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Showing posts with label Sindo/Indo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sindo/Indo. Show all posts
Sindo ✏ Sinn Féin’s long list of legal actions amid concerns of ‘co-ordinated campaign’ against Irish media. Recommended by Carrie Twomey.
Hugh O'Connell
26-November-2023
Sinn Féin politicians and party activists have been involved in at least 18 legal actions against media organisations, journalists, public representatives and other individuals over the last decade or so, a Sunday Independent analysis has found.


More than a third of these are ongoing, including some before the courts, with the party under unprecedented scrutiny over the number of lawsuits involving representatives and members.

As well as criticism from its political opponents, chiefly Fine Gael, a coalition of press freedom organisations wrote to Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald this month to state that the number of legal actions “points to a co-ordinated campaign against the media in Ireland”.

It is a charge strongly rejected by Mary Lou McDonald and her party. The party leader’s own High Court action against RTÉ for alleged defamation — which the broadcaster is expected to defend vigorously — is among the 18 cases analysed by this newspaper. At least six of these have involved settlements where, in some instances, tens of thousands of euros have been paid out to Sinn Féin representatives and members.

Continue reading @ Sindo.

See You In Court

Eilis O'Hanlon ✏ Enoch Burke returned to Wilson’s Hospital School last week to continue his lonely vigil in protest at being dismissed from his job for refusing to go along with gender neutral pronouns.

The facts of the case are well enough known at this stage. There’s no need to rake over them again.

Interestingly, though, 60 years ago, another teacher was also in the news after being unceremoniously fired.

Copies of John McGahern’s second novel, The Dark, which dealt with child abuse, had been seized by Customs and Excise officers, and the work was subsequently banned by the Censorship of Publications Board.

McGahern, who worked at the time as a teacher in what is now Belgrove Boys’ National School in Clontarf, refused to take part in the protests which were organised on his book’s behalf, and was only moved to take action when the school’s principal said there would be some “difficulty” if he tried to return to his classroom.

McGahern decided “not to go quietly”. He describes in his 2005 book Memoir how he turned up at the school anyway.

The embarrassed principal read out a legal letter informing the novelist that he was “barred from entering the classroom". 

Continue reading @ Sindo.

How Is Cancelling Róisín Murphy Any Different From Cancelling John McGahern?

Sindo ✏ Nphet member breaks ranks on our Covid response. Considered a worthwhile read by Pádraig O Maonaigh.

Danielle Barron
25-February-2022

On the eve of the three-year anniversary of Ireland’s first confirmed case of Covid-19, many of us are still shaking our heads as we look back in disbelief at the hallmarks of the “new normal”.

Some were so inconceivable as to be almost funny: the “substantial meal”; 2km limits; Zoom quizzes; amateur epidemiologists. Others were decidedly not: social distancing; schools closed; families separated; loved ones dying alone.

One man is also shaking his head at these still-painful memories, but the difference between him and the rest of us is that he was in the room when the decisions to take these unprecedented steps were made.

Martin Cormican is a professor of bacteriology at the University of Galway who, for many years, was the national clinical lead for infection control who spearheaded the HSE’s efforts against antibiotic resistance. A gently spoken and erudite man, he was a member of the Expert Advisory Group, a Nphet subgroup that monitored research and developments in relation to the virus, before becoming a full member of Nphet almost a year into the pandemic.

Continue reading @ Sindo.

‘School Closures And Nursing Home Visitor Bans Were Inhumane’

Sunday Independent ✒ Veronica Greenaway was in thrall to the anti-vax idols she let into her home — until Covid killed her husband.



Veronica Greenaway was an anti-vaxxer who for more than a year believed everything she read about Covid-19 on Facebook.

She idolised some of Ireland’s most prolific Covid deniers and allowed anti-vaxxers from both sides of the Border to use her Co Fermanagh home to spread misinformation. She believed the vaccine would kill her and her 77-year-old husband Billy.

Three weeks ago, her husband of more than 40 years and father to their three children did die. But not from the vaccine. He spent weeks in intensive care at South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen after Covid-19 took hold.

He, like his wife, who had the disease at the same time, had refused the vaccination because he was wrongly told it was causing heart attacks and strokes.

Ms Greenaway now says she has learned a hard lesson “in the cruellest manner possible” and blames the anti-vax movement — including suspended Derry GP Dr Anne McCloskey who addressed meetings on her farm — for “brainwashing” the Border region into believing Covid lies.

Continuing reading @ Sindo.

‘I Was Used’ – Former Anti-Vaxxer Speaks Out After Husband’s Death From Covid

Sunday Independent ✒ Former professional boxer and amateur welterweight champion Dean Byrne has insisted that his “plandemic” tirade on a Ryanair flight last week was “holy righteous anger” and not anti-vax sentiment.

Ali Bracken

A video of Mr Byrne went viral after he sneaked on to a Dublin-bound Ryanair flight at Stansted Airport in London on Wednesday.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent from his London home, Mr Byrne (38) from Crumlin in Dublin, defended his actions.

“It was a holy anger that took over. A holy righteous anger. It is my belief that it is a plandemic. My body is a temple. I have not had the vaccine and I would not. I was on the phone to my mother when I started talking to the passengers.

Footage shows an unmasked Mr Byrne walking up and down the parked plane, shouting at other passengers.

“They described me online as an ‘anti-vaxxer on a plane’. That is not who I am. I am a man of faith, a man of God, and I was speaking His word.”


Flight crew managed to remove him from the plane before take-off.

Continue reading @ Sunday Independent.

Former Boxer Defends His Anti-Vax Flight Tirade As The ‘Word Of God’

From the Sunday Independent ➤Parents can call a halt to the flawed plan that would force their children to sit the Leaving Cert.

By Dr Ciara Kelly


A survey by the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP) has found that almost three-quarters of parents (71pc) are against Education Minister Joe McHugh's plans to attempt to hold the Leaving Cert on July 29. Almost 20,000 parents of sixth-year students gave their view, and almost half those parents stated their reason for opposing the current plan was out of concern for their children's well-being.

They believe it is being adversely affected by the postponement of the State exam and the proposal that students will physically sit it in exam halls around the country.

It's extraordinary that any government department would plough ahead with a plan that most parents feel is harming their children.

Continue reading @ the Sunday Independent.

Generation Covid Face Some Troubling Challenges Ahead

From The Indo the difficulties on getting a job after jail: 'I know I've changed.... but there's that feeling: where does it end?' By Tanya Sweeney

With a degree in social science, a master's in criminology and a diploma in community drugs and alcohol work, Wayne Hart certainly seems an asset to his chosen field as a youth justice professional.

Yet Hart's background - which you might think would give him an even greater understanding of his area - has become something of a roadblock in his professional life.

After spending time in prison on drug-related offences, Hart has a permanent criminal record that surfaces each time he applies for a job.

"The one thing I hate, of all the stuff I've done, and gets me in the pit of my stomach, is an application form," he says. "It's a real case of, 'here we go again'. How far do we have to come in life until the past stops biting me on the behind? It's very disheartening."

…  Now, he offers motivational talks. His TEDx Mountjoy talk on the topic has recently gone viral.

Continue reading @ The Indo.

Getting A Job After Jail

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