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This afternoon.

Michael O R writes:

Was just caught by the byplay outside my window. A pair of magpies started building a nest when a larger grey crow flew in to try to occupy the spot.

There have been a few minutes of manoeuvring and attempts on each side to get the other to leave, with one using size, the others numbers. A quiet confrontation. I figured that birds getting frisky is a sure sign of Spring :)

The cosmic ballet continues.

unnamed

‘sup?

Aisling writes:

At around 11.30am this morning, in the Citywest Business Campus in Dublin 24, we found this beautiful husky dog who was doing his best to injure himself with cars, lawnmowers and climbing on buildings.

We managed to catch him and bring him to the Animal Hospital in Tallaght but unfortunately he has no ID on his collar and isn’t microchipped.

If his owner doesn’t get in contact I believe he will be sent to Ashtown dog pound, which would be heartbreaking for such a loving and friendly guy.

Anyone?

CfSMTanWAAAFA3h

A manifesto posted on Twitter and Facebook allegedly from the owners of a new bar which is supposed to open in Dublin 2 on December 30, 2016.

Hmmm.

Anyone?

The Politics Bar (Facebook)

The Politics Bar (Twitter)

Thanks Miq

McSavage

Comedian David McSavage

The Irish Sun reports:

The Savage Eye star [David McSavage] is due to appear in court later this month over an unpaid TV licence.

But he is refusing to pay the €160 bill in protest at what he views as the national broadcaster’s laughable taste in humour.

Yesterday Dave told the Irish Sun he was left gobsmacked at how his Savage Eye 1916 Special was turned down after watching rival sketch shows by the Irish Pictorial Weekly team and The Rubberbandits.

And he reserved special scorn for the take-off skits wheeled out in The Mario Rosenstock Show.

Dave said: “RTE didn’t commission my Savage Eye special because they were too scared and we might have done something funny.

“Instead they hired Irish Pictorial Weekly to do a 1916 which ended up being derivative of the Savage Eye, it was awful.”

The 49-year-old, whose Savage Eye follow-up series Poor Me And The Bastards has also been rejected by Montrose bosses, was no less scathing about another irreverent retelling of the Rising from Limerick’s favourite hip-hop jokers.

He said: “The Rubberbandits are now as mainstream as Ryan Tubridy. They used to be quirky and bent, but I thought that their 1916 special was awful. And as for the last series by Mario Rosenstock? I’m willing to go to prison for that.

Jaykers.

UPDATE:

On Broadsheet’s Facebook page…

Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 18.04.11

Dave McSavage says: ‘RTE comedy is so bad, I won’t pay license fee even if I have to go to jail’ (Ken Sweeney, The Irish Sun)

Pic: Click

Screen Shot 2016-04-05 at 14.28.30

Last night.

On RTÉ One’s Big Week on the Farm, which continues every night this week at 7pm.

Eight-time All-Ireland Sheep Shearing Champion Ivan Scott, from Kilmacrennan near Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, sheared a sheep in 37.9 seconds – a new world record.

Fair play, in fairness.

Previously: Staying In Tonight?

Thanks Gareth

iceland

Reykjavík, Iceland last night

This just in.

Iceland’s PM asks president to dissolve parliament after allegations he concealed investments in offshore company…

Iceland PM seeks early poll (BBC)

Yesterday: Selective

Pic; Alex Cuadros

Update:

CfRfHrtWEAACZj9

Moria detention centre on Lesbos island this morning

You may recall yesterday’s deportation of 202 migrants from Lesbos and Chios islands in Greece to Turkey, with the assistance of 180 Frontex officers.

The deportations are a part of the €3billion EU/Turkey deal, of which Ireland is contributing €22million.

Last week the Department of Justice announced it will send three case workers from the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS), and two members of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal to the Greek islands.

The department said it is also considering a request from Frontex for border guards to assist them with the deportations – even though Ireland is not a member of Frontex.

Last night on RTÉ One’s Drivetime, Lesbos-based journalist Andrew Connolly spoke with Mary Wilson.

Mr Connolly said:

“I’ve just been at the Moria detention centre talking to Pakistanis… based on my conversations with some of them, it’s very, I find it difficult to believe that some of the deportees this morning might have even understood the concept of asylum.

Again it’s being claimed by the Greek authorities and the European Asylum Office and also the UNHCR they seem to be satisfied that everyone was told their rights but they didn’t claim asylum in Greece.”

Further to this, Patrick Kingsley, in The Guardian reports this afternoon that the UN has told how 13 of the 202 deported yesterday may not have been given the opportunity to seek asylum before they were deported – as police officers “forgot”.

Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to seek asylum. Mr Kingsley reports:

Some of the first people to be deported from Greece under the terms of the EU-Turkey migration deal may not have been given the chance to claim for asylum, the UN refugee agency has said.

Police “forgot” to process the asylum claims of 13 of the 202 asylum seekers sent back to Turkey on Monday, the first day the deal was put into practice, according to Vincent Cochetel, director of UNHCR’s Europe bureau.

… Cochetel said on Tuesday that 13 Afghans and Congolese asylum seekers – who reached the Greek island of Chios after 20 March, and who were deported back to Turkey on Monday – were not allowed to formally register their asylum claims, due to administrative chaos on the island.

… Cochetel told the Guardian: “For four days after the 20th, the Greek police did not register any intention to seek asylum as they were no prepared [or] equipped for this, so we started providing forms to people who had declared their intention to seek asylum.”

“The police received most of the people with these forms and … forgot some apparently. It is more a mistake than anything else, we hope.”

…On Monday, more asylum seekers landed in Greece from Turkey (228) than were deported in the opposite direction (202).

Meanwhile…

UPATE:

Listen back to Drivetime interview in full here

Greece may have deported asylum seekers by mistake, says UN (Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian)

Pic: Andrew Connolly

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