Author Archives: Bodger

Update:


Newgate Gaol, near Christchurch, Dublin 8 operated as a detention centre from the Middle Ages until its closure in 1863

Gulp.

And you thought masks were restrictive…….

…UCD’s Dr Coleman Dennehy writes:

Inventory for chains, manacles, locks, etc for the relatively small Newgate Gaol, Dublin – approximaely around where High Street hits Cornmarket and Lambe Alley. 1525… Including a bolt and two shackles for ‘chylder’….

Firm but fair?

Or barbaric?

Impossible to tell without knowing the chylder’s offence, but feel free to comment below.

Newgate Gaol

Meanwhile…

Newgate Prison memorial.

St Mitcham’s Park, Little Britain Street. Dublin 8.

Thanks Stephen Stewart

The impact of the rona on the third level sector. Across both years, of the total income loss of €348 million, 46% (or €160 million) is due to a loss in fee income from international students.

FIGHT!

Financial implications of COVID-19 for Ireland’s university sector (Oireachtas.ie)

Meanwhile…

Ah here.

From top: Rally against rona restrictions at Custom House Quay, Dublin 1 last month; Minister for Justice Helen McEntee

This morning.

Radio One’s Today with Claire Byrne.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee spoke to Claire Byrne about the new powers given to gardai.

She said the Criminal Justice Enforcement Power bill will ensure gardaí have the powers they need to “act swiftly” to deal with pubs who have breached Covid-19 regulations.

But, the host asked. what about protests?

Not all protests (this being RTÉ).

Specifically ‘anti-mask’ protests.

Claire Byrne: “How do you police those protests now because people are allowed to protest, as they always have been. But if you are protesting, in a large gathering now, with no face coverings. What is the Garda role in those situations?”

Helen McEntee: “Well, I think, I mean it is very difficult and obviously, the gardai, this isn’t the first instance where we have had large protests or where we have people gathering and whether or not wearing face coverings. Now the face coverings, it’s obviously very clear that it’s mandatory when you’re in public transport, when you’re in shops and we’re advising people to wear them outdoors and for the vast majority of times, particularly where they’re in large gatherings, there are public order offences, that gardai can again use at their behest…”

Byrne: “If you’re outside at at an anti-mask protest, you don’t have to wear one but you shouldn’t be at a large gathering?”

McEntee: “You shouldn’t be at a large gathering, no. And I mean we’re very clear with that. There shouldn’t be any large gatherings. What we’ve introduced now though, and which is a penal provision, is where there are large gatherings of over 15 people. So that hadn’t been the case up until Friday where we introduced these new, and where the minister fined into regulations anybody organising, so it’s not the people who are attending, anybody organising an event where there are over 15 people, in an outdoor setting, can face prosecution and can be fined up to the €2,500 or face a prison term.”

Later asked if it should be made mandatory for gardai to wear facemasks at checkpoints, when they lean into people’s cars, Ms McEntee said:

“This is an operational matter and I suppose this is something that the Garda Commissioner and his team would advise on so it’s really not something for me to get involved in. I do think, and if you look at even, even if you see two guards in a car, you often see them wearing face coverings because they’re clearly from two different households. I think in the vast majority of cases, gardai are wearing them but again that’s very much an operational matter.”

Listen back here

Rollingnews

Meanwhile…

Yikes.

This morning in Clifden, Co Galway.

Flooding in Connemara as rainfall warning issued for northwest (RTE)

Yikes.

This morning.

Leonard’s Corner, South Circular Road, Dublin.

Dublin Fire Brigade tweetz:

Surface water today for the morning commute Allow for greater braking distances…Pedestrians will have hoods up limiting visibility,..look out for them…School areas will be busy too…

Name that jammer, anyone?

Dublin Fire Brigade/Rollingnews

From top: Covid-19 Isolation and Step Down Facility in the Conference Centre at Citywest Hotel Dublin on March 29; Former Attorney General and ex-Minister for Justice Michael McDowell

This morning.

Via Michael McDowell in The Irish Times:

We haven’t really heard as to whether the HSE has increased the availability of intensive care capacity and secured additional supplies of ventilators and personal protective equipment.

Have they trained additional personnel in the meantime?

Is the emergency facility in Citywest still on stand-by?

Are the once-sequestered private hospitals still available on a contingency basis?

In other words, have we radically improved our hospital services so as to counter any second wave of Covid-19 or are our hospitals more or less still in the same position as they were in mid-March?

If not, why not?

Do the recent upticks in community transmissions really represent an existential threat to the HSE’s capacity to deal with the virus?

The fatality rate, the hospitalisation rate and the rate of admission of Covid-19 patients into intensive care do not, as of now, appear to be in crisis.

Meanwhile…

The pandemic cannot be blithely dismissed as a problem of the “capitalist system” or as a good opportunity to create a utopian different society – it is an economic crisis which challenges the poor, the middle class and the wealthy alike. But people are economically vulnerable as well as being vulnerable to infection.

Michael McDowell: Public will not endure another lockdown (Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Last night.

Bank of Ireland, College Green, Dublin 2.

Glenda Harrington [a volunteer with Friends Helping Friends, a north inner city-based soup run which provides food, clothes, and sleeping bags to the homeless and poor] writes:

Some nights are harder than others…

Mick Caul writes:

I never thought, in my lifetime, children would be queuing on the streets of Dublin to get a cooked meal at night. And I never believed people would just accept it.

Friends Helping Friends

From top: Sheridan Smith and her newborn in Becoming Mum; ITV’s This Morning earlier

Course you are?

Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum.

An ITV Documentary Special.

Breeda Murphy writes:

This incredible documentary airs tonight at 9pm on ITV. It tackles many issues relevant at this particular moment during the pandemic as it follows actress Sheridan Smith in the latter months of her first pregnancy.

Sheridan has spoken of challenges before related to her mental health and in this documentary she explains the pressures that caused her to doubt herself and her ability to cope on occasions during her life.

Anxiety associated with first time birthing and motherhood looming closer, Sheridan allows us to invade on that private space to share her vulnerability but also her coping mechanisms which are due in no small way to finding love, learning to trust, talking – sharing and awakening to enjoy her first time new mummy role.

On social media, I’ve read countless stories of first time mums here in Ireland attending alone at hospital while partner or main supporter waits, filled with anxiety too, in a separate area.

It’s such a milestone, a life changing moment becoming a family and brings with it a range of emotions more pronounced during Covid19 . Medicines for any illness need careful monitoring during pregnancy and Sheridan like many mums-to-be worry about side effects, etc.

Earlier today with Holly and Phil on This Morning (above) Sheridan explained the rollercoaster ride and her speaking out so that other women would feel equally empowered or breathe a sigh of relief to know they are not alone.

A doctor explained that many women suffer silently as there is a stigma attached to admitting weakness, asking for help causing those suffering to retreat and remain silent.

Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum on ITV at 9pm.

Pic: ITV

Firm but fair?

Or breaking a butterfly on a wheel?

Only YOU can decide.

Meanwhile, the tweet may be referring to  report on August 26 from the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) which stated only six per cent of people who died from COVID-19 did not have any other listed cause of death.

The New York Times reported:

The CDC data table is based on an analysis of death certificates that mention COVID-19 as a cause. For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned, the CDC notes.

The other 94% list COVID-19 and other conditions together. Among those deaths, there were, on average, 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death, the public health agency said.

…A death isn’t excluded from the COVID-19 tally just because the person was obese or had diabetes or dementia. Someone with heart problems can still be killed by COVID-19, and the death certificate could mention both as contributing.

FIGHT!

Earlier: What Am I To Do?