The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

Kathy gets to work on her dirty picture collection.

It’s been a day of election posters and dodgy photoshoots  Here is a brief summary of what has been going down for the last 24 hours.

• You would be wrong if you thought Kathy Synnott discovered a new formula to halt the aging process.  The face smiling down from the lamp postsis the same as the one that smiled down five years ago.  Ms Synnott is re-using her posters from the 2004 election.
• Republican Sinn Fein have decided not to erect any posters, stating that they amount to nothing more than “visual polution.”
• Fustar puts John Cronin’s poster under the microscope in the latest in his series.
• Orla McLoughlan is calling on the young people of Ireland to get out and vote on June 5th.

Unedited press statements are below the fold

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It was a case of “love thy neighbour” at the second Eurovision semifinal when seven of the ten countries picked to go forward for the final were from Eastern Europe, and leaving Black Daisy and Sinead Mulvey out in the cold.

The countries to qualify for Saterday’s final were; Azerbaijan, Croatia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Albania, Moldova, Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Greece

It’s Thursday, and candidates have two days to submit their nomination papers for the Local elections.  Here is a brief summary of what has been going on over the past 24 hours.  If you are a candidate and wish to be included, add us to your press release mailing list so we know what you are up to.  The address is editors@limerickblogger.org

• There is a new independent candidate in town, Tina O’Gorman of Pineview Gardens, Moyross has chosen to run as an independent candidate in Limerick City North after she failed to secure a nomination from her Fine Gael colleagues.  She claims that she was unsuccessful in her bid to secure the nominations because of objections by three current city councillors and candidates running for Fine Gael in the North Ward.
• While one person throws their hat in the election ring, another is taking theirs out.  Anthony Kelly, the brother of the late city Alderman, Michael Kelly, has decided he will not now run for the local election.  Had he stood, he would have been in the Limerick City South Ward.
• Senator Dan Boyle, who is running for the European Election, is giving out over Labour’s Alan Kelly’s posters, and claims how they are breaking the rules on postering.  Speaking of which, a number of them around where I live are below the six foot height requirement for posters.
• Republican Sinn Fein Candidate for Limerick South speaks!  O’Neill Griffin, in a letter to the Limerickc Leader has criticised Limerick Regeneration, claiming that they are no more than a glorified social work office.  After receiving €20m in funding, not one new house has been built, and all residents have received is a leaflet asking if they know where their kids are at night.
• Independent candidate, Richard Smith, who is currently fighting the severety of a four month jail sentence for animal cruelty, is to hold a public meeting on Monday at 2100 hrs at the Adare Woodlands house Hotel, where he promises to respond to a recent statement from animal rights group AFAR calling for the decent people of Limerick not to vote for him.  Should be interesting.
• Gerard Fitzgibbon revels in his new assignment of covering Limerick City East for the Limerick Leader.

Note: This post has been edited to address an error.  It is Sean O’Neill of Republican Sinn Fein whose letter appears in the Letters section of the Limerick Leader, and not Sean Griffin of Sinn Fein..

Unedited press statements received over the last 24 hours are below the fold

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From the Landover Baptists

As one is rubbish at photoshopping, and is of little imagination, I will throw it open to the readers to post something blasphemous here to mark the occasion. The day has been created as a demonstration against the proposal to introduce the offence of blasphemous libel into the defamation bill. Anyone with a blog, bebo, myspace, or website of any description, are encouraged to post something blasphemous today.

Kevin walsh, with a promising life in front of him, will never sit his Leaving Cert, and celebrate the results with his friends.  He will never take a girl out for his debs, he will never have a 21st, he will never marry, and he will never bless his parents with grandchildren.  Why, because he is dead.

How did he die?  Early one morning in 2006, the uncles he was travelling with acted out of concern for living things and stopped to inform Gardai that there were farm animals on the road they were travelling.  While they were doing this, a 4×4 jeep, with Eddie Halvey at the wheel, ploughed into the back of their car, killing young Kevin as he sat in the rear passenger seat.

Halvey was found to be twice the legal limit for alcohol following the collision which left Kevin Walsh dead.

The courts and the media will call this careless driving.  But the fact remains, that Kevin Walsh will never have the life experiences listed in the first paragraph of this post because of what happened on that morning in 2006.

After three years of legal drama, the late Kevin Walsh’s family finally learned how much value the judiciary put on human life.  Eddie Halvey received a seven month suspended sentence for his actions.  Is it any wonder the criminal fraternity put such a low value on human life, when the judiciary appear to feel the same way.

So who judges the judges?  When everyone else was being asked to take on pension levies, and pay cuts, the judges in this country were given a compromise deal.  You can pay the pension levy being imposed on every other state employee, but only if you want to, and furthermore, you don’t have to make it public if you are paying it or not.  You would be forgiven for thinking that those who are the law, consider themselves to be above the law.

While an American style election for judges would be detremental to justice, I do believe that there should be a mechanism in place for members of the public to petition for the removal of incompitent judges.

A simple solution would be to require the signatures of a certain percentage of registered voters in a judges district court administrative area, submitted to the Minister for Justice, who would then be oblidged to remove said judge.

