Monthly Archives: July 2012

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen and ex-Central Bank governor John Hurley may be among those called before a banking inquiry if the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) receives Government approval to proceed.

Go geddum lads.

Mr [John] McGuinness [PAC chairman] said legal restrictions placed on the Oireachtas meant findings of fact or culpability could not be made, and the committee was recommending an “inquire, record and report model”.

Ah.

Committee May Call Cowen If Banking Inquiry Sanctioned (Mary Minihan, irish Times)

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

 



Blimey.

Ed Cahill writes:

I’m a long time reader with a question.I’m living in Rwanda for the summer with 24 classmates from a masters program based in Trinity and UCD, we are all out here doing field research with different organisations. One evening during a long wait for dinner we decided to have a go at a world record. We bought 5100 toothpicks from a shop near by and tried to put them all in my beard. We succeeded.

What I want to know is, is this a world record? Obviously for it to be official Guinness or whoever will need to observe it, but has 5100 toothpicks been beaten already? Do I need to keep growing the beard to fit more in? Hopefully your readers can help tell me what I need to do to make this a record.

Anyone?

Above: ‘The Beeches’, Roosky, Co. Leitrim

ONE IN 10 unfinished housing estates identified last year by the Department of the Environment has been completed or made safe, new figures show.

Of the 2066 ghost estates identified last year, 211 have been ‘resolved’ but only 75 of these have been ‘taken in charge’ ie. completed to the satisfaction of the local authority.

The rate of resolution of estates has varied widely. Almost a quarter of those that have been successfully dealt with, either through completion or safety work, are in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, yet this local authority had one of the lower levels of unfinished estates at 61, of which 45 have been satisfactorily addressed.

In Roscommon, 235 problem estates remain unresolved and just 14 have been dealt with. Of Sligo’s 237 unfinished estates, just four have now been completed or made safe.

 

One In 10 Ghost Estates Completed Or Made Safe (Olivia Kelly, Irish Times)

(Photocall Ireland)