February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
If you’re thinking of tapping into the wonders of the new sex drug Viagra in Ireland, you might want to think again. The miracle pill could cost twice as much in Dublin as it does across the water in England, or even in Belfast.
Experts say Viagra is expected to cost nearly twice as much in Ireland as in Britain, despite the fact that its main ingredient is manufactured in the Republic, reports The Examiner newspaper.
The estimated cost impact of Viagra on the national health budget will continue to confound the experts until the anti-impotence drug comes on the market, Gerry O’Dwyer, the secretary-general of the Department, told the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts.
O’Dwyer was responding to a question from the committee’s chairman, Deputy Jim Mitchell, who asked if reports were true that the drug would cost around £4.48 per tablet in the UK and £9 in Ireland.
Tom Flood, chief officer of the General Medical Services (Payments) Board, told the committee that the cost of drugs in Ireland, in general, was on a par with the UK. As for the cost of Viagra, made in Cork, the price difference between Ireland and the UK would not follow the normal pattern.
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O’Dwyer conceded, the reported prices were probably correct: "When it comes to making estimates, we must wait and see."
The chairman asked O’Dwyer: "Does this mean we’ll be getting ‘Viagra expresses’ to Belfast — like the contraceptive expresses in the ’70s?"
Viagra is expected to be available in Ireland from the end of the month — in 25mg, 50mg and 100mg tablet form. A committee would monitor the drug’s impact in Ireland and would make as to future strategy on Viagra.
Limerick slums no good
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt recently expressed his disappointment that the upcoming film of his book, "Angela’s Ashes," will not be shot entirely on location in Limerick city, according to The Examiner newspaper.
Director Alan Parker will start shooting the film this week in Dublin and several scenes will also be shot in Limerick over four days in October. McCourt has been invited to attend both shoots.
The book chronicles his life growing up in poverty in Limerick’s back lanes during the 1930s and ’40s.
"But they could not find a decent slum in Limerick and that is why it is not being shot here entirely," McCourt quipped, recently during a visit to give a lecture on his early reading influences at Mary Immaculate College.
"The real flavor of Limerick could have been captured if it was shot entirely here — especially the exteriors of places like Leamy’s school, the Redemptorists church and South’s pub that feature in the book," he said.
Although he spent a considerable time scouring the streets of Limerick with Alan Parker looking for suitable locations, McCourt said he understood the slum scenes could not be shot there had totally changed since his youth.
President Bill Clinton praised McCourt’s book on his recent visit to Limerick, but preferred the new town to that depicted in the book.
"President Clinton and I share the same birthday, Aug. 19, and when I met him in the White House earlier this year he invited me to spend some time with him at his holiday home, but it fell through because I guess he was too busy in the past month," McCourt said.
"Opportunistic lecher"
A Cork judge recently urged a number of TDs and a retired government department official who wrote references for a man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two sisters to come to the court and to look into the eyes of the man’s two victims.
Judge Michael Pattwell refused to accept jurisdiction in a case in which a 61-year-old businessman pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges against two sisters, now aged 19 and 25, The Examiner reported.
Midleton District Court heard that two of the assaults on the 19-year-old took place on the same night last January, while the assault on the older sister (she was 19 at the time) took place more than five years later. Both of the victims have been severely traumatized by them.
Pattwell refused to read character references offered to the court from unnamed TDs and from a retired government department official.
"Let them come into the witness box and I will hear them, and they can then look the two girls in the eyes," he said.
One of the investigating officers, Garda Michael O’Dwyer, told the court that the older sister did not report the 1992 assault because her younger sisters were asleep when she got home and thought it would be forgotten about after a while.
Gardai said the assaults on the 19-year-old sister on last took place after the defendant had been drinking in a licensed premises where his victim worked. He overheard her telephoning for a taxi to take her home and offered instead to drive her.
Inspector Hayes said the assault on the older sister in 1992 included attempts by the defendant to fondle her breasts and put his hand inside her bra. He also put his tongue into her mouth.