110 thoughts on “De Friday Papers

  1. GiggidyGoo

    Examiner reporting a 10% ‘pay’ rise for the defense forces. It isn’t. The pay wasn’t looked at. Kehoe was interviewed yesterday, and couldn’t string two words together properly.
    These are allowances that were looked at. Allowances are not pay. The defense forces will still have members relying on FIS (family income supplement) to make ends meet, while the likes of Kehoe write themselves pay rises yearly.

  2. GiggidyGoo

    “I offended a lot of people who i never intended to offend”. Leo’s explanation? But that short sentence raises a number of questions –
    Who, then, DID he intend to offend?
    And WHY did he want to offend them?

    I’d say mammy and daddy are enthralled at the result of his upbringing.

      1. GiggidyGoo

        You asked the same thing yesterday. My reply to you (you didn’t reply by the way) was “Don’t know where you’re going with that. Elaborate please”
        Care to do the honours this morning them!

        1. GiggidyGoo

          Don’t know. All I know is that he’s disappeared when asked to elaborate Twice .

          1. Reverend Pall

            Already answered it thrice and they removed it.
            Thing is when I hear Giggidy speak of his “upbringing” (he’s done it twice now) it feels like he’s speaking some kind of homophobic code.
            Does Giggidy know the Varadkar family personally or have a history with them? I think this ought to be disclosed for the sake of transparency.

          2. GiggidyGoo

            Where would you get a ‘homophobic code’ from that? Is there such a thing?
            But to answer you – no, there’s no homophobic reference. A persons upbringing normally manifests itself in the subsequent actions of that person. Hence, for instance, you get criminals getting reduced punishments because of their upbringing, as that upbringing manifested itself in their actions.

          3. GiggidyGoo

            Toddle along there. You’re the person mentioning homophobia, and now skin colour. Looks like you have a problem?

  3. eoin

    Utterly misleading headline from the Examiner and its “defence correspondent”, claiming “10% pay rise for Defence Forces”.

    One allowance might be increasing by 10%, but it’s a small part of a soldier’s pay.

    Yesterday’s report has optimistic and outdated forecasts of demand for labour in the economy which will lead to the defence service being halved in the next three years.An average of less than €15 a week won’t stem that flow.

  4. eoin

    FG’s green credentials in tatters.

    The shady Richard Bruton won’t ban smoky coal (which turns some rural towns and villages into mini-Beijing levels of pollution) because, says the Times Ireland “of businesses threatening legal action. ” We know the unions in this country can be powerful, as are the farmers, as are the banks, but coal merchants?

    And, Bruton’s party kills of the Bill which would have been drilling for offshore oil.”Legislation would have made Ireland fifth country in world to ban oil, gas exploration” says the IT. Interesting factette from the recent award of a drilling licence to a Chinese company off Kerry, they had to have €800m of insurance for an oil spill, the cost to fishing, tourism, clean-ups. There was a funny process for verifying the insurance.

  5. eoin

    The Irish Daily Mail (back in court for contempt sentencing on Monday next) thinks we have the foggiest interest in the British royal family.

    Perhaps we do. Has Prince William (husband of Kate) been doing the dirty with Rose Hanberry, a minor royal? The US press has been all over it for the past three months. In the UK, Wills has threatened the press to deter them publishing the rumours. No smoke without fire?

    https://hollywoodlife.com/2019/06/19/rose-hanbury-friends-worried-kate-middleton-prince-william-cheating-rumors/

      1. Papi

        eoin “copy and pastes” we have the foggiest interest in the British royal family.

        Fixed that for ya.

      2. Charger Salmons

        The good people of Cork certainly turned out in their many thousands to greet Her Majesty when she graciously visited the Rebel County a few years back.
        I recall she softened the cough of Martin McGuinness too.
        Whatever your views on the monarchy – and I am not a fan – the Royal Family are of interest to a lot of Irish people.
        Whatever barstool Republicans like ReprO’Bertie Stakeknife snivels about.

        1. ReproBertie

          As usual Sasamach Chargers utterly misses the point and plays a little “never mind that thing, look at this thing”.

          1. bertie blenkinsop

            “On the boat heading for South America each prisoner carries his own ‘charger’, a slim metal cylinder for storing your cash.
            I kissed this three-and-a-half-inch , thumb-thick tube before shoving it in my anus. It went up high into my large intestine. It was part of me. .”
            Papillon

            I think the name Charger suits him…..

      1. Spaghetti Hoop

        This breed of folk have been adulterers for centuries. ‘Heir and a spare; spouse and a spare’.

        1. Janet, I ate my avatar

          French ” upper classes” ( a phrase I hate to use) perhaps privileged classes do the same, you marry to keep property, influence, inheritance, you have a full mistress for passion and possibly love, your cinq a sept for sport du chambre

          1. millie st murderlark

            I love that phrase “cinq à sept”.

