What the papers say: Friday's front pages
Ottoline Spearman
A mix of crime, security and politics stories dominate the front pages on Friday, including the jail-term for the woman who threatened Tánaiste Simon Harris and his family.
The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Barniville, has said that an increase in litigants engaging in disruptive behaviour must be cracked down on, and such behaviour may lead to criminal prosecution, reports The Irish Times. The Government will unveil its Medium Term Fiscal and Structural Plan later today, with tighter budgets and a squeeze on unplanned spending expected. And EU leaders negotiated last night on whether to use frozen Russian assets to fund a €90 billion loan to Ukraine.
A "damaging U-turn" on road safety by the Government - which had initially proposed making reforms to the Road Safety Authority - comes as three people were killed on the roads in three different counties in twelve hours, reports the Irish Examiner. The paper also estimates that the total amount of cocaine seized this year amounts to 1.8 tonnes - after another 58kg was seized. And security services are understood to have arrested all five alleged members of a cell linked to a new extremist far-right group, the Irish Defence Army.
The Echo reports on a hospital patient (33) who punched an elderly man (88) to death, who has been found guilty of manslaughter, not murder.
The Central Bank estimates that people will be saving 15.9 per cent of their disposable income by 2028, due to an ageing population and younger people needing to save to buy houses, reports the Irish Independent.
Welfare fraud is on the rise, according to the Department for Social Protection, and pensioners are more likely to cash in on a social welfare loophole than job seekers, reports the Irish Daily Mail.
The Tánaiste has criticised the woman who called him a murderer and threatened him and his family, reports the Irish Daily Mirror. The woman, Sandra Barry, has been jailed for six months.
The Irish Daily Star also leads with the story of Sandra Barry and her "three minutes of madness".
A Sinn Féin activist has been arrested for attempting to smuggle €4 million worth of cocaine in horse boxes with the animals inside, according to The Herald.
And lastly, The Belfast Telegraph reports on the case of a mother who was stabbed up to 15 times in the neck while her daughter watched. Kornelijus Bracas will be sentenced next month.
