Ah here.

FIGHT!

Meanwhile…

Comedian Sean Collins tweetz:

As entertainers keep showing pics of them sitting in a chair getting the “Jab” , here is one of me sitting in a chair NOT getting the jab… All good so far, no side effects.

It’s a waiting game.

Susan Kiernan with a portrait of herself as a young girl. Susan was illegally adopted at four days old.

Last night.

RTÉ Investigates: Illegal Adoptions.

In case you missed it.

Laura Fitzgerald writes:

Dublin woman Susan Kiernan – who featured on last night’s programme – learned as a child she was adopted. She spent years unsuccessfully trying to trace her birth mother when out of the blue in 2018 she received a letter from TUSLA looking to set up a meeting with her.

She was told she was one of the 126 babies illegally adopted. She managed to sneak copies of some of her documents during the meeting but was later provided with redacted records when she went through official channels.

Among the documents seen last night was a demand for £85, the fee St Patrick’s Guild charged pregnant women to care for their babies until adopted – the equivalent of over €3,200 in today’s money.

But when Susan’s birth mother did not pay her fee, the Sisters of Charity went in pursuit. Two months on they threatened to send the child back to her.

The documents showed a year on Susan’s birth mother was still struggling to pay the nuns and they began phoning Arnotts, where she worked as a shop assistant. The balance due was £82-10s…

“If you do not send, my collector will call to see you. She would prefer not to have to do this as it might be embarrassing for you and we want to safeguard your reputation. We have not failed you; you have failed us“.

However, Susan’s birth mother was unaware the letters to return her baby, were nothing more than idle threats. Because Susan could not have been returned – she had in fact already long since been placed with her adoptive parents at only four days old.

Watch back here

Meanwhile….

Last night.

Update:

This morning.

Pic: RTÉ

Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney

This morning.

Further to yesterday’s move by the British government to unilaterally change how the Northern Ireland Protocol is implemented….

…Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said:

“If the UK cannot simply be trusted because they take unilateral action in an unexpected way without negotiation, well then the British government leaves the EU with no option and that is not where we want to be.”

Ireland’s European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said

“It does open a question mark about global Britain if this is how global Britain would negotiate with other partners.”

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said:

“This is not the appropriate behaviour of a respectable country, quite frankly.”

EU negotiating with partner it cannot trust – Coveney (RTÉ)

Ireland says UK not behaving like a ‘respectable country’ (Reuters)

RollingNews

From top: Green Party’s Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform in the Housing Department, after his election to the Dáil in the Carlow–Kilkenny constituency last year; Dan Boyle

There are many policy/legislative milestones I would like to see Greens in government achieving. One particular bill I would be invested in, is a bill I know will bring no particular political advantage, but has the capacity of bringing about a better politics.

The Electoral Reform Bill, being piloted by Green Minister of State Malcolm Noonan and currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny, will help establish an independent electoral commission in Ireland.

Why is that important? A permanent, ongoing independent electoral commission would become a fail safe for democratic norms here.

It would be responsible for the upkeep and regular updating of the voter register, making it easier and less mysterious for voters to register.

It would act as an honest arbiter in ensuring that voters are kept properly informed, less subjected to propaganda and untruths.

The McKenna and Coughlan judgements have seen temporary commissions established to oversee the conduct of individual constitutional referenda, as and when they have occurred.

The fitful nature of these commissions has undermined their effectiveness. The temporary nature of each has meant the ability to properly police those advocating in each referendum has been undermined through the knowledge that each commission was a passing entity.

This could be best seen during the 2012 Children’s Rights referendum, when then Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald flagrantly abused the McKenna Judgement in using State resources in an overwhelmingly biased way.

An permanent commission could seek information on the scale and use of resources, in all elections, prior to their being expended.

By continuing to exist after each election or referendum it would acquire the ability to directly take on malfeasance.

A third role, and equally important function, of an electoral commission would be to review and fairly define constituency boundaries.

On the surface this has largely been independent for a number of decades. However the review process has been ad hoc, with government ministers setting out the terms of reference, as and when such review groups were formed. A permanent electoral commission would bring continuity and better objectivity to this.

A new area a permanent electoral commission would have responsibility for is the regulation of online political advertising. The effect of disinformation in recent elections, throughout the world, has obviously been malign. The powers given and the ability to use such powers will be key. Undoubtedly disinformation with the intent of subverting democracy needs to be taken seriously.

The most interesting aspect of the bill are the measures to allow for an increase in postal voting, and for the holding of elections on more than one day.

The pandemic is influencing the physical way we might vote in the future. It also will probably influence the who we might vote for as well.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

Pic via KCR

The brain of a baby Zebrafish lights up when you play it MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This, according to a New Zealand scientist

A boffin has tried to explain
What happens in a fish’s brain
When it hears MC Hammer
She must be a scammer
As her actions don’t sound fully sane

John Moynes

Rex/Alamy

Broadsheet.ie