An open top tour bus on Dublin’s O’Connell Street yesterday evening.
A line in the ad reads: "This is not us'
It’s striking how some grammar changes through use are accepted, others not; it’s still a howler to say 'I done it' or I' have went’. But in this example no problem confusing nominative with accusative case.
A BBC reporter last week said; ‘From Adam and I’. And that too is now acceptable. Or is it? Who decides?
Who cares?
Michael O’Leary’s letter in The Irish Times yesterday. Will Justine McCarthy reply and what will she say? We’ll see tomorrow.
Sir, – Unbelievable. Only an Irish Times columnist (with no known experience in transport) could waste her half-page column slagging off Dermot Desmond and myself for criticising the Dublin MetroLink, without once mentioning the projected cost of approximately €20 billion.
Being criticised by Irish Times columnists is always a great compliment. In what crazy country could we seriously consider wasting approximately €20billion of taxpayer money on a railway line, serving a narrow strip of the north Dublin population from Swords to St Stephen’s Green, all of whom are well served currently by bus connections? The cost/benefit of this insanity has never been published, because it cannot be justified.
Dermot Desmond’s transport view should carry significant weight, given his very successful rescue, redevelopment and sale of London City Airport for approximately $1 billion in 2006.
My own, (less?) humble view is based on almost 40 years’ experience of growing what is now the world’s largest passenger airline.
But sadly we are both guilty of “being rich”, so therefore dismissed by The Irish Times “experts”, who know so much more about transport.
I wouldn’t quibble with a MetroLink from Swords to St Stephen’s Green if it was free, but there are far better uses of taxpayer funds than this white elephant.
Muddled thinking, free of any cost/benefit analysis, such as that displayed by Justine McCarthy, is how you deliver a children’s hospital (which should have cost €200 million) at a final cost of €2.5 billion and rising.
My criticism of the MetroLink is based on the fact that very few passengers at Dublin Airport will ever use it. It takes passengers into St Stephen’s Green, so some small minority of inbound visitors might use it, but the vast majority of Irish-originating passengers, who need to get to Dublin Airport early in the morning, or are travelling to/from outside the D2/D4 area, won’t use it.
Dublin Airport is just 9km from the centre of the city, and is well served by competitively priced bus connections, which takes passengers to the city centre, and to points all over Ireland at low fares. These passengers won’t switch to a €20 billion metro.
Your columnist claims that I “opposed the second terminal at Dublin Airport in 2010”. I didn’t. Dublin needed a second terminal and I offered to build it on the north apron for just €200 million, as Ryanair had proposed. I simply pointed out that the Dublin Airport Authority(DAA) wasted €2 billion building Terminal 2 in the wrong place (a cul-de-sac) and with no ability to future expand.
Now that the second runway has opened on the north apron, the chronic congestion in the T2 cul-de-sac bedevils the T2 airlines on a daily basis.
I note Ms McCarthy failed to offer her opinion on the Dublin Airport second runway, a project which I also supported, yet which the airlines and our passengers are prevented from using by a 2007 (Road Traffic) Planning restriction.
We elected a new government last November which promised to remove this cap “as soon as possible”, which would enable the airlines at Dublin to grow traffic, new routes, tourism and jobs.
Sadly, eight months later, the Government has failed to take any action to scrap this cap. More inexcusable delay and inaction from our political class.
To summarise, both myself and Dermot Desmond believe wasting €20 billion on a Dublin Airport metro is an unjustifiable waste of scarce taxpayer funds. I object because the majority of Dublin Airport passengers won’t ever use this vastly overpriced service. Dermot correctly suggests that AI and electric road transport will solve the problem at a fraction of this €20billion over the next decade.
The fact that an unqualified Irish Times columnist considers that “two rich men” are wrong only renews my faith that this MetroLink is a mad, bad project.
Add some more buses to service the citizens of Swords, Ballymun, Collins Avenue, and Glasnevin, and The Irish Times could save Irish taxpayers (me included!) about €19.9 billion rather than squandering these funds, as we have on the world’s most expensive – and least efficient– Children’s Hospital.
If the next time Ms McCarthy wants to offer an opinion on government transport projects, perhaps she could address the cost benefit of the project, rather than slagging off two successful – albeit opinionated – business people.
We won’t always be right, but we will be right far more often than the misguided, anti-business Irish Times “chatterati”. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O’LEARY.
