Yearly Archives: 2017

They throwin’ down.

Rob Reeves writes:

Myself and a friend Michael O’Connor are currently crossing the United States making films and playing music. We are two Meath men making documentaries, comedy sketches, street interviews and vlogs.

We have produced eight episodes in the first ten days and intend to continue this rate over the next eighty days.

Our trip will finish in Los Angeles and we will document every up and down along the way. We have a YouTube channel each (“robplonk” and “moogleguitar”) and a joint facebook page “Artshakk Uploaded“.

I would like to share our most recent video (above) in which I document a local rap battle on Union Square, NYC…

Artshakk Uploaded (Facebook)

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and British Prime Minister Theresa May at a joint press conference after a meeting at Government Buildings in Dublin in January

RTE reports:

The British government attempted to block a move by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to insert an Irish unity declaration into the text of an extraordinary summit of EU leaders at the end of April, during which they adopted the EU’s negotiating mandate ahead of the Brexit talks.

The text spelled out that in the event of a future unity referendum in Ireland, as envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland would automatically rejoin the European Union.

However, RTÉ News understands that the British government attempted to get the declaration delayed until after the UK General Election, so as not to damage Theresa May’s chances of victory.

…The so-called unity clause was to be inserted into the minutes of an extraordinary summit meeting in Brussels on 29 April.

However, two days beforehand, Irish officials were subject to what one source described as a sustained diplomatic offensive by Britain to try to block the declaration.

…In the event, Mr Kenny requested the clause, and it was unanimously adopted by the other 26 member states.

UK tried to block Kenny move on unity clause (RTE)

Rollingnews

The panel on RTÉ’s Saturday with Claire Byrne at the weekend

At the weekend.

On Saturday with Claire Byrne.

Claire was joined today by Sinn Fein MP Francie Molloy, political editor of the Irish Examiner Daniel McConnell, Fianna Fail TD Darragh O’Brien, Independent Alliance TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Fine Gael party chairman Martin Heydon and Irish Times political reporter Mary Minihan.

During their discussion, Michael Fitzmaurice was asked about why he will not be supporting the nomination of Leo Varadkar for Taoiseach in the Dail tomorrow.

Claire Byrne: “Michael, you’re not going to vote for Leo [Varadkar]. You’re going to vote against Leo. You abstained when it was Enda Kenny but you’re voting against Leo. What did he do to you?”

Michael Fitzmaurice: “Leo did nothing. I made it very clear that, first of all, it’s nothing against him. It would be the same if it was Simon Coveney and I wish him luck by the way. But the last time I was at talks and, look it, it went up to the very last few minutes but a Programme for Government was put together and that Programme for Government and all the people, in fairness Fianna Fáil were involved at the time, and Independents were involved and we drove up and down the road many a day to try and put a document together and, unfortunately, there are lots of parts of that Programme for Government that would be important and parts that I would have been very involved in myself, like agriculture, and rural, you know, things in rural Ireland that haven’t been delivered on. Look it, it has basically been…”

Byrne: “So it’s a protest vote really?”

Fitzmaurice: “Look it, there’s no point in voting, there’s no point in spending 80 days up and down a road to have a piece of paper that you look at above in a frame and nothing happening on it. And that’s the reason and that’s the only reason. There’s absolutely nothing against Leo Varadkar. As I say, I wish him the best of luck. But that’s my stand and I’m taking it.”

Daniel McConnell: “Michael, Michael, come on, would you not be honest like, cause we’ve spoken about this before and others who have spoken about this before. You know Simon Coveney was one who was very involved in the talks but Leo Varadkar, all the way through, was a very disinterested figure, he was more interested in looking at his phone than he was looking in the eyes of the Independents. Is that not more the reason for not voting for him than the failure to put the stuff through like?”

Fitzmaurice: “If you want to deal with, you’re dealing with two different issues there and you’re asking me two different questions and I’ll deal with both questions very frank and clear. In fairness to Simon Coveney, he put in hours and hours and there was many a row during it and, in fairness to him, he never threw the baby out with the bathwater.

“Yeah, there was less interest from Leo but that’s absolutely nothing got to do today with, when you agree a Programme for Government or when it’s there, it’s about delivering and, yes, some things have been delivered on, I’m not going to go saying or slating that nothing has been delivered. But the important things and especially, you know, I see things in agriculture – cause that’s the type of rural area I come from – that’s ferociously important to keeping families in rural areas that hasn’t seen the boom thankfully that Dublin has seen and Galway city has seen. And that’s good and job numbers and more people working is good things. I’m not being critical of everything.”

Byrne: “And you did say that if Simon had won the contest that you would take the same stance.”

Fitzmaurice: “Yes…”

Listen back in full here

Pic: Saturday with Claire Byrne

From this morning’s Irish Times

This morning.

In The Irish Times.

Kitty Holland reports:

A girl deemed to be at risk of suicide who wanted an abortion was sectioned under the Mental Health Act because her treating psychiatrist said terminating the pregnancy was “was not the solution”.

In the case, which was before the courts last year, an order was made to detain the girl on the evidence of a psychiatrist who said that while the child was at risk of self-harm and suicide as a result of the pregnancy, “this could be managed by treatment and that termination of pregnancy was not the solution for all the child’s problems at this stage”.

A few days later, however, a second psychiatrist said although the “young girl” presented as being depressed “there was no evidence of a psychological disorder”.

…An abortion would have been performed under the terms of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. However, it seems the Act was not invoked, despite her having been deemed suicidal as a result of the pregnancy by the first psychiatrist.

Further to this…

A petition – calling on Taoiseach-in-waiting Leo Varadkar to respond to the story – has been launched.

It can be signed here

Girl sectioned after psychiatrist ruled out abortion (Kitty Holland, The Irish Times)

A fond but by no means all-inclusive tribute to 40 years of hip hop by Chicago based masher The Hood Internet. To wit:

Over 150 songs from more than 100 artists representing 40 years of hip hop all crammed into 4 minutes. It’s not a chronological history of hip hop. It’s rappers from different eras finishing each other’s rhymes over intersecting beats, all woven together to make one song.

biotv