Table which includes predicted times of sunrise and sunset over the next month
Carlow Weather tweetz:
“Doesn’t it feel like the darkest morning ever? Dark clouds preventing any moon light makes it a dark morning but the good news is the stretch continues.
“Sunrise of 08:38 this morning but it will be 08:13 by end of month and sunset today at 16:28 will be 17:09 at end of month.
Finally.
Drone professionals Aerial write:
All our best bits from 2019. All footage is with approval from the Irish Aviation Authority.
Up to 20 headstones have recently been destroyed or damaged at St Catherine’s Cemetery, Kilcully, Cork.
Further to this…
Robert Macnamara, in the Echo Live, reports:
Cork City Council has arranged security to patrol Kilcully cemetery after the vandalism of headstones last week that has caused public outrage.
Several headstones were knocked over or damaged and holy statues had their heads removed at St Catherine’s graveyard.
…Stephen Scully of City Hall’s parks and recreation department has confirmed to The Echo that security measures are now in place.
“The gardai are investigating the matter. We have arranged security at the cemetery for the foreseeable future.”
The Echo understands CCTV footage has emerged of individuals entering the cemetery in darkness last week but the cameras in place at St Catherine’s graveyard are facing toward the car park and no activity in the graveyard is recorded.
UPDATE: City Hall steps up security at vandalised graveyard (Echo Live)
Pics via Neil Prendeville
Last week.
The Mendicity Institution offered to collect people’s Christmas trees for €10 each (above) in order to raise money for their services.
The homeless charity says every tree they recycle will provide ten hot meals.
This weekend, they tweeted:
We’ve dealt with hundreds of enquires and are overwhelmed by the good will this idea has generated. We are booked right through to next Saturday. Some of you will have your tree longer than you’d like just so that you can show your support. A huge thank you to all.
In fairness.
Meanwhile…
Last Friday.
The Department of Housing released its latest homeless figures which showed there were 10,448 people (6,696 adults and 3,752 children) living in emergency accommodation in the final week of November 2019.
This represents an increase of eight adults and a decrease of 74 children living in emergency accommodation since the final week in October when the figure recorded was 10,514 people (6,688 adults and 3,826 children).
In November 2018, the figure was 9,968; in December 2018, 9,753; in January 2019, 9,987; in February 2019, 10,264; in March 2019, 10,305; in April 2019, 10,378; in May 2019, 10,253; in June 2019, 10,172; in July 2019, 10,275; in August 2019, 10,338; in September 2019, 10,397.
Previously: 10,514 But Confidence Remains
Number of people on hospital trolleys in Ireland today, according to the INMO
This morning.
The Irish Nurses’ and Midwives’ Organisation announced that there are 760 people on hospital trolleys across Ireland today, referring to it as “the worst-ever figure since records began”.
In a press release, the INMO said:
“The number of patients on trolleys this morning would more than fill the largest hospital in the state, St. James (707 beds) or take more than twice the equivalent of Letterkenny University Hospital (333 beds).
“The previous worst-ever day was 12 March 2018 during the “Beast from the East”, when 714 patients went without beds.
“University Hospital Limerick has also broken the daily record for an individual hospital, with 92 patients on trolleys. The previous highest figure was 85, also in UHL.”
Worst-ever day for trolley overcrowding since records began – INMO
Meanwhile…
Last night, RTÉ reported:
All elective surgery is to be cancelled at Cork’s two main hospitals until further notice in response to overcrowding in their emergency departments.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said earlier that Cork University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital are operating “beyond their limits” and that they expect the situation to get worse next week.
The decision was made following a meeting between the HSE and the INMO.
Elective surgery to be cancelled at two Cork hospitals due to overcrowding (RTÉ)
Meanwhile…
Last Friday…
The front page of the Irish Daily Mail.
Previously: Friday’s Papers
This afternoon.
Dr Niamh NicGhabhann tweetz:
“A Nollaig na mBan appropriate sticker on a Dublin traffic light!”
Nollaig na mban shona!
