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Cape Town, South Africa

President Higgins with Thulani Mabaso, a political prisioner at Robben Island from 1986-91 and known by fellow detainees as ‘Bobby Sands’ because of the hunger strikes he took part in during his captivity, in Nelson Mandela’s Cell during a visit to Robben Island, Cape Town, on the 19th day of the Presidents 22-day official visit to Ethiopia, Malawi and South Africa.

(DFA/Photocall Ireland)

Update:

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Squee and Thulani in the prison yard at Robben Island.

(DFA/Photocall ireland)

Meanwhile…

“The [Irish] system of Direct Provision by which they [asylum seekers] are put in to places of accommodation and may remain there for eight to ten years is totally unsatisfactory, almost in every aspect of it. I believe that we desperately need a revision both of the process and of the law….”
“…It is more than just an Irish case. If you take the founding treaties of the European Union and the position of the freedom of movement within them, to what extent then is any government free to contradict what is a commitment to the act itself. So, it is a problem.”

President Higgins speaking yesterday in South Africa

$_57-1jay$_57

Gulp.

Sibling of Daedalus writes:

Handmade Irish nun collector’s character doll, by ‘Jay of Dublin’, dating from the 1970s, from a range consisting of ‘characters drawn from the counties of Ireland, depicting the diverse inhabitants and their equally diverse occupations’.
One characteristic of Jay’s Irish Nun dolls, was that they all had some kind of visible facial deformity, varying from doll to doll (each face was individually hand painted). This one appears to have a smallpox scar. Here‘s another Jay of Dublin nun doll with a different skin condition, erysipelas this time, I think…

Good times.

*plays with ‘Fr. Ken’*

Nun Doll By Jays (eBay)

michellem

“I look forward to seeing already the implementation on the ground in my own town €5m has been spent on fixing leaking pipes. Pipes that had local authorities out every other day, fixing pipes along the road, such a waste of resources. Businesses, substantial businesses without water, whole housing estates without water and when you look into the ground which I did myself, the pipes had just simply melted….

And of course, water charges are not popular but the social benefits that we will reap now and into the future and already the plans for Roscommon are being implemented and people will in the very short-term I expect and we’ve been told will benefit from that. We will all reap it in the end. We are building something for the future here. We are addressing problems that under the previous system could not be addressed in the past. So let us not be swatted from our goal in returning this country to its productive very best by those who talk but don’t have a clue how to do it.”

Mayo TD Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) speaking in the Dáil this morning on Irish Water.

There you go now.

ikea-duktig-bed-hack-cat-bed-19
ikea-duktig-bed-hack-cat-bed-16

‘sup?

Finally.

Mattress Kitty.

The $20 Duktig is officially a toy bed for children’s dolls, but it also seems to have become IKEA’s first foray into the pet furniture market. Incidentally, the slot at either end of the bed is an excellent feature for cats – it lets them stick their tails out if they want to relax.

Japanese Cat Owners Turn IKEA Doll Beds Into Adorable Cat Beds (BoredPanda)

Screen Shot 2014-11-20 at 13.13.37

 

“You have made a very serious mistake here today. I think it is an historic day, as the minister said. Ye had an opportunity to listen, ye had an opportunity to step back and abolish the charges and Irish Water. You haven’t taken that opportunity. And the reality is, is that no one can govern against the will of the people. And you’ve lost the will  and the mandate of people and, honestly, your days are now numbered. And if you had any respect for yourself, you really should go to the people and call a general election because we’ve had to listen to a lot of waffle about democracy, from the Taoiseach over the weekend, aided and abetted by some of his friends in the media, trying to discredit a people’s movement, trying to insult people? That they would allow themselves to be led by a sinister fringe? Where was the coverage to the 200 women in Coolock who peacefully protested outside the [Garda] station last night?”

“Those who are undermining democracy are not in the communities, they’re sitting across the way there because ye went to the people. You said, ‘vote for Labour and we’ll save you from Fine Gael’s water charges’. Fine Gael said, ‘vote for us and we’ll never bring in a charge unless meters are in’. That’s not democracy, that is fraud. And you have betrayed the people of this country, you’ve succeeded in awakening a sleeping giant of the Irish people. And, do you know what, now that they’re awake, they actually like it and they’re not going back into their box. December the 10th will be absolutely enormous, in my opinion. I don’t think you’ll survive it, unless you cop on before that. But if you try and limp along, after that date, you will find that this charge will be absolutely uncollectable by the time you try and bring it in and collect that in April. But I strongly suspect that it’s not going to be your problem because you’ll probably be gone before then.”

United Left Alliance TD, Clare Daly in the Dáil yesterday, speaking during Leader’s Questions.

Transcribed by Bodger last night.

Meanwhile…

Screen Shot 2014-11-20 at 13.18.32

The official transcript on Oireachtas.ie.

Anyone?

Clare Daly speech here

Previously: The Pink Ladies

Broadsheet.ie