Author Archives: Aaron McAllorum

Danny O’Donoghue of The Script
Julian Casablanca of The Strokes
Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas
will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas
Clare Maguire playing the 2FM Hot Press Acadamy Stage
Rivers Cuomo from Weezer

Jealous?

Not so fast.

There was also this:

And this:

And these guys:

Colm Armstrong, Ben Mathewson, Craig Hogg, Richard McAllister and Andrew Kirk from Antrim
(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

Roscommon Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan outside the Dail earlier this evening trying to explain why he was about to vote to downgrade Roscommon Hospital having got elected two months ago promising this:

“Fine Gael is determined that its plan to retain and enhance services at hospitals like Roscommon will finally put a halt to this much-touted reconfiguration plan of hospitals in the West which essentially amounts to downgrading by stealth.”

His FG constituency colleague Denis Naughten voted against the cuts.

FG’s Naughten Votes Against Government In Dáil Vote (Michael O’Regan, Maire O’Halloran, Irish Times)

What They Said: Before The Election (Roscommon People)

Meanwhile, protests led by Roscommon Independent TD Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, continued outside Leinster House:

Luke Ming Flanagan with his wife Judy, and daughters Katie (6) and Isabelle (8)
(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

 

“The Superioress and Sisters of The Magdalen Asylum … very earnestly beg the support of the liberal and kind-hearted to help them with the upkeep of the Institution for 130 Poor Penitents, who receive a home within its walls” Newspaper ad, 1955

“The women need help now,” says James Smith, a Boston College English professor who sits on [Justice For Magdalene] JFM’s advisory committee. “They have suffered in silence too long, and many of them feel that the government has pursued a ‘deny ’til they die’ policy.” JFM wants the government to issue an apology, pay the survivors compensation and recalculate their pensions to include any time spent working in the laundries — and quickly, while the women “are still alive to enjoy these deserved entitlements,” says Smith.

I often wonder why so many Israelis I’ve met have such love for Ireland. Our West is indeed picturesque, but do Israelis not get a sense that the air has been sucked out of the room when they announce their nationality? Have they visited Galway City on a Saturday, for example? You can’t pass through the main streets without seeing at least one anti-Israel demonstration. Indeed, despite almost every Western nation having recognized Israel in 1949, the Irish felt it was morally appropriate to do so fully only in 1975.

Well, thanks to Israel, this “peace” flotilla aqua-theater has been a boon to the Irish media and intellectuals in recent weeks. It has enabled them to do what they do best when it comes to foreign conflicts. Pontificate. Posture. Preen. All without a shred of moral, intellectual or factual support.

The Irish Don’t Mean It, Because They Can’t Understand It (John Lalor, Jerusalem Post)