Monday, May 18, 2015
Serving Cork for 120 years
Edition No: 35901
RRP: €1.50
Gay Marriage Referendum INSIDE: What life is like as a LGBT person in Cork in 2015
Shoot-up in loos plan Yes vote plea from Sisters doing it for themselves and Cork! Bid to police users ■ Ann Murphy ex-Mayor’s daughter
DESIGNATE the Grand Parade public toilets as a location where heroin addicts can “shoot up”.
■ Audrey Ellard Walsh THE daughter of the late Lord Mayor of Cork and Judge Seán O’Leary is calling for a yes vote in Friday’s Marriage Equality referendum. Mary O’Leary, a PhD student based in the UK who married her secondary school sweetheart Emma, encourages those who may be on the fence about Friday’s vote to reflect. “Think about your own marriage and think about how much it means to you or think about your own children and how much you want them to have what you may have. “By ticking that box that says yes, you can make a huge positive difference to people’s lives and there will be no negative consequences to anyone else.” Speaking about her father, Mary said: “There is no doubt in my mind Dad would have been in favour of marriage equality.” Meanwhile, one of the most legendary figures in Cork’s LGBT community, Loafers Bar founder Derrick Gerety, said a Yes vote will have a liberating impact similar to that in 1993 when homosexuality was decriminalised. ■ See pages six, sevan, 10 and 11.
SISTERS CELEBRATE: Captain Ciara O’Sullivan celebrates Cork’s Division 1 NFL final replay win againstGalway with her sisters Doireann, Roisín and Maebh in Portlaoise. See Sport. Picture: Anois Photography
That is the message being put forward today at a meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee by the committee’s chairman and incoming Lord Mayor, Councillor Chris O’Leary. He said it is time to accept that the toilets are being used by heroin addicts as somewhere to shoot up. “It would be better to have it managed in that area rather than having people shooting up in back streets around the city,” he said. The call comes less than two weeks after an inquest at Cork City Coroner’s Court heard how a man in his 20s died in hospital after shooting up heroin in the toilet of Dunnes Stores on North Main Street. And it also follows a suggestion by recentlyappointed Minister for Drugs, Aodhán O Ríordáin, for legislation introducing injection centres for addicts before the next election. Councillor O’Leary believes the proposed measure would lead to a reduction in syringes and other heroin paraphernalia being found in different parts of the city. It would also help authorities to monitor users. ■ See Page 5 for more.
SIX ACRE EXTENSION PLAN FOR BALLINCOLLIG REGIONAL PARK - SEE PAGE 2 Weather tonight L: 7ºC
A couple uple of showers
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18.05.2015 Recommended retail price € 1.50