Russell Brand feels great guilt for not doing more to help Amy Winehouse
Comedian Russell Brand is wrecked with guilt for failing to help Amy Winehouse overcome her addiction issues before her tragic death last year.
The singer spent many years struggling with drink and drugs before she passed away last summer after suffering alcohol poisoning, and former addict Brand is convinced he should have done more to help her beat the bottle.
The British funnyman ditched his addictions 10 years ago and he wishes he had used his experiences to help his friend recover, too.
“Her death wasn’t inevitable – there was something that could have been done. I know that from my own experience… I got clean at the age of 27, the age Amy was when she died… Amy’s death was a paradoxical unsurprising shock. I felt like I could have done something to help – to give her the chance I had… I got the sense of the ticking clock and spoke to other people, ‘Hey, we need to do something…’
“When she died, it was this feeling of, ‘Agh, I knew that was going to happen.’ And I had this flickering sense that I should have done something about that. I feel a bit guilty that there was nothing I did. Whatever anyone could have done for Amy, now one thing is for sure, no one can do anything – she’s dead.”
The star has now made a documentary film, Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery, about his struggle with drugs and he hopes it will help other addicts get help.
Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton clarifies sick-pay law
POLITICIANS NEED TO MAKE LEGISLATION CLEAR TO AVOID WORRYING THOSE AFFECTED
Well thanks a lot Joan Burton. Last week we were seriously worried that the Government’s controversial proposed change in the sick-pay laws would have a major effect on the childcare sector.
This is because childcare facilities have a strict child-to-carer ratio, which has to be enforced. If someone goes sick they can’t just be covered for, they must be replaced. And they can’t just call in anyone: the child-minder is a specialist, usually with police clearance to work with children.
There is also the greater frequency of people working with children to actually fall sick since they are in close proximity to children and much more prone to picking up bugs and colds. The new legislation requires employers to bear the full brunt of sick pay for the first month’s absence as opposed to getting the State support.
However, last week, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton assured us the childcare facilities were safe because the sick-pay changes will not affect businesses with fewer than 100 staff — which would pretty much exclude all childcare facilities.
This is a completely new detail. When the sick-pay proposal was first floated it was widely suggested it would hurt small businesses, pubs and shops. It is such a major clarification by Burton, seemingly out of the blue, that it does beg the question of whether the Government is making it up as they go along. Or did they always intend that the sick-pay changes would affect only businesses with over 100 staff. In which case, why didn’t they say so and not have people in the retail sector, pub trade and childcare industry, worrying themselves sick?
And is there a political opposition around at all at the moment to make this point, or is it just a summer shutdown, where such major ‘clarifications’ can go unremarked upon? The proposed law, after all, had been seen as yet another example of how our small business sector is not being properly supported by Government and is actually being penalised by yet new laws and charges. And in this case penalising a service that is absolutely vital to the hard working people of our whole community. But is there anyone around at all, among the political classes, to make this point? Except for Joan, God bless her, to clarify things.
Last week, after all, saw the confirmation that, for many people, childcare is costing more than the average mortgage, while for families with two or more children, the bill for full-time care can reach €2,000 a month, whether you use a creche or a childminder. This only confirms what we’ve seen: the huge and growing burden of childcare, in our allegedly child-friendly society. With the new school year looming, the cost of raising children is putting a major strain on family life, as difficult decisions have to be made.
It now costs almost €540 per household to kit out children for their return to schools, results from a specially commissioned KBC Bank/Irish Independent survey show. And while costs remain high, young families have been hit by cuts to child benefit rates and the scrapping of a €1,100 a year government supplement for children under five. The only boost that parents have received lately is the introduction of the free pre-school year in 2009, which has been crucial.
Incidentally, ECI is calling for an extension of this to two years, keeping children in pre-school care and saving a fortune for the State, and parents.
But it really is depressing that as a society we did not prepare for this, just as we didn’t prepare for the proper care of our ageing population and the provision of reasonably priced nursing home care.
The cruel paradox of Ireland being an expensive country which is also broke, also applies here. Reports on childcare costs damningly put us way down in the European league table of affordability, and estimates suggest that parents are facing childcare costs of anywhere from 20 per cent of salary up to 41 per cent, according to a 2011 report by the OECD. The crippling uncertainty about how the new sick pay laws would affect the childcare sector, with the prospect of soaring costs or possible closures, only added to this stress.
So thanks to Joan Burton who has come out to clear things up. But next time, guys, maybe you’ll come clean sooner and put us out of our misery — assuming you’re not making it up as you go along.
Dublin parade calls for same-sex marriage’s
Thousands gathered for the fourth
Thousands of people marched through Dublin’s city centre this afternoon in a noisy and colourful demonstration calling for the introduction of same-sex marriage.
