Yesterday.

Pettigo, Donegal/Fermanagh border.

James Gallagher, Postmaster of Pettigo Village post office, with pork and bacon delivery man John Leydon beside the border which divides Pettigo between Northern Ireland and the Republic, as they contemplate the possibility of a No Deal Brexit delivering a Hard Border.

Meanwhile…

Fight!

Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

More than 200 pharmacy students demonstrated in Dublin city centre this morning against what they say are exorbitant fees that have trebled in recent years to more than €8000, and over the removal of payments for four- and eight-month internships they are obliged to complete.

While the students welcomed a “clarification” received yesterday that their internships could be “paid or unpaid”, they said the clarification was vague and they needed assurances that they would be paid.

Pharmacy students protest over work placement ‘ban on payments’ (RTÉ)

A really rather excellent mashup of The Blues Brothers and Men In Black (with cameos from Critters, The Thing, Aliens, Guardians Of The Galaxy, E.T. and more) by master video mashup artist and filmmaker Fabrice Mathieu.

More of his work here.

laughingsquid

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (far right) at the World Economic Forum in Davos this morning

This afternoon.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is currently in Davos for the World Economic Forum, responded to questions about Brexit.

RTÉ’s Brexit correspondent Europe Editor Tony Connelly is there…

More as he gets it.

Good Lord.

Anyone?

Watch back here

On February 4.

New York Festivals Radio Award-nominated podcast ‘Meet Your Maker’ returns for its fourth season

Host Liam Geraghty writes:

This season will feature guests such as American cartoonist Chris Ware, Oscar nominated filmmaker Nora Twomey, Senior Conservator at the Chester Beatty Library Kristine Rose-Beers and video game maker David O’Reilly.

Focusing on the stories behind the creation of all manner of culture, Meet Your Maker has been called “a gorgeous mix of interview and archive audio” by The Irish Times.

Bello Collective named Meet Your Maker as one of 100 Outstanding Podcasts in 2018 and it appeared on Radio Public’s list of “17 podcasts that started in 2017 that I couldn’t imagine a world without.”

Meet Your Maker

Hozier on The Late Late Show

Tomorrow night.

On The Late Late Show.

Sarah Whiteacre, of RTÉ, writes:

Hozier will join host Ryan Tubridy to chat about how it feels to be one of Ireland’s most celebrated musicians, and to give fans a flavour of his highly anticipated new album Wasteland, Baby!…

Fitness phenomenon Joe Wicks joins Ryan to discuss why he’s moving away from meat and adding more veg to his diet…

Week four of Dancing with the Stars is almost upon us, and as the competition hots up, we’ll be cha-cha-chatting to actress Clelia Murphy on how she’s balancing it all, Mairead Ronan on topping the table, funny man Fred Cooke on being the comeback kid and stylist Darren Kennedy on his ambition to perform with a male pro-dancer this season.

Captured in upcoming RTÉ documentary Shooting the Darkness, we speak with Alan Lewis and Crispin Rodwell on what it meant to be a press photographer amid the violence in Northern Ireland and how witnessing horror on a daily basis has affected them.

In November of last year, broadcaster Tom Dunne was told at a routine heart check up that he would urgently need life-saving surgery. The dad of two joins Ryan to discuss the impact that the operation has had on him and his family, the difficulties of learning to walk again and where he is on the road to recovery.

There’s also music from Dublin band Wild Youth.

The Late Late Show is on tomorrow night, on RTÉ One, at 9.35pm

From top: Senator David Norris and Senator Ivana Bacik

On Tuesday.

During Order of Business in the Seanad.

Senators Ivana Bacik and David Norris commented on reports from earlier this week about a 65-year-old Meath man who was the first person to be convicted under a new law which criminalises the purchase of sex from a sex worker.

Senator Bacik welcomed the conviction, Senator Norris didn’t.

From their contributions to the Seanad…

Ivana Bacik: “I express my satisfaction on seeing the first conviction reported today under the Swedish or Nordic model. My dear friend and colleague, Senator Norris, will not agree with me.”

David Norris: “I do not.”

Bacik: “We are seeing the new law on prostitution being enforced and coming into effect.”

Norris: “It is a disgrace.”

Bacik: “I commend gardaí for their work on it.”

Norris: “It is utter hypocrisy.”

Later

Norris: “I completely disagree with my colleague, Senator Bacik. I do not how anybody can be pleased about the prospect of a lonely 65-year-old man, coming from a deprived area of Dublin, being named and fined in court. It seems to me that this is rank and smug hypocrisy.

“I remember during the debate here, it flew in the face of all the academic research produced by Queen’s University, Belfast, which I put on the record. I urge anybody who wants to see that research and to know the truth about this matter to read the debate where I put these facts on the record.

Bacik: “Highly contested.”

Norris: “What was highly contested was the rubbish the Senator produced from Sweden.”

Separately.

Following the conviction, the Sex Workers’ Alliance Ireland group tweeted its thoughts on the matter – and highlighted that one implication of the new law is that it’s forcing sex workers to work alone, thus increasing their vulnerability:

Broadsheet.ie