The attack happened last night at a compound belonging to a contractor on the Lacken Road. The damage is estimated to be up to €100,000.
— Damien Tiernan (@damienrte) May 6, 2015
RTÉ reporter Damien Tiernan’s coverage of an overnight blaze/’attack’ at a civil engineering plant and Irish Water pipe contractor in Waterford.
He wants you to join the dots.
Senator Ronán Mullen
Admitting a ‘ Yes’ vote may give constitutional rights to same-sex couples to bring children into the world artificially, including by donor eggs, donor sperm and surrogate mothers, is not a vote winner.
Every child has an equal right to be brought into the world, raised and loved, by his or her own mother and father. The circumstances of life mean it doesn’t always happen. But never before has the State taken away that right. That’s what a ‘ Yes’ vote would mean. In the Constitution, the State pledges to “guard with special care the institution of marriage on which the family is founded”.
If marriage is redefined on May 22, so also is family. Same-sex couples will have the rights that go with marriage – including the right to start a family. How can a same sex couple start a family? For a female couple, it would mean using sperm donated by some young man in Ireland or abroad.
A same-sex male couple will use the egg of some female student or some poor woman abroad. A surrogate mother must carry the child for them. And that’s the last bit of mothering that child will ever have.
Senator Ronán Mullen
Steady on.
*weeps*
Do not pass go.
Rose writes:
A Tuesday evening at St. Sylvester’s church [Malahide, Co Dublin]
Labour’s Minister for Environment Alan Kelly
The Civil Debt Procedure Bill…will allow companies such as Irish Water to deduct people’s welfare payments or earnings.
…Amounts deducted from any welfare payments will be limited, due to the fact that there is a restriction on what can be deducted to ensure claimants have enough for day-to-day living.
The measures for deducting welfare and earnings are being drafted on the back of a Law Reform Commission report in 2010.
Separate proposals will be discussed at the cabinet table today on how tenants who refuse to pay their water bills could have unpaid amounts deducted from their deposits.
And the very best of luck with all of that.
Irish Water debt measures brought before Cabinet (Juno McEntee, irish Examiner)
(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djhO1W62nI4
Mark ‘Comedy’ Kelly.
Does he make you laugh?
Mark writes:
I know you don’t normally do this but I did some stand up comedy last night [at the Ha’penny Laugh Comedy Club, Wellington Quay, Dublin] I would love to know what your readers think.
It is still a little raw around the edges but I talk about people who annoy me the up coming marriage referendum and little bit on billionaires…
Anyone?
The eve of 1992 General Election issue of The UK Sun (top) and today’s cover (above).
Ah here.
Research by the Media Standards Trust found that 95% of the leader columns in Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid were anti-Labour ahead of Thursday’s general election, compared with 79% that were judged anti-Labour in 1992.
…Rupert Murdoch is said to have berated journalists on the Sun for not doing enough to stop Labour winning the election and warned of the consequences of a [Ed] Miliband win for the future of News UK.
Miliband has said he will take action against the amount of power wielded by Murdoch in a review of rules regulating media ownership in the UK…..
Sun has torn into Ed Miliband even more viciously than it hit Neil Kinnock (Guardian)
Mothers and Fathers – I Will Always Love You
Mothers & Fathers write:
We are a duo from North Dublin, working together sporadically over the past three years. I Will Always Love You is a response to the bigotry and homophobic rhetoric used against those seeking equality in Ireland’s upcoming referendum.
Stay for the Facebook entry (at 1.55)
MT @levdavidovic @broadsheet_ie ‘Fermat’s Last Poster’? (Grattan Bridge Dublin) pic.twitter.com/CJ5p5AKtr0 #MarRef #edchatie #mathchat @SLSingh
— Neil Butler (@mrNeilButler) May 5, 2015
Wake up.
Sheep people.
Liamo writes:
While hiking around the Galty mountains last weekend I came across at least ten dead sheep and lambs with the carcasses left abandoned on the hills. Not one bore [any] sign of being attacked by dogs.
Wicklow hill-men who were with me said the sheep were likely dying of mineral deficiencies and that it cost more to safely dispose of the carcasses in accordance with health and safety and waste legislation than the sheep was worth.
I wondered whether some of your commenters would reassess their position in regards the welfare of hill sheep and the perceived dangers from dogs in light of this clear evidence of sheer neglect by their humans?
Killian Nolan writes:
In traffic on the Swords road (Whitehall) earlier [yesterday] evening