Chief Executive,
Ryanair,
Dublin.
This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.
MichaelCommane
Anyone who has been in Dublin’s Mater Hospital will have some idea how huge it is. In recent years there have been large extensions built on to the hospital.
And it is still a building site. It is such a large campus it has entrances on Eccles Street and North Circular Road.
I’m often in the hospital these days. Walking along a corridor last week I commented to a man about the ingenuity involved in such a building project. He was sitting on a chair watching a crane transporting material on to a roof. He agreed, adding: ‘It’s great to see it’s all being done by Irish people’. I was puzzled by what he said.
Did he mean, that we, the people are fortunate as a State to have control over our own destiny or was he saying that indigenous Irish workers were doing the job? Then again he may have seen an Irish name on the crane and was referring to the company that was doing the construction work. I don’t know the answer.
I did not engage with the man and kept walking. I can only imagine many of the workers on the site were born outside Ireland.
And maybe many of the contract companies involved are non-Irish with subsidiaries here.
We keep saying Ireland is changing by the day. When I was child one seldom if ever saw a non-native. But that does not mean there was not a ‘Them and Us’ mentality. Back then people living in leafy Ballsbridge or Sandymount seldom if ever knew anything about those living in the slums of the city or the new sprawling suburbs that were being built.
And in the country too there has always been divisions among people, maybe not as explicit. It has often struck me that post primary education is far more egalitarian outside the cities.
It has also crossed my mind how the churches run schools, which are only available to the wealthy. Then again the same churches have played a huge role in offering education to everyone irrespective of their parents pay packets.
Snobbery in Ireland? Of course, there is. Is it part of the human condition?
One day walking through another hospital I saw a large noticeboard with the names of staff members.
Every doctor had the initials Dr before her or his name; all other staff were identified simply by their forename and surname. Why is that?
Retired journalist Vincent Browne is a wise man. I’ll never forget the day he said that once we give titles to people we give them power over us. That makes great sense to me.
Have I a chip on my shoulder? Maybe I have, but that’s one of those clichés that is a clever way in putting people down.
Think of the damage, violence and hatred that has been caused by a ‘Them versus Us mentality’. Just look at the evils of war; it’s the ultimate madness/badness of the ‘Them versus Us’ syndrome.
Far too often we make judgements about people for the most bizarre reasons. If only we could have the sense and grace to sit down and listen and learn from the other. And guess what, that’s central to the Gospel message.
This appears on Facebook.
Why is it a picture of all the men with their backs to the camera?
Looks like something out of the 1930s.
Five men; are they chatting? All dressed in similar attire. One is reminded how the Legionnaires of Christ students and priests all dress in clerical attire, almost army-like in style.
Has anyone, who walks the hills, valleys and boreens of Ireland, ever seen serious hikers sporting a haversack and a sports jacket? It’s always advisable to wear headgear when out in the open. Only in recent days the Irish Cancer Society has been advising people to cover their heads when walking.
What at all is going on in the world of social media?
To some readers this might sound harsh; that is not the intention. There seems to be a strong push to bring us back to another era, in some ways it’s a phenomenon that Donald Trump has used to his advantage. But where at all is it leading us?
Are there not enough divisions in the world, among us human beings without dividing spirituality into one for women and one for men.
A spirituality or ideology that concentrates on men can easily lead to disaster.
Yes, we are living in a world where many men feel alienated and disenfranchised, feel angry. But the problem can't be and won't be solved by harping back on times past. If anything this is a time to bring women and men together to discuss,= and pray together.
It may sound unfair and hyperbolic but this Facebook picture might to some be reminiscent of the Napola schools the Nazis introduced for their so-called elite young men.
Is there ever a word on this social media platform about social justice, how the migrant population is treated in Ireland, the growing divide between rich and poor, the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine?
What exactly is spirituality? How can the Gospel of Jesus Christ be told, explained, talked about differently to women and men?
Has the Catholic Church not learned the disasters it has helped cause in how it treats and has treated women?
Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell has to be commended for his Facebook comment yesterday, criticising the recent attacks on the Indian community in Dublin.
Below is the archbishop's Facebook statement:
"Recent attacks on members of the Indian community in Dublin have been truly shocking. These unprovoked attacks on people, including a child, who were apparently targeted solely because of their ethnic identity have generated understandable fear and alarm among the Indian community.
The truth is that the Indian community in Dublin comprises many people who have come to Dublin to make an important and valued contribution to our society. We are all familiar with the vital presence of Indian professionals in our healthcare system, without whom many healthcare needs simply could not be met. Others apply their skills in other important sectors of the economy and also contribute to funding public services through their taxes.
It is not only through their work lives that our Indian neighbours and fellow citizens are enriching our society. The diversity of Indian culture and traditions add to the vitality of life in Dublin. In particular, many Indian families are playing an increasingly prominent role in the parishes and school communities of the Archdiocese of Dublin. Indian priests, religious and lay volunteers are an increasingly important presence in the pastoral life of the Church in Dublin. That gives the lie to the vile and blasphemous claims of some who spread the poison of racial hatred on social media and otherwise that their views are somehow protecting Christianity.
It is time to call out those who peddle racial hatred. It is time to stand up to those who seek to divide our community through rumour and malice. Our parishes and school communities have already given a warm welcome to Indian families who have made their homes here. I urge them to strengthen that spirit of solidarity, not only with Indian members of parish communities, but with all our Indian neighbours. I call on everyone to support the Gardaà in every way to confront and defeat those whose actions have contributed to the fear now being experienced in the Indian community in Dublin.
Dermot Farrell
Archbishop of Dublin"
Passengers who travelled on the 13.00 Heuston Cork service with a connection in Mallow for Tralee arrived at their destination at approximately 18.40.
The Dublin Cork train arrived in Mallow on time at 15.01. The scheduled departure for the Mallow Tralee train was 15.30. Why are passengers asked to wait 29 minutes for a connecting train; sounds bizarre.
The train left approximately 15 minutes late. It travelled a few metres before stopping, proceeded again but at a very slow speed. It moved at slow speed before stopping two/three kilometres from Banteer. eventually it made it to the platform in Banteer, where the train now was significantly late.
The train failed at Banteer and passengers were ferried by bus to all stations between Banteer and Tralee.
Toilets at Banteer station were closed.
There was no drinking water available on the train.
There is no trolley service on trains between Mallow and Tralee, one of the most scenic rail journeys on the network; sounds and is bizarre.
The train in question was old rolling stock and not suitable for a journey of one hour 32 minutes. The train was originally use on the Dublin commuter belt.
It was reported that before departing Mallow the loco driver noted there was overheating on a power unit but he was told to proceed.
A customer at a Lidl store was
The friendly assistant replied: ‘please, you mention it to the manager, management doesn’t listen to us’.
An appalling statement about Lidl management.
In yesterday’s edition of The Irish Independent Oliver Callan writes a page-long comment piece on the Re-turn scheme.
The comedian and radio presenter is extremely critical of everything to do with the Re-turn scheme. And what a rant it is.
It’s difficult to understand how the newspaper gave the comedian a full page to write what he writes.
What does this sentence mean: "Why can’t we actually recycle the bottles collected here”
What about this paragraph: "We had been making major strides with the green bin, with an increase of 12pc between 2012 and 2021 to reach 41pc household recycling. The direction was good. Sadly, the Green Party was in power, at least while Eamon Ryan wasn't napping, and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spotted a scapegoat to sneak in an ugly EU demand and blame it on the vegans.”
What added value does foul language add to an opinion piece? In this case none, indeed, it tells its own tale about the quality of the piece and the mindset of the author.
There is neither a beginning nor an end to the article.
What about this: “Who feels good or that this is easy? This is a hated scheme."
Elsewhere he writes: “Its 12 directors got a 50pc pay rise last year. Why? We’ll never find out.”
Did Mr Callan think of asking them?
This full-page comment piece must be well up there for winning an award for a piece of nonsensical writing.
Oliver talks about the scheme raising his blood pressure; did he give any thought what his writing might have on the blood pressure level of his readers.
And then there is the poor syntax and grammar.
The people of Japan remember the moments 80 years ago when US B-29s dropped atomic bombs in the skies over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Below is a link to the views expressed by Charles Oppenheimer, the grandson of Robert Oppenheimer. Like his grandfather, he calls for the banishment of nuclear warheads from our planet.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4 yesterday morning he was critical of the nuclear policies of the three superpowers, China, US and Russia. He also expressed strong disapproval of Israel on its ‘hidden’ nuclear arsenal and its current war in Gaza.