            It’s wonderfully French, and in the very best way.

          2. eoin

            Yes, it all sounds very sexy and French but then you remember the reality of Francois Hollande, looking the spit of Wallace (of Wallace & Gromit fame) with a gigantic helmet on his moped en route to his triste tryst, and of all of sudden, not so sexy at all.

          3. eoin

            I’m sure the *real* reality Millicent is actually someone, a considerate and skilled lover, perhaps the spit of Justin Trudeau, rocking the world of, I don’t know, maybe someone with a passing resemblance to your good self, giving the exactly required amount of emotional satisfaction, not a soupcon more, not a soupcon less. Yes, that’s what I should have said. Sorry.

      2. V

        You know what Charger
        I treat you as a bitta’ve character around here
        And your stamina is honestly breathtaking
        You’re well organised and have tanks of slurry at your disposal
        So maybe you’ve allowed yourself get too cocky

        You’ve messed up big time spreading the muck that Mrs Windsor softened the cough of Martin McGuinness
        It was the complete opposite in fact
        She was utterly charmed by him
        And even hosted him her guest at a sleepover in Windsor Castle
        She was practically tucking him into bed

        And in response to heckles from the apes you’re posting in the name of
        He paid her a wonderful tribute whilst establishing the atmosphere for her visit
        Why wouldn’t anyone congratulate a lady who has achieved 60 of public service for her country

        Think about that for a second
        And ask yourself what public service record will ‘Public Appearances for Sale’ Boris Johnson
        Or Lager Lout Farage leave after their names when their time comes

        Martin McGuinness was a class act
        And a huge loss as a Irish Statesman
        Whether you liked him or not
        Or agreed with his politics or his early life activities and associations
        He was a respected world class Statesman when his life ended
        He was a patriot in every sense
        And will always be remembered for that

        So go and put on one of your other hats there for the rest of the day
        It might calm you down a bit

        1. V

          oopps 60 YEARS

          btw, it just occurred to me as I read back there;
          I wonder what Martin McGuinness would have to say about the band roaming the country at the moment under the banner of Irish Patriots

          1. Charger Salmons

            Don’t get your panties in a wad darling.
            He was a murderous terrorist who went to his grave showing no remorse for all the innocent men, women and children he killed.
            Fortunately he drew his last wheezy breath knowing it was all an utter waste of his life.

  6. eoin

    A certain presidential hopeful from last year has started defamation proceedings in the High Court against a medical scientist, a week after telling anyone who’d listen she was already suing him. This move comes a week after the medical scientist himself sued the ex-prez hopeful.

    1. eoin

      Defamation law in this country is in desperate need of reform.

      In 2016, the presenter Graham Norton was doing his BBC radio show (people know he has a Saturday show on Radio 2, right?) when he referred to Charlie Haughey’s mistress and when he should have said “Terry Keane”, he said another name. Obviously Graham didn’t spell the other name out on radio, but it sounded to me like “Terry Prawn”. No other info was given by Graham which might have confirmed that he was talking about anyone other than “Terry Keane”

      Nine days after the broadcast by the BBC, there was an on-air apology “During a live discussion on the Graham Norton radio show on 13 ¬February 2016 an incorrect name for the ¬girlfriend of the former Irish Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, was stated inadvertently. We would like to clarify that the late Ms Terry Keane ¬publicly admitted to being Mr Haughey’s girlfriend. We apologise for this error.”

      Well, a certain PR person didn’t accept this and she sued the BBC in the High Court in Dublin. An utter abuse of the legal process, you might think, at least that’s my opinion.

      A “notice of discontinuance” was filed in the High Court in 2017. And that was the end of that, there wasn’t any apology that I’m aware of.

      A freedom of information request recently submitted to the BBC revealed that it paid €25,053 “for its external legal representation in this matter”. The BBC declined to reveal what the outcome of the case was, but given neither the PR person nor the BBC apparently made any comment, and the BBC didn’t repeat any clarification or broadcast an apology, you might surmise the PR person walked away empty handed. But €25,053? That’s what this load-of-nothing (in my opinion) cost the BBC just in its own direct legal costs, which it seemingly didn’t recoup.

          1. V

            Shur I’ll reply to who and what I like
            The mods can decide for themselves

            Besides
            I didn’t know that about that PR one lodging papers against the BBC
            Did you?

            I think its hilarious myself
            Jesus my practice would skyrocket if Graham Norton said I was riding CJ
            I’d be thanking the man

          2. Reverend Pall

            no I didn’t know V

            Thank you Eoin for your many and incredible insights which are greatly appreciated

        1. eoin

          Would you erect a blue plaque, V, outside your premises if you had, you know, had relations with CJ ;-)

          It was the €25,053 that I thought was remarkable. Now it was the BBC being sued for defamation and they did retain one of the top Dublin firms of solicitors, but come on, it was on BBC Radio 2, which has an audience of what in Ireland, hundreds? if that? And to me, it sounded like Graham Norton said “Terry Prawn”.

