Yearly Archives: 2016

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From top: Car park of The Maldron Hotel, formerly Bewley’s Hotel, Newlands Cross, Dublin 22; Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness; Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan arriving at a Public Accounts Committee meeting, January 24, 2014.

Former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan met the then Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman John McGuinness in secret in 2014 to say that Sergeant Maurice McCabe was “not to be trusted”.

Mr Callinan and the the Fianna Fáil TD had a secret 20-minute meeting ahead of the appearance of Sgt [Maurice McCabe ] before the PAC at the height of the Garda crisis.

It has emerged that, at the meeting, which took place in the car park of Bewley’s Hotel on the Naas Road in Dublin on January 24, 2014, the commissioner sought directly to convince the PAC not to hear evidence from Sgt McCabe.

This was six days before Sgt McCabe finally did give testimony in private to the committee [to outline his knowledge of extensive abuse of the penalty points system].

….It has been confirmed to the Irish Examiner that it was Mr Callinan who sought the meeting with Mr McGuinness.

Calls to the former commissioner for a response yesterday from the Irish Examiner went unanswered…

There you go now.

Martin Callinan’s secret attempt to discredit whistleblower Maurice McCabe (Michael Clifford, Irish Examiner)

Yesterday: ‘We Are Part Of A Cover Up’

Related: Not So Fast

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Oisin O’Callaghan writes:

My friends had a specially made flag for the Euros stolen from them last night in the Aviva Lansdowne Road Nua during the friendly (vs tHolland). The flag was hanging over stand 516 (on the southside of the stadium) and was gone when they went to collect it at the end.

The lads toured all over Europe during the qualifiers and were among the first to book tickets for France, they had the flag made especially for the Euros and are obviously gutted. Would really appreciate if your readers could share to help them get it back.

Anyone?

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James Reilly and Michelle Mulherin; both lost their seats at the General Election

The former TDs parachuted into Seanad Eireann include Dr James Reilly, former health and children’s minister, and Mr Kenny’s past constituency running mates Michelle Mulherrin and John O’Mahony. Ray Butler who has represented Meath West in the past and Paudie Coffey, a former junior minister.

Frank Feighan, is also nominated. He is a former Senator and TD from Roscommon who decided not to stand in the February election after facing deep voter anger at health cuts in the county.

Enda Kenny retains five colleagues who lost jobs after election (Belfast Telegraph)

Previously: In The Line Of Feighan

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

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Roy Greenslade, this afternoon

This afternoon.

Roy Greenslade , The Guardian’s media correspondent and former editor of the Daily Mirror, giving the keynote speech at at the launch of the 2015 Annual Report of the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman.

Professor Greenslade’s theme was the future of print in Ireland and abroad.

So the UK is still blessed with a diverse press, but what of Ireland’s media and, just as significantly, what about the future for that media?

New Zealand is a country about to have a single media owner.

Could the same happen here?

Is there enough political will to prevent it?

And even if there was, would the free market triumph?

I think it fair to say that the rise of the internet was just a contributory factor to the fact that
one person has accumulated control of the country’s best-selling daily and Sunday newspapers, Dublin’s evening paper, a tabloid, half share in another tabloid, plus 14
regional papers and two national talk radio stations.

However, the digital revolution’s advance is putting his major rival newspaper owners in peril. As in many other countries where newspapers are going to the wall the market-leading owner could well end up being the last man standing.

Gulp.

Prof Greensalde added:

…That’s a very worrying scenario to imagine, although Ireland may benefit from UK-based
newspapers, at least in the short term. I also note that there have been some enterprising
online start-ups here.

I’ve no desire to rain on their parade, just as I admire news start-ups in the UK and the United States, but they have yet to gain the scale of audiences necessary to influence what we might call “the national conversation” and, in so doing, carry forward the journalistic mission on which democracy depends.

FIGHT!

Full text of speech here

Suddenly, national newspapers are heading for that print cliff fall (Roy Greenslade, The Guardian)

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

"NO Castletown House

From top: Artist Richard Gorman; Castletown House

To celebrate the arrival of ‘CASA’ an exhibition by Italy-based Irish abstract artist Richard Gorman, at Castletown House, Celbridge, Co Kildare we have two (yes TWO) Office of Public Works (OPW) Family Heritage Cards to give away.

PLUS a free  lunch in the Castletown courtesy of the OPW team at Castletown.

Christina Mahon writes:

An OPW Family Heritage Card provides FREE admission for 2 Adults and 3 Children into fee paying state-managed sites  for one full year from the date of first use….

To enter, please complete this sentence:

‘Just give me the OPW Family Heritage Card as I desperately need to take my family (real or imagined) to…………………….[name of fee-paying, state managed site]’

Helpful list of sites here 

Lines MUST close Saturday morning 9.30am MIDDAY 6pm.

Castletown House