More to follow.
Today.
At the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, Dublin 4.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attended the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland Thanksgiving Lunch, sponsored by William Fry, during which former Irish president Mary Robinson was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award.
Mr Varadkar is quoted as having told those present: “Dr Mary Robinson has always been ahead of her time, whether campaigning for gender equality, human rights, or climate justice, and continues to be an inspiration to so many.”
Good times.
Previously: Latifa, Haya And Rescuing Mary
Pics via American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and Ivana Bacik
The votes are in.
Yesterday, with a pair of ODEON tickets on offer, we asked you to name your favorite Xmas movie released this century and why.
You answered in your tens,
But there could be only one winner
Third Place:
Polar Express (2004)
Liam Deliverance writes:
It’s probably a difficult genre to pull off, Christmas means a lot of different things to different people. I’d imagine that to make a new Christmas movie set in modern times must be harder still with all the consumerism and other stresses and pressures.
Polar Express was written in 1985 by Chris Van Allsburg, it might make a nice present for some young man or lady? A simple plot full of magic, adventure and visuals and well executed by director Robert Zemeckis with Tom Hanks playing the train conductor. Not a perfect film but it does manage to capture some of the spirit of Christmas….
Runner Up:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Daisy Chainsaw writes:
The redemption of RDJ, and a career best from Val Kilmer…
Winner:
In Bruges (2008)
Rosette of Sirius writes:
It only mentions Christmas a few times but it capture the darkness melancholy that so many people experience at this time of the year. But there’s also the morality behind the story that like all great Christmas stories proves nobody is beyond saving. Redemption for them all? No. But hope… just a little.
Thanks all.
Yesterday: Escape To A Darkened Room
This afternoon.
Iarnród Éireann tweetz:
Our piano [at Pearse Street Train Station] will be out of action for some time due to extensive mindless vandalism.
Murphy Piano Tuning is currently working to get it back to its former glory.
In fairness.
This afternoon.
National Ambulance Service, Tallaght, Dublin.
Launch of the Your Mental Health Information Line Taoiseach. Leo Varadkar takes his own pulse at the launch of the Your Mental Health Information Line.
Meanwhile…
Mr Varadkar Joined by Minister for Health Simon Harris.
Kate O’Connell (out of picture).
Derry Gold
at
Here’s my cartoon up for Political Cartoon of the Year 2019. It’s in amongst some great cartoons. Vote for your fav here: https://t.co/kU4BZNqNE9 https://t.co/NSGDV7xG1F
— Harry Burton (@HBtoons) November 28, 2019
Harry Burton’s cartoon following the murder of Lyra McKee which appeared in The Times Ireland edition.
Vote for Harry’s cartoon here
Parallel dimensions imagined (using paint, ink, oil, soap, but no GGI or digital effects) inside the human eye by motion artist Thomas Blanchard.
From top Taoiseach Leo Varadkar canvassing with Fine Gael by-election candidate Verona Murphy in Wexford town; Dan Boyle
Recent Dáil by-elections have tended to be coupled. We have to go back to 1952 to see more than two by-elections held on the same day.
In 1945 five by-elections were held, a housekeeping exercise after travel restrictions from ‘The Emergency’ were lifted.
The largest number of by-elections on one day was in 1925, for seven constituencies to fill nine vacancies than resulted from that number of Cumann na nGaedheal TDs resigning in protest at its government handling of an army mutiny.
The nine loosely formed a political party, the National Party, although only one of these nine contested the by-election, and that was in a constituency he hadn’t previously represented.
For the most part, and particularly in the early life of the State, single seat by elections have favoured Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael candidates.
By elections became the main vehicle for entrenching the hereditary principle of wives/sons/daughters assuming seats.
Only in recent years have these patterns begun to change.
The holding of a number of by elections simultaneously sometimes gets referred to as being a mini general election. They rarely are.
On occasions they can be. Clann na Poblachta won two by elections on the one day in 1947, announcing its arrival as a potent new force. While the party would go on to win a third by election, it was to prove a false dawn.
When Jack Lynch lost two by elections in Cork, in 1979, it brought to an end his time as Taoiseach. That indirectly led to his replacement by Charles Haughey.
As it happens Haughey had been unsuccessful in a by election in 1954, when the son of the long sitting TD, Alfie Byrne, had the better of him.
It could be said that Pearse Doherty’s 2010 victory, Sinn Féin’s only such by election win, hastened the end of the Fianna Fáil/Green government. Although by then that end had already been well and truly hastened.
Most by elections can’t be extrapolated onto a national political picture. Turnout is lower than in general elections. Local issues tend to muddy the waters. The electorate tends to make collective calculations on which of two or three candidates are in the strongest position to challenge.
Just like football teams that specialise in cup or league competitions, less traditional political parties have begun to specialise in by elections.
In recent years the Socialist Party, in various guises, has won two by elections. During its brief lifespan the Democratic Left also won twice.
The Progressive Democrats never won a by election, although its founder Dessie O’Malley came into politics via a by election as a Fianna Fáil candidate.
The Green Party has yet to win a by election. I’m hoping this might change this weekend. I have a selfish reason for wanting that to happen. I am the best performing Green Party by election candidate in its history. Twenty five years ago I won 16% of the vote in Cork South Central. It’s about time someone did better.
Success in a by election is no guarantor of future political success. Almost one in five by election winners are not elected in a subsequent general election.
A more interesting correlation is that by election runners up are quite successful in being elected in later elections.
Maybe those are the lines we should be reading though this weekend?
Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle
Above front row from left: Minister David Staunton TD, Minister for Justice and Equality Charles Flanagan, TD and Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone TD
This morning
Government Buildings, Dublin 2.
Minister for Justice Charles Flanagan, and Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone TD join interest groups at the launch. of the LGBTQI+ Inclusion National Strategy to ‘target discrimination, promote inclusion, and improve quality of life and wellbeing for LGBTI people’.