Economist Dara Turnbull tweetz:
Spending on actual social housing has dropped off a cliff since ’07, while housing welfare has recovered strongly. Clearly Fine Gael have chosen to pad the pockets of private landlords rather than building.
Anyone?
Author Archives: Bodger
Houses on Inis Mor overlooking the Atlantic towards Connemara, Co Galway
For as long as I have been reading the pages of this newspaper, and observing political debate more generally, public discourse has been gripped by the trials and tribulations of a place called “Rural Ireland”.
While nobody ever defines where this place actually is, by common consensus it seems to be somewhere, or everywhere, out there “beyond the M50 motorway”.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan was the latest to incur the instant wrath of “Rural Irelanders” by having the temerity to suggest that the radical lifestyle changes, which every major political party agrees will need to be brought about in response to climate change, may require a future with fewer cars.
The reality is that the narrative of “Rural Ireland” is now often deployed as a catch-all euphemistic trope to camouflage the deeply reactionary, car-based culture that we have allowed to develop over the past half-century.
We know from the census data that, in general, the vast bulk of “Rural Ireland” is located within 10 kilometres of a large town or city; those commuting greater than 30 minutes to work typically have higher incomes; and live in much larger houses.
“Rural Ireland” has a lot of genuine challenges which need urgent, sustained attention, but it is not a homogenous space.
North Leitrim is not the same as north Kildare. Much of what we class as “Rural Ireland” is, in fact, the sprawling geographical extension of “Urban Ireland”, or what is more pejoratively referred to as middle-class flight.
As the debate on what we do about climate change intensifies, so too will the prominence of “Rural Ireland”.
It therefore behoves us to have more nuanced media reporting. This will require a recognition that; not only does its car-dependent legacy create very many real and practical problems for decarbonisation; it is also a state of mind that needs to be challenged.
Gavin Daly,
Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place,
University of Liverpool.
FIGHT!
Finding ‘Rural Ireland’ (The Irish Times letters page)
Previously: It Takes A Village
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone
Yesterday.
Conall Ó Fátharta reported in the Irish Examiner that the Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone had acknowledged the “distress” suffered by adopted and illegally adopted people who are being denied access to personal information that State bodies hold.
Mr Ó Fátharta reported:
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs said Ms Zappone is aware “of the challenges being experienced by Tusla in relation to the release of information”.
“Tusla is obliged to adhere to the GDPR and data protection legislation in relation to the release of information which may identify a third party,” said the statement.
“Tusla must assess its own legal responsibilities in this respect and apply this to individual cases.”
However…
Solicitor who specialises in data protection Fred Logue tweetz:
“I am probably going to have this chiseled on my tombstone but I’ll say it again, there is nothing in GDPR that says you don’t have a right of access to your personal data if it could identify another person.
“In fact such an exclusion was proposed by the European Council in early drafts of the GDPR but was not accepted by the EU legislator.”
Katherine Zappone aware of distress at Tusla refusals (Conall Ó Fátharta, The Irish Examiner)
Previously: ‘To Ensure That It Can’t Be Found’
‘Every Single Thing Minister Zappone Says Here Is Factually And Legally Wrong’
In Cork
at
John Finn tweetz:
I was doing a property shoot in Cork City last Thursday. A man stopped and started posing. An inoffensive, humorous guy, full of fun. I took his snap and he was delighted. His name was Tim Hourihane, from Bantry. He was murdered on Saturday night. RIP.
Bhummer
at
Thud.
Jerry O’Sulliivan, him off Radio Kerry, tweets:
Just a H2 Hummer hanging out in Tralee [County Kerry].. In your face Gretta/Eamon/ Goddamn Hippies… about 10 miles per gallon and just the €1800 odd for the motor tax. Worth it
Meaty.
This morning.
Agriculture House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Farmers blocking Cormac Healy from Meat Industry Ireland from arriving at a new Beef Task Force who met for the first time this morning at the Department of Agriculture to examine the future of the beef industry in Ireland.
The task force was agreed to by beef farmers and organisations, and representatives of the beef processing sector last month following weeks of protests.
Leah Farrell/RollingNews
UPDATE:
The first meeting of the newly formed Beef Market Taskforce has been adjourned until further notice.
The adjournment comes following angry scenes at the entrance to the Department of Agriculture offices where farmers had been protesting since early this morning.
Beef Taskforce adjourned after protests outside Dept of Agriculture (RTÉ)
Portuguese man o ‘war found on Fanore Beach, Co Clare
The Big Jellyfish Hunt writez on Facebook:
Over the weekend we have had very large numbers of Portuguese man o ‘war washing up. 100s reported washed up on many different beaches.
Observations are still mostly from the south coast (Cork and Kerry) but we have more activity along the west (Clare to Mayo) and a few reports from the southeast (Wexford).
Please continue to submit records on the National Biodiversity Data Centre jellyfish sightings page so we can track numbers. Many thanks.
Jellyfish can be recorded here
Pics: Burren Shores
How Much?
at
The first day of Dublin City Council’s traffic-free trial in College Green, Dublin 2, on July 21
Ronan Early, in The Times Ireland edition, reports:
Dublin City Council spent €17,000 renting metal barriers used during the pedestrianisation of College Green over the summer.
Vehicles were banned from Dame Street for three Sundays, July 21, 28 and August 4, as a pilot project.
…A freedom of information request by The Times has revealed that the council paid €17,000 to Actavo, the engineering services group owned by the businessman Denis O’Brien, to rent the barriers.
…Neasa Hourigan, a Green Party councillor and member of the group Streets are for People, said she could not understand why the council needed to spend almost €6,000 a day on barriers to pedestrianise a street.
Previously: Pedestrians Rule
Read My Lips
at
British monarch Queen Elizabeth (left) and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson this morning
This morning.
UK House of Lords, London
“My government’s priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 October.…”
“My government intends to work towards a new partnership with the European Union, based on free trade and friendly cooperation….seizing the opportunities that arise from leaving the European Union”.
“My government remains committed to working with all parties in Northern Ireland to support the return of devolved government and to address the legacy of the past.”
UK’s Queen Elizabeth opening Parliament at the Houses of Westminster this morning
Queen Outlines Government’s Agenda (BBC)
Pics: BBC
Meanwhile…
The British Home Office has won its appeal against an immigration tribunal ruling which found that people born in Northern Ireland are not automatically British.
The woman at the centre of the case, Emma DeSouza, from Magherafelt, Co Derry, applied for a residence card for her US-born husband Jake. She made the application identifying herself as an Irish citizen.
The UK Home Office rejected the application on the grounds that it considered Ms DeSouza a British citizen. Officials told her she could either reapply identifying herself as British, or renounce her UK citizenship and reapply as an Irish citizen.
Um.
Tribunal finds against Derry woman in British citizenship case (RTÉ)
‘Sedición’
at
Women hold a Catalan pro-independence “Estelada” flag in Barcelona this morning Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan leaders to prison terms ranging from nine to 13 years for sedition and misuse of public funds for their role in a failed 2017 independence bid.
This morning.
Protests were immediately staged across Catalonia as Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan leaders to prison terms of between nine and 13 years for sedition for their role in a failed independence bid in 2017.
The long-awaited verdicts were less than those demanded by the prosecutionwhich had sought up to 25 years behind bars for former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras on grounds of rebellion.
Catalonia leaders jailed for sedition by Spanish court (BBC)
‘An outrage’: Catalonia and the world reacts as separatist leaders handed jail terms (The Local.es)
Pic: AFP