some time.

Clare man on murder charge remanded

A Co Clare man charged with the murder of Kilrush woman, Ann Walsh was yesterday returned for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

At Ennis District Court yesterday, the Book of Evidence was served on Raymond Donavan (24) New Houses, Cooraclare. He is charged with the murder of Ms Walsh at Toler Street, Kilrush on August 24th last. Solicitor for Mr Donavan successfully applied for legal aid and obtained legal aid for a forensic psychiatrist.

Mr Donavan has been in custody since August 26th with no application for bail. He was further remanded in custody yesterday to the Central Criminal Court in January.

Boxing official settles libel action

A leading Irish boxing official has settled his High Court action for libel against the Scottish Daily Record newspaper.

Yesterday, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan was told the proceedings brought by Brendan Ó Conaire could be struck out.

An apology to Mr Ó Conaire, who is an official with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association, was also read out to the court. In the apology, the newspaper said that, in its September 21st, 2000 edition, allegations were made against Mr Ó Conaire which, the paper now accepted, were untrue. It was also stated that the newspaper had paid Mr Ó Conaire a sum in compensation.

Ex-publican fails to produce licence

Former publican Martin Ring failed to appear in court yesterday to hand over the licence for a pub to the landlord.

Mr Ring, former proprietor of the Cameo, Green Street, Dublin, had objected to the transfer of the licence because he claimed he was owed money and because he had been refused access to remove equipment he had installed.

Last week, a judge told him to come back to court yesterday with the licence. But Insp Tim McCarthy told the court yesterday he had tried to contact Mr Ring a number of times in the past week without success. He was not in court yesterday.

Judge Collins said she could not grant the transfer without knowing exactly where the licence is because, unlike cases where a licence may be missing, this one was known to exist and could be used elsewhere.

She adjourned to January 11th so that a letter could be written to Mr Ring's solicitors asking them to state where the licence is.