Below the link is yesterday’s editorial in The Irish Times ‘When the world changed forever'
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/backstories/3376/
At 8.15am local time on the morning of August 6th, 1945, a US B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped the world’s first atomic bomb used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The weapon, nicknamed “Little Boy”, exploded roughly 600 metres above the city centre. What followed was an act of man-made devastation without precedent in human history.
A blinding flash, an immense shockwave and a blast of intense heat levelled much of the city within seconds. It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80,000 people died instantly. Tens of thousands more were burned, crushed, or irradiated. Buildings within a two-kilometre radius were either incinerated or flattened. In the days, weeks and months that followed, the death toll continued to climb as radiation sickness set in. By the end of 1945, more than 140,000 were dead.
Hiroshima was a moment that changed the trajectory of the modern world. It revealed, in the most brutal way possible, the terrifying power of nuclear weapons. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Less than a week after that, Japan surrendered, bringing the second World War to an end.
The shadow cast by those bombings has never lifted. In the eight decades since, the spectre of nuclear annihilation has remained with us, sometimes pushed to the background, other times terrifyingly near. The Cold War saw the United States and the Soviet Union build vast nuclear arsenals, capable of destroying the planet many times over. The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 brought the world to the brink.
The end of the Cold War offered some hope. Tensions eased and warheads were gradually dismantled. But the danger never truly receded. Nine nations now possess nuclear weapons, and others appear determined to join them. Iran’s ambitions have drawn global attention and military strikes by Israel and the US. North Korea continues to test its capabilities. And in the early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin made direct threats of nuclear escalation.
Flashpoints persist, from the Persian Gulf to the India-Pakistan border. Recent suggestions by Polish politicians that their country should seek its own nuclear arsenal are just one more reminder that the old consensus on deterrence is fraying, with American security guarantees now in serious doubt.
Eighty years on from Hiroshima, the world finds itself on the threshold of a new nuclear era: multi-polar, less predictable and almost certainly more dangerous. The lessons of 1945 may not have been forgotten, but they have certainly not been fully heeded. What happened to Hiroshima must remain more than a historical event. It is a warning, one that still demands urgent attention and constant vigilance.
This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.
Michael Commane
Croke Park, All Ireland Day, Sunday, July 27, Cusack Stand, Lower Tier, Section 304, Row FF, Seat 9; it was a great seat, even better because the two seats directly in front of us were vacant; maybe the only two empty seats on the day.
The person sitting in the seat to my right was not slim and his elbow was sticking into my side; he was eating the most horrible chips I’ve ever seen. He was a Donegal supporter from Derry; a nice fella and we shared a few laughs. I never mentioned about the chips but I think he read my face.
The game was a few minutes late starting; not professional I thought.
But once it started I never missed a kick of the ball. Let me explain I seldom if ever go to Croke Park or indeed any game. A fellow Dominican, who is good friend offered me the ticket to go with him. On a few occasions I go to games to watch Maurice O’Connell play for Castlegregory. I baptised him and take all credit for his great footballing skills.
The excitement and celebration of bringing Sam back to Kerry is dying down; the players are returning to their normal lives and the win is well gone from the front pages of the newspapers, even The Kerryman.
As a child I was occasionally frog-marched to Croke Park. I can still remember playing and running about in the press gallery. My uncle, John D Hickey was Gaelic Games writer with The Irish Independent. My mother thought it would be good for me to tag along.
That was fadó fadó. It was a completely different world on and off the pitch.
Up until the 1960s the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly threw in the ball at the All-Ireland final. The archbishop is still the patron of the GAA and is guest of honour at All-Ireland final day. Croke Park is called after Archbishop Thomas Croke (1824 – 1902), one of the founding patrons of the organisation.
Watching this year’s final, while concentrating on the game, I kept having flashbacks of another Ireland.
The new stadium is a masterpiece of design; my expert friends tell me it is a completely different game than was played when archbishops threw in the ball.
It might be an exaggeration to say that every second person in Croke Park would have been a Christian Brother or a priest but all those black suits and hats would have been well scattered around the grounds and there would have been many bishops, archbishops and priests in the VIP seating.
The times they are a-changing; that’s part of the living experience. I keep thinking how the GAA was hand-in-glove with the Catholic Church.
