Naughten set to be cleared in broadband storm report
Comic reveals gangster drama blow as stage show hits road Byrne and fiancee Dormer break up after 11 years
Denis Naughten FORMER Minister Denis Naughten looks set to emerge unscathed in an upcoming report into the National Broadband Plan.
Reports yesterday suggested he will be found not to have compromised the project through his contacts with bid leader David Mccourt.
The former Independent Communications Minister met the businessman on several times, including at his home in Co Clare.
These meetings were not made public initially and Mr Naughten was forced to resign when the Taoiseach was about to blow the lid on them.
Leo Varadkar told the Dail the report is still with the Attorney General and will be published soon.
But Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy believes there are still questions to be answered.
She said: “Leaks from Government suggest this report will find that a Minister wining and dining with a bidder for a major State contract, on a number of occasions, is not cause for concern.
“I wonder do the other bidders in the process see it like that?
“I’ll be interested to see if the report finds that all bidders enjoyed the same access to the Minister that Mr Mccourt appeared to enjoy.”
We have been doing sell-out shows all over the country
PAT SHORTT
IRISH Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne has split from his actress fiance Natalie Dormer after 11 years together.
It is understood the pair broke up during the summer, not long after admitting their new thriller had
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created “massive arguments” at home. Game of Thrones star Natalie, 36, confirmed the split in an interview with the New Statesman.
It said the pair met on the set of The Tudors and the actress “only has positive things to say about” the Dubliner.
The pair had teamed up for In Darkness, which Natalie produced and co-wrote with Anthony, 43.
In an interview last May, the Irish star spoke about the stress of working together, confessing huge rows had taken place on a regular basis.
He told the Hollywood Reporter: “We’ve since discovered that what we were doing was completely the wrong way to write together.” Dormer and Byrne