18/12 The Saturday Papers

The Front Pages

The Irish Independent reports on a probe being carried out into a €500,000 ‘secret’ bank bonus. The Indo has learnt that a payment was made to a senior figure in the Bank of Ireland without the knowledge of Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

The government is now demanding full details of the bonus – which would be one of the largest paid in the Irish banking system.

The Irish Examiner prints a chilling appraisal of former Dublin priest Tony Walsh from a 1988 psychiatrists report. “A very disturbed man who is always going to be dangerous. He could not be let near schools, children, confession without a grille,” it reads. Walsh in particular carried out a catalogue of abuse over three decades.

Thanks to a High Court ruling, the full details of chapter 19 of the Commission of Inquiry’s Murphy Report have now been published. The document reveals more details of sex abuse and shows the details that the Church went to in order to cover up details of the behaviour of a minority of its servants in its Dublin archdiocese.

The Irish Times makes the details of the Report their lead story, focusing in on the fact that it took 17 years for the archdiocese to report child abuse allegations against Walsh, who was only thrown out of the priesthood in 1996.

The Times also features news that the majority of us back the IMF/EU bailout, but believe that in accepting the bailout we’ve lost our sovereignty. In an Irish Times poll, 51 per cent said they welcomed the poll, 37 per cent did not, and 12 per cent didn’t know how they felt.

Tales from the Tabs

“Fr Filth raped a child every two weeks – and church let him do it” says the headline on the front of the Irish Daily Star. The Star reports that he abused hundreds of girls and boys as the hierarchy did very little to stop him.

The Star also points out that we’re in line for the coldest Christmas ever, which comes at the end of possibly the coldest ever December. Look out of the window and it’s pretty clear that December 2010 is a chiller alright.

Despite pleas from those who were close to Gerry Ryan to let him rest in peace, The Irish Sun keep the late broadcaster on the front page with the headline “I blame Gerry: Ryan drug use fuelled killer gangs says Anto’s  ma”. The quote comes from the mother of Anthony Campbell, an innocent plumber killed in the crossfire of a drug war.

Senator Mark Daly had commented earlier in the week that the RTÉ stars drug abuse had played its part in the Anthony’s callous shooting in 2006.

The Irish Daily Mirror go with “DRUG TEST FOR RTE STARS” as their main headline, claiming that bosses at the state broadcaster are set to randomly drug test staff at Montrose, including their biggest stars, in a bid to clean up the station’s image after Gerry Ryan’s cocaine use was revealed.

And according to forecaster John Eagleton, it may not actually snow on Christmas Day, but there will still be snow on the ground on 25 December.

The Sports Pages

Whereas Aston Villa was once a comforting home for Irish internationals such as Ray Houghton, Steve Staunton, Paul McGrath et al, it now seems to be an openly hostile environment for our own Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland, with Gerard Houllier opening the door for both to be moved on in the January transfer window.

According to this morning’s Irish Times, Houllier is fed up with the ‘whinging and moaning’ from some of his squad of late and has said that ‘those who are not happy’ will leave the club next month. Ireland and Dunne certainly fall into that category, with the former being frozen out of the first team picture since Houllier’s arrival and Dunne reportedly involved in a blazing row with the former Liverpool manager in recent weeks.

Speaking about Ireland, Houllier said: "He said he wanted to go in January to his agent. I’m not convinced, not so sure about that,” but later admitted “Once a player wants to go, he goes.”

It’s a big weekend of Heineken Cup rugby with Ulster, Munster and Leinster all in action this afternoon.

Leinster’s clash with Clermont Auvergne is arguably the most appetising of the day and the Irish Independent’s Hugh Farrelly believes that the return of talisman Brian O’Driscoll and a massive crowd at the Aviva Stadium will inspire the Blues to victory.

“The French will bring a Merle-like physicality,” writes Farrelly, “but a bumper crowd will have a role to play in what should be another magnificent occasion and could just spur the home side to a, narrow, home victory.”