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Joan Burton

Further to the trial of a 17-year-old youth, charged with the false imprisonment of former Tanaiste Joan Burton and her advisor Karen O’Connell in Jobstown, Dublin in November 2014, getting under way in the Children’s Court this morning…

RTÉ’s Legal Affairs Correspondent Orla O’Donnell reported on RTÉ’s Radio One’s News At One:

“Joan Burton told the court that being trapped in Garda vehicles on the 15th of November, 2014, was a very difficult and unpleasant situation. Ms Burton said she had received a warm welcome when she first arrived at An Cosán in Jobstown for a graduation ceremony. She said as they walked from the centre to an adjacent church, she was hit twice on the neck by some kind of water balloon and a young man was holding a camera in front of her face and saying, ‘talk to us, Joan’. She said she was anxious to continue her duties.”

“In the church, after giving her speech, she was advised to make haste to a Garda car which was going to drive her and her advisor, Karen O’Connell, away. She said there were people shouting and banging on the car, she said she was trying to keep her composure and was worried about children who were around the car.”

“She said that protesters were shouting a lot of vulgar abuse and using all the derogatory terms people use for women. Ms Burton said she was very apprehensive about what would happen to her if the crowd got the doors of the car open and she was looking around to see where she could run to. She said, after some time, they were moved to another car by gardai. They were later moved again and she said she flung herself into a Garda vehicle. She said afterwards she felt happy no children had been hurt and very happy to be safe and out of the car.”

Joan Burton gives evidence in case against teen accused of false imprisonment (RTE)

Earlier: Meanwhile, At The Children’s Court

Rollingnews.ie

UPDATE:

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Partholón – releasing debut single Hunt

What you may need to know…

01. Leeside progressive/sludge-metal five piece Partholón are named for a semi-fictional character of Irish history and mythos, said to have won the first battle on Irish soil and created a peaceful settlement thereafter, before slaying his wife and her lover after tasting him on his lips. The settlement succumbed to plague a week after this violence. “No God, just life, and then, Death”, as the band says in its bio.

02. While the band’s own story is nowhere near as lofty, they emerged from among the wreckage of local bands, notably the late Five Will Die. Live excursions have been few, numbering among them appearances at the Siege of Limerick festival and several shows in Cork, but expect this to change.

03. Streaming above is debut single Hunt, a heavyweight slab of post-metal weighing in at over the ten-minute mark. Grab a tay.

04. It’s taken from their upcoming E.P., Follow Me Through Body, recorded by Shaun Cadogan at Last Light Recordings in Dublin, and mastered by Marcus Lindberg of Cult of Luna. Physical copies and such are impending.

VERDICT: Maintaining the glacial pace and heft of projects past, and marrying it to atmosphere and dynamics, Partholón have put together something exceptionally promising.

Partholón

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Sinead Cusack and her son Richard Boyd Barrett during Bloomsday 2016

 

On Saturday.

On RTÉ’s Marian Finucane show, Ms Finucane interviewed actress Sinead Cusack who is also People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett’s mother.

After Ms Cusack gave birth to Mr Boyd Barrett in 1967, he was adopted by Valerie and David Boyd Barrett in Dun Laoghaire. Ms Cusack and Mr Boyd Barrett were reunited some years later.

During the interview..

Marian Finucane: “Well, I mean, it’s well known now, that your son is People Before Profit and all of that. And you found him years…”

Sinead Cusack: “My son is not just People Before Profit. My son is Richard.”

Finucane: [laughs] Well, your son, Richard, of People Before Profit is where he would be known mostly by our audience. What age were you when you became pregnant?”

Cusack: “19.”

Listen back in full here

Earlier: Taking The Michael

Top pic: Dara Mac Donaill/The Irish Times

Meanwhile…

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The panel of the Marian Finucane show on September 4: Fianna Fail TD John McGuinness; Suzanne Kelly, a tax lawyer; Patsy McGarry, religious affairs correspondent at The Irish Times; Professor of Modern History  Diarmuid Ferriter; and Senator Michael McDowell

Anthony Sheridan of Public Inquiry writes:

To whom it may concern:

I wish to lodge a formal complaint against RTE for breach of its Public Service Statement 2015.

My complaint centres on the biased panel selection on the Marian Finucane Show as broadcast on Sunday, 4 September last.

Specifically, my complaint concerns the unbalanced and unchallenged views expressed during the discussion surrounding the Apple tax scandal.

The panel members were as follows:

Michael McDowell: Independent Senator and former Tanaiste and Minister for Justice.

Suzanne Kelly: Tax lawyer.

John McGuinness: Fianna Fáil TD

Patsy McGarry: Irish Times Religious Affairs Correspondent.

Diarmuid Ferriter: Professor of Modern History at UCD.

It is reasonable to describe all the panel members and the presenter, Ms Finucane, as individuals with conservative views that are mainly in line with the governing establishment.

It is also reasonable to describe the two politicians on the panel as public representatives with strong and uncompromising views on the political outlook of those who oppose the Government’s response to the Apple tax scandal.

Left wing political parties such as Sinn Fein, Anti-Austerity Alliance, People Before Profit and others who represent a significant percentage of the population were, by their exclusion, prevented from expressing a contrary view.

This is in breach of RTEs Public Service Statement 2015.

I quote:

Ensuring its treatment of current affairs and matters of public controversy, in addition to being impartial and objective, is fair to all interests.

It is also clear that RTE management is very well aware of the major changes taking place within Irish society.

I quote:

RTÉ today sits within a society, economy and media environment that is changing; and changing rapidly. Recent years have shaken public confidence in institutions and traditional authority.

Despite this awareness, or perhaps because of it, RTE management seems to be abandoning its objectivity and professionalism in favour of taking the side of State/Government.

The apparent packing of a discussion panel in favour of one side of the debate is also in breach of RTEs duty in law to be impartial.

I quote:

RTÉ has a duty in law to be accurate, fair and impartial, and to remain independent from all state, political and commercial influences.

Yours sincerely

Anthony Sheridan

Formal complaint against RTE for bias (Public Inquiry)

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[Adult Swim] animator and voice artist C. Martin Croker passed away last night at the age of 53.

An active producer for the Atlanta, Georgia-based peddlers of odd, fans will know Croker best as the voice of nihilistic praying mantis Zorak in long-running chat-show/cringefest Space Ghost: Coast To Coast and parody sitcom spinoff The Brak Show.

RIP

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US Republican Party strategist Karl Rove discusses Denis O’Brien, Digicel and Haiti on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News during an item on Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation..

Seems fair and balanced.

FIGHT!

Meanwhile: More Clinton Shenanigans In Haiti (Wall Street Journal)

Meanwhile…

Broadsheet.ie