Synthol, or ‘site enhancement oil’ is a mixture of oil, lidocaine and alcohol injected directly into muscle tissue to artificially increase its size or shape.

Known as ‘fluffing’, its use is widespread in ‘bodybuilding’, though often taken to extremes (as above), extremely dangerous and occasionally fatal.

eatliver

Tomorrow.

More than 120,000 students will start their Leaving Certificate and Junior Certificate exams

Teresa Bell, Deputy Regional Director for Samaritans in Ireland, writes:

“The exam season can be an incredibly stressful time for students, their parents, other family members and even teachers.

…We appeal to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed because of exam pressure, or who is worried about someone else, to contact Samaritans for free from any phone on 116 123.”

Samaritans

Rollingnews

Via The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)

We agree with the organisations and independent experts that have called for an end to Direct Provision.

Ireland’s history of grave and systematic abuse in institutions should make it obvious that the State cannot discharge its constitutional, European or international human rights responsibilities towards individuals who need the State’s assistance by (1) outsourcing social service provision to private, largely unaccountable, commercial entities and (2) containing people in institutions operated by those entities.

We also agree with the recommendations  from the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) and the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI)) that the Department of Justice is not the appropriate Department with which to place responsibility for meeting the accommodation, health and other social service needs of people seeking international protection.

The direct testimonies of people living in Direct Provision – particularly their experiences of being isolated from society, being forced into a relationship of almost total dependency on the managers of the institutions in which they live, and being denied access to many basic opportunities and services in Irish society – convey a clear sense that people in Direct Provision feel, and are effectively, living in punitive detention.

We believe that the fact of placing responsibility for Direct Provision in the Department of Justice contributes to this penal culture and practice.

We are reminded of the treatment of a group of survivors of the Magdalene Laundries who applied to the ex gratia scheme which the Department of Justice has administered since 2013, and whose experiences were the subject of the Ombudsman’s Report in late 2017, Opportunity Lost.

The Ombudsman’s report demonstrated that there was a culture of disbelieving survivors within the Department of Justice, and of going overboard to ‘protect against fraudulent claims’.

The Department that had been responsible for detaining girls and women in Magdalene Laundries, both as part of the ordinary criminal justice system and on an ad hoc basis through the involvement of An Garda Síochána, was not of an appropriate mindset to administer ‘restorative justice’ measures to women who had suffered grave human rights violations in Magdalene Laundries.

ICCL submission on Direct Provision

ICCL

Earlier: Blue Wave

Zoolological sculptures by French artist Edouard Martinet: in which salvaged auto parts are screwed together to form the scales, eyes and exoskeletons of his creations.

Exhibiting this month at Bettina Von Armin Gallery in Paris, if you’re passing.

Previously: Moving Parts

colossal

Anyone?

What’s the difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? (Prime Time, RTÉ)

…Incomes around the average industrial wage are always difficult to fulfil the criteria,” says [Financial adviser Michael] Dowling.

Indeed, he ran an income of €37,000 for a single person through all the banks’ calculators and all he could come up with the amount they could borrow was bang smack in line with the Central Bankrules, of 3.5 times income.

This would give a total mortgage of just €129,500, or a purchase price of about €143,333.

While this would mean monthly repayments of about €530 a month, and would thus be affordable based on our would-be buyer’s net income of about €2,500 a month, it’s still unlikely to get our buyer very far in Dublin.

“If the loan amount is €129,500 then they’d need an exceptional deposit built up, or to get a gift, to buy in a Dublin context,” Dowling says.

It’s also important to remember that to qualify for just this amount, our applicant would also need to carry no further additional debt; a car loan or holiday loan would make that figure shrink even more

Can I buy a home in Dublin on an average wage? (Fiona Reddin, Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Protests in 1970 outside the America Embassy, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 during the visit to Ireland of US president Richard Nixon. Via RTÉ Archives

 

Protests in Dublin city against US President Ronald Reagan’s visit to Ireland in 1984

From left: Pat Rabbitte, Ivan Bacik, Proinsias De Rossa and Peter Cassells outside the GPO during a protest against President George W Bush’s visit to Ireland in 2004

Richard Boyd Barrett (left) in 2004 and yesterday (right) opposing the visit by US President Donald Trump to Ireland this week

Earlier: Welcome Party

Rollingnews

Thanks Spaghetti Hoop

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