The people who are supposed to be served by these judges should be the ones to decide if they are doing a good job or not.  It is pointless having Gardai working their asses off to solve crimes if a fitting punnishment cannot be handed down by the courts for these crimes.  It would be like working for nothing

Deirdre De Burca’s decision has been made, and the winning caption is:

Men’s rugby bowing to women’s rugby…finally!

which was submitted by scrumhalfconnection, or Wendy, from Texas, USA. €50 of Deirdre’s moolah should be winging it’s way to you shortly.   You can check out our winner’s rugby blog here.

Some bits and bobs from the world of local and European canvassing over the last 24 hours

• From Bock the Robber.  Seperated at Birth part one and two.
• Helo Hello Hello, what we got here then?  Link thanks to Bock again.
• Sinn Fein lodged it’s nomination papers for it’s City Council candidates.  Maurice Quinlivan will run in the North, Tom Collopy in the East, and Sean Griffin in the South.  Nomination papers for the County Council elections will be lodged later today.
• There was disagreement in Fine Gael yesterday when talks were held between party leader Enda Kenny and City Councillor Jim Long in relation to his controversial comments about migrant workers.  Kenny told reporters that remarks that Councillor Long made were not intended to offend the Polish community, and he was prepared to apologise.  However, Long told the Leader that no apology was agreed, and that he had nothing to be sorry for with regard to his remarks.  Limerick Leader story here.
• The proposed blasphemy legislation is on the mind of Dan Boyle of the Greens.  Stating that the recommendation to leave such legislation well enough alone, he said that a one-size-fits-all law would be impossible to administer in today’s diverse society.  See statement below the fold.
• Independent Euro MEP Kathy Synnott has criticised the government for deciding to not impliment HIQA recommended standards for those with disabilities and carers, which the government claims it cannot do due to the current economic climate.  see her statement below.
• Returning to the Greens, Castleconnell Electoral Area candidate Trish Forde-Brennan has welcomed news that developers who leave estates unfinnished will be targetted under legislation introduced by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, John Gormley.

Unedited statements are below the fold.

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Want to be a candidate in the Euro Elections, well tough, you can’t. The deadline for the submission of nomination papers was yesterday at 1200 hrs. An official list of candidates will be availible later in the week. The closing date for local election submissions is Saturday.  Anyway, here is a summary of what has gone down politically over the last 24 hours.

• Sinn Fein will be submitting their nominations papers later today for the local election in the City.  ” Sinn Féin in Limerick is putting forward the largest and strongest panel of candidates in decades.  As a result of much hard work on the ground over the past few years the party is confident that it can make a major political breakthrough in Limerick and elect a number of councillors.” said Party Chairperson Paidraig Malone, in a statement released yesterday.
• Enda Kenny was in Limerick this morning to meet election candidates, to kiss some hands and to shake some babies.
• The boss man of the TV3 show The Apprentice came under fire from the Green Party’s Dan Boyle over claims he made on the Late Late Show on Friday.  Bill Cullen, who made his millions from selling penny apples and motorcars, chaimed that were it not for the Green Party, the motor trade wouldn’t be in the state it is now.  Boyle has refuted these claims.  See his statement below the fold.
• In a rather long and complicated statement, candidate for the local election in Limerick City North, James Nix tells us that there is some sort of European Fund of €30 for anyone wishing to get into green business.
• Anyone wishing to support Socialist Party candidate Joe Higgins are invited to take part in a fundraising quiz at the Horse and Hound on Mulgrave Street at 2000 hrs. I think they mean teams when the say “People are invited to come along and bring a table if they would like to support Joe’s campaign.”  Then again, best to bring a table as well just to be safe!  More info can be obtained from limericksocialist@gmail.com
• Orla McLoughlan of the Labour Party has moved from Parking signs to bus stops.  She would like more of them in areas which are not best served bythe current public transport.  She is proposing mini buses be introduced in order to give elderly easier access to the city centre.  She is also calling for more frequent and later running buses “like other cities.”  Well if they were more pro-active in places like Southill reporting those who spend their time rocking buses, then they would still have a decent service up there.  It costs nothing to call 1800 666 111 and report attacks on buses.

Unedited press releases relating to the election are below the fold

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Those closeted Eurovision fans who have surfed the fan sites and read of Eurovision Parties in far flung places and said to themselves “I wish they did that here.” will be pleased with the news we bring you today.

The phenomenon of the Eurovision Party has arrived for the first time in Limerick. It co-incides with the qualification of Limerick’s Leslie Anne Halvey, who hails from Limerick City, for the semi-final, along with her band, Black Daisy.

Anyway, the party begins at 1900 hrs at Scotts Bar on the South Circular Road, and again on Saturday night for the final.

Nationality doesn’t matter, those from all countries are invited, and encouraged to wear their country’s colours with pride.

Today, I spoke to organiser, Sheila Fitspatrick, and you can listen to the interview below.

Click here to hear Sheila’s picks for 2009

Independent election candidate in Limerick City South, Pat O’Sullivan took time out from his campaign to give a short interview to the Limerick Blogger.  I spoke to him at his office on O’Connel Stret.

You can listen to the interview through the media player below