Author Archives: Bodger

Above from left: UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove and European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič this afternoon

 

This afternoon.

Via RTÉ:

As a result of the agreement the UK will withdraw the clauses in the Internal Market Bill which would have breached the Northern Ireland Protocol, and “will not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill,” the statement said.

Following intensive discussions through the EU UK Joint Committee, which implements the Withdrawal Agreement, solutions in principle have been found on the question of food imports from Great Britain to Northern Ireland supermarkets, the issue of EU state aid rules, the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland and the question of the EU’s presence in the North.

The Joint Committee, co-chaired by Mr Gove and Mr Šefčovič, have also reached agreement principle on the question of which goods of GB origin would be at risk of crossing the border to the south and thereby potentially attract a tariff.

Agreement has also been reached on the exemption of agricultural and fish subsidies from state aid rules, as well as a list of members on an arbitration panel which will mediate on disputes relating to the Withdrawal Agreement…

UK and EU reach agreement over Northern Ireland trade (RTÉ)

Twitter user Sophia Cadogan has challenged Irish actor Paul Mescal’s title of having the most liked tweet on Irish Twitter in 2020

This afternoon.

Anyone?

Revealed: Ireland’s most liked tweet of the year is Paul Mescal’s famous ‘I’m Irish’ claim (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

This afternoon.

Earlier…

Stop your tiers, numpty.

Earlier…

This morning.

Via Britain’s NHS:

The biggest vaccine campaign in NHS history kicked off this morning, as 90-year-old grandmother Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 jab following its clinical approval.

At 6.31am early riser Margaret, known to friends and family as Maggie, was given the life-saving jab by nurse May Parsons at her local hospital in Coventry.

Maggie, who turns 91 next week, is a former jewellery shop assistant who only retired four years ago. She has a daughter, a son and four grandchildren and is looking forward to being able to go out again once she receives the top up dose.

Margaret said:

“I feel so privileged to be the first person vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s the best early birthday present I could wish for because it means I can finally look forward to spending time with my family and friends in the New Year after being on my own for most of the year.”

Landmark moment as first NHS patient receives COVID-19 vaccination (NHS)

Meanwhile….

FIGHT!

This morning.

On RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live.

Chair of the Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht and Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth (above right) spoke with Ms Byrne briefly about the report RTÉ published yesterday concerning the five Covid-19 guidelines which were breached at a recent retirement gathering (above left) in Montrose.

Ms Byrne started by asking Ms Smyth if the report drew a line under the matter for her or did she believe there were more questions to be answered?

She said she has read the report and that “most of the questions have been answered…maybe not all of them…”.

Asked what questions hadn’t been answered, she said:

“Well, the question of how this came to be organised in the first place. Now we do accept RTÉ are saying there is a Garda investigation ongoing and that restricts some of the findings that they can communicate in the report so, you know, I suppose as a committee, we’ll have to decide does that draw a line under it or are there further questions to answer.”

Ms Smyth said the committee will be meeting tomorrow where they will deliberate the report.

Asked if RTE representatives will be appearing before the committee, Ms Smyth replied:

“Not as yet.”

Yesterday: Five Breaches

Meanwhile…

This morning.

The latest issue of Totally Dublin, with a cover by Niall Staines and Maxi McDonnell, lands in Dublin city today.

In his end of year editorial, TD editor Michael McDermott writes:

We are dragging ourselves over the line of what has been a truly remarkable year, mostly for all the wrong reasons. 2020 has been an absolute head melter. It feels apt then to have Niall Staines capture this sense of going through the wringer with our cover commission. His glitch style drags normality beyond recognition but still anchors it. Time has blurred and rumpled, we’ve all felt glitched but there’s still hope and the ones we love.

When asked about the prospect of a return to normality which we very much hope 2021 will bequeath us, the veteran writer Don DeLillo observed, “We may feel enormous relief, but for many people, it’s going to be difficult to return to what we might term as ordinary. I don’t know how that’s going to feel. I hope that it’s mainly a sense of rediscovered freedoms. You want to go to a movie. You want to go to a museum and eat in a restaurant. Those ordinary things are going to seem extraordinary.”

