You may recall this empowering scene at the top of Grafton Street, Dublin earlier this week…
Derek writes:
“Following on from your post [March 25] my bike [arrowed] was robbed yesterday (26th) from the same place and the lock was cut with bolt cutters…I parked between 9-6pm and It’s a Carrera Graphon Hybrid Bike. Thank you.”
Previously: Busted
[UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Lib Dem’s Nick Clegg last night]
“What happened,” I hear you all beg,
“When Nigel faced up to Nick Clegg?”
Well they say on Sky News,
His “robust” right wing views,
Took the liberal down by a peg.
John Moynes
(Reuters)
From 1999, an ad for BT NI starring James Nesbitt.
It’s good to talk so it is.
The Minutes – ‘Cherry Bomb’.
Starring Paul McLoone (Elvis), Keith-James Walker, Brian Kelly and Ian McEvoy. Directed by Philip Kelly and produced by: Philip Kelly and Sean Kingston.
Thanks Pete Murphy
[ Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes in 2012]
The Garda sought advice from the Data Protection Commissioner on how to dispose of illegally obtained recordings of phone calls from Garda stations four days before Taoiseach Enda Kenny was informed of the practice. Mr Kenny told the Dáil on Tuesday that he was only informed on Sunday by Attorney General Máire Whelan of the widespread use of recordings and its attendant implications. However, following a query from The Irish Times yesterday, the office of Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes confirmed that it was contacted by the Garda Síochána on Wednesday March 19th in order to seek advice on the disposal of the recordings.
*thud*
Meanwhile…
A brief bugging timeline:
The recording of garda station phone calls first became public knowledge in June 2013 following the GSOC report into the arrest and assault of Anthony Holness, a report Justice Minister Alan Shatter says he wasn’t made aware of.
On November 11, 2013, Martin Callinan informed the Attorney General, Máire Whelan and a working group was established to report to him on the issue, according to Alan Shatter.
On November 25, 2013, the High Court was reportedly told new material involving approximately 16,000 records, some electronic, had emerged in the course of the Ian Bailey action against former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan over allegations of wrongful arrest. Senior counsel Paul O’Higgins told the court fresh and unexpected material had emerged in relation to matters such as phone traffic. The court told the State to produce the material by March 25, 2014.
On November 27, 2013, Mr Callinan ordered the end of the recording of calls nationally and the Attorney General Máire Whelan was notified of this.
On March 10, 2014, Mr Callinan wrote to the Department of Justice General Secretary Brian Purcell informing him of the practice of recording telephone calls. The letter requested Mr Purcell to inform Minister Shatter.
On March 11, 2014, Mr Callinan, the AG Máire Whelan and members of the Department of Justice held a follow-up meeting on the matter, according to Alan Shatter [he told the Dáil this yesterday] Minister Shatter said he didn’t attend the meeting and that he wasn’t informed of the meeting before he left for Mexico for his St Patrick’s Day jaunt on March 15.
On Sunday, March 23, 2014, Ms Whelan informed Taoiseach Enda Kenny of the practice of recording phone calls. He rang her about something else and she said she had a matter to discuss with him but wouldn’t tell him what it concerned over the phone. She later told him that evening.
On Monday, March 24, 2014, Mr Kenny and the AG informed Minister Shatter of the practice of recording phone conversations at Garda stations.
On Tuesday morning, March 25, 2014, just before the Cabinet meeting, Mr Callinan resigned. Several hours later, according to Mr Shatter’s statement to the Dáil yesterday, he received the March 10 letter from Mr Callinan.
Hmmm.
Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland
Marie Caffrey writes:
I am a producer of an award winning drama webseries called CUCKOO. On Friday I head over to Los Angeles because CUCKOO is screening at 2 festivals there ! LA Webfest & Hollyweb! This will be like the Hunger Games of Webseries! We are also in the running for best drama Award!
Wayward teen Niamh Keegan sees a digitally ‘aged’ photo of an abducted baby in the newspaper and thinks she recognises herself… Is she just projecting her fantasies, or has Niamh inadvertently stumbled on to something more sinister?
Directed by Danann Breathnach. Written by Nikki Racklin & Danann Breathnach.
View the complete series here.
Why You Should and Shouldn’t Buy Art – prints by William Powhida.
An homage to the cats of popular culture by Eurydyka Kata and Rafał Szczawiński of re:design
[From top: Jack McGrath, Ian Madigan and Brian O’Driscoll; Cian Healy with Holly Carpenter; Leo Vardkar and Brian O’Driscoll; from left: Mary Scott,, Aoife Reddan,, Kimberlee Ross,, Sophie Marren and Hollie Carpenter; Jack McGrath, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Fergus McFadden and Rob Kearney with Moss Mooney, age 8 and a team shot..
Scenes from the reception in honour of the The RBS 6 Nations Championship winning Irish Rugby Team at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin hosted by sports minister Leo Varadkar and junior minister Michael Ring .
(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)
[Former Detective Sergeant John White, leaving the Morris Tribunal, Dublin in 2005 and who was subsequently dismissed from An Garda Síochána. The Morris Tribunal concluded Mr White had planted a shotgun at a Travellers’ camp in Burnfoot, Co. Donegal in May 1998 in order to arrest seven innocent people for questioning about the killing of pensioner Edward Fitzmaurice in his Mayo home two weeks earlier. It also concluded he induced Raphoe man Bernard Conlonto be found after hours drinking on the premises of Frankie’s nightclub, owned by the McBreartys, in Raphoe in August 1997 – for the purposes of prosecuting Frank McBrearty Snr.]
A prominent Donegal solicitor has called for the findings of the Morris Tribunal to be revisited in the wake of the revelations about the widespread recording of phone calls to and from Garda stations.
Paudge Dorrian, who went public with claims in 2001 that conversations between solicitors and their clients were being recorded at Letterkenny Garda Station, has made the call.
Mr. Dorrian said that the revelations about the recording of phone calls vindicates himself and his client, former Garda sergeant John White, who was the source of the allegations.
“What we are looking at we feel that the entire history of the Tribunal and other matters should now be revisited by an independent tribunal, led preferably by a High Court judge from a different jurisdiction,” he said.
Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland
