US military planes at Shannon Airport; tweets from Irish Times journalist Simon Carswell

This morning.

Iran’s ambassador to Ireland Masoud Eslami spoke to journalists in Dublin.

Simon Carswell, of The Irish Times, reports:

On the question of whether Shannon could be targeted by Iran in response to US military action against Tehran, Mr Eslami said: “I would rule that out for the time being. This is a very far speculation. We are very far from such a situation.”

Mr Eslami called on the Irish Government to reconsider Shannon Airport being used by American troops transiting through Ireland as they travel between the United States and the country’s military bases in the Middle East.

“In principle, we would ask the authorities to reconsider the use of Shannon Airport to facilitate military action by the US, which has been an issue at the local level, at the national level in Ireland,” the diplomat told reporters at the Iran’s embassy in south Dublin.

Slain general Suleimani was Iran’s Michael Collins, says Iranian ambassador (Simon Carswell, The Irish Times)

Previously: For The Record (August 2014)

Nothing To Read Here (September 2014)

Dirty Stop Overs (July 2014)

Chef at The Brehon Killarney Chad Byrne

Doing Veganuary?

Buying oat milk?

In fairness.

This afternoon.

On RTÉ’s News at One.

Journalist Kate Egan reported:

“This lunchtime the Early Years Alliance has announced that it will be holding a national protest march involving what they say are thousands of educators, providers and parents, demanding a sustainable solution to what they say is the worsening childcare crisis in the country.

“That protest is going to be held on Wednesday, the 5th of February. Among the calls that the protesters say will be for the development of a funding model that supports affordable and accessible childcare for parents and the introduction of the living wage for all workers in the sector in 2020.”

Meanwhile…

In a press release, Federation of Early Childhood Providers’ chairperson, Elaine Dunne, said:

“We are calling on all those concerned by the worsening childcare crisis to join us on Wednesday 5th February to say enough is enough.”

“We are educators and need to be paid accordingly. The reason the insurance hike in the sector has hit us so hard, is because we are paid so little in the first place. The ECCE grant pays us €4.60 an hour, we only get paid for three hours a day. Sustainability is a real issue for providers”.

SIPTU Head of Strategic Organising, Darragh O’Connor, said:

“Early years educators across the country are committed to delivering high quality, child focused education and care.

“However, the current Government funding model for the sector is making it impossible to achieve this. Despite qualifications and hard work, early years educators earn just €11.45 [an hour] on average, well below the living wage.

“The majority are struggling to make ends meet and will be unable to stay in their profession if things don’t change. That’s why we are calling for the introduction of the Living Wage in 2020 as the first step towards professional pay scales.”

Listen back in full here

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, centre, Minister for Business Heather Humphries TD, left, and Fine Gael chairman Martin Heydon at City Assembly House, Dublin ahead of a Fine Gael party meeting today

This afternoon.

Michael Brennan, in the Business Post, reports:

There has to be a three-week election campaign, because the election date must be between the 18th and 25th day of the clerk of the Dáil moving the writ for a general election.

So the earliest election date would be in early to mid-February – such as Friday 7 or Friday 14.

Varadkar has been joking that he could go for an election on February 14 for the love of the people and a “Valentine’s day massacre” of his opponents.

Right so.

Varadkar ponders a Valentine’s Day massacre (Michael Brennan, Business Post)

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Meanwhile…

On the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry

Great Blasket Island tweetz:

** Job Vacancy **

A unique position required – looking for long-term management of Island Accommodation and Coffee Shop.

Couple or two friends. 1st April 2020 – October 2020 accommodation and food provided. Email Alice on info@greatblasketisland.net for more information.

Go on.

Do it!

Great Blasket Island

Adds Eoin:

“What if we also reimagined this junction to maximise mobility of the city’s residents in sustainable leverageable ways?

Many residents of the city are driving here. It could be normal to get these people in and out by bike and walking if the environment wasn’t optimised to be hostile for them.

Others live outside the city and are driving into the city and onto Raheen along the Dock Road. To get to Raheen, many of these people could take the tunnel which we built under the Shannon. The tunnel costs money, though.

Well done to the city’s engineers. The junction is flowing quite well from a car perspective.

The trouble with that choice of two-lane 50km/h is that it comes at the cost of other possible ways to cross the Shannon in the city.”

FIGHT?

College Green, Dublin 2.

The question of Luashenge’s origin has baffled the public imagination and scientists for years. Despite hours of archaeological research, very little is known about who erected the cabinet formation and for what purpose.

Journalist (and founder of Noteworthy) Ken Foxe provides below a visual guide to this beloved visitor attraction…

‘Here is a wide view of the famous monument on College Green. An interesting feature of  Luashenge  is the mystery that surrounds some elements of its classical design. The left-most item is classified as an “unknown cabinet”. Nobody knows who put it there. It could have been aliens, the Russians, or indeed Telecom Éireann….

…Like the great passage tomb at Newgrange, Luashenge is actually not just a single isolated heritage site. There is an associated monument nearby on the wall (above) outside the Provost’s house at Trinity College.

This associated Provosthenge monument also has a mysterious “unknown cabinet” (above top right third down). It’s “not Luas-related” but once must surely have served a very important purpose, perhaps relating to prayer or direct communication with the gods…

…Sadly, the Provosthenge monument has suffered some damage in recent times as this image (above) shows. The right-most cabinet, entitled “road traffic controller” has been removed. It was considered “redundant”. Hopefully, a new home has been found for it in the National Museum…

…above is the most striking parts of the complex. It is described by historians as: “A single cabinet near the pedestrian crossing to Trinity. It has a power supply but unknown feed.”

You can even take a virtual tour of the famous site here on Google Maps. That way, you can say you knew all about #Luashenge long before UNESCO finally list it as a world heritage site.’

Ken Foxe

Rollingnews

Broadsheet.ie