donovanThe New York Times on Ireland’s recovery:

But in the suburb of Shankill [Co Dublin] where John Donovan (above) , 55, lives, the economic hubbub is absent. Many of his neighbors are barely scraping by. He moved into his mother’s small cottage after his hardware supply business buckled during the crisis.

With his scant savings eroded, he shoots pigeons for food and grills them outdoors to reduce his gas and grocery bills. “I do that just to live,” he said.

 

Hardships Linger for a Mending Ireland (Liz Alderman, New York Times)

(Paulo Nunes dos Santos/NYT)

Thanks Brian

17/12/2011. Christmas Scenes Shoppers

According to the ESRI, from their latest report, Social Transfers and Poverty Alleviation in Ireland, 2004-2011; Ireland claims the top spot in Europe for AROP (At Risk of Poverty Rate).

The at-risk-of-poverty rate before social transfers is the share of persons with an equivalised disposable income, before social transfers, below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers).

 

arop-eu15aroptime

The Best Little Country In…Which to Be At Risk of Poverty (Brian Lucey)

Previously: Best For Business

Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

529542_523872117720187_1290502459_n

Bordered by Aughrim Street, Prussia Street and the North Circular Road, the Dublin cattle market was opened by the Rt. Hon. J.P. Vereher, Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1863. It was one of the biggest in Britain or Ireland. It operated every Thursday and before the break of dawn, cattle would arrive in by road from all parts of Ireland, primarily coming from Celbridge, Chapelizod, Dunshaughlin and Ashbourne. Some grazed overnight in fields along the Cabra Road. Many farmers indulged in the spit and shake excitement of selling the poor auld beasties amid the confines of the City Arms Hotel in Prussia Street and Hanlon’s Pub.

The poo-trails radiating out from the place were said to be legendary.

wistorical

(H/T: Spaghetti Hoop)

feeding

Meat meant for dog food is believed to have ended up in the human food chain in an “industrial-scale” fraud carried out in Northern Ireland, a government report has found.

The Elliott Review into food supply said the fraud came to light in 2005. The report said the potential profit on about 1,000 tonnes of meat found was in the region of £3m. The report did not state where in Northern Ireland the so-called “Category 3 meat” was found, but it was located after officials traced a suspicious container that had arrived in Northern Ireland from Asia.

The report said it became evident “that the primary business of the cold store was repacking and re-labelling as fit for human consumption Cat 3 ABP meat”. Category 3 ABP meat is defined by government as meat that has been passed fit for human consumption but which is not intended to be eaten. It may include hides, hair, feathers and bones.

Dog food meat ‘ended up in human food chain’ says report (Conor Macauley, BBC News NI)

90173291[Journalist Tom Clonan, whose son is a patient of the Central Remedial Clinic]

Show you care.

Let him bare.

“I have four children, one of my boys [age 11] has a serious neuro-muscular disease and has attended the CRC for the last ten years. So for the last ten years we’ would have maybe three or four appointments in the CRC per week – physio, occupational therapy – and I know that there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands who are in a similar situation, who are carers of children who are disabled, or family members who are disabled. And the effect of this so-called controversy on the CRC has been devastating.
“You know, we deal with people, over the last decade, who put their hands on the limbs of our children, they provide a place of safety for us, they replace fear with hope. It’s because of the staff at the CRC, the therapists, the occupational therapists, the doctors, the neurologists, the paediatricians, the electro neurologists, the surgeons – and fortunately, I know them all.
“They are the reason that people like me can sleep at night. They have been very badly damaged by this tactical leak wich… and this story about the top-ups is purely a distraction from the damage that James Reilly is doing, and this government is doing, to our health services, and to front-line services – not just in the CRC, but across the public health system, and it’s an absolute disgrace.”

“…the CRC board, like many boards are full of political appointees, and we still have a political culture that appoints their own. So for Fine Gael and Labour…… and I saw Brendan Howlin express surprise at this issue – they still operate the same culture, there’s been no change since this government took office. We were promised new politics – we certainly haven’t got that.
“But I have to say that the staff in the CRC are as bewildered by this so-called controversy as are the service users and the clients, and they, and the other charities are the ones who are paying the price. And there needs to be a context put on this so that charities and institutions like the CRC don’t continue to suffer in this way.
“I think journalists need to put a context on this and ask the question, ‘Why was this information released to the Public Accounts Committee a week or two weeks after the chief executives of the voluntary hospitals put it up to James Reilly as being dangerous to patient safety?’ – and that’s what this is about, a smoke-screen for James Reilly’s absolutely disgraceful stewardship of the HSE.”

Tom Clonan on RTE’s Prime Time, Tuesday night.

Earlier: All De Bertie’s Men

(James Horan/Photocall Ireland)

grafton

http://vimeo.com/81542887

…brassy, wanton thoroughfare by night.

The Grafton Street, Dublin Xmas shopping timelapse experience by Gareth Byrne involving 750 photographs in 24 hours.

Thanks Spaghetti Hoop

Meanwhile…

camden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYvjufsa85E

Just up the road.

Camden Street, Dublin’s Xmas makeover from the damn creative hipsters at Camden Street-based ‘experiential agency’ Modern Green.

Broadsheet.ie