          In my opinion, it’s a shocking cost for what was a nothing law suit.

          1. V

            Is there any chance it might have sounded like Frilly Keane?

            Re the Fees
            Nothing unusual there
            They saw deep pockets and loaded the timesheets with senior and partner billable hours.
            And maybe a few business class flights to meetings

  7. eoin

    Michael Lowry was lobbying like Billy-O in the Dail yesterday for a newish (established late 2015) Limerick company called CyberSmarties. He referred to them seven times.

    “I ask the Minister to ensure that the CyberSmarties system is rolled out to our primary schools under the auspices of the Department of Education and Skills.”

    Principals at Cybersmarties are also involved with horses and property. Any link to Michael Lowry at all?

  8. eoin

    Isn’t the green-eyed monster a terrable terrable ting.

    “A Middle Eastern princess fled to London after her billionaire husband became concerned at her apparent closeness to her British bodyguard, it was claimed yesterday…Friends said that she left the palace “in fear of her life” and now believed that her husband would try to have her “rendered” back to Dubai after he posted a poem on Instagram accusing an unnamed woman of treachery and betrayal.” reports the London Times today.

    I mean, you have three wives (who you probably nickname MonFri, TueSat and WedThuSun) One of them gets chatty with the bodyguard and you get jealous.

  9. eoin

    Ah, we finally learn what Leo was distracting us with the “sinning priest” comment.

    The cost of the Dunkettle Interchange has gone up 70% from €100m to €170m. Not as bad as the 100%+ on the National Childrens Hospital or 500% for the National Broadband Plan, but you can see why Leo would want to distract us from the latest bungling of a capital project.

        1. Reverend Pall

          How do you know they didn’t?
          Do you know even one thing about majors civils projects?

          1. dav

            please, educate us onall your knowledge on civil engineering projects start with how bad plans are accepted and then have to be changed..

          2. Reverend Pall

            I don’t know what the particulars are in dunkettle
            With the Dublin Port Tunnel underground rivers caused subsidence and resulted in extra works.
            Most geo-survey techniques are unable to completely accurate predict the sub ground strata. Could be archaeology or whatever.
            Literally, new shittttth comes to light.

  10. martco

    I see there was NIL coverage of Ann Widdecombe’s hatstand speech at the EU parliament yesterday in our papers

    media management par excellence?

    1. Charger Salmons

      RTE’s ” Europe ” editor Tony Connolly was too busy having his belly being tickled by his EU minders.
      The state broadcaster’s EU coverage is lamentable.

        1. SOQ

          In fairness I expect that as an English nationalist she does know quite a lot about colony uprisings and how far the natives can be battered down?

          1. Charger Salmons

            You mean like the Americans who yesterday celebrated the 263rd anniversary of crashing out of the British Empire without a deal ….?

          2. ReproBertie

            The crashing out that only cost 160,000 lives and left the US increasingly reliant on loans from Europe?

          3. Brother Barnabas

            yeah… but charger’s point is obviously that in 263 years, Britain will be flying high

          4. Charger Salmons

            #despitebrexit
            Remember Jaguar Land Rover warning about future investment because of Brexit ?

            https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48875406

            With all the extra cattle that Ireland will eventually have hanging around doing nothing perhaps they could be utilized as a new form of transport for the boggers who won’t be able to afford cars.
            The Dublin tech crowd will buy them but will still have to pay an import duty despite the laughable ” free movement of goods,services and people ” this government says it is determined to protect.

        2. martco

          if for nothing else than the tragic comedic value of it @BB…but it was for starters ironies on tap for any budding student out there, delicious

          it also serves to warn us well about the kind of nutjobs that ARE running about in the control room. now, they may never reach the control panel itself to play with the buttons but them flailing about in the same room is bad enough.

          I’m getting tired of the media management happening around brexit.

          most smart people know it’s a disaster (for US that is…and I do feel sorry for the average joe in Grimbsy but England’s been dying & divided for a long time now..we’re just seeing the thin bit of the wedge today. those poor people have their own Oxbridge aristocracy to thank for that

          I just don’t appreciate the population calming attempts being made to dumb it down here, that’s all

      1. Spaghetti Hoop

        I agree with you that RTE was slack in covering EC/EU matters during the early decades. They can’t be accused of that now. Coverage of the election of Commission President would take priority over Britain’s MEPs and their contributions to the Parliament right now. They continue to discredit the EU, yet are quite happy to accept the benefits. They are only there because of the ongoing chaos and indecision of the Tories, so why waste a journalist’s time on them?

