Monthly Archives: February 2012

A picture essay from Maudlin Vale estate, Trim, Co Meath, with resident Derak O’Boyle.

The houses were constructed by Baltra Developments Ltd, a firm owned by Kildare-based builder Gerry Skelly. According to The Meath Chronicle, permission had been granted for 110 houses but only around 45 were built by the time the recession hit leaving the remainder of the site abandoned with “exposed ESB cables,10-feet deep holes in the ground, 30-foot high topsoil mounds, protruding manholes, open drains, derelict prefabs, builders’ rubbish, rusted wire fences and even rats”.

Some of the houses, which were averaging prices of around €300,000 at the height of the boom, are now worth just over €100,000.

Meath County Council have sent letters to the developers but nothing has been done in the four years Derek has lived here,

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Enda at The Tayto Longford Arms Comórtas last night at the D4 Berkley Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin.

It’s not a caption competition until you say so.

Meanwhile:

Páidí Ó Sé (above) has slammed the Kerry footballers for portraying themselves as on-field “whingers”.

The former Kerry star and manager is disappointed with the amount of Kerry players remonstrating with referees about decisions.
Ó Sé said it’s not becoming of footballers who wear the county jersey and is a new phenomenon.
“It’s a thing I have studied very closely,” said the eight-time All-Ireland winner, speaking at the launch of his Tayto Longford Arms Comórtas Péile Páidí Ó Sé. “It’s the one characteristic I’ve noticed that has crept into Kerry football.
“It was never part of Kerry football, not when I was growing up or when I played or when I was manager.

Ó Sé Blasts Kerry ‘Whingers’ (Irish Examiner)

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

 

Asked if she had enjoyed the awards, Ms Fricker said: “No, I hated it. It was mind blowingly, numbingly boring. It was a mess. Badly organised. I was cringing in my seat.”

Ms Fricker told the Irish Independent that the presenting duo of ‘Raw’ actor Keith McErlean and ‘Republic Of Telly’ star Jennifer Maguire — who gave out a number of industry awards — were “disgraceful”.

 

 

IFTAs Were A Cringeworthy Disgrace, Says Veteran Brenda Fricker (Ken Sweeney, irish Independent)

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

 

Ryanair has been criticised by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a “sexist” advertising campaign, which it said “objectified” women.
Ryanair said the promotion featured shots taken from its 2012 cabin crew charity calendar and claimed the pictures were not sexist because members of staff had volunteered to produce the images.
However, the ASA has ruled the adverts cannot appear again.

“We also considered that most readers would interpret these images, in conjunction with the text ‘Red hot fares & crew!!!’ and the names of the women, as linking female cabin crew with sexually suggestive behaviour,” it said.

Advertising Watchdog Bans ‘Sexist’ Ryanair Ads (RTE)