What the papers say

Journalist Barbara McCann reviews Tuesday morning's papers.

The editorial in the Irish News applauds the tenacity and courage of Sorcha Mckenna, the daughter of shamed self-styled human rights activist Vincent McKenna.

The paper reports that the Irish minister for justice and law reform, John O'Donoghue, is to increase jail sentences for convicted sex offenders in the Republic - a decision he said he has taken after speaking to Sorcha.

She was devastated when her abuser father was only jailed for three years after being found guilty of 31 charges of sexual and indecent assault at Cavan Circuit Court last year.

In its editorial, the Irish News says the minister's praise of Sorcha who campaigned to have the sentence for sex abusers increased is entirely justified.

And it describes her achievement in forcing the hand of government as quite remarkable.

Keynote speech

In the Dublin papers, the French prime minister's swipe at Irish tax and economic policies in his keynote speech on the future of the EU, is given considerable coverage.

The Irish Independent notes the Irish Government's swift rejection of his suggestion for tax harmonisation while the Irish Times says all efforts to force a rise in the Republic's low tax on business will be firmly resisted.

And Europe looks set to remain on the election agenda according to the Independent, which reports that the European Commission President Romano Prodi is set to intervene directly in the campaign by calling for more powers to be transferred to Brussels.

The paper predicts that the Tories will seize on Mr Prodi's attack on moves by Britain and France to transfer authority back to national governments.

Riots

The Daily Express leads on the continuing trouble in Oldham, carrying a police warning that there could be copycat riots in other towns.

It says there will be extra policing at Old Trafford this week, to stop disruption at England's test match against Pakistan.

Most of the papers seem to be in agreement that right-wing groups incited the Asian youths to violence.

The Telegraph is one of many to profile the Cambridge-educated leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin.

The paper observes that he has tried to reform the party to give it respectability, by expelling hardline members and shedding its anti-semitic image.

The police do a fantastic job in dealing with riots

The Mirror

But it points out that he was recently convicted of incitement for denying the existence of the Holocaust, and wrote an article claiming that the media was run by a Jewish conspiracy.

"The police do a fantastic job in dealing with riots" begins the Mirror.

"They must do an equally good job in cracking down on the racists who cause them in the first place."

But writing in the Daily Mail, a Moslem community leader Manzoor Moghal says it is wrong to dignify the rioting by suggesting that it is a reaction to racism.

Oldham was a powder keg waiting to explode, he argues, not because of racial tensions, but because it is an area of poverty, deprivation and sheer desperation.

Finally, the Mail carries the story of the couple who got in a flap over a cat.

Janet and Michael Gilroy searched their house for two days rolling up carpets, emptying cupboards and even calling the fire brigade when they heard miaowing somewhere in their house.

Eventually they did.

Far from the frightened feline they expected to find, the Gilroys were confronted by a novelty barrel of cat biscuits wrapped up with birthday presents - complete with authentic sound effects.