The GAA is constantly developing. Might the church get some tips from the GAA? If only the Irish bishops could seriously take on board the Synodal ideas, which Pope Francis initiated.
On the website diary of the Archdiocese of Dublin it talks about Friday, August 15, feast Assumption being a ‘Holy Day of Obligation’. What sort of alienating language is that to use.
I thoroughly enjoyed the game.
Up Kerry, and the church/the people of God too.
From yesterday’s Guardian; an interesting read.
With Trump wreaking havoc, a question for the US Democrats: when will you ever learn? | Timothy Garton Ash
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/04/donald-trump-us-democrats-joe-biden-election?CMP=share_btn_urlClever letter in the Saturday edition of The Irish Times
Sir, – This week I employed AI to choose my horse racing bets for Galway. Strangely, I am happy to report that I lost more money than I usually do.
The world can rest easy knowing that AI is just as stupid as humans. Well, this one human anyway. –Yours, etc,
DAVID CURRAN,
Galway.
US President Donald Trump has sacked the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer.
The reason for her sacking, the president does not believe her latest figures on the latest job figures in the country.
Trump has decided to renovate a ballroom in the White House; the cost of the job is expected to be approximately $200 million.
The US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff on a visit to a feeding station in Gaza on Friday sported a Make America Great Again baseball cap; somewhat insensitive attire in the midst of starving people.
Everything about the Trump administration is Gubu to the power of 100.
Gubu was the term coined by Conor Cruise O'Brien to describe the 'murky nature' of the Haughey government. It is an acronym for grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.
And Trump is light years in murkiness ahead of Haughey.
In an interesting case at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Tesco has been ordered to re-employ a worker it sacked last year for calling his manager ‘useless’.
The WRC found the supermarket went over the top in dismissing the employee.
Siptu accused Tesco of ‘circling the wagons’ in response to a legitimate grievance and of subjecting the employee to a 'crude exhibition of power’.
Siptu argued that the man had outstanding legitimate grievances which were being ignored by management.
The WRC directed Tesco to reengage the worker in employment by mid-August this year.
Trauma surgeon Morgan McMonagle spoke last evening on Channel 4 News about the barbarity that is being inflicted on the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israelis. He has been plying his skills in Gaza and spoke about working in survival mode in extremely dangerous situations.
When asked if he will be returning to Gaza, Dr Morgan feels it might be difficult now that he has spoken out opposing the Israeli barbarity.
In the same news there was a report of a 15-year-old boy arriving in London to receive facial surgery. His jaw will have to be completely reconstructed. He is the victim of Israeli bombing.
Earlier on the news there was a report on the damage inflicted on the people of Kiev on Tuesday night.
The barbarous actions of the Russian and Israeli governments must be stopped. The people of these two great nations deserve far better leadership than the horror their current strongmen are inflicting on their neighbours.
On this day, Saturday, August 1, 1980 18 people and over 180 passengers were injured at Buttevant, Co Cork. They were travelling on the 10.00 train from Dublin Heuston to Kent Station Cork.
Due to engineering work taking place at Buttevant station the points had been disconnected from the signal on the main down line.
The train, pulled by 075 GM locomotive, was made up of old timber-framed coaches.
The locomotive driver, Berti Walsh, did everything according to the rule book and at the subsequent State Inquiry gave a great account of himself.
At the time of the accident the railway was in a poor and dangerous state of repair; out-of-date signalling systems, old dilapidated rolling stock and successive governments with little or no interest in the railway.
"The Foundation of Justice is Trust in other words consistency and truthfulness in declarations and compacts."
Cicero, DeOfficiis, book 1
This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.
The German theologian and Lutheran priest Martin Niemöller’s poem is prescient today. He was an opponent of the then German government for which he spent time in a concentration camp.
First they came for the Communists/And I did not speak out/Because I was not a Communist/Then they came for the Socialists/ And I did not speak out/Because I was not a Socialist/Then they came for the trade unionists/And I did not speak out/Because I was not a trade unionist/Then they came for the Jews/And I did not speak out/Because I was not a Jew/Then they came for me/And there was no one left/To speak out for me.
How would Niemöller react to the image of the starving children in Palestine?
An open top tour bus on Dublin’s O’Connell Street yesterday evening. A line in the ad reads: "This is not us' The driver was doubli...
