This afternoon.
O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.
Members of the Kurdish Community in Ireland and their supporters Protest against the current situation facing Kurdish fighters and Kurdish people in Syria, as Turkey begins operations against them in Northern Syria.
Kurdish civilians flee as Turkish forces bomb Syria for third day (The Guardian)
Zed’s dead, baby.
Not Z, S.
No idea.
This afternoon.
Odockatee writes
Found these keys off South Circular Road near Kilmainham [Dublin 8].
Please reshare to find the owner…
Anyone?
All the leaves are brown.
Never mind.
With Extinction Rebellion eco-warriors rolling through Dublin and the Green wave making a splash at the ballot box, it seems everything’s gone, well, green.
But what about the other colours?
To win this week’s Golden Discs voucher worth a plant-watering €25, simply tell me below what your favourite song is which mentions a specific colour.
Here’s mine.
Nick says: Good luck!
Lines MUST close at 6.30pm EXTENDED until 11pm We’re Going Through Until 6am MIDNIGHT SATURDAY! OK, late stragglers won’t be exactly turned away.
(Include link to video where possible)
This evening.
Halfahead writes:
I walk along Camden Place [Dublin 2] with a large amount of trepidation….
Artist unknown, anyone?
But enough about that.
A date for your diary.
Johnny Keenan (him off the telly) writes:
The Laughing Stock Comedy Club are back with their ‘6th Public Members Bill’.
26th February 2020 is the 26th anniversary of Bill Hicks’ passing and we are honoured to have his brother Steve Hicks (top left with Bill in the 1980s and interviewed in a 2015 documentary, above)) live in The Sugar Club, Leeson Street, Dublin 2.
Steve will share his own memories, and answer any questions you always wanted answered about the life and times of Bill.
The 3 hour show will also feature live tributes by comedians singers and poets who play from their f**kin heart, video tributes and other surprises. A raffle will take place for a portrait of Bill.
As always a local [ Dublin] charity and Bill Hicks Wildlife Foundation will benefit from door and raffle receipts, after costs.
Tickets €17.50 (excluding booking and handling fee) are on sale now (at link below.
Graphic on the Green Party website
This afternoon.
Further to Green Party leader and TD Eamon Ryan’s comments about carpooling in rural Irish villages on Ireland AM on Wednesday…
And the subsequent reporting of his comments on The Irish Times yesterday…
The party has released the following statement:
“By now you’ve probably read the headline that Eamon Ryan wants to restrict cars in rural Ireland.
This headline has caused a flood of online fury – and rightly so, because a suggestion like that would be ridiculous and impractical. It would be tone-deaf to needs of our rural communities, and frankly insulting to people who are dealing with a total lack of any public transport on a daily basis.
But the truth is – this headline is totally inaccurate.
The Green Party does not stand for restricting car ownership, and to state otherwise is a huge misrepresentation of the party position and of Eamon’s comments.
What Eamon Ryan proposed was that car sharing could provide people in rural Ireland with extra options.
So cars AND car sharing.
The reason for this is simple. Lack of investment in rural transport means thousands of people are locked-in to car dependency. Meanwhile, thousands of young people have been locked-out of car ownership in rural Ireland because of sky-high insurance costs. People want and need options. They need a way of getting around that is much cheaper and may provide an alternative to the cost of owning and running one or more cars.
Car sharing schemes won’t work everywhere or for everyone, but there are rural communities who are already doing this. In Cahersiveen, locals have started a carpooling group, and Clare County Council are piloting a scheme as part of their Rural Development Strategy.
So what are the facts?
The fact is, the Green Party are the ONLY party proposing major public transport investment in rural Ireland, and we were the ONLY party to discuss our commitment to rural transport at our budget launch.
In our budget submission, we committed almost half a billion Euro to public transport. We are the only party with a costed budget to come anywhere close to the level of investment and ambition that will make an impact for people in rural areas.
That means new bus routes serving communities and areas that have never been served before.
It means a big increase in frequency of services on existing routes.
It means cheaper fares.
It means options.
And the Green Party proposal is for sustained investment at that level.
We deeply regret the hurt that has been caused to rural communities. We are facing a climate emergency, and the impact of that will disproportionately hit rural areas.
We want to prevent that. Carpooling is one idea that might work for some people in some areas. It’s not Green Party policy. It’s not even a Green Party idea – carpooling was debated by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, where Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour all voted in favour.
When it comes to climate change, people in rural Ireland are sometimes made to feel like they are part of the problem. Rural Ireland is not part of the problem, but by investing significantly in rural communities, we believe rural Ireland can become a big part of the solution.’
OK.
Everyone stay cool.
*revs up welly-strewn Passat*
FIGHT!!
Earlier: Rota This
Previously: It Takes A Village
Meanwhile…
Dublin Green Party MEP Ciaran Cuffe tweetz:
Like to join me on a whistle-stop bike tour of decent public housing in Dublin tomorrow?
The bike tour will take place from 2pm until 4pm tomorrow, leaving from The Tram Café, Wolf Tone Square, Jervis Street, Dublin 1.
An epilogue to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ by cinematographer and VFX director Steve Begg.
We pick up 203 years after the events of the film as the floating body of Dr Frank Poole encounters a monolith.
Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD speaking to the media after being on the Today with Seán O’Rourke show on RTÉ Radio 1 about Budget 2020 on Wednesday
This afternoon.
Via Breakingnews:
Paschal Donohoe freezing welfare, tax bands and credits in this week’s budget have affected people who are already the worst off and will push up child-poverty-at-risk rates, according to leading think tank, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)…
Budget ‘disproportionally impacts welfare recipients’, according to ESRI (Eamon Quinn, Breakingnews)
Garda passing out parade in Templemore in 2016
Sorcha Pollock, in The Irish Times, reports:
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has called for a review of the “excessive” bleep tests used by An Garda Síochána as part of its fitness training for recruits.
The bleep test, which sees participants do a series of 20m shuttle runs between two points within a specified period of time, forms part of the force’s overall fitness test for trainees and probationers, which also includes press-ups, sit-ups and push/pull strength tests.
It is understood, according to a report first carried by The Star, that a garda was recently dismissed after failing the bleep test, while another 15 officers under probation were served with warnings after failing the test on two occasions.
Gulp.
Garda body criticises ‘excessive’ bleep tests for recruits (The Irish Times)
Related: The Physical Test – Requirements for An Garda Síochana
