Yearly Archives: 2016

Alicia Lawlor with Cllr Gary Gannon at Leinster House (above)

Sixteen and never been canvassed?

Time to lower the voting age.

Alicia Lawlor writes:

Why can’t I vote about my future ? Why can’t I share my opinion , let people hear my voice? Why should adults decide what can and can’t happen for me and the world that I am part of , I should have a say in my future don’t you think ?

I and sixteen I should be allowed to vote.

You sit there … think about it, why shouldn’t I be allowed vote, I shouldn’t only be allowed say my opinions to current affairs to a class room I should have the privilege of being able to make my own choices , own decision on what I think the government can and can’t do.

I’m sixteen yet I’m getting talks about career choices and colleges for what I want to do in life yet I can’t decide what I want for my countrys future .

It’s me who has the rest of my life to live here unless I decide to move a road which I don’t plan on doing, I plan on making a change , but how can I if you won’t let me vote ?

By  law I’m allowed to leave school and get a full time job or stay in school and get a part time job . Laws and tax effect that yet I can’t affect them by casting my vote in things that will effect my job , income , life, future.

Why should I be allowed sign consent to an operation but I can’t vote on something that will also affect my way of living ?

I myself would like to go into politics in near future and  would like to make a change for the people, for a better equal future… what a true republic should be… and will be, soon.

I want you to think and ask yourself what is a true republic? How many of you can honestly say you understand what a true republic is ? I’m sixteen yet I understand the meaning of a true republic from experience in life , which has nothing to do with my age.

Scotland lowered their vote to sixteen during their independence vote , people aged sixteen actively took part in the referendum with debates , campaigning and the voting … so why can’t I take part in my country’s referendums?

I believe in a true republic and I believe lowering the vote to sixteen will help us reach that promise from 100 years ago… a true republic. 26+6=1 I’ll leave that with you to figure out and think about.

Alicia Lawlor is currently on one day a week work experience with Cllr Gary Gannon, Social Democrats candidate for Dublin Central.

FIGHT!

Earlier: ‘Ireland Was Taken Back’

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 17.09.02

A screen grab from The Irish Times this evening

Following on from the publication of the Banking Inquiry report…

The Irish Times has published a video of witnesses who used the word ‘regret’.

The video included clips of Gerry O’Regan, former editor of the Irish Independent, Tim Vaughan, editor of the Irish Examiner, and Ed Mulhall, former head of news and current affairs at RTE.

The report found that property revenue for the Irish Times ranged from €10 million in 2002 to €22 million in 2006 – at its peak, accounting for 17% of the newspaper’s total revenue from all sources. The equivalent figures for the Irish Examiner and Independent News and Media were 7% and 14% respectively.

But what of former managing director of the Irish Times Maeve Donovan and former editor of the Irish Times Geraldine Kennedy – who don’t feature in the video?

Well, they had no regrets.

From Ms Donovan’s testimony…

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 17.19.53

Good times

Regrets, they’ve had a few. But can you guess how many? (Irish Times)

pareidy

Pa Reidy – Losing My Mind

Colm Dunne writes:

Something for the way home: The latest in a series of showcase singer songwriter shot in The Blue Note Pub, Galway. This week is [Galway born folk-soul singer songwriter] Pa Reidy

The Blue Note

littlemuseum

‘sup?

The Little Museum of Dublin, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin

Patriotic cartoonist Fergal McCarthy (left) left launches an exhibition, sponsored by Luas Cross City, of illustrations from his Easter Rising comic book 1916: A Country is Born (see link below) now showing at Little Museum of Dublin with tricolour-loving tykes from left: Benjamin White and Dash McCarthy.

You might recall Fergal from his ingenious one-man-in the-River Liffey show in 2012

That’s why he glows.

Little Museum of Dublin

1916: A Country Is Born (Fergal McCarthy, irish Times)

Pic Philip Leonard

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.44.56Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.45.19Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.48.21Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.50.22 Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.44.24 A chocolatey concept by Japanese design company Nendo featuring sculpted cubes – each one named after Japanese expressions describing texture. To wit:

The 9 different types of chocolate are made within the same size, 26x26x26mm, featuring pointed tips, hollow interiors, smooth or rough surface textures – and, while the raw materials are identical, the distinctive textures create different tastes.

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 15.44.38

The nine textures are (from right to left above) : ”tubu-tubu” chunks of smaller chocolate drops; ”sube-sube” smooth edges and corners; “toge-toge” sharp pointed tips; “zara-zara” granular like a file; “goro-goro” fourteen connected small cubes; “fuwa-fuwa” soft and airy with many tiny holes; “suka-suka” a hollow cube with thin walls; “zaku-zaku” alternately placed thin chocolate rods forming a cube and  “poki-poki” a cube frame made of chocolate sticks

quipsologies