13 posts tagged “ireland”

Huzzah! Bertie Ahern, head of the Irish government, has resigned. He's a crook, and should never have lasted as long in power as he did.

You can watch RTE's news reports about it here: http://www.rte.ie/live/

I found his brother's comment amusing, on being asked what he thought of Bertie's decision to resign:

He's usually right in the decisions he makes

I would think he definitely is not right in the decisions he makes - that decision he made to accept £450,00 in brown envelopes was probably pretty wrong.

In honor of Johnny Appleseed Day, show us a tree.

This is a fairly rare occurrence but it's just started snowing here in Longford (deep in the middle of Ireland).

If it sticks you can be sure I'll be taking some photos. I can't remember the last time I saw a good snow fall in Ireland, the mild country.

It used to snow more often when I was a kid, but our winters have gotten so much milder over the past 20 years. Last year there wasn't a hint of snow and it was so warm that many of our plants seemed completely confused as to whether they should start flowering or not.  

Remarkably I've gotten photos of this weekend's Mantua Festival sorted out much faster than Glastonbury photos.

A thoroughly enjoyable festival, which, despite some heavy rain before and on the Friday, there was plenty of sunshine over the next couple of days.

I have some amusing sumo wrestling videos to post up as well.

Well it's general election day in Ireland. I'll be heading off to cast my vote in a little while -  the first time outside of a Dublin constituency.

I have to admit that while I knew roughly who was who in my old constituency, I don't even know who the current representatives are here in Leitrim. Whoever they are I am fairly sure I'll be voting against them.

In fact, feeling a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge there, I've just used the power of the internet to discover that:

1. My constituency is actually called "Roscommon Leitrim South"
2. The people I can choose to vote for number 2 x Fianna Fail, 2 x Fine Gael, 1 x Labour, 1 x Green, 1 x Sinn Fein, 2 x Independent
3. There are 3 seats available
4. Currently those seats are divided into 2 x Fianna Fail, 1 x Fine Gael

These discoveries amuse me somewhat. The main reason being that this is exactly what I had assumed would be the case. Despite Leitrim's attraction to the artistic type due to low cost of living etc, it's probably still a very Fianna Fail dominated region and there would be a lot of old ties in that direction.

If you're interested in finding out a little more about your constituency (and I mean a little, as there is a limited amount of info here), check out mycandidate.ie

A friend of mine is running for the upcoming Seanad Election in Ireland. His name is Martin Hogan and he's a top bloke.

Obviously if you're not living in Ireland, and can't vote in our senate elections than this probably won't mean much to you. However if there's anyone out there who is registered to vote and is a graduate of one of the NUI universities, then consider giving Martin the vote come election time. He's running as an independent with endorsement from the Green Party.

You can read all about his ideas and agenda on his website - www.martinhogan.ie - and it's worth pointing out that he's very much interested in the Save Tara campaign that Al Iguana was mentioning the other day, so for anyone interested in supporting Save Tara, you might notice Martin popping up around the place.

If you want as well, sure check out his high quality video...
(it's my fault that the camera angle changes in each segment, but then again, I am not, never have been, and never plan to be involved in video in any way.. it's nothing but hassle.. give me code any day.

Al Iguana has written a good post about the Save Tara campaign and I advise you all to wander over to:

http://aliguana.vox.com/library/post/save-tara.html

and check it out.

The campaign needs as much support as possible. If you like Irish heritage, then please have a read of it. Suggest it as a "this is good" and have a follow-up read of the links. And spread the word.

I recently played a gig at Hotel Ballymun. It was a fairly laid back affair, with a small audience and a variety of art work and installations located around the Hotel. So what is it? From their site:

Guests at Hotel Ballymun will be able to appreciate the spectacular views over Dublin, just weeks before these views cease to exist. Clarke Tower is due for demolition in Spring 2007.

In addition to the nine individually designed, single and double bedrooms there will be a garden room, a tv lounge, communal kitchens, reception area, breakfast and seating area, as well as an intimate conference and events centre.

The rooms will be furnished with one-off pieces, customised and remodelled from existing furniture, which have been designed and made by people from the Ballymun area, during a two month series of workshops with Irish design duo Sticks and recent RCA graduate Jonathan Legge.

http://www.jonathanlegge.com/

To the right are some photos to have a look at, which will probably do a better job of demonstrating the place than I could. Unfortunately my camera ran out of charge so I couldn't get any photos during the day. Also I suggest having a look at their website.

There are more photos from some friends that you can see at the below links:

Alan Quigley's Flickr Set

Dermot Finn's photos: Album 1 Album 2

I noticed that my recently uploaded photos have been almost entirely composed of screen shots for the last while, so I thought it was time to put up an actual photo.

Thinking about it I couldn't resist posting this up. The most amusing graffiti I've seen in a long time.

Well well well.. this is quite unbelievable.

I'm stunned.

Ireland have just beaten Pakistan in the first round of the Cricket World Cup! Absolutely unbelievable. On St. Patrick's Day and all!

For those of you who don't know cricket, this is akin to Cyrpus beating Brazil in soccer, or Saudi Arabia beating Canada in ice hockey.. it just shouldn't happen.

So, well done lads. I was at the previous world cup qualifiers in Toronto in 2001 (where we really could have gotten through), but sadly can't afford to drop over to the West Indies at the moment to see you in action again.

Here's what the BBC had to say about it: