nsa whistleblowerKevin_Brophy_02Why Edward Snowden (top) is never coming to Ireland.

Human rights lawyer Kevin Brophy (above) writes:

Over the last few days I have been reading the most ridiculous stories in the Irish newspapers. They are to the effect that it is “unlikely” that Edward Snowden would be offered asylum in Ireland. Either that or “on balance” he would not be granted claim political asylum in Ireland. There isn’t the remotest prospect that our bulldog government would upset Blessed Barack in this way.

Edward Snowden is a genuine asylum seeker and there is no prospect that he would receive justice if he were extradited to his home country, the United States of America. He should be a national hero but if he were returned to the United States, he would almost certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.

For many years in Ireland, we had a government appointed official who rejected every single claim for asylum that came before him. There was a deluge of complaints about him but nothing happened until one brave asylum seeker took a case against the Department and was on the verge of obtaining embarrassing Discovery documentation when our brave government conceded the case so as not to have to reveal these incriminating and hugelt embarrassing documents.

In March 2006, seven solicitors working in the area of refugee law swore affidavits stating that this man had never been known to decide a case in favour of an asylum seeker.

He was the Tribunal’s highest earner during the same period.

…In Ireland our record of accepting applications for asylum is lower than almost anywhere else in the world.

So let’s not kid ourselves. And let’s not kid Edward Snowden. We are not Ireland of the welcomes as far as asylum seekers or refugees are concerned and we are certainly not Ireland of the welcomes to anyone who the United States might regard as an enemy….

 

More: Edward Snowden: Welcome To Ireland (Kevin Brophy, Brophy Solicitors)

High Court Refuses US Request For Arrest Warrant (Breakingnews.ie)

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The fire broke out at the Thornfield Square Apartments, Watery Lane, Clondalkin (above) shortly after 5am.

Up to ten units of the fire brigade and ambulance services attended the scene.

There are no reports of serious injuries.

The apartment block is being treated as a crime scene and gardaí believe the fire was started maliciously.

 

Dublin apartment fire may have been started maliciously (RTE)

Pic via Petula Martyn

fiat3fiat1On Sunday, Patrick ‘Carspotter’ Cummins and photographer Oisin Kane attended the Irish Classic & Vintage Motor Show 2013 at Terenure College, Dublin.

Automobiles were perused, shots were taken, Werthers Originals were thoughtfully gummed.

And now, without further ado…

“The Fiat 126 (above) replaced the iconic Fiat 500 in 1972 as Fiat’s small city car. This one is an ELX model and, although it was registered here in 1998, it was manufactured in 1980 according to the owner. Brought in from Poland, the engine is of air-cooled type and apparently 570cc though I’m sure that was just a rough figure – 126s were 594cc standard as per wikipedia. Bumpers were plastic for all models from 1984 onwards but the ones on this example were originally chrome and were replaced with these. Some other minor parts are not original such as the Fiat Cinquecento steering wheel but it’s mostly as it was in 1980. The owner quoted a figure of 15 euro to fill the tank and drive 300 miles. He says it can run at 120kmh but you wouldn’t want to be stressing the engine to that speed regularly.”

lambo1 lambo3 lambo2“At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a Lamborghini Countach. It looks like one. It says Lamborghini Countach on the back. But it’s quite far from the childhood dream-car I grew up drooling over. Rather, this is a Countach kit and is only ‘tached as far as the shell and even that has some differing aesthetics to the original Lambo. Many replicas have been produced and this one boasts the famous Rover V8 engine. The owner is considering putting some BMW engine into it (M5 I think)…”
renualt2renualt1“When Renault wanted to go rallying in the Group B era of the early 1980s, they needed to produce 400 road going models of their anticipated rally machine – in their case, the Renault 5 Turbo. After 400 high performance street models were made, production continued with the Renault 5 Turbo 2. This was not an evolution, rather a regression in that many more stock Renault 5 parts were used. Though performance was comparable with the original version. This is a 1983 model still in left-hand drive. There is 18k miles on the clock and features that awesome mid-engined, rear-wheel drive layout that put it on a different planet to the standard 5.”

More to follow.

(Words: Patrick Cummins; Pix: Oisín Kane)

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