Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) at The Last Jedi premiere (December 2017) in Dublin

This afternoon.

Via The Irish Examiner:

The Longford-Westmeath TD said he will be standing in the next election as a stand-alone independent, as opposed to the umbrella of the alliance.

Mr Moran said if he is re-elected he may join a new political grouping in the new Dáil.

Mr Moran was a founding member of the Independent Alliance, spearheaded by Mr Ross and Finian McGrath, but it has been dogged by internal squabbling.

Poor relations within the group led to the departure of Sean Canney, the junior minister, from its ranks in 2018 over the sharing of a ministerial role with Mr Moran.

It currently has four Ministers: Mr Ross, Mr Moran, Minister of State for Disability Issues Finian McGrath and Minister of State for Skills John Halligan

Boxer Moran leaves Independent Alliance (Irish Examiner)

Rollingnews

 

Brian Mooney – The Kind Kind Of People

You may remember Brian Mooney (top) as the lead singer of Dublin indie stalwarts The Idiots who made the long gone White Horse their fortress for a time in the 1990s.

Brian has also recorded under the name Beautiful Unit and recently supported A Lazarus Soul in Whelan’s.

Check out his latest video (above) which he uploaded to Vimeo last week. Great title too!

Nick says: Loving Kind.

Brian Mooney

Top pic: Andrew Sheridan

This afternoon.

Earlier…

From left: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill Michelle O’Neill, DUP First Minister Arlene Foster  Arlene Foster and UK NI Secrertary Julian Smith

This morning/afternoon

Stormont, Northern Ireland.

Ahead of his meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar later today

Boris Johnson is preparing to hand over up to £2billion as part of a deal to get Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive up and running, according to reports.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have finally agreed a deal which ends the three-year impasse but it has involved compromise on both sides and a huge financial settlement for the region.

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith pledged major investment to alleviate problems in the region’s struggling public services.

Boris Johnson preparing to hand ‘up to £2billion’ to Northern Ireland in deal (The Mirror)

Meanwhile…

Earlier: Derek Mooney: It’s On…Well, Almost

Top pic: getty

This afternoon.

Hill Street, Dublin 1

Helena Yu (left) and Amia Zheng (right) flank constituency Fine Gael  TD and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe at the launch of the annual Chinese New Year Community Celebration,

Hosted by Hill Street Family Resource Centre in partnership with the North East Inner City Initiative, the party takes place on Saturday, January 21 in Hill Street Dublin 1 [details at link below].

Many happy returns.

Dublin Chinese New Year

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

This afternoon.

Following nominations for Atonement (Best Supporting Actress, 2008), Brooklyn (Best Actress, 2016) and Lady Bird (Best Actress, 2018)….

Just give it to her for pity’s sake.

This afternoon.

South Wall, Dublin 4.

Poolbeg lighthouse hit by high waves from storm Brendan.

The head of forecasting at Met Éireann has said there will be “several hours of very dangerous weather” as Storm Brendan tracks across the country, as gusts of up to 135km/h have been recorded in the west.

Almost 50,000 homes and businesses have been left without power and there are reports that numerous trees have fallen across counties Cork, Kerry and Donegal.

Rollingnews

Earlier: Jump!

Save Poolbeg

This afternoon.

Earlier: Code Orange

Meanwhile…

Broadsheet.ie