CHEERLEADER scare

The Cheerleading Federation of Ireland accidentally sparked a brief fraud scare at EU headquarters earlier this year. Aware that bogus firms and organisations were registering as lobbyists to claim credibility, officials were curious when the outfit appeared on the register. It claimed to have spent €50,000 lobbying the EU on cheerleading policy. The cheerleaders' listing came not long after a series of bogus Italian organisations were registered in a bid to boost their image. Read the full story here. When asked about the listing the cheerleaders organiser Hayden McGurk thought by signing up it might help the non-profit organisation qualify for grant aid. ''I swear it wasn't a scam or anything,'' he told the EU Observer.