Author Archives: Bodger

Saturday.

Howth, county Dublin

President Michael D Higgins officially unveiled the newly-restored Eire 6 wartime neutrality sign, one of 83 aerial recognition signs built around the Irish coast during the Second World War to alert aircraft they were approaching Irish territory.

Long buried, the Howth sign has now been restored by the local community, as a mark of respect to those who served in defence of our neutrality.

Fight!

Also: No fada?

Sam Boal RollingNews

Top pic: Irish Air Corps

Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Arbour Hill yesterday

This morning.

Via Irish Times:

There are acute concerns in Government about capacity to house Ukrainian refugees, with the available supply of hotel and B&B places almost exhausted.

While senior officials said facilities such as large halls with camp beds and tents were unlikely to be required before Easter, sources were unwilling to rule them out beyond that.

A scramble for additional sources of accommodation is under way across all arms of government and local authorities, with an emergency summit of the construction and property industry due to be held on Monday by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.

Fears grow in Government about Irish capacity to house Ukrainian refugees (Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

…via Irish Examiner:

In terms of the influx of Ukrainian people fleeing the war, Taoiseach Micheál Martinsaid it is going to become extremely challenging because over 20,000 people have come into the country in a matter of weeks.

He said such an influx is unprecedented in terms of anything we have experienced before in relation to refugees fleeing a conflict zone and a war.

Asked about people living in large communal halls, he said the number of public pledges of help “is not as large as originally anticipated”

We have to move fast in terms of going through all the pledges for example, not all of them have been processed or gone through and there’s some opportunities there.

Number of Irish pledges to house refugees ‘not as large as originally anticipated’ (Irish Examiner)

RollingNews

Last night.

Mother and baby Home activists Breeda Murphy, Eunan Duffy and Frank Brehany discuss new developments on the burials bill and redress scheme for survivors of the Mother and Baby Home system in Ireland.

Breeda notes that 83 amendments to the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022 were denied by the government.

The trio’s alternative birth and tracing bill here

Note: Forgive the ramshackle start, entirely host’s fault.

Meanwhile..

Via Gov.ie:

The Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth invites written submissions from interested individuals or groups on the general scheme of a Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill.

Details here

Meanwhile…

Marianvale Mother and Baby Home, county Newry

Marianvale.

The home where Eunan was born.

Via Abandoned Northern Ireland.

I never like to see a building demolished, however, with the history thats associated with this building I’m glad that’s finally been razed.

Reports say that more than 14,000 girls and women went through baby homes and other institutions throughout Ireland from 1922-1900.

Expectant girls from as young as 14 years old were sent here by their family or church to have their babies against their will. They were even stripped of their names as soon as they crossed the doors and were not allowed to talk. They endured all sorts of physical and mental abuse from those in charge. Once the baby was born it was taken away and adopted out against their wishes.

I visited this home on several occasions and the atmosphere was always heavy and thick, I never stayed in this location long.

Abandoned N.I

This afternoon.

Dublin Airport.

Escalating.

Lengthy queues for early flights at Dublin Airport (RTE)

President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses the Finnish parliament this morning

This morning/afternoon.

Helsinki, Finland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (without his friend) told Finland’s parliament  that a “sanction cocktail, that would be remembered just like Molotov cocktails” is needed to halt Russian aggression.

Zelensky asked Finland to “show even more leadership” in the European Union, saying this will be “the biggest contribution in the security of Europe.”

He said that Ukraine needs weapons “that some of the EU partners have,” as well as “powerful efficient sanctions against Russia on a permanent basis.”

Adding:

“We need to think about how to protect Europe from the Russian energy weapon. How much longer can Europe ignore the introduction of embargo against oil supplies from Russia?”

Yesterday: Hello Mum

Meanwhile…

Yesterday.

Angel Dzhambazki?

Meanwhile…

Kramatorsk railway station

This afternoon.

Via CNN:

The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement Friday calling the missile strike on a railway station in the Ukrainian city a “provocation.”

The statement mirrored recent denials of the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

“All the statements of representatives of the Kyiv nationalist regime about the alleged ‘missile attack’ by Russia on April 8 at the railway station in Kramatorsk are a provocation and absolutely do not correspond to reality,” the statement said.

“On April 8, the Russian armed forces did not conduct or plan any artillery fires in the city of Kramatorsk.

“We emphasize that the Tochka-U tactical missiles, the wreckage of which was found near the Kramatorsk railway station and published by eyewitnesses, are used only by the Ukrainian armed forces.”

Ukrainian forces have the Soviet-designed Tochka missile in their inventory but it has also been used by Russian and separatist forces in the past.

Russian Ministry of Defense calls Kramatorsk strike a “provocation” (CNN)

Getty

Meanwhile…

Gulpski.