#Breaking Video shows a Garda been run over and dragged by car tonight in Dundrum.Thankfully the Garda is ok…. pic.twitter.com/xc4eEgxPt5
— Padraig O'Reilly Photographer (@padraig_reilly) January 5, 2020
Last night.
“At approximately 6.45pm on Sunday a male Garda (30s) was injured when he was struck by a car while on active patrol dealing with an incident at the Dundrum Town Centre.
“He was taken hospital for treatment and has since been discharged. His injuries are not life threatening. No arrests have been made to date and investigations are ongoing.
“It’s understood Gardaí and security staff were attempting to apprehend the occupant of a car when it fled from the scene at speed colliding with one of the Garda members.”
Garda statement
US military planes at Shannon Airport
Further to the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani by a US drone at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, last Friday…
This morning on RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke, presented by Cormac Ó hEadhra, Dublin MEP Clare Daly referred to the killing as a “catastrophic breach of all norms and the crossing of a red line”.
She went on to say Ireland is “culpable or complicit” when it comes to the actions of the US military, given its use of Shannon Airport.
Ms Daly added diplomatic assurances that there are no weapons onboard the planes are not good enough and that is why she and and fellow MEP Mick Wallace attempted to search a US military plane for weapons in Shannon Airport in 2014, They were subsequently arrested.
She said:
“We know from Tarak Kauff and Ken Mayers, the US Army veterans who were in Ireland for most of last year, that they transited when they were in the US Army through Shannon and that they had weaponry on them.
“So there’s no doubt about it. Why else would they be passing through to the Middle East? Thousands of troops are not going on their holidays.
“Clearly they’re engaged in military action and the monitoring of that aircraft by local groups on the ground, Shannonwatch, Shannon Radar, would vindicate that…”
She also said that she believed Tánaiste Simon Coveney should strongly condemn the “unlawful, illegal action of the United States government”.
She added:
“I think, in response he [Coveney] should say that all permission of the US military, to transit through Shannon [Airport] is being halted until the matter is investigated further.”
Meanwhile…
On Thursday, at 7pm, outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
The Peace and Neutrality Alliance will hold a protest against a war on Iran.
They write:
The Peace and Neutrality Alliance along with a broad alliance of people from human rights to climate change activists and anti-war groups is calling for your support for this vigil outside the US Embassy in Dublin this Thursday.
Listen back in full here
East End Hotel in Portarlington, Co Laois which is being used as a Direct Provision centre; inside a room at the centre
This is outrageous!!! The average rate is €1050 per month for each asylum seeker in Direct Provision (more than double in emergency accommodation). This room in the East End Hotel in Portarlington has 10 asylum seekers in a room with no windows. Queue for shower and toilet pic.twitter.com/1Ql67FPJgY
— MASI – Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (@masi_asylum) January 3, 2020
Asylum seeker asks East End Hotel management who is taking the decisions to put all these people here (in overcrowded room with no windows). Management replies: RIA (now IPAS) in the @DeptJusticeIRL. The men have since been moved to room with 5 beds. Some want out of the place pic.twitter.com/jUEE9LscFx
— MASI – Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (@masi_asylum) January 5, 2020
On Friday.
The group Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland circulated a video (top) which shows 10 beds in one room for asylum seekers living in a direct provision centre at the East End Hotel in Portarlington, Co Laois.
It was later shared by journalist Barry Whyte, of Newstalk, and Senator Catherine Ardagh called for the centre to be shut down.
The Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said he was seeking a report on the matter.
On Saturday, the Department of Justice released a statement claiming the video was “staged”.
It said:
“The Department has been informed that this video does not represent the reality at this facility. Hotel management has informed the Department that last night, a number of residents moved themselves from their assigned rooms into the room shown in the video.
“The footage circulating appears to have been staged and the residents involved have been asked to return to their allocated rooms.
“Similar claims were made about the accommodation in the hotel last Autumn and subsequent Department inspections confirmed that the accommodation arrangements at the hotel had been misrepresented in a staged video at that time.”
In response, MASI last night rejected the department’s claim.
