Category Archives: Misc

the-towers

Fergus O’Neill writes:

In September 2015 the last 15 storey Ballymun tower (Plunkett tower) was demolished. The tower blocks were built in 1966, fifty years after the 1916 Rising. An attempt (a badly failed one some might say) to provide social housing for the exploding Dublin population.

The seven high-rise towers were optimistically named after the seven signatories of the proclamation. Tens of Millions have been spent commemorating the centenary year but still we have no new childrens hospital, a broken hospital service, a homelessness crisis and a housing crisis.

… to celebrate the occasion I’ve produced an illustration entitled ‘The Towers’. The print is available from the Irish Design Shop on Drury Street [Dublin 2] and for Easter week. All proceeds go to the Simon Community

Fergus O’Neill

Screen Shot 2016-03-24 at 16.43.19

Tonight.

On RTÉ 2 at 9.30pm.

I Am Traveller – fronted by actor John Connors, pictured above.

The documentary will involve Mr Connors speaking with surviving members of the Connors family who lost ten members of their family in a fire at a halting site in Carrickmines, south Dublin last October.

Melanie O’Connor writes:

John Connors, aka ‘Patrick’ From Love/Hate, tackles head on the truth, myths and prejudices around Travellers in this authored documentary.

The documentary is John’s personal account of what being a Traveller means to him. He reveals what he loves about Traveller culture, as well as what frustrates him about it. He opens up about the prejudice he has experienced as a Traveller all his life – and how that hasn’t gone away, despite his success as an actor.

Previously: Worth The Licence Fee

‘It Is Your Fault As An Ethnic Grouping’

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This week’s Sligo Champion

Bittynbobs writes:

Top right of page, tiny writing: IT Sligo research pushes back date of human existence here by 2,500 years. Page 5

Main story: the most important story of week bylined by the Editor:”The Sligo Champion is launching a major publicity campaign in the paper and on facebook to help Kelesa go all the way…Kelesa Mulcahy is a “singing sensation” from Sligo. She has just “sailed through” to the quarters of Voice of Ireland on RTÊ…

 

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At Piraeus near Athens

There are 48,795 refugees in Greece today.

Further to this…

A report, published today by Human Rights Watch, states:

In a visit to Piraeus (the main port near Athens) from March 8 to 22, 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 45 asylum seekers and migrants who had recently arrived at the port from Greek Aegean islands or Greece’s border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. An estimated 5,000 women, men, and children are sleeping in squalid, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions in passenger waiting areas, in an old warehouse, in tents outdoors, and even under trucks.

In the absence of any visible government support or personnel, the day-to-day operation of the camps is dependent on volunteers. These volunteers work to coordinate, among other things, the provision of tents, blankets, food, and clothing; identify vulnerable groups; and provide activities for children. For the most part, medical care is provided by aid groups.

….With no presence of the Greek Asylum Service, nor of any other officials who could provide people with much-needed information about their options in Greece and elsewhere, rumors are creating uncertainty and confusion, Human Rights Watch found.

Some people interviewed said they were afraid they would be deported to Turkey if they boarded one of the government-run buses transferring people to official reception camps in an effort to clear the port.

Many others had heard that conditions at the government-run camps were not good, prompting them to stay at the port until the “borders open.” Others said they had gone to the camps but found the conditions so bad that they returned to the port.

…“I’ve been here [in Greece] for one month and not even one drop of water has touched my body,” said Nawael, a 34-year-old Syrian woman in a wheelchair who has been in Piraeus with her husband and three children for more than 10 days.

“Here it is very hard for me to go to the toilet. My husband helps me at the door and random women help me inside the toilet. I don’t sleep at night because my body is itchy. My husband helped me and I washed my hair with cold water, but then I got sick. Ten days ago, I got my period and I swear to God, I still haven’t had a shower. And I [usually] pray, but given that I haven’t had a shower [to perform required ablutions], I can’t pray.”

Meanwhile, at an open refugee camp recently built in Ritsona, some 70km north of Athens….

Greece: Humanitarian crisis at Athens Port (Human Rights Watch)

Previously: ‘Facilitating The Very Circumstances That Made These People Refugees’

Yesterday: Meanwhile In Lesbos

Thanks Damian Mac Con Uladh

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Republic of Ireland soccer boss Martin O’Neill (centre) at a press conference ahead of Ireland’s match against Switzerland tomorrow

This morning.

At the Aviva Stadium Dublin.

Eurosport reports:

[Martin O’Neill] cracked his joke when asked about the policy of Wales boss Chris Coleman, who revealed earlier this week that his players’ wives and girlfriends would be banned from the squad’s base in France during the tournament as he attempts to remove all possible distractions.

And O’Neill batted the question away with a flippant comment, saying that only the “good-looking” wives and girlfriends would be allowed into the team hotel at the Euro 2016 finals.

…“Well, it depends on how good looking the girls are,” he said. “If they are really attractive, they’re very, very welcome. The uglier ones, I’m afraid not.”

Thud.

Martin O’Neill: We’ll ban ugly WAGs from the team hotel (Eurosport)

Pic: Maud