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Damages for fan trampled at concert A WOMAN who was
knocked down and trampled on at a Robbie Williams concert has been awarded
€25,000 damages.
Sandra Brady was hit by a surge of fans as the singer staged a sell-out
show in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.
A court heard 31-year-old Ms Brady from Dundalk in Co. Louth was one
of 135,000 fans at what was the biggest open-air concert staged in Ireland.
Concert promoters MCD had employed 900 crowd control stewards.
But the court heard the promoters had originally estimated they would
require 1,066 control staff.
Ms Brady said she was hit by a surge of fans as she queued for a snack
at a food bar.
She told Judge Jacqueline Linnane the area where fans were queuing had
not been properly cordoned off.
She was taken to hospital with a fractured wrist which affected her
work as a beautician.
Judge Linnane awarded Ms Brady €25,000 damages against MCD Promotions.
But the judge said the company was a diligent promoter which had organised
a lot of successful and safe concerts.
Condom VAT cut
THE PRICE of a packet of condoms is set to fall following an Irish Government
decision to cut the VAT rate on non-oral contraceptives from 21 per cent
to 13.5 per cent.
Finance Minister Brian Cowen announced the move after years of pressure
from safe sex and crisis pregnancy campaigners.
The reduction will see the price of a packet of 12 condoms reduced from
€13.20 to €12.40 and a packet of three condoms going down from
€4.20 to €3.94.
The Crisis Pregnancy Agency welcomed the move while the Irish Pharmaceutical
Union (IPU) also supported the measure.
IPU president Darragh O’Loughlin said: “We would now call
on the Government to reduce the VAT rate on all medicines that are taxed
at the rate of 21 per cent.”
Driving test delay
DRIVING test waiting lists in Ireland have soared by over 50 per cent.
New figures from the Department of Transport show there are currently
185,000 learners waiting to take the test compared with 122,000 in October.
The latest figures threw doubt on whether Transport Minister Noel Dempsey’s
summer deadline for driving tests on demand can be met.
Figures from last year reveal that a record 203,000 tests were carried
out but 300,000 applications were received.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said: “It is still
our target to have all 122,000 applicants on the waiting lists at the
end of October 2007 tested by early March 2008 and by the end of June
that all applicants for a driving test will be able to get a test on demand.” |
