In Short

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

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

Painting of criminal withdrawn

A painting of Limerick criminal Liam Keane has been pulled from an exhibition due to open in the city tomorrow due to the negative reaction the painting has received from the public.

Gavin Hogg, curator of the exhibition, said the controversial piece, by Clare artist Martin Shannon, had effectively "killed off" the real purpose behind the exhibition.

READ MORE

The painting reproduces the infamous photograph where Keane stuck his two fingers up to the law outside Dublin's Central Criminal Court in 2003.

Mr Hogg said the owner of Thinkk Creative gallery, Keith Kerley, was "becoming a bit nervous about the element this would attract to the gallery".

"The whole emphasis and idea behind the show has been completely taken over by this painting. It was starting to hurt the show."

He added that Shannon "wasn't particularly happy" about the decision to withdraw the painting, entitled A Saint for Sinners.

The exhibition, Everything You Know About Desire Is Dead Wrong, opens at 8pm tonight at the Thinkk Creative gallery, Cecil Street, Limerick.

Sentence adjourned in child porn case

A man who admitted possessing images of child pornography will be sentenced next January at Dundalk Circuit Criminal Court.

Barry Watters (31), Hazelwood Avenue, Bay Estate, Dundalk, pleaded guilty to a single count of knowingly being in possession of child pornography contrary to section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

The offence is alleged to have taken place at Hazelwood Avenue, Bay Estate, Dundalk, on May 20th, 2005.

At the request of the defence, Judge Michael O'Shea adjourned the case until next January pending preparation of a number of reports.

Tribute to social housing pioneer

The life and work of a former west of Ireland senator credited as the "founder of social housing" is to be remembered at a conference in north Galway this month, writes Lorna Siggins.

The late Labour Party senator Bobby Burke is the focus of the two-day conference in Tuam, Co Galway, on October 12th and 13th - marking the centenary of his birth.

Dubbed a "communist Protestant" by his critics, Mr Burke was a Christian socialist who initiated the Public Utility Society to fund houses for those who could not afford them. He later gave up his home at Toghermore House, Tuam, to be used as a training centre for young men suffering from tuberculosis, and it was opened by a former Labour health minister, Noel Browne.

Labour Party president and Galway West TD Michael D Higgins will open the conference in St Mary's Cathedral Synod Hall next Friday, October 12th, at 7.30pm, and Mr Burke's daughter, Patricia Burke Ericsson, will address the gathering.