Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

 

Tyrone football manager Mickey Harte told thousands attending Saturday’s “Unite for Life Vigil” in Dublin he was “most concerned that this Government proposes to legislate for abortion”.

There was, he said “no issue more important than the protection of human life. There’s no point in saving the economy if a child’s right to life is compromised or forgotten”.

Introduced by Dr Eoghan de Faoite of Youth Defence as “the most successful Tyrone manager of all time, GAA hero and all- round Irish statesman”, Mr Harte continued: “our political leaders must not give in to the inclination to be pragmatic”.

During the vigil at Merrion Square, speakers disputed media reports that there were 10,000 people present and quoted gardaí as putting it at 25,000. A later statement from the Pro Life Campaign said “well over 20,000” were there.

 

No Point In Saving Economy iI Child’s Right To Life Compromised, Says Harte (Patsy McGarry, Irish Times)

Previously: Best Vigil Ever

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

The High Court has extended for another year the investigation by the Director of Corporate Enforcement into the 2008 collapse of Anglo Irish Bank.

Criminal trials arising from the inquiry to date also appear unlikely to open until late this year and may not start until next year.

The director had sought a three-year extension of orders allowing retention of documents seized from the bank for the investigation, which began four years ago.

The extension was sought to complete the probe and facilitate what the Director of Public Prosecutions anticipates will be lengthy criminal trials arising from some of the matters being investigated.

It’ll run and run.

Just like they wish they could.

High Court judge extends Anglo inquiry by year (Mary Carolan, Irish Times)

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Test results are expected today from new samples taken at the Silvercrest Foods plant at the centre of the controversy over horse meat in beef burgers.

The samples, taken by Department of Agriculture staff at the Ballybay, Co Monaghan, plant on Tuesday, will show if its burgers still contain horse DNA.

They were ordered by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney after it emerged that a Tesco Everyday Value beef burger made at the plant contained 29.1 per cent horse DNA, relative to meat content.

The finding emerged after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland analysed 27 frozen beef burger products. It found 10, or 37 per cent, tested positive for horse DNA. With the exception of the Tesco burger, the other samples showed horse DNA at very low levels, of 0.1 to 0.3 per cent.

Neigh, neigh and thrice neigh.

New tests to reveal if horse meat still present in burgers (Alison Healy, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

Electronic data held by the Health Service Executive is not adequately secure and could be at risk of theft or misuse, an external audit has found.

The audit which was carried out by external consultants and completed in March 2012, found the organisation’s overall information and communications technology (ICT) security framework was “inadequate”.

It said the absence of an effective security framework across the organisation meant the HSE, its staff and the data held by it “may not be adequately protected from attack, compromise, theft or misuse”.

The finding was one of 14 high-level risks and medium-level weaknesses identified across the HSE’s ICT security framework at a national and regional level by Mazars.

The audit report also found one in every five laptops on the HSE South East’s asset register was unencrypted at the time of the audit. Although all laptops are required to be encrypted under HSE policy, it found 292 of the 1,475 laptops in the region appeared to be unencrypted.

Well that’s good to know.

Electronic data held by HSE not secure, audit finds (Pamela Duncan, Martin Wall, Irish Times)

(Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

Veteran film director Jim Sheridan has described a lot of Hollywood’s output as “crap”.
Sheridan appeared yesterday at the launch in Dublin of Digital Biscuit, an initiative by the Screen Directors’ Guild of Ireland (SDGI) which will showcase the latest movie technology at the Science Gallery later this month.
The irony of turning up at an event which celebrates technological advances in film only to decry how such advances have ruined the process of story telling was not lost on Sheridan.
The director, whose films include My Left Foot, In America and In the Name of the Father said special effects were becoming the be all and end all of so many Hollywood films.
“The popcorn movies, I don’t just get them a lot of the time. Is there a story here? Maybe I’m an auld fellow,” he said.

Sheridan Bemoans State Of Hollywood Film-Making (Ronan McGreevy, Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

Austin O’Broin writes:

I see Jim Sheridan says most of Hollywood output is crap and he would like to produce his daughter’s output.
I Went to see Dollhouse (2012), a movie by his daughter Kirsten Sheridan (above) recently. It appeared to be filmed in an expensively designed and executed house by the sea. I am pretty sure it’s the same house the da Jim owns in exclusive Coliemore, Dalkey.
Dollhouse IMO is a dislikeable collection of characters, revelling in anti-social behaviour passed off as commentary, and a disjointed storyline. In other words: crap. The Irish Film Board forked over 365K of our money to her to make it..  Hollywood of course, can only dream of the kind of support the IFB would offer.

The Government has decided to reverse the cut in a grant for personal panic alarms for sick and elderly people.

As a result of the budget the allocation for panic alarms was cut from €2.45 million last year to €1.1 million in 2013.
Following a campaign by groups representing the elderly and people with disabilities over the past few weeks, the

Government has decided to restore the grant to last year’s level. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has secured the resources from his departmental budget to bring the allocation back up by €1.35 million.

A story old as time itself. Those key points again…

We’re introducing crippling new taxes and cutbacks.
– No way!
We’re also punching kittens in the face.
– That’s completely outrageous.
OK. No kitten punching.
– Thank God.
Just the crippling new taxes and cutbacks.
– Whew.

Government reverses cut in panic alarm grant (Stephen Collins, Irish Times)

pic

(Above: part of a consignment of illegal but still relatively attractive tabs seized at Dublin Port last year)

Minister of State for primary care Alex White yesterday described the tobacco industry as a very powerful lobby that had to be challenged.

Mr White dismissed the industry’s argument that raising excise duty on cigarettes encouraged smuggling as “sometimes self-serving”.

Cigarette packets must carry graphic photographs highlighting the dangers of smoking from next month, he said.

“These packs will appear in our shops from February 1st . . . and will assist in making the packaging of cigarettes, as it were, less glamorous and attractive.”

Well that’s just ridic…hack! cough! harrumph!

Never mind.

Tobacco lobby ‘has to be taken on’ (Mary Minihan, Irish Times)

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

Only one person out of the 40 who applied to Minister for Health James Reilly for a place on the board of the State health watchdog body was ultimately appointed, documents show.

This was despite the fact Dr Reilly’s officials judged that the vast majority of applicants for board positions on the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) were of a high standard and only nine failed to meet the required criteria.

Of the three appointments made by Dr Reilly, one was of a person who applied through the Public Appointments Service, while the other two were appointed directly without having applied through this channel.

Earlier this week The Irish Times reported that none of the 28 people who applied to join the board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) was selected by Dr Reilly. Documents showed that the Government parties divided up the appointments between them, with Fine Gael getting six and Labour three.

Nice for some.

Reilly selected only one of 40 applicants for board of State health watchdog (Paul Cullen, Irish Times)

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

 

Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday told an important group of politicians in Bavaria that a deal on bank legacy debt would be a one-off for Ireland and would not set a precedent.

So we’re clear on that, then?

CSU officials declined to comment in detail on ongoing bank debt talks, though CSU leader Horst Seehofer said it was important to agree “the necessary additional measures to ensure reform success”.

“As long as they stick to their reform path, it’s justified to support boosting jobs and growth,” he said.

Ri-iiight.

Taoiseach tells Merkel allies deal on Irish bank debt would not set precedent (Derek Scally, Irish Times)

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)