This morning.
Fine Gael Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe (left) and unidentified friends in Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
Gavan Reilly tweetz:
“Caption competition.”
If you insist…
Update:
Contortionist and aerialist Maria Combarros with Paschal Donohoe and Failte Ireland marketing director Noel John Mcloughlin launching Failte Ireland and Dublin City Council’s programme of events for NYF [New Year Festival] Dublin.
(Sam Boal/Rollingnews,.ie)
From top: Mary Boyle; from left: Solicitor Darragh Mackin, Margo O’Donnell, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mary Boyle’s sister Ann Doherty in Government Buildings
Further to the meeting between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Ann Doherty, the twin sister of murdered schoolgirl Mary Boyle…
Gemma O’Doherty writes:
The Taoiseach has sent a personal letter to Ann Doherty, the twin sister of Mary Boyle, acknowledging ‘the pain and distress she has endured through many years.’
It follows their meeting of last Thursday (November 19) in Government Buildings where she informed Enda Kenny of her belief that Mary’s killer has been protected for almost four decades by some people known to the murdered schoolgirl and some members of the Gardai.
Mary was six when she vanished on her grandparents’ farm in Cashelard, Donegal in March, 1977. Her remains have never been found.
Ann believes her identical twin was murdered by somebody known to her because she was going to reveal a terrible secret.
She has also been informed by a number of retired officers that a politician made a phone call to Ballyshannon station in the days after the murder requesting that certain people were not to be considered suspects. Ann believes the investigation was hindered as a result.
Mr Kenny thanked Ann for meeting him and for ‘the honest manner’ in which she spoke ‘from the heart’ about her sister Mary.
‘I cannot begin to imagine the pain and distress you have endured in the many years that have gone by,’ he said.
Mr Kenny said he had sent a report about the meeting and the points made by Ann to the Department of Justice to be forwarded to the Gardai and the Donegal Coroner Dr Denis McCauley.
He also said that he hoped Ann would achieve a ‘resolution on this difficult journey.’
Ann has expressed gratitude to Mr Kenny for taking the time to meet her and has asked that he now publicly endorse her campaign for justice, which she has taken to Brussels, Stormont and Westminster.
Ann attended the meeting with her husband Shane, her solicitor Darragh Mackin and her cousin Margo O’Donnell.
“We had a productive meeting with the Taoiseach,” she said.
“He is now aware of the very serious concerns we have about what happened to Mary and he is also aware that there have been issues of child safety in relation to her killer for almost 40 years.
“I hope he will come out publicly now to support our camapign to find Mary and to encourage the Gardai to finally act and bring her killer to justice.”
Mr Kenny telephoned Margo O’Donnell earlier this week to say he would do all he could to support the women in their search for Mary and would contact her again in the coming days with an update on the matter.
Previously: The Meeting For Mary
Mary Boyle And ‘Political Interference’
Pic: Gemma O’Doherty
Joe Murray, from Afri, writes:
“Here’s a new video we’ve been working on with students from Mount Temple School [U2’s alma mater] in Clontarf, Dublin ahead of the historic Paris climate talks, COP21. Any help appreciated getting the word out. We feel it’s especially important now that the march in Paris is banned.”
Related: Paris climate march banned: what do you want to say to UN climate talks? (The Guardian)
A second Le Cool Dublin cover from Dublin-based graphic designer Graham Thew
Graham sez:
“When I started my career, the full horror of clipart had yet to be come apparent. Prior to this, designers and architects often used these rub-down Letraset transfers for images as well as basic typography for all kinds of projects. Whilst they were incredibly limiting, there was a certain charm in both their Mad Men aesthetic and their decidedly satisfying method of application. I’d swap my pressure sensitive graphics tablet right now for a handful of these vintage lovelies.”
This week’s Le Cool Dublin issue here
Attendees at the recent constitutional convention
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has declared that he will give Fine Gael TDs a free vote on repeal of the Eighth Amendment following a constitutional convention on the matter to be held after the general election. This begs a simple question: why?
Whether Fine Gael likes it or not, repeal of the Eighth Amendment is a live issue in this election; people of all opinions are raising it on the doorsteps, campaigns from both sides of the debate are in full swing, and the Greens and Labour have had the courage to put an actual policy in place.
One does not need a rarefied process of discussion with a small number of “the people” and elected representatives to know there is sufficient disagreement and momentum to justify a referendum on repeal; one simply needs to respond to the demands of the polity.
The last time Fine Gael established a convention to consider constitutional change it held referenda on two of the emerging proposals (marriage equality and presidential age), accepted three more, parked eight, rejected five, gave unclear responses to two, and ignored 20.
Given this track record, can the Taoiseach’s commitment to “considering” repeal of the Eighth Amendment be called a “policy”, not to mention an example of leadership?Prof Fiona de Londras,
University of Birmingham
School of Law
Rhetoric and the Eighth Amendment (Irish Times letters page)
Pic: Political Reform
This morning the guards put a dent,
In the profits of gangsters who meant,
To sell fake aftershave,
So their punters could save,
But the peelers are now on the scent.
John Moynes
(Irish Times)
A fascinating article about the military deception using rubber tanks, mocked up artillery pieces and sound effects broadcast by the US Signals Division using state of the art amplifiers which gave the impression of large troop movements to mislead the Germans in the later stages of WW2. To wit:
All the men were told that they had to consider themselves part of a travelling roadshow ready to perform at a moment’s notice. One week they might pretend to be the 75th Infantry Division, the next the 9th Armored Division. ‘We must remember that we are playing to a very critical and attentive radio, ground, and aerial audience,’ Ghost Army commander Colonel Harry Reeder explained to his officers. ‘They must all be convinced.’
