Author Archives: Bodger

Diarmuid Rossa Phelan

This morning.

The High Court has refused bail to a 53-year-old barrister and law professor who is accused of murder.

Via RTE News:

Diarmuid Rossa Phelan from Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, in Dublin, is charged with murdering 36-year-old Keith Conlon, who was shot at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane in Tallaght, on 22 February.

Gardaí told the High Court last week that Mr Phelan was considered a flight risk as he had extensive contacts abroad and owned considerable assets.

His defence counsel, Michael O’Higgins, submitted to the court that his client is a person who has a greater understanding of having to meet a court order “rather than 99.9% of the population“.

But Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy ruled today that Mr Phelan posed a serious flight risk if admitted on bail.

Barrister accused of murder is refused bail (RTE)

Previously: Charged

Saturday.

O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.

Protestors calling for an end to all covid Emergency Powers gathered outside the GPO. The Health and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill provides for the extension of the emergency provisions until March 31 with the possibility of one further extension of a maximum period of three months.

Sam Boal/RollingNews

This morning.

Loftus Lane (between Bolton Street and Parnell Street), Dublin 1.

Investigation after man’s body found in tent in Dublin (RTE)

Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

From top: US President Joe Biden; Taoiseach Micheal Martin with US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the Ireland Funds 30th National Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington DC earlier

Last night/this morning.

Washington DC, USA.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has tested positive for Covid-19. It means he will be unable to meet US President Joe Biden in person later today as part of the traditional shamrock ceremony.

Via PA:

Just before the positive Covid-19 test result was confirmed, Mr Martin had been listening to remarks from US President Joe Biden, who addressed the dinner on Wednesday evening.

Mr Biden had welcomed the Taoiseach to Washington and said he was looking forward to renewing their friendship on Thursday.

Mr Biden, who was greeted with a lengthy round of applause and repeated cheers from the audience, was in fine spirits as he addressed the gathering.

He welcomed Taoiseach Micheal Martin and recalled meeting him at the White House shamrock ceremony in 2009, when Mr Martin was foreign affairs minister and Mr Biden was vice-president.

“We’ve come full circle.

“You’re Taoiseach, I’m President – what the hell are we going to do?”

Last year, Mr Martin had been forced to meet with the US President virtually due to the pandemic.

In front of an audience that included Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis, Mr Biden spoke passionately about his Irish heritage but did not shy away from the multiple crises facing the world.

He said that Ireland was the only country in the world that was “nostalgic for the future”.

Earlier: Ban Vodka

Taoiseach tests positive for Covid-19 in Washington DC (RTE)

Oliver Contreras/PA

Derrybrien Wind Farm

This afternoon.

The ESB is to decommission the Derrybrien Wind Farm in south county Galway.

Via RTE News:

The decision follows more than two decades of controversy over the planning process for the 70-turbine site on the Slieve Aughty mountains.

Last month, An Bord Pleanála has refused the ESB’s application for substitute consent for the development.

The ESB had sought retrospective compliance with an EU directive, but the planning board ruled that the damage caused by the wind farm was “clear, profound and unacceptable” and could not be fully mitigated.

ESB to decommission Derrybrien wind farm (RTE)

Meanwhile…

In 2003, a boggy hilltop near Derrybrien in south Galway was clear-felled of 200 hectares of forestry and peat extracted from it up to a depth of 5.5 meters. 17 kilometers of roads were laid and 71 turbine bases constructed as the foundations for a wind-farm built and owned by Hibernian Wind Power, a subsidiary of the ESB.

On 16 October, 2003, a massive landslide sent 450,000 cubic meters of peat down the hillside, polluting the Owendalulleegh River, resulting in the death of around 50,000 fish and lasting damage to the fish spawning beds. No environmental impact assessment had been conducted before the establishment of the wind-farm.

On 3 July, 2008, The European Court of Justice (the ECJ) ruled that an environmental impact assessment should be carried out, not merely as proper practice but as a legal obligation. In its pleadings before the Court, the European Commission pointed out and the Irish Government accepted that the landslide was linked to the construction work at the wind farm. The Government committed to comply with this ruling.

A decade passed during which three things happened.

First, plenty of helpful reminders from Europe to Ireland of the need to get on with it.

Second, a certain amount of leisurely paper shuffling and buck passing in Dublin between the “Department”, the ESB and its subsidiary, but no action.

Third, growing awareness among south Galway residents that the negative environmental impact of the wind-farm was not confined to the once-off landslide. The clearance of the hill top to facilitate the wind-farm and the 30 kilometers of deep drains dug into the mountain to keep the site dry has exacerbated the endemic flooding of their area by causing water to flow down the hill faster than before.

This is a coronavirus-free zone, almost (Daire O’Criodain, Medium)

Pic: An Bord Pleanala