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Pressure is mounting on the government today following confirmation from Praveen Halapannavar that he will in no way co-operate with the HSE’s inquiry into his wife Savita’s death. Thirty one year old Mrs Halappanavar died at Galway University Hospital last month following a miscarriage.

Her husband Praveen has said that his wife repeatedly requested a termination when she was told her pregnancy was no longer viable. On last night’s Six One news on RTE Mr Halapannavar’s solicitor Gerard O’Donnell suggested his client could take legal action to prevent the inquiry having access to his wife’s medical records. Later, in a deeply moving interview on Prime Time Praveen Halappanavar talked about his wife’s last moments.

The question this morning is where does the inquiry into his wife’s death go from here, can it proceed in its current form and can the government and the HSE decide to change course. Joining Pat were Michael O’Regan Parliamentary Correspondent of the Irish Times and barrister and former practising GP Simon Mills. We asked for a government spokesperson but nobody was available.

The gritty, violent and sometimes shocking RTE drama series, “Love Hate”, written by Stewart Carolan, has captured the public imagination. The first episode had 631,000 viewers – last Sunday 671,000 people watched.

Episode one featured a violent rape scene and the brutal murder of an IRA boss by a Dublin drugs gang. Some commentators believe the double crossing, cold blooded killing and menace portrays the reality of gangster life in some of our cities.

Yesterday Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said there are 25 organised crime gangs in the state , some with links to Russian criminals.

Joining Pat were Jim Cusack of the Sunday Independent , Fr. Peter McVerry and former Assistant Garda Commissioner Martin Donnellan.

By Tom Clonan (Liberties Press)

Irish troops have served 40,000 individual tours of duty over four decades in Lebanon. Forty-seven Irish troops died in Lebanon and thousands more have returned with physical and psychological injuries. But the Irish experience in Lebanon is not something we hear a lot about in the media. Tom Clonan, Security Analyst with the Irish Times tells the true story of the Irish at war through an account of his experiences as an Irish Army Officer serving in Lebanon between 1995 and 1996. His vivid account brings us from a rain-swept Dublin Airport on a dark October night to the massacre of 118 innocent men, women and children in the village of Qana, South Lebanon in April 1996.

The New York Times has referred to Cameron Mackintosh as ‘’The most successful, influential and powerful producer of our time” and he’s taking the musical Oliver to Dublin for Christmas. Cameron joined Pat on the line from London.

With Tina Leonard

Shopping online for Christmas

It’s the biggest time of the year for shopping but rather than battle the crowds and pay parking costs, many choose to sit on the sofa with their laptop instead.

You could go online to search for products or to compare prices, but if you are thinking of buying some or all of your shopping online this Christmas, you must know the golden rules of shopping safely.

Tina Leonard was here to explain what they are and also has some money saving tips for those thinking of shopping this way.

What you should know:

Know who you are buying from:

The single biggest area where online shoppers make a mistake and end up getting themselves in to trouble is when they shop with a web trader that they haven’t checked out. Chances are you wouldn’t buy from a hooded man down an alley so why would you do that online?

So, if you have heard of the retailer and trust them, or if they have been recommended to you, that’s fine. But if, let’s say, you’ve done a search for a product and an unknown trader comes up in your search offering a great price for exactly the product you want you should always do some checks first.

Do an online search of the web trader’s name to see if you can find any negative chat.Check they have full contact details including their address, so you know where they are and how to contact them.Check for information on delivery and returns and price.

If you find negative chat online or the above information isn’t available on the site don’t shop. Also, if you are shopping on a site that you think is a well-known brand or retailer, but on checking the information you notice that the address is in China for example and that returns must go there, the alarm bells should ring.

Check all the details before buying

It is good practice to check for contact details and other information relating to the product and purchase before you buy, but bear in mind that under EU rules this information must be present by law. Now ask yourself whether you want to buy from a trader who hasn’t included the relevant information, if they can’t be bothered complying with the law.

Name and addressThe main characteristics of the good/serviceThe price including taxes and delivery costs and how payment is to be madeHow the goods are to be delivered or how the service will be performedThat a right to cancel existsThe minimum duration of the contractHow long it will be open to you to enter into the contract on these termsThe cost of the communication between the parties if its above a basic rateHow to cancel the contractAny guarantees and after sales services that are available

Faulty products

To start with you have the same rights as when you shop in a ‘bricks and mortar’ shop. That is to say that if a product is faulty or not ‘as described’ you are entitled to a repair, replacement or refund.

