‘Saol an Mhadra Bháin’.

(‘The Secret World of Working Dogs’)

A two-part bilingual documentary series on TG4 which tells the stories of people “whose lives are dramatically changed and improved by their newly established partnerships with their Working Dog”.

Deirdre Ní Choistín writes

This unique and heart-warming series brings us into the homes and lives of those living with serious health challenges as we capture how these amazing animals transform their lives.

Over two episodes, Saol an Mhadra Bháin reveals the unique bond between human and dog and shows the difference working dogs can make for those living with visual impairment, autism, diabetes, epilepsy, severe scoliosis and muscular dystrophy…

Take that, cats.

‘Saol an Mhadra Bháin’ on Wednesday  November 27 and December  4 at 21:30 on TG4.

From top Aoife Bennett: Sound (Sufferers Of Unique Narcolepsy Disorder) Ireland logo

This morning.

On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

Tadgh Kennedy, on behalf of SOUND (Sufferers Of Unique Narcolepsy Disorder), spoke to Dr Gavin Jennings, in light of the settlement reached by Aoife Bennett, 26, who developed narcolepsy shortly after receiving the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine ten years ago.

The defendants in Ms Bennett’s case were GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, the Health Service Executive, the Minister for Health and the Health Products Regulatory Authority, formerly the Irish Medicines Board.

All claims made in the case were denied and the settlement was made without admission of liability.

Mr Kennedy told Dr Jennings that his son Jack, who is now 16, got the same vaccine on the same day as Ms Bennet.

He said that his son is now a “very heavily medicated young man” and will continue to be for the rest of his life.

During this morning’s interview, Mr Kennedy said:

“Personally I would say that I heard what I needed to hear on the first couple of days in court. We heard, the opening statement, that laid out the case, that Pandemrix was not a properly clinically trialed drug. And it was used on healthy population in this country.

“It had devastating effects on people. The management of the case then, when these reports were coming in about the adverse effects, it was totally mismanaged which is what we’ve always maintained.

“And the State then was just really, really, really painstakingly slow to react or do anything about it. And even after diagnosis, and over the years, they’ve been very reluctantly, grudgingly giving anything to anybody that’s suffers anything to do with narcolepsy…”

“It’s so haphazard, ad-hoc, that’s the painful bit about it for a lot of people. It’s just a mess, it’s totally mismanaged and I think that was the crux of seeking responsibility and liability in Aoife and our cases, going into these court cases.”

Asked if he would proceed with a case himself, he said he presumes that his son is still on “the list to go ahead”.

But he said it’s up to the Government now and complained that it has spent millions fighting these cases “aggressively”.

He questioned why the Irish system is fighting the cases when the company GSK has settled cases in other countries.

Yesterday: “The Cost To The State Of This Action Alone Can Be Measured In Millions”

Pic: RTÉ

This morning.

Rick O’Shea, whose Book Club currently has 28,000 members and who starts as the new presenter of the RTÉ Radio 1 Book Show on December 8, writes:

Last year The Rick O’Shea Book Club Christmas Appeal raised over €51,000 in aid of the Peter McVerry Trust’s work helping those who need the most help in the middle of Ireland’s homelessness crisis.

Sadly Ireland’s homelessness crisis hasn’t improved in the intervening 12 months.

This year I want us to raise even more so here’s what you can do:Donate the price of an average second hand book – €5.

We start now and the appeal closes on New Year’s Eve.

Donate here

The Rick O’Shea Book Club

From top: Then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, after he registered for a Public Services Card in 2016; Bus shelter ad for the new National Childcare Payment scheme

Last night.

In The Irish Times, Kitty Holland reported:

The State’s decision to require parents to have a public services card to qualify for new national childcare payments is “illegal” and “highly discriminatory”, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has warned.

…Elizabeth Farries, privacy expert with ICCL, said the people who could least afford to lose out on the enhanced supports in the national childcare scheme were those “on the breadline”.

“We’ve seen this for a number of years now, that the PSC targets those who can least afford to fight it. Those in receipt of social welfare payments, pensioners, students who need maintenance grants, they’ve all been forced to hand over their personal data in exchange for services to which they are already entitled.”

Public services card requirement for childcare payments ‘illegal’ (Kitty Holland, The Irish Times)

Meanwhile…

On Monday…

Cianan Brennan in the Irish Examiner, reported:

A languages teacher in rural Ireland broke her ankle but was denied welfare benefit by the Department of Social Protection because she refused to get a public services card (PSC).

