This afternoon.

Merrion Strand/Sandymount Strand, Dublin 4

Problems with beaches along the Dublin coastline are persisting. Three of the five waters classified as being poor are in this region: Merrion strand, Sandymount strand and Portrane beach. In the case of Merrion strand, it risks being declassified as a bathing location next year, the EPA warns.

Urban wastewater is “the most common pressure impacting bathing water”, underlining the need for improvement in sewage treatment systems, it added.

Other bathing waters classified as poor were: Lilliput (Lough Ennell), Co Westmeath, and Clifden, Co Galway.

Five bathing areas still poor, despite overall improvement in Irish waters (irish Times)

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Save Poolbeg

Competing to inspire your awe – land and sky. Who ya got? To wit:

The Volcano of Fire (Volcán de Fuego) is seen erupting topped by red-hot, wind-blown ash and with streams of glowing lava running down its side. Lights from neighboring towns are seen through a thin haze below. In the sky, though, the central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs diagonally from the upper left, with a fleeting meteor just below, and the trail of a satellite to the upper right. The planet Jupiter also appears toward the upper left, with the bright star Antares just to its right. Much of the land and the sky were captured together in a single, well-timed, 25-second exposure taken in mid-April from the side of Fuego‘s sister volcano Acatenango in Guatemala. The image of the meteor, though, was captured in a similar frame taken about 30 minutes earlier — when the volanic eruption was not as photogenic — and added later digitally.

(Image: Diego Rizzo).

apod

Paschal Donohoe, then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, launches the Public Services Card (PSC) in 2016

FP Logue Solicitors write:

FP Logue received confirmation today that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection has agreed to pay social welfare benefits to a client who refused to register for the Public Services Card (PSC).

Our client had presented a passport and proof of address with an application for benefits and received a formal decision from the Deciding Officer that the payments would be available for collection in the local post office in due course.

Subsequently our client was informed by a member of staff that the approval had been a mistake and that the payments would be suspended until such time as an application for the PSC was processed.

Our client refused to make the application and asked for written reasons to be provided. The position was subsequently confirmed in writing that payments were suspended until a PSC application was processed.

We wrote to the relevant official on our client’s behalf pointing out that there was no requirement under social welfare law for an applicant to register for the PSC and that the payment had been unlawfully suspended and that our client had been grossly misinformed as to their rights by officials.

We received confirmation today that payments have been released confirming our assertion that a PSC registration is neither mandatory nor compulsory for the purposes of accessing social welfare benefits.

There you go now.

FP Logue secures social welfare payments for client who refused to apply for Public Services Card (FP Logue)

A Lego Creator Expert set featuring the Apollo 11 lunar lander designed in collaboration with NASA: 1,087 pieces complete with separate ascent and descent stages, and a lunar surface with footprints.

Stanley Kubrick minifig not included (but that would have been hilarious, in fairness)

Available next month (the 50th anniversary of the actual moon landing) for €94.99.

awesomer

On the dedicated cycle lane next to the Alfie Byrne Road, joining Clontarf to East Wall in Dublin…

Citizen Wolf tweetz:

These 2 images were taken within 100m of each other. 1st taken [yesterday]. 2nd one week ago. Utterly shameful. How about building safe segregated cycle infra & not just pretending with paint.

Velo City 2019?

Meanwhile…

Citizen Wolf tweetz:

Also from last week on the same stretch of cycle-track…..

Related: I Bike Dublin protesters keep cycle path free of Spice Girl coaches (Irish Cycle)

Last night.

At Dublin’s 3Arena during Hugh Jackman’s performance of The Man. The Music. The Show.

Louise Jones tweetz:

That is my Dad and I just want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you @RealHughJackman for bringing him on stage. He has always loved to sing and dance without a care in the world and I will never forget this moment! Thank you to all the lovely people who cheered him on too.

Aww.

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