We toast the sense of extraordinary this Christmas for we have lived, loved and lost in this landmark year. A heartfelt thanks to our contributors, stockists, advertisers and readers for sticking with us as we try and navigate towards better days.

In fairness.

Totally Dublin

This morning.

Assistant Professor at University College Dublin Stefan Müller tweetz:

“New working paper with Aidan Regan: “The Compass of Irish Politics is Moving to the Left” Based on @csestweets data and the 2020 @ucdpolitics election poll, we show that the average Irish voter now identifies on the centre-left.

“Comments welcome!”

From the paper:

“…we find that respondents with lower incomes and higher education are most likely to self-identify on the left. In terms of voting behaviour, lower income voters and those who self-identify on the left have a higher probability to vote for Sinn Féin.

“Conversely, lower educated voters on higher incomes are most likely to self-identify on the right. In terms of voting behaviour, higher income voters and those who self-identify on the right are most likely to vote Fine Gael.

“The deeper theoretical question is what explains this variation, and why certain voters (lower income, women, urban, higher educated) are more likely to self-identify on the left than others? This requires much more longitudinal research, and more fine-grained data. But we suggest it is related to a growth in higher educated voters that do not earn high incomes, and the explicit left populist strategies of Sinn Féin.

“Sinn Fein’s left populism has enabled them to build a broad left coalition that cuts across gender, and one that integrates the preferences of low income households with low to middle income higher-educated voters, whilst also adopting a cultural nationalist narrative that appeals to many voters.”

Read the paper in full here

This Christmas.

Give the gift of wearable bone, copper or even vinyl!

Amy Houlihan writes:

Galway-based brand Iasc Designs uses traditional techniques to make modern mixed-media jewellery from a variety of materials including copper, bone, recycled vinyl records and computer parts.  Each piece is individually handcrafted to produce high quality, one of a kind, eye-catching accessories.

Iasc Designs

Irish-made stocking fillers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie with bio and pics marked ‘Irish-Made Stocking Fillers’.

From top: David McCullagh and Miriam O’Callaghan flank Phil Collins at her retirement party in RTÉ

This afternoon.

That RTÉ gathering…

…RTÉ’s Health and Safety Review has found that five breaches occurred; three breaches of COVID-19 public health advice, one breach of the Plan for Living with COVID-19 Level 5 restrictions and a breach in RTÉ’s internal COVID-19 Protocols;

Via RTÉ:

Some people did not maintain social distancing during the gathering.

Where the two meters social distance was breached, some people were not wearing face coverings.

There was a breach of the requirement to avoid crowded places.

There was a breach of the Plan for Living with COVID-19 as there should not have been any indoor gathering which does not form part of RTÉ’s delivery of an essential service.

There was a breach of internal RTÉ COVID-19 Protocols for visitors to our site.

RTÉ Director General, Dee Forbes said: “These breaches should not have occurred and, as Director General, I am sorry that this happened. What makes this all the more disappointing is that this incident is not representative of the way our staff conduct their work in general, which is to be absolutely diligent in relation to public health guidelines and COVID-19 protocols.”

From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an essential service, RTÉ has been pro-active in prioritising the health and safety of our employees and contractors,as well as those necessarily visiting our sites to contribute to our programmes, while also delivering vital news, information and entertainment to the public.

Dee Forbes added:”A close look at any of our productions over these past months, across our television, radio and online services, highlights our commitment to ensuring everyone who visits RTÉ is in a safe environment. However, on this occasion we fell short of our own standards. It is essential that we all learn from this and that none of us is complacent about the risks of COVID-19. We all have a role to play in protecting ourselves and others.”
In this context, RTÉ’s Health and Safety Review makes five main recommendations:

1. All present at the gathering to retake RTÉ’s COVID-19 induction training;
2. Implementation of a communications plan to reinforce RTÉ’s COVID-19 protocols;
3. Discussion of findings and lessons learned with RTÉ’s COVID-19 representatives;
4. Review of RTÉ’s visitor access and protocols;
5. Ongoing review of RTÉ’s COVID-19 protocols.

That’ll learn them.

Full review here.

RTÉ review finds breaches of Covid-19 restrictions at retirement gathering (RTÉ)