If you have to return a faulty product you should not have to pay the cost of return postage. In practice what usually happens is that you pay to post the faulty item back and that postage cost is refunded to you.

A good idea is to check the item immediately on delivery to make sure it is what you ordered and not in several hundred broken pieces. When it comes to consumer problems, always act as promptly as you can.

Delivery problems

If the trader promises a pre-Christmas delivery if you book by a certain date but you still don’t receive the product in time, you do have come-back. In that situation it would mean they have breached their contract with you and so you can pull out and seek a refund.

In the case where a delivery date hasn’t been pre-agreed, EU law stipulates that the contract must be performed within thirty days of the order being placed. After that time period, if the product doesn’t arrive you are entitled to cancel the contract and get a refund.

Also, in some situations of non-delivery or delayed delivery it can happen that the trader blames the courier or delivery company for non delivery and asks you to complain to them. Don’t do that. The trader is trying to fob you off but ultimately the trader is responsible for getting the product to you.

Changing your mind

When shopping online you have additional rights that don’t exist when shopping on the main street.

You have a cooling-off period meaning that you have a legal entitlement to change your mind about whatever it is you bought and return it. You have seven days from the day you receive all the information (delivery details etc) or if it’s a service, either from the day the contract was concluded or the day you receive the delivery details, whichever is the latest.

If you decide you don’t want it, tell the web trader within the seven days. You are not even obliged to give a reason (although the trader may ask for their own information purposes).

By the way that ‘cooling-off’ period extends to three months if all the required information, as stated above, is not provided.

This may come in handy if a pressie arrives too late, or you’re seen something better (and bought it) in the meanwhile.

(Exclusions include time specific purchases i.e. hotels, newspapers, gaming, concerts etc and fresh food purchases.)

Buying from outside the EU

When you buy from an online trader within the EU, you don’t pay customs charges and you generally pay the Irish VAT rate as usual, so it’s just as though you were shopping at home.

But remember, if you are buying from outside the EU you will have to pay customs charges and VAT on top of the advertised price.

For good bought online, once the value goes over €150 customs duty is added to the purchase price plus postage and VAT is added added on top of that. Customs duty rates vary (2.7% or 3.7% for toys, 12% for clothes, 17% for shoes etc) and VAT rate is as usual.

Unless the trader adds all of this up front, you will have to pay it before the goods can be delivered to you so factor in the cost. Full details of what you’ll have to pay can be found on http://www.revenue.ie.

Some hints for saving by shopping online

Use Parcel Motel (www.parcelmotel.com) to pick up your parcel whenever suits you. You insert their address instead of yours for delivery, your parcel is delivered to a bank of Parcel Motel lockers nearest you (you’ll have chosen where when registering), and then you get a text with a code when it’s ready to pick up. Not only is this handy if you’re not always at home for delivery or are not allowed get private deliveries in work, but you can use their Northern Irish address and get free UK delivery, which is often available from UK web sites widely used here. It costs €3.50 per ‘stay’ / use but the first two are free.

There may be little point on saving parking costs if you have to pay for delivery, so do the sums first. But check for free delivery offers. i.e. www.debenhams.ie has free delivery in Ireland from now until midnight on December 17th (or 18th for cosmetics), which are the deadlines for Christmas deliveries.

If you or anyone you know is flying through Dublin or Cork airports between now and Christmas, you could shop online at www.theloop.ie. That’s because you can get fragrances, beauty products and sets etc at prices quite a bit cheaper that the high street, then pick it up on departing and leave it at shop and collect to pick up on your return home.

Last year November and December were the busiest months of the year for ‘daily deals’ sites (i.e. Groupon, Living Social, Grabone, Pigsback etc), as people availed of discounted offers as pressies. Between January and November this year an average €131,500 was being spent a day on these sites (up slightly from the 2011 total average) and with the discounts at 51% it should be easy to pick up a bargain. As there are so many deals sites use aggregate site www.mydealpage.com to find them all in one place.