Yearly Archives: 2017

Ah here.

Jennifer Duggan reports:

Showing TIME around his new office on July 7, one of the pictures ready to be put on the wall is a copy of the first sovereign bond issued to the Irish Free State.

It’s there as a daily reminder not to be complacent, he says, that “no matter what happens even the revolutionaries had to go to the bond market in order to sustain the free state.”

Needs more leprechaun.

FIGHT!

Q&A: Ireland’s Leo Varadkar on Brexit, Trump and Keeping Ireland ‘At the Center of the World’ (TIME)

What you may need to know:

1. With Wimbledon currently taking place, no better time to serve this trailer for Borg/McEnroe, a Swedish-made drama exploring the rivalry between two of the greats of the game, John McEnroe (Shia LeBeouf) and Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason).

2. Their match in the 1980 Wimbledon final has been touted as one of the greatest games of tennis ever played. It was not, however, the one in which McEnroe heckled the umpire with his immortal “You cannot be serious” line. Some of his many on-court tantrums can be seen here.

3. Petulant spoilsport or perfectionist genius? That appears to the thrust of the film is about for LaBeouf’s character, contrasted with Borg’s lifetime in the game in Sweden under the tutelage of coach Lennart Bergelin, played by the always-great Stellan Skarsgård.

4. Naturally, Shia LaBeouf states he was attracted to the role of John McEnroe due a similarity between the pair: both misunderstood in their passion for what they do. Not sure McEnroe was ever on camera racially abusing a police officer, but there you go.

5. McEnroe did get in a bit of bother recently with his comments about Serena Williams though. While they were slightly taken out of context, the jist of it (which he did decline to walk back on even after getting all the stick) was while she’s probably the greatest female player of all time, she’d probably rank around the 700s in the men’s game. If ever there was a sweeping statement that proves why feminism exists, it’s that. “Look, she’s amazing, but there’s probably like 700 men better than her and that’s that.”

6. Which leads us nicely to the other tennis movie we’re getting this year….

…That’s right, as is so often the case, Borg/McEnroe isn’t the only fact-based tennis movie we’re getting in 2017. Steve Carrell and Emma Stone will star later this year in Oscar-bait Battle of the Sexes. It tells the high-stakes 1973 exhibition match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, a milestone in the mainstream acceptance of women’s professional sport.

8. Until then, smouldering Bjorn Borg and over-excited McEnroe will have to do.

Doug’s Verdict: Advantage Stone

Release: September (both)

From top: Two lambs in Ballybricken Co Limerick, by Daniel McGuire; Ken Walsh in Raheenduff, Oulart, Co Wexford, by Karen Walsh; the McCarthy family at the bog in Kenmare, Co Kerry, by Mary O’Leary; picture of a cow on a hay bale by Brid Crampton [undisclosed location]; and Michael Coogan in Killerig, Co Carlow, by Martin Coogan

Aisling Hussey, of Farmers Journal, writes:

“Fourteen photos have been selected as finalists in our #flattothemat photo competition.

“From days at the bog in Kerry to baling in Co Kildare, this year’s summer photo competition offers a glimpse into the lives of farmers during the busiest time of the year.”

Vote for your favourite summer photo (Farmers’ Journal)

Thanks Aisling

Sgt Maurice McCabe arriving at the Disclosures Tribunal in Dublin Castle this morning

Further to our post this morning in relation to some of the most recent evidence given at the Disclosures Tribunal…

Some readers felt the post was too complicated and involved so much scrolling (due to an ongoing fault in the ‘Read More’ feature of our Android App which should be fixed next week) it has resulted in cases of thumb chafing.

Below is a shorter, comprehensive and scroll-friendly timeline of of the evidence heard so far…

– Ms D’s father, a sergeant, worked with Sgt McCabe in Baileboro when Sgt McCabe was sergeant in charge.

– Sgt McCabe brought disciplinary measures against Mr D for ‘ serious misbehaviours‘ on duty, in January 2006 .

– As a result, Mr D lost his position and was reverted to other duties

– Mr D’s daughter, then 14, made a complaint to An Garda Siochana against Sgt McCabe in December 2006 claiming that, during a game of hide and seek in 1998, Sgt McCabe made a ‘humping’ motion towards her.

– The DPP rejected the allegation in 2007 and even queried how the complainant’s parents could have reached the conclusion that a sexual assault had occurred even as described.

– The Garda Commissioner, Sgt McCabe’s employer, was made aware of this matter.

– In 2013, Ms D raised the allegation with Rian counsellor Laura Brophy.

– Ms Brophy sent a referral to Tusla even though there was no need to as the matter had already been referred.

– Ms Brophy first made a verbal referral – which was correct in so far as it related to just the 2006 allegation.

