Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WORK WILL BEGIN ‘immediately’ on a temporary flood barrier to help protect vulnerable homes in Limerick, the Minister of State at the OPW has said.
Speaking tonight in the Dáil, Brian Hayes said that OPW will fund the barrier that is aimed at better protecting the Kings Island area of the city and that work will begin as soon as possible.
Responding to concerns from two Limerick TDs – Willie O’Dea and Kieran O’Donnell – Hayes said that the devastation that he had witnessed was “heartbreaking”.
He welcomed the announcement from the Taoiseach that €15 million in humanitarian aid would be made available to those affected by the weekend’s flooding.
Both Limerick TDs called for action from the Government on the flooding, with O’Dea summing up the scene.
My constituents woke up at the weekend to their own personal Dante’s Inferno.
“We now have a situation where people are staying with family and that is not sustainable.”
O’Donnell said that the floods were “unprecedented” but that the “spirit shown by the people of Limerick is nothing short of phenomenal.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
That’s a shame to hear. I used to love reading Montague’s poetry for the Leaving Cert and sure enough he showed when I needed him on the big day. A dolmen round my childhood. R.I.P.
The light, tarred skin
of the currach rides
and receives the current,
rolls and responds to
the harsh sea swell.
Inside the wooden ribs
a slithering frenzy; a sheen
of black-barred silver-
green and flailing mackerel:
the iridescent hoop
of a gasping sea trout.
As a fish gleams most
fiercely before it dies,
so the scales of the sea-hag
shine with a hectic
putrescent glitter:
luminous, bleached—
white water—
that light in the narrows
before a storm breaks. ………RIP John Montague
Hey diddle diddle The cat did a piddle, All over the kitchen mat, The little dog laughed to see such fun, And piddled all over the cat.
@michael o’brien
“The disappointed cat / Reflected in the glass / Reflects on where it’s at / And that it shall not pass.” I made up that one last week when the cat was trying to get out the kitchen window and I closed it in time. Suppose Poet’s Corner’s safe from us both Michael. RIP Mr Montague filíocht mór. Ar dheish Dé go raibh a anam.
@john o Driscoll,I like your poem John,I always liked poems that rhymed.No harm havin a bit of a sense of humour.
The rhymes the thing for many Michael. And a sense of humour carries us a long way past where we’d otherwise give up always. But beat and rhythm, imagery and sense don’t necessarily need to rhyme though they should always scan imo. Was thinking as I wrote that how the real cat in the kitchen appeared also to be outside on the window ledge at the same time (it being dark outside as in Country dark) as he gazed at his reflection, a photon cat observing a molecular cat or vice Versa.
And thought of calling the insta-ditty “An answer to Schrodinger” but immediately thought it pseud and overly clever-clogs and reading this haven’t changed opinion. That’s why great poets like Montague are great; regardless of rhyme or the absence there of. Their poetry is real, not pretentious or forced. It blows the heart wide open with apols to Mr Heaney.
I always found poetry difficult, until I discovered JOHN Montegue….you Sir, deciphered poetry for me, where others shrouded it in obscure meaning. For that, I THANK YOU. May you Rest In Peace.
have your say