Independent TD for Laois Offaly Carol Nolan has said that churches feel “singled out” as a target for stricter application of the social distancing rules. Deputy Nolan says she has written to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, urging that a far greater level of discretion be given to individual […]
Cambridge University has defended a professor’s right to free speech after a petition called for her to be sacked for sending a tweet which said “White lives don’t matter.” The tweet was subsequently deleted by Twitter for breaching it’s hateful conduct policy, but the academic has said she stands over her statement and that we need to “abolish […]
Local activists who help maintain and upkeep the statue of republican Séan Russell in Fairview Park have said they feel Leo Varadkar’s call to have the statue taken down may have prompted others to deface the monument. On Monday, the statue was defaced by being painted with the rainbow flag colours, usually associated with the LGBT […]
All of the caveats must apply, obviously, to polls, and the biggest and most important one when it comes to President Trump is that if you believed the evidence of the polling in 2016, as yours truly did, then you’d have been shocked by the result (as yours truly, and many others, were). But still: […]
Clever: Sinn Féin has proposed giving every adult and child a government funded gift voucher to spend in pubs, restaurants and hotels to kick-start the tourism industry. Under the €1bn scheme every adult would be given a €200 voucher and every child would get €100 to spend in local businesses that sign up to the […]
Extraordinary: https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1275500569940176897 The background to this: Some weeks ago, anarchist protestors in Seattle set up what they called an “autonomous zone” – basically their own independent quasi-country, in the city. Two nights ago, protestors in Washington DC threatened to do the same. Trump was having none of it. Twitter says that Trump’s tweet constituted a […]
This is getting remarkably little scrutiny, after Irish Times scoop-getter general Fiach Kelly reported it last night: The Greens have widened the eligibility for members who can vote by telephone on the PfG. Was previously only allowed for those outside the country. Now members who have not received ballot paper can vote by phone. https://t.co/UKsBU23wJG […]
A Scottish court has fined an Aberdeen man for calling his former girlfriend’s new partner a “leprechaun” and writing a threatening email. The court found it was a racially motivated insult. The Evening Express reports that: Terry Myers, 41, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court over the email, which made reference to the woman’s new […]
Aontú leadar, Peadar Tóibín TD has called for the reopening of cancer screening programmes as a matter of urgency and expressed his shock at the fact that the HSE are advertising cervical check services which they know have been cancelled by the government. Deputy Tóibín said: “Back in March a decision was made to cancel […]
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water: Germany’s coronavirus R number has leapt again – from 1.79 on Saturday to 2.88 on Sunday, official figures show. The Robert Koch Institute for public health (RKI), which has been publishing the country’s COVID-19 statistics, said the new number is based on […]
Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath has sharply criticised the government’s move to restrict attendances at masses to 50 people, asking “Do we have to return to our mass rocks to be able to celebrate the Eucharist?” Ireland has been slower than many other countries to allow centres of faith to reopen. “The restriction of 50 people […]
The Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil, Éamon Ó Cuiv, has said the party’s vote is “collapsing” and that it will become “irrelevant” if it enters into government under the programme currently being put to the vote by the party members. Responding to an opinion poll published in the Irish Mail on Sunday which showed Fianna […]