At the Giant’s Causeway, Co Antrim.

By Martin McKenna, who sez:

The aurora we saw was sublime!, the best I have seen here since 2005 with vertical green pillars of light some 60 degrees high accompanied by amazing pulsating/flaming motions like the beating of a heart which was jaw dropping. We could even see the beams reflecting on the ocean forming their own glitter paths – what a night!! Canon 450D, 18mm, ISO1600

And nearby Ballintoy Harbour:

Via SpaceWeather.com

Social Welfare Minister Joan Burton is keeping her right to a public-sector pension from her previous job as a college lecturer.

Ms Burton has 20 years’ service in DIT and resigned from her position as a senior lecturer in accounting last year — after nearly a decade on leave of absence — just days before she was appointed to the Cabinet.

The minister was on leave of absence from 2002 to 2011 and from 1992 to 1997 while she served as a TD.

Nice work if you can get it.

Burton Clings On To Pension From Her Lecturing Job (Fionnan Sheahan and Katherine Donnelly, Irish Independent)

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

CUTS OF up to 87 per cent have been imposed on the legal fees sought by witnesses to the planning tribunal, according to figures from the Department of the Environment.

Eight of the 76 parties who have settled their legal costs of representation at the inquiry have had their fees reduced by at least half, while 32 parties have suffered cuts of at least one-quarter.

So far, the tribunal has cost €98 million, according to figures compiled by the department for the committee. This includes €30 million in tribunal costs, €50 million to pay for its legal teams, €15 million on court cases and €10 million on third-party costs.

Major Cuts To Legal Fees Of Tribunal Witnesses (Irish Times)

(Photocall Ireland)

Broadsheet.ie