Category Archives: Misc

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Olympic Council of Ireland tweetz:

Katie [Taylor] has 90 seconds to turn this around #TeamIreland

Come on, Katie!

UPDATE:

Mmf.

UPDATE:

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A devastatingly hard to watch post fight interview with Katie Taylor.

Via RTÉ Sport

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYsoYnyZcb0&feature=youtu.be

You may recall how Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace told the Dáil in June of his plans to launch a website to assist those who wish to anonymously raise concerns about Nama.

The website, namaleaks.com, is now live.

Further to this…

Mr Wallace writes:

Namaleaks.com, the secure and anonymous whistle blowing platform, has launched today.

Namaleaks.com will allow for anyone who has been unfairly treated or who has witnessed poor practice by NAMA, or by any Investment Funds currently operating within Ireland, to securely and anonymously deliver information relating to same, to namaleaks.com.

This project is supported by Independents 4 Change TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly, former Irish Times environment editor Frank McDonald, assistant professor of geography at UCD Julien Mercille, and equity and options trader Cormac Butler.

Namaleaks.com is the first of its kind in Ireland, both in terms of security and anonymity.

Namaleaks.com was created with the assistance of the US based ‘Freedom of the Press Foundation’ along with experts who work closely with whistleblower Edward Snowden. They are world leaders in creating safe and anonymous electronic systems.

There are several ways to contact Namaleaks.com, depending on the level of security and anonymity you require.

You can communicate and deliver informatio/documents via encrypted email or encrypted mobile text.

This is explained in greater detail at namaleaks.com. If you wish to remain completely anonymous, namaleaks.com provides instructions on how to set up an anonymous email account in order to contact us.

All information received will be checked, cross-checked, and evaluated by the team of five as mentioned above, who will utilise any further necessary expertise, before deciding how best to use the information.

Since its inception in 2009, NAMA has, to quote An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, operated as a “secret society”.

It is unfortunate that our Government does not want NAMA to be accountable to the people of Ireland. Much information has already come to our attention which highlights serious problems in relation to how NAMA has operated – there is little doubt but that the best interests of the people of Ireland have not always been served by this State organisation.

Despite the fact that many worrying issues regarding NAMA have been brought to the attention of the Government and the Opposition, on the floor of the Dáil, there remains, a stubborn reluctance to hold NAMA to account, or properly address the serious concerns through a Commission of Investigation.

It is deeply disappointing that Fianna Fáil do not want an investigation – they say that there may be a need for one when all other investigations have been completed, but that will be three years from now.

Clearly, Fianna Fáil do not want an investigation into NAMA. So, while the National Crime Agency in Britain, and the Securities & Exchange in the US, have seen fit to commence investigations into NAMA’s Northern Ireland loan portfolio, Project Eagle, the jurisdiction with most cause for concern, the Republic of Ireland, wants to turn a blind eye.

It is not the citizens of Northern Ireland or America who may be paying a heavy price for how NAMA has done its business – it is the citizens of the Republic of Ireland.

Namaleaks.com intends to do what Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour do not want to do, that is, hold NAMA to account in the interests of the people of Ireland.

Namaleaks.com

Previously: Screech

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Human rights activist Bairbre Flood, from Cork, has created an hour-long radio documentary, The Hungry Road, in which she speaks to people seeking refuge who are subsisting in the makeshift camp in Calais, France.

Bairbre writes:

The police have stopped volunteers bringing in building materials so with the influx of around 70 new people a day, many are living in cramped tents.

One medic from Ireland, Elena Lydon, who regularly works in the camp,said that ‘for the first time people were coming up saying they were hungry to us in the first aid caravans.’

Most of us know of all this, as Calais has been substantially reported on this last year, but what are people really like in the camp? Where have they come from – geographically, culturally, personally?

‘The Hungry Road’, a reference to the Irish famine, is an attempt to get behind the statistics and hear what some individuals have to say about living in what most described as ‘hell’.

Everyone I talked to had endured incredibly traumatic events in both their original countries and along the road seeking refuge in Europe.

Blocked at the final hurdle, many are now seeking asylum in France, but have to wait in the camp while their application is being processed.

Others are trying desparately to reach family members in Britain where they feel people are more sympathetic to refugees and not as racist as the French.

