Author Archives: Bodger

This afternoon.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has insisted that Maria Bailey was removed from the Fine Gael election ticket in a ‘democratic manner’.

Councillor Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has been added to the ticket in Dun Laoghaire after Fine Gael HQ accepted a local motion asking for changes.

Via The Irish Examiner:

Asked about any potential action Ms Bailey may now take to contest the decision, Mr Donohoe said: “It’s a very much a much a matter for Deputy Bailey regarding the response to what happened last night. Last night was a democratic decision that was made by the Executive Council.”

Speaking in Dublin’s north inner city, Mr Donohoe said the controversy had caused public debate but had also been very difficult for Ms Bailey herself.

Maria Bailey was removed from FG ticket in a ‘democratic’ process, Donohoe insists (irish Examiner)

Last night: Font Farewell

Rollingnews

Via Michael Clifford in The Irish Examiner:

Later that day, she had a missed call from an unknown phone number and when she rang it back, the judge identified himself by his first name and being “from the court”. She says that he told her “you looked very beautiful today”.

She claims that he texted her while she was on a sun holiday with her children and when she came back, she received a phonecall from the judge where he told her that “her skin must look nice now”.

She claims that the judge repeatedly expressed an interest in meeting her and they eventually met for a coffee. She appeared before him again in relation to her case at a hearing, where she became very emotional.

She said she was afraid to tell her solicitor and barrister about the contacts with the judge, as he had asked her not to. When she was granted a temporary barring order instead of a permanent order, she became very upset.

Garda Ombudsman to probe judge’s ‘texts to woman’ in family law case (Michael Clifford, Irish Examiner)

Pic via The Irish Examiner

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager (above a`nd Minister for Communications Richard Bruton (top)

This morning.

The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, €2.6 billion of public support for the controversial National Broadband Plan.

Communications Minister Richard Bruton said:

“I welcome today’s decision by the European Commission to grant state aid approval to the National Broadband Plan.

The National Broadband Plan will deliver high speed broadband to 1.1 million people, almost one quarter of our country. Without high speed broadband it will be significantly more difficult to attract new jobs to rural areas and develop new enterprise opportunities and it will be more difficult to retain the jobs that currently exist in these areas. H

igh speed broadband will allow remote working, which can ease congestion and reduce emissions. It will ensure that the digital revolution happening in education, healthcare, farming and tourism does not bypass rural Ireland. We will make sure that rural Ireland is not left behind.”

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of EC competition policy said:

“The National Broadband Plan in Ireland is expected to address the significant digital divide between urban and rural areas in Ireland, enabling Irish consumers and businesses to benefit from the full potential of digital growth. This will help households and businesses in areas of Ireland where private investment is insufficient.”

Hmm.

State aid: Commission approves €2.6 billion public support for the Irish National Broadband Plan (EU Commission)

Previously: National Broadband Plan on Broadsheet

Rollingnews

Avalon House, Aungier Street, Dublin 2

Olivia Kelly, in The Irish Times, reports:

Businesses on Aungier Street, Dublin, are to take legal action to stop the opening of the State’s largest homeless hostel for rough sleepers at Avalon House.

The Peter McVerry Trust and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive intend to take over the backpackers’ hostel, above a branch of Starbucks cafe, and use it to provide emergency accommodation for 155 homeless adults.

A lease on the building has been signed by the trust, and the facility is due to open in January. However, local businesses say they will seek a High Court injunction to stop it going ahead.

Dublin businesses seek to stop 155-bed homeless hostel (Olivia Kelly, The Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Pearl Kelly looking at four of Banksy’s works on exhibit and for sale at the opening of Art Source

This morning.

RDS Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.

Via  Art Source

The largest collection of Banksy’s work exhibited on public show in Ireland opened today at Ireland’s premier art fair Art Source, which runs until Sunday at the RDS.

Gormleys Fine Art are showing screen prints by the anonymous British-based artist and political activist whose original piece Devolved Parliament recently sold for €10.9m.

Twelve Banksy pieces will be on display ranging from €10,850 for I Fought The Law to an unsigned print of Girl With A Balloon valued at €120,000, along with works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst.

Art Source

Gormleys Fine Art

Pic: Robbie Reynolds

Brendan McNeely writes:

Too early for stocking filler ideas? Well my 11-year-old son Harry has self-published his second book “The Comedy Spy” which is now available on Amazon.

It’s a story about bad jokes, chicken hats and aliens trying to destroy the Earth. What more could you want!

In fairness.

The Comedy Spy can be bought here

Irish-made stocking fillers to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Irish-made Stocking Fillers’. No fee.

Today and tomorrow.

Trinity College Dublin’s history department is hosting its HistoryCon conference and this year’s theme is ‘humanising history’.

To wit:

The Trinity HistoryCon conference, now in its second year, provides an opportunity for members of the public, entertainment professionals, academics, and cosplayers to explore the influences of film, television, comics, music, and other forms of popular media, on how we imagine our past and present worlds.

Popular media such as Game of Thrones, X-Men, Star Wars, and The Avengers have captivated audiences and opened new lines of enquiry across the arts and humanities.

Each of these outlets has succeeded in large part due to their ability to contextualise and elucidate the experience of the individual in extraordinary circumstances. Trinity HistoryCon – the amalgam of an academic conference and comic-con – celebrates the nexus of popular media and the study of history.

The conference provides a stimulating and exemplary opportunity for engagement between academic research and popular culture and media.

Full details here

Pics: Trinity Long Room Hub

Today.

In the Dáil.

Ireland’s first Youth Assembly on climate change is taking place involving 157 delegates, ranging in age from 10 to 17, from across Ireland.

Watch live here

Youth Assembly on climate change takes place in Dáil (RTÉ)

UPDATE:

Meanwhile, on Today with Seán O’Rourke, presented by Miriam O’Callaghan…

A boy called Paddy, aged 10, who’s taking part in the assembly and who will be talking about the use of single-use plastic bottles, told Miriam:

“Well, it’s kind of, it’s like, you see this on TV. I’ve watched some of the Oireachtas TV before. And you think, like, you’re in there and it’s like a basin of politics squashed up and made into a stew.

“The chairs are all really, like, comfy and, really old, parliament-ish.

“I feel extremely excited. One because it’s the Dáil and two, because this is a chance to make a change in our civilisation.

“And we have to do it, unless you want to move to another planet. I quite like this planet.”

Yesterday.

At the NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards…

Mark Tighe, of The Sunday Times, won News Reporter of the Year award, Scoop of the Year award, and Investigative Journalism of the Year award – the latter with Colin Coyle and Paul Rowan – for the newspaper’s work on John Delaney and governance at the Football Association of Ireland.

The Sunday Times also won the Campaigning Journalism Award for the same stories.

In the video above, Mr Tighe, and others, discuss the development of the story.

See full list of winners here

Yesterday: Back Of The Net