Tag Archives: irish times


From today’s Irish Times:

“There are as many reasons for typos as there are actual errors: time pressure, inattention to detail, no teaching of grammar in schools, and the fact that lots of people have better things to fill their minds with than linguistic precision and rules.”

Translation: Our then management (some of them above) paid €50 million for a property website (owned by estate agents) just as the bubble (which we helped to inflate) was at bursting point. We’ve let some people go, standards have slipped and we are now reduced to writing disingenuous articles about how typos are more of an existential problem than a consequence of under-resourced newsrooms.

Terrible Typos (Irish Times)

Where is ledge Hall-of-Famer, Paul Cleary (of The Blades) now?

The Irish Times asks this morning.

Paul politely declines to tell them (told you he was a ledge).

So where is he now?

Somewhere in Dublin, according to the paper.

What’s he at?

He’s somewhere in Dublin.

Thanks.

Somewhere in the Dublin area.

Where Is Paul Cleary Now? (Irish Times)

Our obsession with The Irish Times’ obsession with ‘sham marriages’ reaches it conclusion today. We promise to leave this alone now. But an editorial in this morning’s paper attempting to justify its coverage of the story (front page article based on the fears of one superintendant registrar, etc). is worth sharing. Why? So you can:

Read! That not all marriages are in the name of love

Swoon! As Madam equates human trafficking with ‘bogus weddings”

Startle As she reveals NINE people were deported this year for breaking laws “in relation” to sham weddings.

Gulp! When you realise they weren’t kicked out because they didn’t know their new spouses. But for other things like false documentation and evading EXISTING deportation orders.

Shake! Your head as you travel in a taxi and listen to FM104 conducting a ‘debate’ on the matter, using The Newspaper of Record as its source.

Freeze! As you hear Nigerians, Pakistanis and anyone unfortunate enough not to have been born here be vilified by almost every caller.

Wonder! If this absurd story is actually inciting racial hatred.

Wish! That Madam had won that seat for the PDs after all.

Then! Do the Crosaire.

From The Irish Times front page today:

BETWEEN 10 and 15 per cent of the civil ceremonies conducted across the country may be “sham marriages” aimed purely at circumventing immigration rules, one of the country’s main marriage registrars has warned.

Blimey.

Scary isn’t it? Let’s see:

This is the unchallenged anecdotal evidence (“10-15 per cent”) of one man, Dennis Prior, a superintendant registrar from the HSE. He calls sham marriages an “attack on marriage”. Which they are not. When they happen they usually involve people desperate to stay in the country (like the Irish in New York). Also an “Attack on marriage”? As if marriage was sleeping soundly when the Sham Marriages broke in.

He complains that registrars cannot block marriages (huh?) and says “officials” are keen (irony alert) to introduce Green Card- style interviews. We gather Castlerea holding centre is free.

And then there’s this:

But an increase in suspected sham marriages has been noted all over the country as non-EU nationals – typically from Pakistan and India – seek residency after marrying an EU citizen, according to Mr Prior.

Which means nothing, says nothing and does nothing except to cast doubt over any recent Irish civil ceremonies between Europeans and Indians/Pakistanis.

The story concludes thusly:

If the plans under consideration were implemented, couples could face more detailed questions, such as how they first met; if they lived together; what they had for breakfast; and to provide photographs of themselves together, said Mr Prior.

Still. the grammar is perfect.

We feel a lot better now getting that off our chests. Good morning.

Registrar Warns Of Rapid Rise In Sham Marriages (Irish Times)