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  • NEWS
  • Martin wades into abortion debate

    As the Dáil committee hearings continue on the abortion bill, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has waded into the debate saying it is important that Christian believers "be, and seen to be, on the side of life, especially when life is most vulnerable".

  • Payment cuts see families pay rent shortfall

    Limits on rent supplement payments set by the Government are forcing thousands of families to make undeclared top-up payments to landlords to secure places to live.

  • WORLD
  • Anger as North Korea launches another missile

    North Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.

  • How Star Trek predicted the future

    WHEN Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the concept of a television show based in the unexplored universe of Outer Space in 1964, the world was a very different place.

  • BUSINESS
  • Warnings over future of eurozone

    The eurozone is heading towards a break up unless there are moves towards much closer political and fiscal union, according to chief economist with State Street Global Advisers, Chris Probyn.

  • Bruton defends corporate tax rate

    Ireland will be able to maintain its current corporation tax code in the face of international pressure to prevent multinational corporations avoid paying their fare share of tax, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said yesterday.

  • SPORT
  • Mayo’s statement of intent

    Galway 0-11 Mayo 4-16 Five minutes to go in Salthill yesterday and James Horan was still cajoling his men to sew it into Galway.

  • Wilkinson inspires Toulon to glory

    ASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16 Not for the first time this season, a matchday performance and the result have made a mockery of the statistics.

  • LIFESTYLE
  • What Lenny Abrahamson did next

    LENNY Abrahamson has directed three feature films: Adam & Paul, Garage and What Richard Did.

  • Why do women love to dress up?

    Trying on clothes, said Ewart, produced "sensations which bring deep peace and perfect contentment" to the female mind.






How McDowell pitched high-class proposal

Major winner Graeme McDowell has revealed how he used the spectacular setting of a 200m-high Dubai helipad to go down on one knee and pop the question to stunning girlfriend Kristin Stape.




McDowell, back in the United Arab Emirates this week for the Dubai World Championship, first met Stape when he contacted the Orlando interior design business she runs to design his palatial four-bedroom home.

But he revealed yesterday that he popped the question a fortnight ago when in Dubai for a practice session before heading to the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

“I did it properly getting down on one knee and she was very shocked,” said McDowell.

“I even found myself getting a little bit emotional. It was very special and a stunning location, looking out over Dubai as the Burj Al Arab hotel does. We’ll probably get married towards the end of next year.

“The funny thing is she came to this tournament last year and we went up to the Al Muntaha Restaurant that’s right at the top of the Burj Al Arab. I had a table booked when I was out here two weeks ago so we went back there but through my Jumeirah contact I said to her that the hotel was going to give us a quick look around, including going out onto the helipad.

“I have to say I was very nervous in popping the question because I had a little speech I was going to make to her and found myself getting all choked up about it. We’ve been told it’s the first marriage proposal ever held on the helipad. We’re both 33 and we want to crack on and start a family and stuff.”

The Burj Al Arab Hotel is the fourth highest hotel in the world and the helipad is famous, not for helicopter landings and take-offs, but for celebrity photo shoots.

Both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have been filmed hitting golf balls off the landing pad, while in 2005 Roger Federer and Andre Agassi stunned the world playing a game of tennis there.

“We haven’t decided on where we will get married but it will probably be somewhere in Florida or maybe the Bahamas as I like the idea of what Darren [Clarke] did this year getting married on the beach in the Bahamas as that was fantastic and the pictures looked awesome.”

McDowell said nothing would please him better than to celebrate his engagement with a win in the $8m (€6.2m) Dubai World Tour Championship.


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