Bloody Insomnia comes a calling again.

I must be interconnected to Sam-who is also suffering from insomnia of late-or something. Here we go again, was I asleep was I awake? Who can say. All I know is I have a monster week ahead of me in terms of work so naturally by body decides I can do this on little or no quality sleep.
Does anyone know how much sleep the human body actually requires to function? Is it four hours? SIx?

It should be an interesting day today, Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, is due before the High Court again and it appears many parish priests here in Dublin are deeply unhappy with his decision to contest files on child abuse being made available to the courts. But does Connell have a right to with hold the files? Is it right and proper that he must retain the right to confidentiality in sex abuse files? Is it even legal? Does his view trump the law?
Across the water Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is being roasted for suggesting that the establishment of Sharia Law might be unavoidable, but I wonder how incorrect he is. It does seem the laws of the land are only secondary to the law of cultures and spiritual groups. Another flouting of the law is being acted out in this country at the moment, witness the case of a 13 year old Roma girl, abducted and raped by her 16 year old 'groom' in an effort to make her family honor an agreement to marriage. 13, a child, yet her case appears to be outside the remit of Irish law.
From to day's independent.

The Irish Independent...' has learned that the girl's 16-year-old-rapist, who had been selected to become her husband, and her abductors may never face prosecution as her parents have accepted a €10,000 payment after an independent mediator brokered a deal between the two families.

In a case that highlights the complexities of applying Irish laws to those with different customs and traditions, the Roma family -- who arranged their daughter's marriage when she was just eight -- no longer regard the incident as a rape despite the fact that the child's husband-to-be has admitted to gardai that he had sex with the girl.

Details of the hush-money payment emerged one month after a coroner ruled that a British teenager who opposed her parents plan for an arranged marriage died after she was strangled or smothered. The 17-year-old had previously been admitted to hospital after drinking bleach when she was introduced to her suitor and no one has been charged in relation to her killing.

It was believed that once the Roma girl's "husband" had sex with her, regardless of her consent, she and her family would have to accept and honour the original arranged marriage agreement.

A file has been sent to the Director of Public prosecutions and several people have been questioned in connection with the kidnapping, but the row between the two families has been resolved by the €10,000 payment.

The case may prove difficult to bring to court as the families came to a new agreement following intervention by a mediator who recently travelled from England to Ireland to broker a deal. Other youths employed to kidnap the girl have also been compensated for their role in the abduction.

"Some Roma have their own customs when dealing these type of issues," said a senior gardai who is involved in the ongoing investigation."


So culture trumps law and religion trumps law. Makes a body wonder what the point in having laws if they are so easily over looked.
Yep, 10,000, that's the cost of dignity. The cost of family 'honor'. Seems cheap at half the price.


UPdate: Cardinal Connell has withdrawn his high court action.