July 1

Yesterday

Last Week, Irish Water released a press statement saying:

“Irish Water wish to advise that essential maintenance works at the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant in order to reduce the risk of odours from the plant are underway and will be completed on Friday, 30 August 2019.

“These works are essential maintenance works on one of the odour control units at the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant, and involve replacing carbon odour control media to ensure any odours generated in that area of the plant are effectively treated. All other odour conrol units are operating effectively at present.

“There may be intermittent odours while these works are carried out.”

Anyone?

Potential odour while essential maintenance is carried out at Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant (Irish Water)

Previously: ‘Further Discharges Expected’

Eau De Toilet

Members and supporters of the group Dublin Tenants’ Association holding a picket outside the headquarters of Ires REIT on Grand Canal Dock, Dublin in July 2017

Yesterday.

In The Sunday Times, journalist Gavin Daly reported:

Institutional investors own almost 12,000 rental apartments and houses following a surge in activity in the build-to-rent sector in the first half of the year.

Commercial property agent CBRE said the number of units owned by institutions increased by 2,340 to 11,700 between the end of 2018 and the end of June 2019.

There are 15 institutional buyers active in the sector, which is focused almost exclusively on Dublin.

CBRE said more than €898m was spent on build-to-rent investments in the first half of the year, accounting for almost 43% of the €2.1bn of investment deals in the period.

The agent said the €898m figure was “likely to be exceeded” in the second half of the year as several large build-to-rent deals are expected to be completed in the forthcoming months.

The biggest operators in the rental sector are quoted group Ires Reit and California-based Kennedy Wilson.

Meanwhile…

Build-to-rent investors grab 12,000 properties in Dublin (Gavin Daly, The Sunday Times)

Previously: IRES My Case

REIT It And Weep

Pic: Anthony Flynn

‘We Need To Talk About Ross’

A documentary about Paul Howard directed by Adrian McCarthy.

Karina at RTÉ writes:

This revealing and entertaining documentary spends time with Paul Howard, the man behind Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (top).

Described by the Irish Times as ‘Ireland’s pre-eminent satirist’ and by the Irish Independent as ‘one of the world’s funniest writers’, this documentary attempts to get inside the complex mind of workaholic wordsmith Paul Howard, a writer at the top of his career.

The exploits of his greatest anti-hero creation Ross O’Carroll-Kelly have been the subject of hundreds of weekly newspaper columns penned by Howard over twenty years, as well as eighteen ‘Ross’ novels, selling well over a million copies….

‘We Need To Talk About Ross’ at 9.35pm on RTÉ 1.

Illustration: Alan Clarke

Ore – Crash

“Who caused the crash, baby?”

That’s the chorus of the debut single by Ore aka Emmett O’Reilly.

It’s a deceptively jaunty pop confection but scratch the surface and there’s a deadly serious political blue pill underneath its Wonkalicious sugar coating.

The answer to the question is hinted at in the video, which was edited by Emmett.

The Dublin-based musician – who worked for Hot Press magazine – was once the singer of a New Romantic group in the 1980s called Montage and is currently assembling a tribute band to David Bowie called Earthlings. Watch this space (oddity).

Nick says: The men who sold the world better watch out.

In fairness.

Where is Jiggs now, anyone?

This morning.

Further to the costly enforcement of licencing by traders of all sandwich boards in the city….

David O’Grady tweetz:

It’s not really about sandwich boards and accessibility at all is it Dublin City Council?

The one [above] is practically a wall accross the pavement on Lower Liffey Street….

Fight!

Previously: You’ll Miss Them When They’re Gone

At the border between Newry and Dundalk

The dossier marked “official-sensitive” prepared for the EU Exit Negotiations Board is dated 28 August.

It details how the findings of all advisory groups informing the government on the Northern Irish border are being kept deliberately under wraps to try to avoid hampering Britain’s intended renegotiation of the backstop agreed to by Theresa May.

…..Border solutions the report deems as having the most potential are listed as:

Regulatory and industry assurance schemes.

Trusted trader schemes.

Smarter risking (a technological solution that involves data sharing).

A Northern Ireland sanitary and phytosanitary zone to track contamination and disease.

There were significant concerns about an artificial intelligence option, which experts felt might not detect disease and chemical contamination of food.

Onboard vehicle technology which could track the location, weight and temperature of goods was also considered risky if a lorry might suddenly be taken out of service and goods offloaded into a non-registered vehicle.

Physical goods checks through mobile units could take weeks and involve lengthy periods of quarantine, the report found. The units could also be vulnerable to “targeting” and staff could be at risk, it said….

Irish border after Brexit – all ideas are beset by issues says secret paper (The Guardian)

Rollingnews

Saturday.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland tackles the scourge of uncomfortable ‘sexy bras’ aimed at men.

At least someone had the courage to say it.

It’s 2019 – we need to talk about why most bras are still so terrible (The Guardian)

This morning.

Via The Martie Keating Foundation:

A new prostate cancer campaign has been launched today urging men to WATCH for any symptoms that could be related to your prostate health, TALK with family and friends about their prostate health and ACT by going to see their GP if they have any concerns and over 50 or when they are over 45 with a family history.

The Marie Keating Foundation’s ‘Stand Up for Your Prostate’ campaign is looking to empower Irish men to be more open and comfortable discussing their health.

…Six men, including broadcasters Tony O’Donoghue and Matt Cooper (whose campaign video is above), politician Senator Neale Richmond and rugby legend and journalist Tony Ward, who have all been affected by cancer in some way, are backing the campaign, encouraging men not to put their health on the long finger.

Stand Up For Your Prostate (Marie Keating Foundation)

Hurricane Dorian slams into the Bahamas (CNN)

Broadsheet.ie