Author Archives: Bodger

“Lithuania, for us. Latvia is for us. Estonia is for us. Poland is for us.

“France, Emmanuel [Macron], I really believe that you will be for us. Slovenia is for us. Slovakia, for us. The Czech Republic is for us. Romania knows what dignity is, so it will be for us at the crucial moment. Bulgaria is for us. Greece, I believe that with us. Germany (…) I’m a little later. Portugal — well, practically (…) Croatia, for us. Sweden, blue and yellow should always be together. Finland, I know you are with us. The Netherlands is rational, so let’s find a common language.

“Malta, I believe it will succeed. Denmark, I believe it will succeed. Luxembourg, we understand each other. Cyprus, I really believe that with us. Italy, thank you for your support! Spain, find a common language. Belgium, we will find arguments. Austria, together with the Ukrainians, these are opportunities for you. I’m sure of it. Ireland, well, practically.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (top) addressing EU leaders last night.

Oh.

EU summit marked by Zelenskyy shaming Hungary’s Orban (EuroActiv)

Meanwhile…

Arriving on the second day of the summit the Taoiseach was asked if Ireland had been “singled out” as falling short in its support.

He told reporters: “That wouldn’t have been my read of it. He was actually talking in terms of the European perspective … I wouldn’t have taken the same slant that some may be taking from it.”

Asked if Mr Zelensky’s comments could be interpreted as meaning that he believed Ireland’s support to be less intense than other countries, Mr Martin said: “I think that’s reading too much into it if I’m honest.”

“Obviously we’re a military neutral country but we explained that we facilitated the EU peace facility which has been of enormous support to the Ukrainian people,” Mr Martin said.

Ukranian President was not ‘negative about Ireland’ – Taoiseach insists people are ‘reading too much into’ Zelensky’s remarks (Independent.ie)

AP/Getty

Was it for this?

This morning/afternoon.

Cashel, county Tipperary.

More as we get it.

RollingNews

This morning.

Houben Centre, Belfast.

The Building Common Ground event organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation.

Via Belfast Live:

One of those attending the event said: “The event kicked off and all of a sudden Simon Coveney’s security came up and he left.

“A guy was outside who’d been badly shaken up who said that his van was hijacked and the van is in the car park now.

“A van was driven into the car park at the chapel grounds and police are all there now.”

LIVE updates as ‘security threat’ at Irish Minister Simon Coveney’s address in North Belfast (Belfast Live)

Sinn Féin TD Martin Kenny

This morning.

Via The Irish Times:

Legislation that would force social media companies to reveal the identity of anonymous trolls has been introduced to the Dáil by Sinn Féin. The Social Media Platforms (Defamation Amendment) Bill would hold a company accountable for defamation if they failed to or refused to divulge the identity of an account holder who made defamatory statements on their platform.

The Bill, put forward by Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson Martin Kenny, passed through the first stage of the Dáil yesterday and will be debated by TDs at second stage.

Mr Kenny said he hoped the Government would support the legislation and would bring it through the Oireachtas “as quickly as possible”.

“I feel it is the right thing to do for ourselves here [in Leinster House] and for everyone else in society and many people across the country who have been victims of similar [online]attacks in the past,” he said.

“It is important that we get this piece of legislation through.”

Bill on anonymous online defamation passes first stage in Dáil (Irish Times)

Meanwhile..

Introducing the legislation yesterday, Mr Kenny told the Dail

“The Responsibility of Social Media Platforms (Defamation Amendment) Bill 2022, sets out to amend the Defamation Act 1961 to allow judgments of defamation to be made against social media platforms on which defamatory utterances are made when the social media platform in question is unable to produce the identity of the person who made the utterances and to provide for related matters.

“As we know, there are anonymous people online who sometimes attack, defame and intimidate people. This Bill proposes a change to civil law to allow the person who is the victim of such defamation to take a case against the person who has primary responsibility, that is, the person who uses his or her keyboard or phone to type the defamatory material.

“While it might seem peculiar, I have some sympathy for the social media platforms when they say they are not publishers because they do not have the same editorial oversight as the publisher of a normal publication such as a newspaper.

“That does not exist with social media because it is instant. When somebody puts something up, it is online instantly. There is a difficulty there. The best we have been able to do up to now has been to ask people to take such material down. With this legislation, we are trying to ensure that social media platforms will not be too lax to know who is behind an account.

“They will have to be able to identify such people clearly and to provide that information to a person who has been defamed.

“If a social media company is unable or unwilling to provide such information, it will then be held liable for the defamation. This will put an onus on such companies to keep to an absolute minimum the number of accounts of this nature, accounts that people can hide behind.”

Hardcore.

Meanwhile…

Neale Richmond, Fine Gael TD responded: “The fact that this is coming from Sinn Féin is utterly ironic.

“In advance of the publication, I do hope Sinn Féin themselves have taken a genuine look at the approach of their supporters to social media.”

Sinn Féin is lambasted over ‘ironic’ bill to tackle online trolls (Independent.ie)

Last night.

Los Angeles, California, USA.

The US-Ireland Alliance’s 16th annual Oscar Wilde Awards where Adam McKay, Jamie Dornan and up-and-coming Irish actor, Dónall Ó Héalai were all honoured.

From top; Amelia Warner and Jamie Dornan; Mary Steenburgen and Adam McKay; Nora-Jane Noone; Richard Curtis and Emma Freud; Sarah Bolger; menu; Nick McCarthy; Samantha Mumba and Marc Cleary; Dónall Ó Héalai; Fig O’Reilly, and JJ Abrams.

JJ Abrams confirms he is working on U2 series for Netflix (RTE)

Pics: Albert Rodriguez

Last night/This morning.

North Korea has confirmed it tested its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, under the supervision of Kim Jong Un.

Via Sky News:

He was present during the launch and was pictured smiling and clapping as he watched on from an observation deck.

State media said on Friday the launch of the Hwasong-17 was directly guided by the North Korean leader.

It said the country would continue to develop a “nuclear war deterrent” while it prepares for a “long-standing confrontation” with the US.

North Korea confirms Kim Jong Un’s new missile launch and releases photos (Sky News)

NKTV

This afternoon.

The Irish Independent understands a message was sent to journalists highlighting two incidents of concern in recent days.

Two “suspicious packages” were delivered to RTÉ offices in Waterford and Cork.

“The packages are letter sized envelopes containing a piece of card with a SD card sellotaped on to the card.

“This could be someone trying to send a malicious virus into the organisation on hope that someone will insert the card into a RTÉ device,” the warning to staff said.

Old school.

Respect.

RTÉ on alert for cyber attack after delivery of two suspicious packages (Independent.ie)

Thanks Bell

This afternoon.

Brussels, Belgium.

Strategic compass?

Meanwhile…

Um.

Meanwhile…

OK.

Now do China.