The fourth “March for Marriage”, organised by gay rights group LGBT Noise, was aimed at highlighting discrimination affecting same-sex partners and their children.
The colourful parade which snaked its way through the city centre included samba bands, giant rainbow banners and thousands of multi-coloured cards with the word “equality”.
Among the placards held aloft by various groups were “First class taxpayer, second class citizen”, “Jesus had two dads – and he turned out fine!” and “Trans rights are human rights”.
The march from Dublin City Hall to the Department of Justice on St Stephen’s Green stopped briefly outside Leinster House, where campaigners produced a cardboard cut-out of Taoiseach Enda Kenny and called on the Fine Gael leader to publicly support marriage equality.
The Government has announced that gay marriage will be dealt with through the constitutional convention process, which is due to begin later this year.
However, Anna McCarthy of LGBT Noise told marchers that it will take at least a year and a half before this process is completed.
However, Anna McCarthy of LGBT Noise told marchers that it will take at least a year and a half before this process is completed.
“Marriage equality could be legislated for tomorrow, if there was the political will to do so,” she said, to cheers from the crowd.
“A number of eminent lawyers have publicly stated that a referendum is not necessary. Nowhere in our Constitution is marriage defined as being between a man and a woman,” she said.
“A number of eminent lawyers have publicly stated that a referendum is not necessary. Nowhere in our Constitution is marriage defined as being between a man and a woman,” she said.
Another LGBT Noise campaigner, Max Krzyzanowski, told the marchers that civil partnership was not the same as marriage, yet opinion polls showed the vast majority of people supported same-sex marriage.
“The current discrimination affecting children of LGBT parents is of particular concern, and it leaves families vulnerable and segregated under the law.”
He said under civil partnership legislation, LGBT parents are denied the right to make medical and educational decisions for their children, and may even lose access to their children in the event of
the death of a partner.
He said under civil partnership legislation, LGBT parents are denied the right to make medical and educational decisions for their children, and may even lose access to their children in the event of
the death of a partner.
The march drew an estimated 6,000 supporters, with hundreds from colleges and universities, as well as gay and lesbian equality groups.
“I’m here because I’d like to be able to get married some day without having to fight for it,” Raz Richard Sheridan, 18, from Dublin, who was present with his mother.
“I’m here because I’d like to be able to get married some day without having to fight for it,” Raz Richard Sheridan, 18, from Dublin, who was present with his mother.
Ruth Illingworth, Fine Gael deputy leader of Mullingar town council, said she believed the majority of the party was in favour of same-sex marriage.
“I believe the taoiseach, minister for justice and others are moving towards the idea of full marriage equality, and it’s only a matter of when it happens,” said Ms Illingworth, who says she was the first
openly gay council leader, when she came out three years ago.
“I believe the taoiseach, minister for justice and others are moving towards the idea of full marriage equality, and it’s only a matter of when it happens,” said Ms Illingworth, who says she was the first
openly gay council leader, when she came out three years ago.
Two friends in their early 20s, Louise Walker from Wicklow and Cathal O’Gara, described marriage equality as the “key civil rights issue of our time.”
“Marriage equality matters. This isn’t just a title – it’s about the exclusion of gay people from the family unit,” Ms Walker said. “There are about 169 differences between civil partnership and marriage, such as adoption.”
“Marriage equality matters. This isn’t just a title – it’s about the exclusion of gay people from the family unit,” Ms Walker said. “There are about 169 differences between civil partnership and marriage, such as adoption.”
A national disgrace and monstrous in-justice as garlic fraudster Paul Begley’s
family pleas not heeded
The Sibling sister of garlic-import fraudster demands audience with Taoiseach to discuss lengthy jail term
As 
Aishling Begley the sister of garlic import fraudster Paul Begley, is furious over her brother’s six-year sentence
Aishling Begley the sister of garlic fraudster Paul Begley has demanded meetings with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Justice Minister Alan Shatter since her brother was jailed for a scam that involved labeling shipments of garlic as apples to avoid paying high custom duty costs.
The south Dublin businessman’s family has shunned media attention since the father of three began his stay in Mountjoy Prison – choosing to issue statements rather than speak publicly.
However, the Sunday Independent can now reveal the hidden agony of a family which has spent the last six months campaigning tirelessly to have the 46-year-old grocery wholesaler released.
In a series of emails to Enda Kenny and Alan Shatter, M/s Begley demands meetings in Government Buildings to discuss the “huge injustice” and “outrageous sentence” her brother received.
Paul Begley deliberately labeled shipments of garlic imported from China apples so as to avoid paying a 232 per cent tax imposed by the European Union and instead paid the standard nine per cent duty for fruit and vegetables.