The woman, who suffered the injury in September while walking in the countryside, had to undergo surgery. She was housebound after the accident and out of work without income for seven weeks.

Teacher denied access to social welfare after breaking her ankle and refusing to get PSC (Cianan Brennan, Irish Examiner)

Previously: The Sting

Public Services Card on Broadsheet

The November Buses magazine

Phwaoar!

Karl Whitney tweetz:

Dublin’s route 175 the cover star of the latest Buses magazine. Didn’t expect to see this in Tesco Gateshead [UK] tbh.

Previously: Dublin Bus Porn on Broadsheet

This morning.

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Representatives from Cyclist.ie, Dublin Cycling Campaign and I BIKE Dublin will be going before the committee to discuss road traffic regulations and a national cycling policy.

Later representatives from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and the National Transport Authority will appear before the committee.

The meeting was scheduled to get under way at 9.30am and is currently in private session.

Watch live here or from the link above.

Previously: I BIKE Dublin on Broadsheet

From top: O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7; Joan Collins TD

Yesterday.

In the Dáil.

During Leaders’ Questions, Dublin South Central Independent TD Joan Collins raised the controversial deal between Dublin City Council and Bartra for the development of housing at O’Devaney Gardens in Dublin 7.

Ms Collins said:

“Does the Taoiseach agree that the situation with the redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens, a former council housing estate, is a fiasco?

It was a fiasco from the start and it a fiasco now.

It is an incredible situation given the scale of the housing and homeless emergency we face.

This site, with 14 acres of prime land owned by the State and suitable for up to 800 housing units, has been left derelict for more than ten years.

The original public private partnership, PPP, project collapsed when the developer realised that the €100 million in anticipated profit would not be guaranteed given the collapse in house prices after the 2008 crash.

The PPP model failed because it was based on the premise of massive profits for private developers.

It is this failed model, however, that the Taoiseach’s Government and the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, are insisting on imposing not just on the city council but on the community from O’Devaney Gardens still waiting for the redevelopment of the area they want to live in as council tenants.

Make no mistake, the problem here is the Minister’s right-wing, neo-liberal bias against public housing.

The Minister wrote to Dublin City Council in October threatening to withdraw State funding for the project unless councillors voted for a deal with a developer, Bartra, that would give 100% of public land in return for 30% of public housing.

Rather than stand their ground, councillors from Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party, the Green Party and Social Democrats have effectively caved into the Minister’s blackmail and tried to repackage the deal with Bartra as something it is not.”

Ms Collins added:

“Let us be clear what this means.

This is the same deal that for the developer means 14 acres of prime land, close to the city centre and a Luas line, for free.

The State will pay for infrastructure, a saving of €10 million for Bartra, while the absence of development levies will mean another €5 million saved.

If the State came up with the €120 million for the 30% of the developer’s 70%, which is highly unlikely now having listened to the Minister’s comments, the total cost to the State would then be in the region of €250 million.

The sum of €250 million is what council officials estimate it would cost to build 100% public housing on the site, with cheap loans from the European Investment Bank, EIB.

There is something seriously wrong here.

Is it plain stupidity? I do not think so.

Is it corruption? That was certainly a feature of the past, but not today.

To me, that leaves ideological bias and political cowardice.

Meanwhile, 10,000 people, 4,000 of whom are children, are living in homeless accommodation and thousands upon thousands of people are waiting for housing in this country.”

Yesterday: Misled

Transcript via Kildarestreet.com

From top: Katie Hannon;; Fine Gael’s Verona Murphy

Last night.

On RTÉ Radio One’s Late Debate with Katie Hannon.

The programme was scheduled to hold a debate with all the Wexford by-election candidates – Fine Gael’s Verona Murphy, Fianna Fáil’s Malcolm Byrne, Green Party’s Karen Dubsky, Labour’s George Lawlor and Aontu’s Jim Codd – ahead of the by-election on November 29.

However, Ms Murphy, who is also the President of the Irish Road Hauliers association and was recently appointed a Diversity Ambassador by the EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc last month, pulled out last night.

It followed controversial comments made by Ms Murphy including the suggestion that asylum seeker children as young as three need to be “deprogrammed” as they may have been manipulated by ISIS.

Last night, Ms Hannon said:

“Verona Murphy had been confirmed as a guest on our studio panel here tonight, since last Thursday.

