Yearly Archives: 2016

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This afternoon.

Focus Ireland, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

Glen Hansard and members of the High Hopes choir, including top, from left: Kathleena Twomey and Emma Richardson helping to “put human faces to the homeless crisis:’ with a special visit to the Focus Ireland coffee shop.

Focus Ireland (Facebook)

Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews

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The Sudden Club Weekender, a massive three-day throwdown featuring some of the best new music from Ireland and the UK, presented by the good folk of the Southern Hospitality Board, at the Kino in Cork City, December 9th-11th.

Tickets as priced in each pic, available now.

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Also, next month, a fundraiser for the Abortion Rights Campaign at the same venue. More on that this week.

Abortion Rights Campaign

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At Souda refugee camp on Chios island, Greece

Further to the EU-Turkey deal which was struck in March…

According to the most recent UNHCR figures, there are now 61,584 refugees and migrants held in Greece.

Further to this…

The Irish Times reports:

Members of two Syrian families detained in Greece after fleeing the beseiged city of Aleppo have taken an unprecedented action in the Irish courts against the European Council, EU and Ireland over alleged breaches of their human rights.

The core claim of the families is that the EU-Turkey deal on migration agreed on March 18th by the European Council – the 28 EU Heads of State including Taoiseach Enda Kenny – was made outside the EC’s powers and breaches EU law. The deal allows Greece return to Turkey “all new irregular migrants” arriving there since March 20th.

That deal, and Ireland’s sanctioning of it, is incompatible with Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and breaches various EU Treaties, including the Treaty on Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (CFREU), they claim.

….The plaintiffs say they are entitled, under the EU Dublin III regulations of 2013, to be transferred to Germany to join their family members who have secured international protection. They claim they are unlawfully prevented doing so because of the EU-Turkey deal.

The case came before the High Court on Monday via applications by the plaintiffs for a preliminary trial of EU law issues and/or to decide if issues should be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.

…Mr Justice Paul Gilligan adjourned the pre-trial matters to November 22nd.

Syrian families held in Greece sue Ireland, EU over rights breaches (Irish Times)

Previously: Turkey Basting

Pic: I’ll Dig With It

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This Ain’t No Disco.

The (spiritual) return of the RTÉ music staple, presented by Irish music legend Dónal Dineen, co-producing with Arbutus Yarns man Myles O’Reilly.

Streaming above: an interview with Dónal Dineen on the original TV show, and the new endeavour, broadcasting exclusively online.

The absolute best news.

This Ain’t No Disco

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Yesterday’s Sunday Business Post

In yesterday’s Sunday Business Post…

Susan Mitchell and Jack Horgan-Jones reported:

A Sunday Business Post investigation today reveals that drug companies are funding dozens of medical and nursing posts in some of the biggest hospitals in the country, while almost one-third of the HSE’s most senior doctors are receiving money from pharmaceutical firms.

The investigation also found that hospitals are unable to account for millions of euro that pharmaceutical companies say they paid them.

Hospitals said they had no visibility of many of these payments, which were sometimes made to individual departments and organisations controlled by groups of doctors.

More than €17 million was paid out last year. That figure excludes funding for research and development or clinical trials. Among the items paid for by big drugs companies in Irish hospitals are a couch, a DVD player and a coffee machine.

The industry is also paying hundreds of thousands to individual medical colleges to fund the continuing medical education of doctors.

Professor Michael Barry, who heads up the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE), told this newspaper that he believes payments from industry are influencing prescribing habits in Ireland.

He said doctors were prescribing more costly branded medicines here than doctors in other countries. He also said the industry should not be funding the medical education of doctors.

How doctors and hospitals cash in on big pharma (Sunday Business Post)

Previously: Medical Trials And Children Of Lesser Gods