Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Ireland Expected to Vote 'Yes' in Historic Referendum on Gay Marriage
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| A graffiti artist finishes a Yes campaign piece in central Dublin, Ireland |
Judging by the number of posters urging a "Yes" vote in Friday's referendum on same-sex marriage, the Ireland of today is no longer a place where homosexuals are not welcome.
Yet while Dublin has no shortage of gay-friendly restaurants, bars and hotels, there are still some locals who think that God has made a reservation for them somewhere altogether hotter and more uncomfortable.
"This whole referendum thing stinks from hell," said Mary Delaney, a retired secretary, as she came out of St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, just off O'Connell Street in downtown Dublin.
"This thing is messing up the whole of Creation, and the culture of sex is so strong in our society today that it's impossible to protest."
Ms Delaney, who wore a "Vote No to Protect Marriage" sticker on her lapel, had just finished attending the 10am mass at St Mary's - one of five daily services still held here even on weekdays.
Yet while the Catholic church still remains strong in Ireland, the pews at St Mary's are not as full as they once were, and with the dwindling numbers has gone much of the opposition to homosexuality. Read on and comment » | Colin Freeman, Dublin | Thursday, May 21, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
US Use of Shannon Airport Makes Ireland a Target - Anjem Choudary
Ireland is a legitimate target for attack because of its decision to allow American planes refuel at Shannon Airport on their way to bombing Muslim countries, a radical Muslim preacher based in the UK has warned today.
Anjem Choudary, who has described those behind the 9/11 attacks in the US as ‘magnificent martyrs’, warned that Muslims fighting American foreign policy do not see Ireland as a neutral country because of its willingness to allow American planes refuel at Shannon.
“You allow the Americans, who are the biggest butchers in the world, to stop at Shannon Airport to refuel and go on to kill people in Muslim countries... if you believe the Americans are terrorists, the Irish government is colluding with them and aiding and abetting terrorism,” he said. » | Barry Roche | Friday, January 09, 2015
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Stubbing It Out: Ireland Plans to Be 'Tobacco-free' by 2025
Dr James Reilly’s proposals contain 60 recommendations to significantly reduce smoking over the next 12 years. He defines a “tobacco-free” Ireland as one where less than five per cent of the population smoke.
According to the Department of Health, the aim of the new policy is to de-normalise tobacco use in Irish society. Efforts to meet this end would include greater restrictions on the types of outlets where tobacco products could be sold, and the possibility of tax increases on tobacco to be applied over five years. » | Andrew Ansell | Thursday, October 03, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
'Obama Hypocrite of Century': Full Interview with Controversial Irish MP Clare Daly
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ireland is to become the first country in the European Union to ban branding on cigarette packages by using plain packaging and uniform labelling.
All trademarks, logos, colours and graphics will be removed from tobacco products sold in Ireland under the new rules, the health ministry said, after the proposal secured backing from the government.
Dr James Reilly, the country’s health minister, said while many arguments will be made against the move, he is confident the legislation will be justified and supported purely by the fact that it will save lives.
“Smoking places an enormous burden of illness and mortality on our society, with over 5,200 people dying every year from tobacco-related diseases,” he said.
“One in two of all smokers will die from their addiction.
“To replace the smokers who quit, the tobacco industry needs to recruit 50 new smokers in Ireland every day just to maintain smoking rates at their current level.”
Dr Reilly also admitted that his father and brother, both doctors, died from smoking-related illness. » | Reuters and PA | Tuesday, May 28, 2013
My comment:
They can plain-package cigarettes as much as they like, but they won't make smoking any less sexy. – © Mark
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: The Emir of Qatar, who has long cultivated an image as a pro-Western reformist, has vowed to "spare no effort" to spread Wahhabi Islam throughout Europe. Wahhabism — which not only discourages Muslim integration in the West but actively encourages jihad against non-Muslims — threatens to radicalize Muslim immigrants in Ireland.
City planners in the Irish capital, Dublin, have given the go-ahead for the construction of a sprawling mega-mosque complex that will cater to Ireland's burgeoning Muslim population.
The massive €40 million ($50 million) "Islamic Cultural Center" will be built on a six-acre site in Clongriffin, a new and as yet unfinished suburb at the northern edge of Dublin.
According to the Dublin City Council, which approved the project on March 7, the Clongriffin Mosque will consist of: (a) a three-story domed mosque and cultural center with towering minarets; (b) a two-story conference center including a reception foyer, conference room, restaurant, banquet hall, kitchens and ancillary accommodation; (c) a three-story 16-classroom primary school and a two-story 12-classroom secondary school; (d) a two-story fitness center with a gym, sauna, steam room and an Olympic-sized indoor swimming pool; (e) a bookshop, library and mortuary; and (f) three four-story blocks of two-bedroom apartments with ground floor shops.
The Clongriffin Mosque will cater to some of the 30,000 Muslims living in Dublin, which is home to around 60% of the estimated 50,000 Muslims living in Ireland. » | Soeren Kern | Tuesday, April 02, 2013
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Wishing all my Irish visitors a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day. May the luck of the Irish be with you!
WIKI: St. Patrick’s Day »
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
IRISH EXAMINER: SALARY cuts and reduced working hours are affecting almost half of all households, with money matters now having overtaken the pursuit of personal happiness in lists of priorities, a study has found.
