Author Archives: Bodger

This morning.

Get My Sh!t Together.

A new potty mouth-titled RTÉ Player series presented by Carl Mullan and Pamela Joyce (top facing camera).

Via RTÉ

Available now on RTÉ Player, this three-part feelgood series follows Carl and Pam as they go though challenges to try and kick 2021 off in the right way. They know they are not perfect, they know they have bad habits, but they want to start the year off positively so embark on a number of challenges in a bid to get their sh!t together!

With episodes entitled Digital Detox, Get me a Routine, and #BeKind, the series offers a different take on the usual ‘new year, new me’ or new year resolutions approach, looking instead at the small things that people can do for themselves or for others while having a bit of a laugh at the same time….

Fight!

Via Monumental Ireland

The Rathra monument itself consists of a quadri-vallate earthwork, meaning it has a series of four ditches and earthen banks surrounding a central area. It is one of a very few known quadri-vallate enclosures in Ireland, along with The Rath of the Synods on the Hill of Tara and Tlachtga on the Hill of Ward in Co Meath. These complex sites are thought to have been the burial places of extremely high status individuals or important ritual centres….

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This evening.

Seanad Éireann sitting in the Dáil chamber.

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth Roderic O’Gorman (above) is taking questions from Senators amid calls for the government to reject the report into Mother and Baby Homes.

Watch live here

Build.

Back.

Better.

Meanwhile…

 

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald last September

They always have to be different.

RollingNews

Rathmines Garda Station

This morning/afternoon.

The Central Criminal Court.

Via The Irish Times:

Justice Michael White noted that Kevin Brazil (51) was first questioned about and admitted the abuse of this boy and another victim in 2002 but that inexplicably the then investigating garda did not send the file forward for prosecution.

The Central Criminal Court heard that in 2002 gardaí at Rathmines Garda station questioned Brazil and he made admissions.

This case and another case were investigated at that time but for some “inexplicable reason” no file was ever sent to the DPP, Superintendent Barry Walsh said.

Supt Walsh told Anne Rowland SC, prosecuting, that when he began investigating allegations from a third victim years later he discovered the Rathmines cases.

Mr Justice Michael White set a sentence of five years but reduced this by half and said he was taking the delay in prosecuting these offences into consideration and the fact that if the case had been prosecuted at the time Brazil would likely have served his sentence by now.

Meanwhile…

Patrick Gageby SC, defending, told the court that his client had been working in a large supermarket and he lost his job after his convictions were publicised last July.

Good times.

Child abuser is jailed 18 years after he admitted assaults (Irish Times)

Dublin city centre yesterday

This afternoon.

Further to last night’s RTÉ Investigates documentary on rough sleepers in Dublin city…

…Cian O’Callaghan writes:

“The RTÉ investigates programme exposed a homeless support system that is badly broken. We need urgent and radical reform. We cannot tolerate a situation where people are sleeping rough because they have been denied access to emergency accommodation. We have to eliminate homelessness in Ireland.

“I have been raising the issue around the use of the local connection rule with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Housing since last November. They repeatedly sought to downplay, dismiss or deny that people were being turned away from emergency accommodation while beds lay empty. Last night’s programme categorically proves that they were wrong.

“The Government is clearly out of touch on this issue. The comments from the Minister for Housing that no-one should be denied emergency accommodation fall far short of what is needed – he must directly instruct local authorities to stop turning homeless people away.

“I have deep concerns about the conditions in private homeless hostels. There is a catalogue of failures. Some hostels have inhumane rules that state ‘Guests are not allowed to stop for a chat..’. Others are excluding people for minor infringements of unfair rules.

“Staff in some homeless hostels lack even basic training. In other cases, they are not even Garda vetted. It is not clear that these private providers are subject to the national quality standards for homeless services. Inspection reports are never published.

“The increased use of for-profit, private accommodation providers, without support services, is deeply problematic. The cost of this model of service provision is also concerning. Professor Eoin Sullivan of Trinity College has estimated that it costs €35,000-€40,000 per person to keep someone in emergency accommodation. This is shocking given the low standards. Much better value for money and much better outcomes can be achieved by providing someone with a long-term secure home of their own.

“For every day that it continues, the homelessness crisis is destroying lives. Addiction issues can start or deepen after someone becomes homeless. Life expectancy falls. Mental health issues are compounded. It does not have to be like this.

“Homelessness isn’t inevitable. It is a direct result of the decisions made by the Government. The solution to the crisis is clear – build social and affordable homes for those that need them. Re-direct the resources that are put into private providers of emergency hostels into long-term secure accommodation for people who have become homeless. Provide supports where they are needed.

“All that is required is the political will and ambition on the part of Government. I’m calling on the Government to begin by making a clear commitment to eliminate homelessness in Ireland.”

Cian O’Callaghan  is the Social Democrats Housing spokesperson and a TD for Dublin Bay North.

RollingNews

Yesterday: Out In The Cold

Annie Lynch was the first person to receive the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Ireland on December 29, 2020

Annie receives her second shot this morning

This morning.

Why does she get two?

FIGHT!

Donnelly says ‘about 1.9%’ of population vaccinated (RTÉ)

RollingNews

This morning.

Washington DC, USA

Ahead of tomorrow’s Presidential inauguration ceremony…

…the scale of the security effort can be put into perspective by comparing the number of Guard members in Washington to the number of troops currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. National Guard members have been arriving in the U.S. capital from all over the country and it is estimated that 25,000 will be present for the inauguration.

That’s five times as high as troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with around 2,500 service members serving in each country, according to a recent Department of Defense press release.

Washington D.C. Troop Levels Are Five Times As High As In Iraq & Afghanistan Combined (Forbes)

Getty

Last night.

Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ One.

Meanwhile…

Viewers were left unimpressed with the show when Sheila was cut off for Claire to speak about the possibilities of upcoming food shortages, and potential price increases with RTE Consumer Affairs correspondent Fran McNulty.

As a result, Twitter exploded with people voicing their unhappiness at the segment ‘about digestive biscuits shortage’.

Claire Byrne Live viewers annoyed Mother and Baby Home survivor is cut off for supermarket segment (RTÉ)