– However, Ms Brophy also made a written referral. In this referral, Ms Brophy mistakenly added a completely separate allegation of rape against a Ms Y to Ms D’s file. The effect of this mistake was that it was suggested Sgt McCabe raped Ms D.

– Days after Ms Brophy’s verbal and written referrals were made to Tusla, social work team leader Keara McGlone opened a file on Sgt McCabe. This file was based on the verbal report given by Ms Brophy so it related solely to the 2006 allegation and not the false rape allegation.

– Ms McGlone left a handwritten comment ‘Duty to guard notify and await assessment or allocation’ on a form added to Sgt McCabe’s file.

– Subsequent to that, Ms McGlone sent a private and confidential email to superintendent Noel Cunningham in which she sought a meeting to discuss Sgt McCabe.

– Supt Cunningham never responded to this letter. This wasn’t an official Garda notification.

– Ms McGlone’s file on Sgt McCabe then sat in a filing cabinet from August 2013 until April 30, 2014.

– On April 29, 2014, Ms D made a complaint to GSOC in relate to the Garda investigation into her 2006 allegation.

– On April 30, 2014, Laura Connolly plucked Sgt McCabe’s file randomly from a cabinet which contained unallocated cases.

– Ms Connolly sent a notification of Sgt McCabe’s file to the gardai even though she was aware the 2006 allegation had already been sent to the gardai and DPP had ordered for no charges to be brought.

– While sending the Garda notification, Ms Connolly made a monumental error by combining both the 2006 allegation, which was found to have no foundation by the DPP, and the 2013 allegation of rape pertaining to Ms Y which had nothing to do with Ms D but was wrongly recorded by counsellor Laura Brophy. The Garda notification therefore appeared to say that Ms D was accusing Sgt McCabe of raping Ms D during a game of hide and seek.

– Ms Connolly told the tribunal when faced with a verbal and written referral pertained to the same matter, she would “follow the content of the written report from the professional”.

– Ms Connolly wasn’t made aware of the Ms D/Ms Y mix-up until she had an interview with the tribunal’s investigators on June 23, 2017.

– Ms Connolly told the tribunal that she was never informed of her mistake by anyone – neither her colleagues not solicitors.

– On April 30, 2014, Ms Connolly also created intake forms on Sgt McCabe’s then four children, two of whom were aged over 18, under the direction of Eileen Argue.

– After Ms Connolly’s Garda notification was sent, Superintendent Leo McGinn notified Ms D’s father of the wrongly perceived allegation of rape.

– Mr D told Ms D.

– In May 2014, Ms D told counsellor Laura Brophy that there was an allegation of rape against Sgt McCabe wrongly attributed to her.

– Ms Bophy immediately amended Ms D’s report and wrote and hand-delivered a letter to social services in Cavan.

– Tusla’s Eieen Argue sent an email to Gerry Lowry at 11.13 [unclear if it’s am or pm], which was copied to Louise Carolan, telling him of what Ms Brophy had told Tusla in regards to “MMcC”

– Two months later, in August 2014, Mr Lowry replied by way of principle social worker
– and social worker Kay McLoughlin’s direct supervisor – Seamus Deeney in August 2014,
with a one-line reply: “Dear Seamus, This should not have been sent to me.”

– A year later, on May 7, 2015, social workers Kay McLoughlin and Gail Penders were reviewing files when Ms McLoughlin sent Mr Lowry and Mr Deeny an email about Sgt McCabe, raising her concerns that he hadn’t been contacted since 2007. Ms McLoughlin said in the email: “It has come back in again due to media coverage of Mr. McCabe.”

– In this email, Ms McLoughlin attached a draft Barr letter (a letter which notifies an alleged abuser of the allegation made against them) which she had drafted and which stated that Tusla was investigating Sgt McCabe in relation to an allegation of rape.

– Mr Lowry – who knew the allegation of rape was false – never opened the attachment and never saw the incorrect Barr letter.

– On December 29, 2015, the Barr letter was sent to Sgt McCabe – informing him that Tusla was investigating him for rape.

– Sean Costello, SC, for Sgt McCabe, wrote back to Ms McLoughlin to say the allegation was wholly untrue in January 2016.

– Tusla didn’t reply to Mr Costello until June 20, 2016.

– The matter was referred from Tusla to the new SART [Sexual Assault Response Team] which was set up in August 2016.

Earlier: Another Day, Another Error

Previously: ‘There Isn’t An Error In His Favour’

Leah Farrell/Rollingnews

This afternoon. Dame Street, Dublin 2.

PadZer Murfy tweetz:

Ohh baby, we are back…

Have you spotted a recently registered luxury car that made you holler and throw your Stetson in the air? If so, why not send it in to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marking your answer ‘A recently registered luxury car that made me holler and throw my Stetson in the air’