Category Archives: Misc

Diarmuid Rossa Phelan

This morning.

Tallaght Distrcit Court

Senior Counsel Diarmuid Rossa Phelan was charged with murder of Keith Conlon in farmland in Tallaght last Tuesday. Mr Conlon died in hospital yesterday.

Via Independent.ie:

Det Gda Michael McGrath, of Tallaght Garda station, gave evidence saying he arrested the accused last night for the purposes of charging him with murder.

The court heard that Mr Phelan, with an address at Kiltalown Lane in Tallaght, made no reply when the single charge was put to him.

Judge Patricia McNamara remanded him in custody to appear before Cloverhill District Court via video link next Friday.

Senior barrister (53) charged with murder of dad of four Keith Conlon in Tallaght (Independent.ie)

This morning.

The Sunday Independent’s Artists Against Homelessness in aid of Focus Ireland will take place on April 17 at the 3Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

Emma Harney writes:

Headlined and curated by Kojaque (above), the gifted Dublin rapper who sang about the issue of homelessness and housing on his 2021 album Town’s Dead, it’s guaranteed to be an inspiring night of wonderful music in aid of a very worthy cause. Tickets are now on sale priced at €30 at Ticketmaster.

Focus Ireland

This morning.

Via Daily Sceptic:

A board member of a large German insurance company has spoken out over the “alarming” data his company has found regarding Covid vaccine side-effects.

Up to the end of 2021, the German Government recorded around 245,000 vaccine side-effects. However, the analysis by health insurance company BBK ProVita suggests the true figure is up to ten times higher.

A search of the databases of all BBK health insurance companies found that, from January to August 2021, around 217,000 of about 11 million BBK policyholders had to be treated for vaccine side-effects.

Andreas Schöfbeck, the board member who spoke out, told Die Welt:

“According to our calculations, we consider 400,000 doctor visits by our insured persons due to vaccination complications to date to be realistic. Extrapolated to the total population, this figure would be three million.”

That comes out as around ten times higher than the official figure from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the Government agency responsible for vaccinations.

Vaccine Side-Effects Up to 10 Times Higher Than Official Figures, Insurance Company Board Member Reveals (Daily Sceptic)

Mehr Impf-Nebenwirkungen als bisher bekannt (Welt)

Meanwhile…

Oh.

Meanwhile…

UCD President Andrew Deeks addresses the 11th Confucius Institute Conference in China in 2016, where he was presented with with the “Medal of the Individual Performance Excellence Award” for his work as chair of the UCD Confucius Institute

This morning.

Via Irish Times:

Comments from University College Dublin (UCD) president Andrew Deeks, that concerns about a controversial Chinese institute on its campus were “misguided”, have been described as “worrying” by senior academics.

In a recent message to staff, Prof Deeks defended the hosting of a Chinese government-backed Confucius Institute by the south Dublin university.

Academics in UCD’s school of politics previously criticised the fact the institute was permitted to teach a class on Chinese politics to UCD students, given China’s human rights record.

*cough*

UCD academics criticise president’s defence of Beijing-linked institute (irish Times)

Meanwhile…

…this morning.

Via UCD professor Diarmaid Ferriter:

What is worrying and disappointing is how far the president of University Cocllege Dublin, Andrew Deeks, went this week in disparaging understandable concerns by some of his colleagues about the Confucius Institute in UCD. In an email to staff he said: “The UCD Confucius Institute for Ireland is a credit to the University and to everyone involved, including the successive Irish governments that have supported it, and something the whole UCD community should be proud of.”

He went further, however, lacerating those who have dared to challenge the appropriateness of the CI’s agenda: “I have been disappointed by some of the misguided commentary about the UCD Confucius Institute and the UCD Institute for Chinese Studies which has appeared. I would like to remind colleagues of the UCD values of integrity, collegiality, engagement and diversity . . . I have been particularly disturbed by implicit suggestions that the political loyalties of some colleagues can be inferred from their ethnicity, given our ongoing campaign against racism.”

I have never heard or read criticism of any individual associated with the CI that is based on ethnicity. The concerns are not about specific staff members but academic freedom and independence.

Let us not forget that two years ago proposed changes to UCDs academic freedom policy to allow for “divergent approaches” to that freedom due to the desire to drum up business with China and other countries was withdrawn because it was robustly challenged by staff.

Diarmaid Ferriter: UCD Confucius Institute not above criticism (irish Times)


Yesterday evening.

Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Leah writes:

In an emotional moment outside Leinster House, a member of the Ukrainian community asked to speak on the microphone of the Irish Anti-War Movement. He called on Ireland to not remain neutral, but the IAWM members maintained that they were on the side of neutrality.

Yesterday: In This Conflict, Ireland Is Not Neutral At All”

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

This morning.

Obolon, Ukraine

Via BBC:

Social media videos are showing what appears to be Russian tanks driving through Obolon, an area just north of Kyiv’s city centre.

Just in the past hour, Ukraine’s defence ministry confirmed that Russian forces had infiltrated the residential district.

The videos appear to have been taken by locals in their homes. The BBC has verified that the setting in these videos is Obolon.

Videos show Russian tanks rolling through Kyiv district (BBC)

Meanwhile…

Via Russian state-owned RT:

Moscow is willing to negotiate terms of surrender with Kiev regarding the ongoing Russian military offensive currently taking place in Ukraine, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

According to Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his preparedness to engage in discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart, with a focus on obtaining a guarantee of neutral status and the promise of no weapons on its territory.

…The press secretary added that Putin would determine the timing of the negotiations, but gave assurances that Russia would only engage “if the leadership of Ukraine is ready to talk about it.”

“The operation has its goals – they must be achieved. The president said that all decisions have been made, and the goals will be achieved,” Peskov continued, suggesting that, if Kiev were to agree to meet the demands, the current military attack on Ukraine could be called off.

Russia ready to negotiate with Ukraine – Kremlin (RT)

Meanwhile…

Ah here.

French Presidential candidate Valérie Pécresse (above) is facing allegations that a dog named Douglas signed up for her presidential primary

Our politics can seem strange but
It seems that in Nice there’s a mutt
Which journalists note
Is entitled to vote
And up with this France shouldn’t put

John Moynes

Getty

Above from left: Green Party Dublin City Council Councillor Hazel Chu; Sinn Fein Cllr Larry O’Toole; Social Democrats Cllr Catherine Stocker; and Green Party Cllr Janet Horner

This afternoon.

Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

The signatories of a letter calling on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to reconsider plans to locate the new National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4 gather outside Leinster House. The Sisters of Charity intend to hand over their interest in the land, and in the running the hospital, to a company called St. Vincent’s Holdings, which is obliged to “uphold the values and visions of [Mother of the Religious Sisters of Charity] Mother Mary Aikenhead (who founded St Vincent’s Hospital).”

Previously: 73% in favour of buying land for new National Maternity Hospital, poll

RollingNews