When custom officials discovered his scam in 2007, he immediately admitted his crime and set about helping the authorities unravel his tax evasion scheme.
The grocery boss has been paying off the debt over the past two years at €33,000 a month. At the time of his sentence €700,000 remained outstanding.
Despite Paul Begley’s attempts to atone for his wrong doings, Judge Martin Nolan, who said Mr. Begley was a “success story” and an “asset to the country”, imprisoned him for six years — much to the dismay of his distraught wife, Diane, and family.
Handing down the sentence, the judge said it gave him “no joy at all to jail a decent man” but pointed out that the food importer had engaged in a “grave” and “huge” tax fraud.
The prison term given to the owner of the country’s biggest fruit and vegetable wholesaler, Begley Brothers, has become a yardstick for sentencing in the Irish justice system.
The father of the young woman who was sexually assaulted by aviation company boss Anthony Lyons referenced Paul Begley’s case when Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced his daughter’s attacker to just six months in prison.
It was also referred to during the political fallout following Wexford TD Mick Wallace’s €2.1m settlement with Revenue for underpayment of VAT on apartments he built.
Apart from raising questions about Mr Wallace’s settlement, the family has chosen to hide its grief from the public glare.
However, Ms Begley’s emails to Mr Kenny paint a picture of a family devastated by the incarceration of a loved one.
She first wrote to Mr Kenny two weeks after her brother was jailed on March 21 requesting a meeting with Mr Kenny and Mr Shatter to discuss the sentence.
She said: “There has been huge public outcry in protest against Judge Martin Nolan’s outrageous sentence of six years imprisonment handed down to my brother for a garlic importation tax offence.
“In comparison, other cases seen in the media that week — heinous and violent crimes including the loss of life and the sexual abuse of a minor — (were) also sentenced to the same six-year custodial sentence.
“As Taoiseach and Minister for Justice and Equality, I want to meet you both face-to-face to have questions answered regarding how a ‘white-collar case’ is given a comparative custodial sentence with a convicted paedophile and murderer.
“If my brother, Paul Begley, faces six years in prison I would expect white-collar criminals to face 20 years for their actions of lying to the State and cheating the Revenue, and for making a mockery of the honest taxpaying public.”
Having not received a response from Enda Kenny or Alan Shatter, Paul Begley’s sister again wrote to them requesting a meeting.
“How can you both sit back and let this huge injustice proceed. How can a judge compare tax evasion (which has been paid back) to taking a life or sex abuse of a minor?
“I will not stop until I see justice served for my brother. He is a very good hard-working man who made one mistake.
“He paid the money back. He is not on free legal aid like the other cases I witnessed that day, yet they walked free from that same judge, laughing at our justice system.”
Ms Begley also contacted former Mountjoy Governor John Lonergan after he criticised her brother’s sentence in an interview with the Sunday Independent.
Writing to the former governor in April, M/s Begley revealed the effect her brother’s imprisonment was having on her parents and on their business.
“My parents are in their seventies and I am worried for their health. We don’t know what to do or where to turn,” she said.
“They are trying to keep the business going as they employ over a hundred people but it is very difficult.
“I hope, based on your comments that something will change in the system.”
She again wrote to Mr Kenny after he made a State visit to China questioning why he didn’t raise the cost of garlic duty with Chinese authorities.
The Taoiseach’s assistant private secretary eventually responded to M/s Begley on the same day informing her that Mr Kenny’s schedule was too busy to meet with her but said he would send her correspondence on to Alan Shatter.
M/s Begley responded angrily: “I am only looking for 30 minutes of his time to discuss the injustice to my brother and to be passed over to another department is not acceptable to me.”
Three days later she wrote again to his private secretary: “The bankers, developers and other politicians do deals under the table and transfer assets.
“Will they do one day in jail or pay it back? No, they will walk free and laugh at somebody like my poor brother.
“It is a total disgrace what is happening and you, his private secretary, are a smoke screen.”
Failing in her attempts to reach Enda Kenny, M/s Begley turned to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton hoping her brother’s record as an employer would appeal to him.
She said: “He employs 200 people, this business is now suffering and these jobs may be lost in a matter of time as it’s very hard to sustain it with the absence of my brother.”
In May, she turned her attentions back to Mr. Kenny’s assistant private secretary claiming that Enda Kenny “contradicted himself” when he said we need to protect our children as he was allowing “judges hand down suspended sentences” to sex abusers.
M/s Begley’s attempts to meet Enda Kenny or any of his ministers seems to have fallen on deaf ears and her brother remains behind bars in Mountjoy Prison.
Instead, the family must now wait until December when the Court of Criminal Appeal will eventually hear the businessman’s appeal against the severity of his sentence.
By then Paul Begley will have served nine months in prison alongside wife-killers, hardened criminals and drug dealers.
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