In a statement, MASI said:
“We reject claims made by the Department of Justice and Equality and the management of East End Hotel in Portarlington that footage showing appalling conditions in the centre was staged by asylum seekers.
“At 7.21pm, on the 3rd January, 2020, MASI tweeted a video recorded by asylum seekers in the East End Hotel in Portarlington.
“The video showed 10 beds in a room that has no windows. The room also does not have a cupboard for the men to store their clothes.
“In the video, some of the their clothes can be seen on the beds and on the floor.
“About six months ago, on the 5th August 2019, MASI issued a statement after visiting several centres, where we noted how appalled we were that the East End Hotel had five people in one room.
“For this, the owner was being paid at least €5,250 per month – the average for a Direct Provision centre.
“And since this is an emergency Direct Provision centre and the average cost is more than double for emergency accommodation,the owner is likely being paid a lot more than this per month.
“We met with staff from the Department of Justice and Equaliry including the Head of RIA (Reception and Integration Agency) on the 29th August, 2019, and raised the indignity of having to live with no privacy in overcrowded rooms.
“The Department seemed to be more concerned about the number of beds they can find and not the rights of the people being moved around the country like a yoyo with no say on the matter.
“Such is the case of the men who shared the video. The 19 men had been staying in Treacy’s Hotel in Co Monaghan before being transferred to the East End Hotel in Portarlington on the 3rd January 2020. This is when they were shocked and appalled to find 10 beds in a room with no windows and cupboards to store clothes.”
The statement added:
“On the 4th January, 2020, the management in the East End Hotel went to the room and moved some of the beds into one corner, embarrassed by the video circulating online.
“The Department of Justice and Equality issued a statement which suggests that they called management in the East End Hotel who claims the conditions in the room were staged by asylum seekers.
“They also claim that different footage recorded by different asylum seekers, showing similar conditions in the East End Hotel, published by the Independent on 5th october 2019, was staged.
“Contrary to the claims of management and the statement released by the Department of Justice and Equality, staff claim that they did indeed put the 10 beds in the room because another room was not ready for occupation when the men moved in on the 3rd January 2020.
“At not point did the Department of Justice and Equality speak with the affected asylum seekers to find out what happened.”
Members of MASI Lucky Khambule and Bulelani Mfaco later travelled to the hotel in Portarlington on Saturday but they were denied entry.
They were only able to speak with some of the asylum seekers staying at the hotel outside the hotel.
The statement adds:
“Denied entry, MASI met outside the centre with some of the asylum seekers staying in the East End Hotel and were horrified by the testimony they shared with us from being threatened by management, told you can go back to your country if you are not happy, and being denied an empty glass to use to drink water.
“This showed us that the problems in the East End Hotel are beyond just a number of beds in the room but extend to the general conduct of the management team.”
“At the very heard of these overcrowded rooms in Direct Provision and emergency Direct Provision centres is profiteering through the asylum system.
“Private operators of these centres are paid public money by the Department of Justice and Equality for each person staying in the centre, not per bedroom.
“In other words, the more people you have in a centre, the more money you can make.
“In July 2018, we were told by the Department of Justice and Equality that the average cost per person in Direct Provision is €35 per day which brings it to €1,050 per person for each month.
“…on the 5th January 2020, we received texts from asylum seekers in the East End Hotel in Portarlington telling us that they have since been moved to a different room that has five people (do the maths).”
MASI has said it has written to the Ombudsman and asked for an independent investigation into the matter of overcrowding in emergency accommodation and in Direct Provision centres.
Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (Facebook)
UPDATE:
I’ve just spoken to an asylum seeker, David Yewande. He lived in the emergency accommodation in Portarlington until a few weeks ago. He says he shared a room, which had no windows, with eleven other people while there @NewstalkFM
— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) January 5, 2020
I’ve also spoken to Sayed Farid Sanai, who was on @rtenews last week. He’s a former Afghan journalist who is now seeking asylum in Ireland. He had been living in Portarlington, and he said he was in a room of ten for two months in the accommodation there pic.twitter.com/5X1eCzVDxH
— Barry Whyte (@BarryWhyte85) January 5, 2020
