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Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh and chairman Frank Daly at the launch of NAMA annual report 2013 in May

Donal O’Donovan, of the Irish Independent, reports:

NAMA is to invest up to €1.8bn to provide high end office space in the Dublin docklands area, the agency’s chief executive Brendan McDonagh said at an event in Dublin.
…
Infrastructure required by “cash strapped local authorities” and Irish Water is also being paid for by the agency, he said.

In order to plan housing investment the agency, along with the IBF, paid for the ESRI to undertake “serious research” that has established real demand out to 2030, he said.

NAMA to invest up to €1.8bn in office space at Dublin Docklands (Independent.ie)

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Last night.

Irish supporters of a yes vote for an independent Scotland in tomorrow’s referendum at the statue of Edinburgh-born James Connolly outside Liberty Hall, Dublin.

Meanwhile….

“Who are you my friend? Who are you Scotland?
Are you A Brit or a Scot?
Can we move on from dated notions of Patriotism.
We are one Human race, so Look beyond my Face.
I am with you in Scotland, with your Natural Gas and Single Malt.
I am with you in Scotland with your deep fried Mars Bars and Irn-Bru
I am with you in Scotland, stand up and look at you.
I am with you in Scotland, this is no joke?
Let’s Burn the Empire, make it go down in smoke.
You’re a proud people, with a strong history.
So just think of what WIlliam Wallace or Robbie Burns would say.
I met a band in Armenia, they’re called the Bambir.
They make music to Rumi and Robbie Burns, two poets they love so well.
They also love Blake, who wrote Heaven and Hell.
Think of this Scotland, a rock band in Armenia play music to the words from your Man.
They toured around Ireland, I helped with my van.
They are an amazing people and they love the Celts.
In ancient Armenia they have Celtic Crosses too.
They love Scotland and Ireland now what will we do?
We are all distant cousins, if you go back far enough.
So forget about Cameron, no more of his GUFF.
I am with you in Scotland; who the feck are YE?
I am with you in Scotland; now what to do.
I am with you in Scotland, stand and fight,
Let’s build a Socialist Europe, WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
I am with you in Scotland, from Iona to the Edinburgh Streets,
I am with you in Scotland, let’s move to the funky beat!
I am with you in Scotland, time to be free,
I am with you in Scotland, we share a common ancestry!
I am with you in scotland, last words to James Connolly.
Who was executed under the orders of Kind George, Easter 1916.
“Why should I murder a German worker for a British King, when I have more in common with my German Comrade…”
A Marxist from Glasgow, that’s not all that he said,
‘The Great only seem Great as we are on our knees, Rise Up’.
‘Sure that’s mad Mad Ted’.
(Needs a polish, and a nice heavy bass).”

By Rip Tides

 

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Nialler9 writes:

Anyone who browses gig listings like I do every week, may have noticed that The Academy venue on Middle Abbey Street in Dublin has not hosted an event for a while.

I presumed it was due to a planned break, but today, it was announced that the venue has been renovated into a “contemporary performance space that draws influence from the Victorian music hall style,” and the refurbishments include new lighting and upgraded sound system.

Dublin’s The Academy venue is being refurbished and reopening under new management (Nialler9)

Pic: Dublinrocks

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An excellent, award winning 2013 short by Jill Beardsworth and Keith Walsh of Twopair Films in which  a group of men sit in a West of Ireland pub on the day of the analogue to digital TV switchover, baffled at the vagaries of a fast changing world.

A universal tale.

curiousbrain

(H/T: Rich)

gumtree

What!?

Alan O’Regan writes:

“I’m signed up for notifications to my phone for illustration jobs and I got this e-mail (above) this morning. This shows the high value Illustrators have in this country. 120 illustrations (if they were any good) would take me at least 2 weeks (if you’re talking about completing maybe 9 a day – which is a stretch) and this individual is willing to pay €100. Sickening.”

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Tonight on BBC2, Martin Sixsmith (author of Philomena) goes on a journey to investigate the Irish Catholic Church’s role in an adoption trade which saw thousands of ‘illegitimate’ children taken from their mothers and sent abroad, often with donations to the Church flowing in the other direction.

In Ireland and in America, Martin hears the moving stories of the parents and children whose lives were changed forever and discovers evidence that prospective parents were not properly vetted – sometimes with tragic consequences.

He also witnesses the struggle of mother and child in their attempts to find each other across continents before it is too late. With no one willing to help and information scarce, for some it feels like after all these years the Catholic Church is still trying to keep them apart.

On BBC Two tonight at 9pm and RTÉ One tomorrow at 10:15pm.

Ireland’s Lost Babies (BBC)

Previously: After Philomena

The Art Of Storytelling

Anything Good On BBC News At Ten?

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We don’t normOMNOMNOMNOM

Lorna writes:

“One lunchbox (like above), containing a rather delicious chicken, spinach and red cauliflower lunch (I swear it’s tasty). Left at the Dublin Bike stand on Barrow Street at 9/9:05 this morning. I blame sleeping out the alarm and rushing/being late for work. Failing a reunion, I hope someone can enjoy a tasty lunch on my behalf.”

Red cauliflower?

Anyone?

Broadsheet.ie