      2. ReproBertie

        If RTÉ’s coverage is so “lamentable” I presume you know of other news agencies that fare better.

        The following all spoke at the July 4th sitting: Esteban González Pons,Iratxe García Pérez, Dacian Ciolos, Philippe Lamberts, Marco Zanni, Ryszard Antoni Legutko, Martin Schirdewan, Tiziana Beghin and Ann Widdecombe.

        How many of these were covered by Katya Adler, the BBC’s Europe editor, for example?

        1. Charger Salmons

          You mean like the usual Franco-German carve-up of jobs for who will rule the EU for the next five years making sure once again that Eastern Europe doesn’t get a look-in ?
          I wonder if Connolly checks his script with Varadkar’s spin unit before trotting out the party line.

          1. ReproBertie

            I really don’t see an answer to my question there. Instead it’s just another attempt at distraction from your inability to back up any of the raiméis you consistently spout.

    2. Catherine costelloe

      “And I found on my very first day , that this place has decided,well, this place hasn’t, the powers that be have decided to actually increase the size of fishermen’s meshes, thereby reducing their income by 40%.That is what you do here. That is why we are going. Nous allons, wir gehen, we’re going” Ann Wittiecombe.
      Same with the beef deal ….EU decided…..I really believe Irish beef farmers should be able to strike a deal with UK without EU interference.

      1. ReproBertie

        The Mercosur deal has been under negotiation since around 2004 and will be of massive economic benefit to Ireland when it comes into effect. The beef farmers are particularly vocal because there are three organisations vying for their support but this deal restricts South American beef to 99,0000 tonnes per year instead of the 350,000 tonnes the South American countries wanted.

        The beef industry will be suffer a lot more as a result of a No Deal Sasamach than they ever will from Mercosur.

          1. Reverend Pall

            Bertie stop playing the gombeen
            That’s not a good look either for you
            Your post was verbatim what Commissioner Hogan said at the weekend. Weird.

          2. ReproBertie

            I have no idea what Hogan said at the weekend. My comment was based on commentary from the latest Irish Times Inside Politics podcast, which he was neither on nor quoted on, and information gathered over the weeks since the deal was announced as well as my reading on the threat of a no deal Sasamach to Irish agriculture.

          3. ReproBertie

            You might dig out that Hogan quote and show me where I quoted it verbatim since you’re accusing me of doing so.

          4. Reverend Pall

            I was very naughty on this thread earlier
            I actually have learned my lesson this time and may now resume normal commentary again

          5. Reverend Pall

            @Bertie it was on the radio
            Farming programme RTÉ 1 Saturday am
            You can listen on the player
            He made exactly the same argument
            Ok? Well done for reciting his talking points

            I didn’t say you quoted him verbatim

          6. Reverend Pall

            @Millie

            I can’t repeat what I said earlier. It has to do with correct placement of the ball: let’s leave it at that

          7. millie st murderlark

            A dreadful pity, I have no doubt.

            I’ll be writing a strongly worded letter to management.

          8. ReproBertie

            You said “Your post was verbatim what Commissioner Hogan said at the weekend.”

            I don’t listen to the farming programme. If what I posted was similar then it was coincidence and nothing more. Hardly a massive coincidence either since the same points have been made elsewhere as I already mentioned.

          9. Reverend Pall

            I’m on naughty list again.
            But on off chance it’s posted.
            I didn’t say you quoted him verbatim.
            Words matter.

          10. ReproBertie

            Yes, words matter and you said “Your post was verbatim what Commissioner Hogan said at the weekend.”

            Verbatim means “word for word, in exactly the same words as were used originally”.

          11. ReproBertie

            No, I haven’t heard what he said so I can’t say whether I made the same points he made or not. You are claiming I used his words verbatim but you can offer no evidence of this and are instead denying you said what you said. What is it with people on this site making claims they can’t back up and playing pigeon chess about it?

            If nothing else you have confirmed my suspicion that I can just ignore your claims but maybe check your facts before calling me out next time.

          12. Reverend Pall

            “ I haven’t heard what he said”

            Then you can’t say you didn’t make the same points he made.

            I don’t have to give you “evidence”- wtf!
            We are just two shams talking on a blog.
            I gave you a few hints above on where you can go and listen to it. The point is you’re demonstrating that you’re an all too willing shill for establishment propaganda. Well done.

          13. ReproBertie

            Failing to echo the “everything is a disaster” narrative is not the same as shilling government propaganda. You’re just tossing out groundless accusations because it’s easier than actually arguing any points made.

    1. V

      at least you did something right today Charage

      Prove my point about the importance of a journalist/ news show DELIVERING FACTS to the public
      and there’s yer wan now saying that’s your opinion
      There can be no further doubt that our Main Street Media here have a lot to do with the quality of politicians we have in this jurisdiction

      Fair play to Neil
      Dunno about that white tie tho’

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