As the effect of the recession deepens, the 2011 Pfizer Health Index indicates the toll the austere times are taking on our health. Pointing to increased drinking and smoking and lower motivation for personal improvement, the survey finds seven out of 10 people are struggling to make ends meet. » | Catherine Shanahan | Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Barack Obama, the US president, and his wife Michelle, experienced a warm welcome in Ireland - where some of Obama's distant ancestors lived.
As well as meeting the Irish prime minister, Obama made a visit to the small town of Moneygall where the president's great, great grandfather lived.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons reports from the Irish capital, Dublin.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Obama in Ireland: president searches for 'missing apostrophe' – Almost any other visitor who mauled the Irish language so severely might expect a reception as cold as the waters of the Liffey. » | Alex Spillius in Dublin | Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – JAMES DELINGPOLE: Ah Bejaysus and Begorrah! Oi’ll be swearin’ boi the auld shrine to the Vorgin with the shamrocks growin’ round it next to the hill where Cuchullain slew the Great Leprechaun of Kildare on St Patrick’s Day that Barack Seamus O’Toole Flaherty Joyce O’Bama is the most Irish US president that ever set foot on the Emerald Oisle, so he is, so he is.
Except, when he’s in Africa, of course, when he disappears into the dry ice and re-emerges with a grass skirt and a bone through his nose and declares himself to be Mandingo, Prince of the Bloodline of the Bonga People, Drinker of Cattle Urine, Father of A Thousand Warrior Sons, Keeper of King Solomon’s Mines, Barehanded Slayer of Lions, Undaunted Victim of the Evil Colonial British Empire.
And in the Middle East, where he is Al-Barak Hussein Obama, Protector of the Holy Shrine, Smiter of the Kuffar, Lion of the Desert, Tent-Loving-Aficionado-of-the-Oversweetened-Coffee, Chomper of Sheeps’ Eyeballs, Restorer of the Caliphate.
Etc.
Tony Blair used to do this trick too, his accent mutating from broad Glaswegian to genteel Edinburgh to Mummerset to Estuary to Richard E Grant to Sarf London Grime – often in the course of one Downing Street reception – the better to persuade his target audience that he was their kind of guy. And it is, of course, the hallmark of an unutterable charlatan. » | James Delingpole | Monday, May 23, 2011
CACTUS THORNS: Wait a second Steven, his nibs is claiming to be Irish? This changes everything » | Dan Obrien | Friday, May 06, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Although she stopped short of an outright apology for the “heartache, turbulence and loss” of the past century, the Queen said: “We can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.”
The landmark speech during a state dinner at Dublin Castle included a direct reference to the murder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, by the IRA, when the Queen said the “events have touched us all, many of us personally”.
But her overriding message was one of “forbearance and conciliation” as she spoke of being able “to bow to the past, but not be bound by it”.
The address to her host, President Mary McAleese, and guests including David Cameron, who joined the British delegation, was the Queen’s only speech of her historic four-day visit to Ireland.
The Queen began her speech by speaking in Gaelic, saying: “A hUachtarain [sic] agus a chaired [uachtarán agus cairde],” or president and friends, earning a warm round of applause. President McAleese was seen to respond by saying “wow”[.]
Dressed in a white silk crepe dress adorned with more than 2,000 hand-embroidered shamrocks and a harp made of crystals, the Queen said she and the Duke were “delighted to be here, and to experience at first hand Ireland’s world-famous hospitality”.
She said the two nations were “good neighbours” which had “much to celebrate”, including the economic and cultural ties “that make us firm friends and equal partners”. » |Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Queen is making a four-day visit to Ireland, the first by a British monarch in 100 years, in the shadow of threats by dissident republicans.
THE GUARDIAN: Irish army forced to make safe a viable bomb found on bus near Dublin on eve of historic royal visitA bomb has been found near Dublin as the Queen is due to arrive inIreland for a historic visit that has been hailed as an "extraordinary moment" in the country's history.
The Irish army was forced to make safe a viable improvised explosive device found on a bus in County Kildare late on Monday night.
The discovery threatens to overshadow the Queen's four-day visit, the first by a British monarch to the Republic of Ireland, although the Foreign Office has said she will still travel to Dublin on Tuesday.
An unprecedented security operation, costing about €30m (£26.2m), is in place to safeguard the Queen and Prince Phillip. It includes land, air and sea patrols and a "ring of steel" around the centre of the Irish capital, where the main thoroughfare, O'Connell Street, has been closed to traffic.
The bomb was discovered in the luggage compartment of the vehicle at a bus stop on the outskirts of Maynooth. An engineering unit from the Irish Defence Forces arrived at 11.10pm after receiving a request from the Garda Síochána.
An Irish military spokesman said a controlled explosion was carried out close to a hotel and the scene was declared safe at 1.55am. The remains of the device were handed over to the Gardai for investigation. » | Adam Gabbatt, Henry McDonald and agencies | Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Large parts of central London have been cordoned off after Irish republican dissidents issued a bomb threat, police have disclosed.
Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion as a security alert closed down the centre of the capital around Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.
A suitcase was discovered abandoned outside a hotel and was destroyed in a controlled explosion at 9.30am.
It comes a day before the Queen is scheduled to make her first ever visit to the Republic of Ireland.
Security was heightened after a "non-specific" threat was issued to authorities last night.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A bomb threat warning has been received relating to central London today. The threat is not specific in relation to location or time." » | Monday, May 16, 2011
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