ascaravan
[Direct provision accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Lissywoolen, Athlone, Co. Westmeath]

Last night, Prime Time looked at the system of direct provision, posing the question: is the system unfair or a necessary deterrent?

Direct provision is the institutional system which includes accommodation, meals and a personal allowance of €19.10 per adult and €9.60 per child, per week, to asylees. They are not allowed to work. An EU directive would allow asylees to work in Ireland but the State declined to sign it.

Many have been waiting for over seven years in accommodation centres, such as the one in in Lissywoolen, above, for their application to be processed.

New rules to be introduced this year should see the application process speeded up for the  4,600 or so asylees that are currently in Ireland – approximately 1,700 of whom are children with many living in the direct provision system all their lives.

On Prime Time last night, reporter Tanya Sillem said a confidential Government briefing paper said the biggest concern about any alternative reception system would be the ‘pull factor’, basically a better system could attract more asylees.

Meanwhile…

Charlie

During the programme, Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan, above, defended the State’s direct provision system, saying:

“They can’t earn money. They can’t earn, if you like, a living. What the State does is provides a sum of €19 a week. Of course it’s insufficient but this is the direct provision regime. We have to ensure that Ireland is not an attractive place for applicants to arrive on our shores in numbers that perhaps we simply couldn’t afford or that we couldn’t cope with.”

“I wouldn’t regard [direct provision] as a deterrent. I would recognise that there is a pull factor. That if we have a very attractive regime – where people can come in, sign up for very attractive social welfare rates on day one, that pull factor is going to be realised and we will have a challenge as a State, we’d find it very, very difficult to cope with.”

Watch here

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[Actress Kelly Campbell (top) and (above), from left: film director Lenny Abrahamson, Birch Hamilton Executive Director Digital Biscuit, Cinematographer Ciaran Tanham and Kelly]

Launching the Digital Biscuit 2014 festival yesterday.

Taking place between January 22-24 at the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin.

Emily sez:

Digital Biscuit is an annual collaborative movement of film-enthusiasts, film-makers, and industry people with one goal in mind: to inspire creativity through technology. It brings together film-enthusiasts and creatives across new media and the digital industry over a three day event of ground-breaking workshops, screenings, tech demonstrations, and exciting talks from industry members. Participants share knowledge and experience, interact with new technology, and inspire a new wave of creativity.

Blimey.

Digital Biscuit 2014

(Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

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[An event this evening in memory of Tom O’Gorman organised by the Irish Pro-Life Campaign ]

“He didn’t fit neatly into left or right. He would have been very aware of the need for social justice. He was an orthodox Catholic and lived that out in his life but he was in no way strident. He was involved in his faith. He was involved in the Focolare Movement, which emphasises spirituality for the everyday.” ““this is like something apocalyptic visited upon an innocent individual.”

Breda O Brien, Iona Institute and Irish Times columnist.

“Tom was a wonderful man, a wonderful character. I mean he was great company, a great mimic. He’d a wonderful sense of humour, very proud of his Catholic faith, very involved in his Catholic faith and similar causes. In terms of interests really, a renaissance man, a great interest in music, a great interest in films, in poetry, in literature, in politics. He was very easy company.”

Michael Kelly, editor of The Irish Catholic.

“A Catholic by conviction, he had thought about the issues and grappled with them in a way most Catholics never do.”

Sarah McDonald, CatholicIreland.net.

“”Tom was an absolute gentleman. He was one of those guys who was absolutely inoffensive. The idea that anybody could have a bad word to say about him is incredible…”
…Tom liked to talk about politics and history. He was a dedicated member of the Focolare, an international Catholic movement based in Italy that promotes peace and reconciliation among Christians. Once or twice a year Tom would take himself off to Italy for a Focolare meeting. But if truth be told, the two things Tom liked to talk about the most, in my company at least, were rugby and football. Rugby was his first love and he had a rugby correspondent’s knowledge of the game. (He also did a fantastic impersonation of George Hook, come to think of it.).”

David Quinn, Iona Institute and Irish Independent columnist.

waghorne

Irish Daily Mail [not available online]

 

A Gentleman and A Good Guy (Cormac Murphy, Independent.ie)

Friends Of Tom O’Gorman Speak Warmly Of Murdered Man (Peter Murtagh, Irish Times)

My Deep Sense of Loss (David Quinn, Independent.ie)

 

OKGO
https://vimeo.com/65421081

A video that made the top ten for OK Go’s recent music video contest. Directed By S. Palmer, who sez:

My approach to the video was to build a storyline around the lyrics using mainly the Instagram feeds from the members of the band (over 40 of their pics are represented in some manner in the video). I used their online presence elsewhere (Twitter, Youtube, blog interviews, etc.) to help fill in the gaps.

curiousbrain

Broadsheet.ie