Many speak English already and say that there are better job and study opportunities there.

Still, others have heard that the asylum process is much quicker than in France and they will be able to apply for family reunification for loved ones who could get no further than Lebanon, Turkey and other countries.

Whatever their reasons, and there are many – they have the right to be treated with respect and allowed to choose the country which they feel will be best for them and their families. That’s what Irish people have been doing for generations.

There are about 50,000 undocumented Irish migrants working in the US illegally. Imagine if Irish people in the States were treated the way the people in Calais are treated?

Police regularly tear-gas the camp and almost everyone I interviewed had been beaten or pepper-sprayed by the CRS. One man told me how a police officer took one of his shoes when he caught him near the town. Another, of how he was pepper-sprayed in the face at the train station.

And the utter feeling of neglect is palpable in an EU that spends more on border fences, tear-gas, scanners, dogs and razor wire than it does on caring for peoples basic needs or allowing them safe passage.

How can we justify that? What is it like for people already suffering, to have to deal with this abuse and neglect?

Bairbre created the documentary with the assistance of the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund.

Yearning Curve (Bairbre Flood)

Previously: ‘We’d Settle For Animal Rights’

Pic: Isolda Heavy

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Kevin Cullen, of The Boston Globe

The three-day 2016 Kennedy Summer School will take place in New Ross, Co Wexford from Thursday, September 8 to Saturday, September 10.

The speakers will include An Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald TD, the former governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley, the Garda Commissioner Noirin O’ Sullivan and a number of senior US Presidential campaign strategists and commentators.

In addition:

“The final event of the Summer School will be a showing of the Oscar winning movie ‘Spotlight’ followed by a panel discussion that will deliberate the implications of the clerical abuse scandal that features in the movie and the similar scandal in Ferns. Included in that panel will be, Kevin Cullen, a Boston Globe Columnist and a member of the Spotlight investigation team.”

See here for tickets and further details.

Previously: Grace, Noonan And Monageer

About That ‘Digital First’ Strategy

Thanks Ann Power

lidl

JenX writes:

Anyone seen the new Lidl ad (above)? Another cringey outing for the ‘proudly supporting LADIES’ Gaelic Football’ motto. Last time the ‘ladies’ were impressive-looking club players.This time (above) it’s schoolgirls and teens.

‘LADIES Gaelic Football’?  Is there a “GENTLEMEN’S Gaelic Football’ or a ‘LORDS’ Gaelic Football’? It’s ‘WOMEN’S Gaelic Football‘  

Anyone?

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Karl Boos writes:

This coming Thursday, 7UP Free and Happenings will screen the last outdoor movie in the 7UP Free #SummerCinema series.

Bringing the popular movies series to a close in true cinematic style, John Carney’s Irish movie ‘Sing Street’ will be screened in Merrion Square, Dublin 2 at 10pm.

For one final time before the movie kicks off, settle in to a comfy billow bag with a complimentary 7UP Mojito Free, or pull up a blanket and get cosy in the heart of the city centre. Gates will open at 8pm and the park will be transformed with a sea of green 7UP Free billow bags as the sun sets …

Happenings (Facebook)

A clip from a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform discussing the Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures Bill 2013

You may recall journalist Ken Foxe’s ongoing efforts to obtain the invoices and receipts submitted by 22 TDs and Senators.

He’s been denied access, and has been told the expenses are ‘private papers’.

At the weekend, Mr Foxe tweeted the video clip above and called into question the differences between what was said and the official Oireachtas transcript.

This is a transcript of what was said:

Sean Fleming: “…like we have no problem. Our fobs everyday, I think it’s in the paper, our attendance, from the, our electronic papers of everyday, we fob in here, and our mileage and our expenses. There’s a whole lot of records and [inaudible] that are published.”

Brendan Howlin: “That’s procedural. They’re not private papers. It’s up to the Oireachtas itself to determine private papers but I mean there will be communications that should be privileged. There are things that should not be determined to be private papers. The Oireachtas will set those rules.”

Meanwhile…

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The official Oireachtas transcript, via Kildarestreet.com.

Anyone?

Previously: Crazy Like  A Foxe

UPDATE: How could political expenses be classified as “private papers” when the Minister responsible said it should not apply to them? (Ken Foxe)