This morning.

Dublin Airport.

Dublin Airport has said that it is open and operational.

However, it says that some airlines are experiencing delays to their flight schedules due to de-icing issues. It advised passengers to check with their airlines for flight updates.

The weather caused a number of delays and cancellations at the airport last night with some passengers complaining of waiting on the airfield for over three hours.

Motorists warned about hazardous driving conditions (RTÉ)

Pics via Richard Chambers (Newstalk)

Meanwhile…

Jaysus.

From top: Poet Kevin Higgins; The Morning Star

Listening Exercise
after John McDonnell

When you paint hatred on my garden wall
and front door, I will read your words
with great interest.

When you try to burn my house down
I will listen to what the flames are saying.

Every lie you tell against me
I’ll help you spread
by earnestly, and in detail, answering your questions
about it over and over again.

When you burst through my living room door
with a chainsaw intended for me,
I’ll pour you a nice cup of tea
and say: let’s talk about this.

When the tumours come for me
I’ll know their opinion must be taken
absolutely on board.

And when the beetles and bacilli
begin to consume me,
I’ll realise I’ve long seen
their point of view.

Kevin Higgins

On Thursday, Kevin Higgins’ poem ‘Listening Exercise’ (above) – concerning the ‘massive listening exercise’ called for by UK Shadow chancellor John McDonnell amid accusations of antisemitism against the British Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn – was published on Broadsheet, on the UK based site Culture Matters, and online in The Morning Star newspaper.

It was also to appear in the Morning Star‘s print edition last Saturday.

Before some high level politics intervened.

1) E-mail received from Cliff Cocker (Arts Editor of the Morning Star) Thursday, February 28.

Hi Kevin

Timely and spot-on. Will try and get online asap and in paper on Sat.

Cheers

Cliff

2) E-mail received from Cliff Cocker (Arts Editor of the Morning Star) Friday, March 1st, 9.17am

Hi Kevin

Here it is, in print tomorrow. Cheers C

3) Email received from Ben Chacko (editor of the Morning Star) March 1, 1:04pm

Dear Kevin,

I’m afraid I’ve pulled this poem because things are on a knife-edge in the shadow cabinet and at the moment our friends there advise exacerbating divisions would make things worse.

I do appreciate the poem and the many biting poems that you have written for us, but the sensitivities right now mean publishing it in the Morning Star would in our view feed the divisions that the right are trying to exploit.

That doesn’t mean we will stop fighting back against bogus accusations and we will be continuing a robust defence of Chris Williamson and attacks on the so-called Independent Group, but we just feel targeting John in this way now is not the right approach for us.

I hope you aren’t too angry that this time I want to hold back and that you are OK with continuing to publish poetry in the paper.

Solidarity and all the best,

Ben Chacko

Kevin says:

“It is great to know that my poems are being read by member’s of Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet. This poem was intended as friendly advice for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, albeit that it is satirically delivered, as is my way.

I understand the pressures people are under at the moment, and am in no way angry at the editors of The Morning Star for the action they felt they had to take here. I plan to continue published poems in The Morning Star, as I have since they asked me for my satire on Tony Blair in 2015.

I do stand over the poem which I wrote while eating lunch last Friday week in the Arabica Coffee Shop on Dominick Street, immediately before one of my poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre…”

Kevin Higgins

Previously: All Ears

Taoiseach Enda Kenny

At the weekend.

Internal Facebook] documents reveal a secretive global lobbying operation targeting hundreds of legislators and regulators in an attempt to procure influence across the world.

Carole Cadwalladr and Duncan Campbell, in The Observer, report:

…Most revealingly, it includes details of the company’s “great relationship” with Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister at the time, one of a number of people it describes as “friends of Facebook”.

Ireland plays a key role in regulating technology companies in Europe because its data protection commissioner acts for all 28 member states.

The memo has inflamed data protection advocates, who have long complained about the company’s “cosy” relationship with the Irish government.

The memo notes Kenny’s “appreciation” for Facebook’s decision to locate its headquarters in Dublin and points out that the new proposed data protection legislation was a “threat to jobs, innovation and economic growth in Europe”.

It then goes on to say that Ireland is poised to take on the presidency of the EU and therefore has the “opportunity to influence the European Data Directive decisions”.

It makes the extraordinary claim that Kenny offered to use the “significant influence” of the EU presidency as a means of influencing other EU member states “even though technically Ireland is supposed to remain neutral in this role”.

It goes on: “The prime minister committed to using their EU presidency to achieve a positive outcome on the directive.” Kenny, who resigned from office in 2017, did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment.

Last night…

Simon Carswell, in The Irish Times, reported:

The State’s current and former data watchdogs have said former taoiseach Enda Kenny did not lobby them to take a softer approach on regulating internet privacy covering personal data on behalf of Facebook.

Helen Dixon, the Data Protection Commissioner since 2014, and her predecessor Billy Hawkes said that neither Mr Kenny nor his officials while he was taoiseach from 2011 to 2017 sought to influence the regulation of data protection rules to the benefit of the social media giant.

The current and former data regulator were responding to reports in the Observer and Computer Weekly that Mr Kenny helped the web company influence EU data protection laws.

Revealed: Facebook’s global lobbying against data privacy laws (Carole Cadwalladr and Duncan Campbell, The Observer)

Enda Kenny did not lobby for Facebook on internet privacy, watchdogs say (Simon Carswell, The Irish Times)

Rollingnews

Broadsheet.ie