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This afternoon.

Baile na Laochra (Town of the Heroes), Poppintree, Ballymun, Dublin 11

Building work starts on the site where Dublin City Council has entered into a contract with Western Building Systems to provide 22 modular homes. to wit:

 

1 2

Sam writes:

The first stage of modular home provision consists of two-storey, three-bedroom homes which will be available for families to move into before Christmas.  It is estimated that the cost for the provision of the 22 homes will be €4.2 million…

Modular Housing – Baile na Laochra (Dublin City Council)

(Dublin City Council)

(Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie)

sea-organ

Constructed in 2005 at Zadar in Croatia, the Sea Organ is a 70m long ‘acoustic jetty’ designed by architect Nikola Bašić. The structure incorporates  35 polyethylene tubes of varying diameter inside which air, displaced by waves, is forced through large whistles tuned to play seven chords of five tones all day long, every day.

In 2006 it won the European Prize for Urban Public Space, inspiring the creation of Peter Richards and George Gonzalez’s Wave Organ in San Francisco.

colossal

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General secretary of the INMO Liam Doran at a press conference this morning; above with Claire Doran, president of INMO

Liam Doran, general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, spoke to Audrey Carville on RTÉ’s News At One this lunchtime following INMO members voting for strike action on December 15.

Towards the end of the interview Ms Carville asked Mr Doran about his salary, in light of the controversy over salaries at the Irish Farmers’ Association.

Audrey Carville: “I just want to ask you, finally, on another issue. It’s to do with the controversy over the pay of leading members and senior executives in the IFA [Irish Farmers’ Association]. And you might be aware that you are one of 20 union representative body leaders, in the Irish Independent today, who haven’t disclosed what they earn. Do you want to tell the public now what you earn?”

Liam Doran: “No, I’ve no further comment to make on that. That’s between, the INMO is a good employer for all of its staff, including myself.”

Carville: “Do you now think the public has the right to know?”

Doran: “I’ve no further comment to make. That’s a matter between the IMO is a good employer and for myself and the other staff in the organisation.”

Carville: “Who funds your salary?”

Doran: “Members.”

Carville: “Members. And do you think nurses and midwives would like to know what you earn?”

Doran: “But sure our structure is dealt within the executive council and our annual conference every year so I have no difficulty that our membership, through the branches, know what the grading structure is in operation in the house. That’s what it’s always been and I presume that’s what it will continue to be.”

Carville: “I’m just wondering, like the IFA, you know, might the members at grassroots be surprised and angry at what the executive earns.”

Doran: “Well, I have, I believe I have absolute confidence in the executive council that governs all employment relation issues in the organisation and I think they totally respect the executive council and, as I said, I’ve no further comment to make on that.”

Listen back in full here

Majority of union and lobby group bosses refuse to disclose salaries (Irish Independent)

Previously: A Pig In A Poke

Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

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Documents obtained by journalist Ken Foxe following a Freedom of Information request

Five Oireachtas politicians went to Hanoi, Vietnam in March of this year for a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly which meets twice a year.

They were Fine Gael Cathaoirleach of the Seanad Paddy Burke, Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin, Labour TD John Lyons, Fine Gael TD Noel Harrington and Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen.

The total cost of the trip amounted to €23,295.80.

Last night, journalist Ken Foxe – who broke the story in yesterday’s Irish Daily Mail following an FOI request – spoke to Mary Wilson on RTÉ’s Drivetime about the trip.

He explained that the trip cost more than expected, saying:

“There seems to have been a problem with the original flights that had been booked, via London, whereby the Vietnamese government came back to the Oireachtas and basically said that they were block-booking certain flights. So some of the travel arrangements had to be changed at the last minute and a couple of people had to travel out a day earlier. So there was additional costs associated with the flights and then there was extra nights at a hotel. But, in general, the costs were extremely high for this sort of trip, certainly when compared to the last four or five years when costs had generally been kept to a minimum.”

He explained that Deputy Mulherin’s flight – at almost €3,000 – was more expensive than her colleagues as she had to change her business class flight at short notice and return to Dublin for parliamentary business.

All of the politicians stayed in the five-star Lotte Hanoi Hotel.

Speaking about the hotel, Mr Foxe reported:

“It’s in the upper floors of a 65-storey skyscraper in Hanoi. It promises a new standard of international five-star hotel. The standard rooms there offer luxurious marble bathrooms, Hungarian goose feather bedding, menus of pillows and, apparently, a touch of Vietnamese sophistication.”

While every politician on the trip is entitled to claim for substance expenses, only Labour’s John Lyons has done so, so far.

His claim was for €856.69.

TDs and Senators travelling abroad are entitled to claim a daily “conference rate” which is set by Department of Foreign Affairs – with different rates set for different cities visited.

The politicians can also receive a top-up for certain types of trips – a system which was first set up in the 1950s and one which the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has refused to reform, despite requests to do so from the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Listen back to Drivetime in full here

Thanks Ken Foxe

Broadsheet.ie