“As of this morning, she was still coming on this programme. Her press handler was in contact with our production team – all was in place.

“But, at two minutes to seven o’clock this evening, we received a call to say that Verona Murphy would, in fact, not be appearing.

“And, following that, we got a short statement form Verona:

[reads out statement]

‘Given the controversy of recent days and my subsequent apology, I’ve decided not to take part in tonight’s Late Debate. My focus for the coming days will be listening to and engaging with the issues that concern all living in Wexford.’

[finishes statement]

“Now we did attempt to get some clarity on what this might mean for her candidacy.

“We understand that there was a meeting at Fine Gael headquarters this evening which was attended by Verona Murphy.

“We don’t know what was discussed at that meeting but the official line from Fine Gael tonight is that she is still their candidate.

“So there you have it. It is, of course, a disappointing development. If Verona Murphy had joined us agreed, I would have liked to have asked her about those controversial quotes she gave to David Looby.

“I would have liked to have asked her whose idea it was to visit a direct provision centre in Waterford yesterday which she said later gave her a profound understanding of the issues around migration.

“I would have liked to have asked her if after that meeting, she still believes, as she told David Looby, that we need to take in the possibility that Isis have already manipulated children as young as three or four.

“I would also have liked to have asked Verona Murphy if she stands by her comments in that interview, that addiction and bad personal choices lead people to become homeless.

“And I would have liked to have asked her to expand on her view that drink-driving laws have decimated rural Ireland.

“But, unfortunately, Verona Murphy has pulled out of tonight’s debate, so we won’t be getting her response to those or any of the other issues important to the voters of Wexford tonight.”

Meanwhile…

 

Earlier yesterday in the Dáil, during Leaders’ Questions…

Solidarity/People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith called on Fine Gael to deselect Ms Murphy for the by-election.

Ms Smith said:

“Fine Gael’s candidate in the by-election, Verona Murphy, has doubled down on the hateful rhetoric we have heard from her in the media.

“Today in the Wexford People, she is quoted as claiming that addiction and homelessness are the result of bad choices. Not only does she blame the poor for poverty, but she also blames migrants for every other crisis that exists.

“She blames migrants for everything and stated ISIS is infiltrating this country in large numbers, without knowing that the lowest number of migrants and refugees who come to this country come from the Middle East.

“Her statements are absolutely incendiary and are not just made to get attention.

“She is playing the racist card, which has a double impact.

“It deflects from the things I have mentioned, namely, the crises in health, homelessness and mental health services for children, which will go under the radar because the Fine Gael candidate is playing the race card.

“…The Taoiseach described the candidate as an outspoken, independent woman who does not toe the party line. How high does the Taoiseach’s bar go?

“When will he address this issue and deprogramme and deselect this candidate? If he does not do so, the increased use of the race card will be on his shoulders, as the leader of this country.”

During his response, Mr Varadkar said:

“I read the article in the Wexford People and I do not think the Deputy characterised Ms Murphy’s comments on homelessness exactly as they were described.

“In fact, in the article she described her experience of being homeless. I do not know how many people in the House have had that experience, but she has.

“She described how she left home very early, became homeless, fell out with her family and slept on a couch for a period of time before emigrating to the UK.

“She went on to describe how, later in life, she did her leaving certificate, studied at night to do a law degree and built her business. That is the story she told and I do not think that came across in the way the Deputy described it.

“However, when it comes to what Ms Murphy said about migrants, as I said before, and I mean this, what she said was very wrong. Her comments were ill advised, misinformed and absolutely wrong, and do not reflect the position of my party. It is right that she has retracted those comments and apologised for them.”

Ms Smith replied: “I asked a question which the Taoiseach did not answer, namely, how high his bar is when it comes to his candidate playing the race card.

“…I again ask the Taoiseach how high his bar is when it comes to his candidates using racist language. Would he not immediately say that this is not on and that the candidate has been deselected?

“Furthermore, Ms Murphy needs to be deprogrammed, which will take longer than the two weeks which will elapse before the by-election takes place. What Ms Murphy said is utterly shameful…”

“Now she is spouting lies which will scapegoat minorities. Should that escalate, as leader of the country, it will be on the shoulders of the Taoiseach. I ask him to please answer my question. How high is his bar against racism in his party?

Mr Varadkar respond: “I thank the Deputy. I probably know a little bit more about experiencing racism than perhaps Deputy Smith does…”

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

Listen back in full here

Broadsheet.ie