Behold: the Ferrari P80/C track car – a bespoke, one-off take on the classic 1960s P330 with elements of the 1966 Dino 206 S and a twin turbo V8, seven speed setup based on the 2015 Ferrari 488 GT3.
No you can’t buy one. Yes, it would get scratched in Tesco’s car park.
Beta-Max – Reach High-Five
‘Banging’ second single from Dublin-based Electronic/Damce.Rock/Punk outfit featuring Diane Anglim (from alt-rock trip Swords).
The impossibly delicate hand-painted art of UAE based artist Julia Ibbini.
Ibbini’s laser-cut, algorithmically generated paper sculptures are inspired by Islamic absract art, embroidery and meenakari enamel work – each one built up in multiple layers and meticulously coloured in brilliant shades of pink, blue, yellow, and orange.
US President Donald Trump
Double down, anyone?
‘Many Democrats had invested such hope in Mueller as the saviour who would topple Trump that their reaction to Barr’s conclusions reeked of disappointment. That’s understandable, but perhaps Mueller has done them a favour.
His report will no doubt reveal more unsavoury details about Trump and his campaign. A finding of criminal behaviour risked plunging the US into total political paralysis, with the Democrats going all-out for an impeachment that Republicans would not allow to occur – in the process feeding Trump’s victim complex and exciting his base in time for the 2020 election.
It’s important that Trump does not have a second term. But it would be infinitely better to have him rejected by the people at the ballot box. The conclusion of Mueller’s investigation will force Democrats to focus on the task at hand: how to convince enough Americans that their president is unfit for office and must be replaced.’
Editorial in this morning’s Irish Times.
The Irish Times view on the Mueller report: open questions (Irish Times)
Alternatively…
Via Sharyl Attkisson in The Hill’
‘Whatever his supposed flaws, the rampant accusations and speculation that shrouded Trump’s presidency, even before it began, ultimately have proven unfounded. Just as Trump said all along.
Yet, each time Trump said so, some of us in the media lampooned him. We treated any words he spoke in his own defense as if they were automatically to be disbelieved because he had uttered them. Some even declared his words to be “lies,” although they had no evidence to back up their claims.
We in the media allowed unproven charges and false accusations to dominate the news landscape for more than two years, in a way that was wildly unbalanced and disproportionate to the evidence.We did a poor job of tracking down leaks of false information.
We failed to reasonably weigh the motives of anonymous sources and those claiming to have secret, special evidence of Trump’s “treason.”
As such, we reported a tremendous amount of false information, always to Trump’s detriment.And when we corrected our mistakes, we often doubled down more than we apologised.
We may have been technically wrong on that tiny point, we would acknowledge. But, in the same breath, we would insist that Trump was so obviously guilty of being Russian President Vladimir Putin’s puppet that the technical details hardly mattered.’
Apologies to President Trump (Sharyl Attkisson, The Hill)
Yesterday: I’m Gonna Set It Straight, This Watergate
This morning.
At Clonakilty Lodge Direct Provision Centre in west Cork.
Residents of the direct provision centre with their friends from the community are holding a peaceful protest.
In the video by The Southern Star, above, a woman from the centre called Evelyn says they are angry that they did not get to meet Fine Gael TD and Minister of State David Stanton to voice their concerns about the centre’s living conditions when he visited the centre yesterday.
Evelyn said the residents weren’t told Mr Stanton was visiting the centre, weren’t told why he was visiting and were given no information after he left – even though they’ve been waiting to meet with him.
Evelyn said they’re requesting that Mr Stanton returns to the centre to meet with the residents.
She said:
“We are well-behaved, we are mannered and we are lots more. We do not deserve unfair treatment or anyone speaking on our behalf, as we can speak for ourselves and tell him the actual living condition of Clonakilty Lodge.”
WATCH: Clonakilty direct provision residents stage a peaceful protest (The Southern Star)
Front page of today’s Irish Sun
This morning.
In The Irish Sun.
Neil Cotter and Adam Higgins have reported that former CEO of FAI John Delaney secured World Cup final tickets for one of the members of the Oireachtas sports committee, Fianna Fail TD Kevin O’Keeffe.
The committee is scheduled to question Mr Delaney and other senior FAI members about FAI’s governance in April.
Mr Cotter and Mr Higgins reported:
It’s understood the Cork TD met Delaney while out socialising last year and asked him about the possibility of landing tickets to the showpiece event in Moscow on July 15.
The then-FAI Chief Executive managed to bag two passes for the Fianna Fail sports spokesperson who paid the full price of €903 each for them.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, O’Keeffe said he didn’t see a problem with getting tickets from Delaney and asked: “How (else) would I get a World Cup final ticket?”
The report follows a separate report in The Sunday Times at the weekend in which Fine Gael TD Noel Rock claimed that he had been told that FAI had been briefing against him “including saying that he had sought complimentary tickets for Ireland’s game against Austria in Vienna in November 2016”.
Mr Rock said he attended the match as a guest of the taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was minister for social protection at the time and that he has never sought or received complimentary tickets from the FAI.
Mr Rock:
“These bullying tactics have served some well in the past. They should not distract from the significant governance issues in the FAI.”
Further to this…
Eoin (from comments) asks:
The Deputy Kevin O’Keeffe story comes after Deputy Noel Rock says the FAI were briefing against him after he called for Delaney’s departure. Noel thinks the FAI is suggesting he was only after complimentary tickets. Just how many members of the Oireachtas sports committee have had ticket dealings with the FAI? It’s beginning to whiff of sleaze.
FAI chief John Delaney steps aside amid financial queries (Mark Tighe, The Sunday Times)
Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as “Mixed Martial Art” today.
I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition.
I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement.
Proper Pina Coladas on me fellas!— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 26, 2019
From top: Conor McGregor mural in Temple Bar, Dublin; a tweet from the fighter announcing his retirement this morning…
From top: Terry Prone, Frances Fitzgerald and Norin O’Sullivan; an email sent from Ken Foxe to the gardai last year
Last night.
Frustrated Freedom of Information sleuth Ken Foxe posed the following question on Twitter about his attempts to secure emails between Terry Prone of the Communications Clinic and the former Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan under the FOI Act:
“What is it about emails between Terry Prone and very important public officials that makes them so difficult to find?”
A series of emails between the pair were put into evidence at the Disclosures Tribunal last year.
And yet.
Mr Foxe cannot secure these under FOI.
Last year Mr Foxe revealed that the Office of the Information Commissioner had discovered 68 records of correspondence between former Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and Ms Prone between May 8, 2014 and March 11, 2017.
These were records which the Department of Justice previously said never existed.
Last night, Mr Foxe went on to explain his journey to date…
From 2014 to 2017, Ms Prone wasn’t only advising Ms Fitzgerald. She was also advising the then Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan.
As Ms Fitzgerald was the Justice Minister at the time, Ms O’Sullivan was, on paper, answerable to Ms Fitzgerald.
The Disclosures Tribunal saw how statements or draft speeches were written with the help of Ms Prone by Ms O’Sullivan for Ms Fitzgerald concerning issues about Ms O’Sullivan.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton described this sequence of events worthy of Myles na Gopaleen’s satire.
Previously: Frances, Nóirín and Tess
Oh.
This morning.
Inchicore, Dublin 8.
Thanks Eamonn Clancy
